“Self-service is the game for the powers that be and the operatives are chosen carefully“— Jibrin Ibrahim
Shamseldeen Babatunde Ogunjimi, who has just been appointed the country’s new accountant general of the federation (AGF), was between 2011 and 2012 indicted in the N2 billion police payroll fraud. Also, Ogunjimi was reported to have come fourth in the examination for the selection of the Accountant General, scoring 62 per cent in the written examination, according to a memo signed by Gabriel Aduda, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Defence.
The most accurate way to describe Nigerian politics today is that state and society have been captured by an efficient and ruthless band that is re-creating politics and the political economy in its image. On a daily basis, people are lamenting about the absence of rules, ethics and red lines in politics and the economy, as the cabal in power does as it pleases and we the citizens watch and wonder whether it’s the new reality or a new rascally Nollywood production.
We all watched the skit on the Lagos State House of Assembly. The Speaker was removed, a new one was elected by a massive majority of members. As in all good Nollywood films, the new Speaker was safe because the majority of members supported her and, clearly, there was nothing former Speaker Obasa could do, or so we thought. Suddenly, the music became louder, Speaker Mojisola Meranda saw that she was all alone as her entire security team had been withdrawn. Former Speaker Obasa turned his appellation from former to current, and majestically moved in to re-take control of the Lagos House of Assembly. He demanded that the legislators should come and pay homage to him, but only four of them turned up. As the drama moved to a crescendo, phone calls were made, instructions issued, and the entire House rallied and paid homage to Obasa. My sympathies to Meranda, there are powers and there are powers.
While the Lagos show was on-going, another was happening in the Supreme Court. Suddenly, the entire basis of Nigerian jurisprudence, which is based on precedence, was thrown into the waste paper basket as Governor Fubara, who thought he was in power, was told in no uncertain terms that there are powers and there are powers. The elections he organised into the Rivers State local government councils were thrown out. The legislators who had sworn to impeach him, after he challenged their right to abandon the party on whose tickets they won elections to join the ruling party, were recognised as legitimate and the Central Bank was instructed to stop sending monies to the State Government. It was such a blatant partisan action that has not been seen in recent years. Sorry Fubara, there are powers and there are powers.
It’s difficult to avoid the Nollywood imagery as I was watching a senator complaining bitterly on Channels Television that he saw his colleague, Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, come into the Chambers with her husband and he kissed her. It was totally unacceptable for a husband to kiss his wife in the Chambers, he explained. I was confused and did not know whether to cry or laugh. Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan had made disturbing allegations of sexual harassment against the President of the Senate. If such a highly placed women felt the need to make such a serious allegation against a powerful individual, the least any serious democracy could do is to take such an allegation seriously and investigate it.
The decision taken was to throw out her petition without investigation and charge her with “crimes” of disrespect to constituted authority, after all there are powers and there are powers. The argument used by the Committee Chairman, Mr Imasuen, was that “Mrs Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition violated the Senate’s procedural rules, as she had personally signed the document.” Of course, a petition not signed by the complainant would also have no legal standing. All sorts of stories were then fabricated against her. I refuse to dignify the stories they are currently spreading to impugn her integrity and would not talk about them. We are sinking too low.
While all this drama was going on, I was alarmed to read that a confidential report exclusively obtained by Nairametrics from a reliable source tracking the movements of motor tanker vessels, which monitors cargo tanks entering the country, revealed that the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) imported 159,000 metric tons of Premium Motor Spirit (also known as petrol) between 1 February and 12 February. Based on a standard conversion of 1,341 litre per metric ton, this translates to approximately 213 million litres of petrol, imported by the state-owned oil company, according to the Motor Tanker Vessels report.
The revelation comes at a time Dangote Refinery, which can supply the country’s needs, is locked in a legal dispute with NNPCL and major oil marketers over the importation of refined petroleum products, which are already being produced locally without any shortfall. The interests of Nigeria do not appear to matter in our governance mechanism. It is all about self-interest. That is why despite the January deadline set by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) for the adoption of cleaner fuels and vehicles to reduce air pollution across the region, Nigeria has continued to import petroleum products that exceed the permissible sulphur limit under this regulation.
In December 2024, the NNPCL announced the restart of the 125,000 barrels per day (bpd) Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), which was approved for rehabilitation in 2021 for $897 million. This announcement followed reports that the Port Harcourt refinery’s 60,000 bpd phase one had begun refining key fuels. Nigeria operates four national refineries: one in Kaduna, one in Warri, and two in Port Harcourt. The refurbishment of these refineries, in addition to the operations of the Dangote refinery, was expected to reduce Nigeria’s importation of petroleum products and make the country fuel independent. However, the importation of refined products continues on a large scale, despite the growing number of local refineries.
To conclude, choosing the cast that is producing these stories is something worth understanding. Good qualifications are necessary.
A professor of Political Science and development consultant/expert, Jibrin Ibrahim is a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Democracy and Development, and Chair of the Editorial Board of PREMIUM TIMES.
