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Election '23: The Cabal, Fuel Scarcity And Redesigned Naira, By Richard Odusanya

Election '23: The Cabal, Fuel Scarcity And Redesigned Naira   By Richard Odusanya
February 6, 2023

A cabal is a group of people who are united in some close design, usually to promote their private views or interests in an ideology, a state, or another community, often by intrigue and usually unbeknown to those who are outside their group. One member of such a cabal was Isa Funtua, of blessed memory, an associate of President Muhammadu Buhari, who once boasted that he was not a member of any cabal but a “cabal myself.” Funtua, who hailed from Katsina like the president, was among those who critics of the Buhari administration refer to as the cabal.

 

It is intuitively appealing to connect the current situation and so many things in the past few years to the actions and design of the cabal(s). Many Nigerians, prominent among whom is the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, have claimed that there is a ‘cabal,’ whose influence on the decisions taken by President Muhammadu Buhari and the presidency, is immense and significant. Aisha Buhari, at several instances, had accused these people of controlling her husband at the expense of Nigerians, who entrusted Mr President with their mandate. Part of those routinely fingered as members of the cabal include the president’s relative, Mamman Daura and Tunde, nephew of the President and their associates in the corridors of power.

 

Interestingly, Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai, a Nigerian politician and the current Governor of Kaduna State has famously posited: “Unmasking them (cabals) is not as joyful as defeating them,” he said. “They will be unmasked in time. We have defeated them when they wanted their people in the national working committee of the APC. We have defeated them when they wanted their own anointed person to be the presidential candidate without due regard, due process or even respect for those of us who are governors, that put the party together, campaign for it and deliver the election twice.”

 

No doubt, the outbursts and the excruciating pains occasioned by the over two month-long unmitigated scarcity has worsened the cost of living and affected businesses in Nigeria. Many petrol stations sell as high as N500/litre against the official N185/litre pump price. Sadly the current sabotage of the Naira notes swap and fuel scarcity that had caused untold hardship to millions of Nigerians across the country revealed the true character of many people with opportunistic tendencies; typically characterised by greed, self-centeredness and corrupt practices that contribute and cause discomfort to the nation.

 

We need to critically examine the emerging scenario using hard facts driven by multifaceted intelligence gathering mechanism: firstly, it was Olusegun Obasanjo's Do-or-die politics enveloped in a New Year's Day letter titled, "My appeal to all Nigerians, particularly young Nigerians" In the poisonous letter, the former president endorsed the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate, Peter Obi. This is apart from the same elements "owners of Nigeria" hand in glove, the protagonists of Interim government. Secondly, the interest of the so-called "Cabal" the power mongers in and around the corridors of power.

 

For those who do not know, fuel scarcity and redesigned naira are part of an elaborate scheming and the handwork of the "Fifth columnist" working tirelessly to scuttle the process of smooth conducts and transfer of power from one regime to another. According to Ajuri Ngelale, in an interview with TVC: "In the midst of the Naira note scarcity being clandestinely orchestrated by Godwin Emefiele and the cabals with active connivance of the PDP, what is found, that is very horrifying, to say the least, is how Godwin Emefiele racketeered our foreign exchange."

 

Ajuri had opened up a bit on this issue. He revealed that in July 2021, it was agreed by the CBN that the BDC (Bureau de Change) operators, made up majorly of black marketers of dollars, won’t be credited again. He further stated that the budget for the CBN to the BDC operators yearly was $5.2 billion dollars. He said this move was taken so as to enable the CBN raise enough Forex for PTAs, educational and medical purposes, etc." He then lamented, that; "while the CBN was still struggling to meet these obligations, the black market kept expanding." Interesting times ahead.

 

Simply put; Emefiele and his ‘Gang’ have been funding the black market through a back door channel, at the expense of the Nigerian economy. The CBN dollar rate is 460, black market rate averaged 650 since 2021. With this sustained arbitrariness, it is easy to make over N1 trillion yearly. Hence, his refusal to float the Naira. At the current market rate of N750 to $1, the dollar is overpriced. If Emefiele had floated the Naira (which eliminates the black market), the Naira was going be lower than N750." 

 

Why in the first place will a new government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, reappoint Godwin Emefiele engaged by previous government? An appointment in the core of policy making of the government. This is apart from several infractions, moral issues and allegations by the Department of State Services (DSS) about Emefiele funding terrorism and the elements of IPOB. I think it was politically suicidal in addition to risking of a mole from the opposition elements.

 

In view of the foregoing, I reckoned with the saying that bad conducts must be discouraged. It is instructive to note that as weighty as the allegations, coming from the government’s flagship intelligence agency are, President Buhari has continued to hold one-on-one meetings with Godwin Emefiele since December. This is a real time exemplification of the term ‘Echo Chamber’, where a leader, is interred, willfully blindsided by his handlers. Tuned out, out of touch. Led, noose and all, down an abyss, sequestered and fed only lacerated information, about the general state-of-things. 

 

The buck, as a leader, stops at his table. Him, and him, by his lonesome, is blameworthy in all of these. Do-gooders, like Buhari, can be too trusting of people, for they reckon everyone is like them, without airs, plain-speaking, trust-giving, good intentioned. Alas, the world of mortal man is stranger than the most imaginative piece of fiction. 

 

Finally, I like to conclude this article that focuses on the subject of cabal, fuel scarcity and redesigned naira with a promise of HOPE. A renewed hope that was scuttled three decades ago by the same elements "Owners of Nigeria" NIGERIA WILL BE PEACEFUL.

 

Richard Odusanya

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