FEMI ADEOTI COLUMN
It was yet another theatrical display of deceit. It recklessly played
out the other week. It was like an action-packed movie. In this eerie
clime of ours, we can never be in short supply of such dastardly acts.
This high level wile must not go unnoticed. It was a self-expose by
our weird rulers, who feign to care for the ruled. It has been its
norm; modus operandi. What a queer government!
This time around, the main character was actress Zainab Ahmed. She did
act her lines naturally well. And with curious precision! She is one
of the live wires of the Muhammadu Buhari regime.
She holds sway as Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Those are the three major areas of our national life. She is one of
the heartbeats of the bizarre administration.
Anytime she elects to speak, we catch cold. Our stomachs run riot. We
shiver, bow and tremble. We have no viable option.
So, Zainab was best suited for the role she played in that movie.
Nobody would have done it better. She exhibited the “hard” stuff she
claims she is made of.
A recent meeting of African finance ministers and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) was the rare space she needed. It was an
opportunity she dared not toy with.
A confession like never before. She deliberately hit the long nail on
the head. We were forced to admire her rough audacity. She gladly told
us the real reason they were not brave enough.
For fear and apprehension, they could not remove their hoax petrol
subsidy. It was to happen as a New Year gift. But their weak courage
failed them.
They are afraid of their own ugly shadows. That compelled them to opt
for the backdoor tactic; a less courageous approach.
They couldn’t do what they swore to do. Fright took a better part of
them. Yeah, the fear of 2023 elections is the beginning of wisdom.
Zainab succinctly confirmed that.
These eccentrics have committed a crime against humanity. And they
should not be spared. Not even an inch should be conceded to them.
They should not be allowed to go scot-free.
Just hear from the horse’s mouth herself. She hit the ground running:
“We are cleaning up our subsidies. We had a setback. We were to remove
fuel subsidy by July this year but there was a lot of pushback from
the polity.”
Now, this is their unending worry. It’s the real reason they suspended
the much-talked-about fuel subsidy removal:
“We have elections coming and because of the hardship that companies
and citizens went through during the COVID-19 pandemic, we just felt
that the time was not right, so we pulled back on that.”
But somewhere else, they were merciless. They made us to incur heavy
losses. They wreaked huge havoc on us. The damage is enormous.
What they could not do with fuel subsidy removal, they achieved with
electricity tariff. They wickedly inflicted untold hardship on us. We
are still nursing injuries.
Zainab couldn’t hide anywhere, anymore. She disappointedly gave up on
the government she serves: “But we have been able to quietly implement
subsidy removal in the electricity sector. As we speak, we don’t have
subsidies in the electricity sector.”
They did it without minding our feelings. We do not matter. And they
cared less: “We did that incrementally over time by carefully
adjusting the prices at some levels while holding the lower levels
down.”
Event at that, we have never got value for the high tariff.
Electricity supply remains ridiculously epileptic. The national grid
collapses at will. And total blackout envelopes the country unchecked.
For weeks running now, we have been soaked in deep ditch darkness.
This is a tricky regime. They are smart even by less than half: “The
current review that we are doing is to hold the (fuel) subsidy at the
level in which it is planned. We are currently doing a budget
amendment to accommodate incremental subsidy (removal) as a result of
the reversal of the decision and we want to cap it at that.”
IMF came like a thunderbolt last week. It added to government worries,
headaches, miseries and afflictions. So profound! Absolutely aligning
with our predictions. IMF’s testimonies:
“From the past experiences, the fear of political resistance for large
price increase—coupled with widespread corruption and pressure from
interested groups—has made the government hesitant to reform this
untargeted (fuel) subsidy.”
These will hunt and hurt our rulers till eternity. They have murdered
sleep. They would not know peace in whatever form.
We are more than convinced. This junta of rulers can’t be trusted. It
must not be trusted. Do you blame us? Long before now. As far back as
2011, Buhari stubbornly maintained there was nothing like petroleum
subsidy. It never existed. It was a fraud.
Yes! This is the same subsidy he flatly denied existed many times over
in the past. He was emphatic. He insisted there was no subsidy then
but fraud. The same subsidy his regime is currently feasting on
heavily, using it to milk us dry.
Owei Lakemfa gave it ample credence in The Vanguard, on April 22,
2019. He bore uncanny witness:
“Buhari was petroleum minister from 1976 to 1978 and governor of
North-Eastern State, comprising today’s Bauchi, Gombe, Borno, Yobe,
Taraba and Adamawa states. He was also Head of State for 20 months
from December 31, 1983.
“So, when as a presidential candidate he told the country in 2011 that
the much-touted fuel subsidy was a fraud, it was assumed he knew what
he was talking about. He asked the basic question: ‘Who is subsidising
who?’
“He told the public that fuel subsidy in an oil-soaked country like
ours is nothing but corruption, a brazen theft of public funds. ‘If
anybody says he is subsidising anything, he is a fraud.’”
As it was then, so it is now. We want to know, what has changed?
Nothing. Except, the wild and weird characters now in charge of our
affairs. Very unfortunate! Sad!
Our vow: These leaders of ours will not laugh last. They will be
impelled to swallow their ever-stinking vomit. We defiantly refuse to
be discouraged. We won’t be laid back either.
That will send bad signals across to them. It will give our untamed
aggressors undue advantage. They don’t deserve the leverage. We choose
not to oblige them. We aren’t going to give them that luxury.
It must not happen. We will at all times, stand to be counted. We will
be bold about our resolve. There is no looking back. We’re in it
together.
We have made up our minds to harden our hearts. We will continue to
give our traducers rough edges. We will torment them with our unending
wailings. That is our weapon. And we are putting it to maximum use.
These are our promises; what we have in stock for them. They are our
affirmations. And we are deadly serious, because it is our life. We
have no other.
Imagine those who claim we elected them to rule us. See how they are
ruining us with all their strength. They are living in self-denial,
quietly doing us in.
They operate in complete secrecy, stabbing us in the back. And they do
so at every chance, no matter how slim. It is excruciating. They
indiscriminately latch on our weaknesses. They make mountain out of a
molehill.
See how they shamelessly came out to confess at the village square.
They were never forced. They were not under any pressure. Their
conscience that is driving them mad. Peace has taken flight of them.
They are naked. They need peace desperately. What they did in the
dark, their plots against us are coming into the open speedily. Their
wicked souls can never find rest.
Reason: They have sinned against God and humanity. They are in dire
need of a place in our hearts. They are in search of relief. Will they
find one? Never!
Our disparagers must not find rest. That’s our request. Simple and sincere!