PBAT: Realities you must face on this 72nd birthday

By Bolaji O. Akinyemi.

Yesterday 29th March 2024, was your birthday, the first in your 72 (official) years of life as President. A very happy birthday to you, Your Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.

Sir, days of your new year starts counting today and it is your responsibility to make them count in accountable achievements, not just for, Aunty mi Remi, Sister mi Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, “ati awon brothers mi dede” Seyi, Yinka and my little Sister Habibat, who are privileged members of your immediate family. Your family’s vote was just six out of the 8,794,726 million votes Yakubu announced and the courts confirmed to make you the President. Out here without access to the Presidential Aircraft are 8,794,720 hungrily and hopeful Nigerians whose stake in your Presidency equals that of any member of your family.

Sir, you are not new to power, you have been in power since 1999, in or out of office you have courted power. Men in power abound in every good thing in life but are often surrounded by sycophants and are consequently starved of the truth!

I have therefore elected myself to be the Chef who will prepare and serve My President the bitter meal of truth, a
“nutritional deficiencies” for which men in power suffer.

Sir, I am not here to question the legitimacy of your Presidency, that, both Yakubu led INEC and Ariwola led Judiciary have conferred on you. But the illegitimacy of the Nation you are “LEGITIMATELY” presiding over remains an unanswered question.

Every State must have a source from which legitimacy is derived. For the Nigerian State it should be from the 1999 constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended. The burden of the Nigerian State however is the illegality of the very constitution that should confer legality on the state.

Our constitution is a fraud, a quackery transplant of a military heart for a democratic body. A concomitant aberration of existential angst.

Nigeria has not worked with it, it is not working and will never work!

Now, is the time you should activate constitutional reforms towards the restructuring of our federation or you will fail like others before you, who were arm twisted by our federating structure and strangulated by the conflicting ideologies of our constitution.

No individual or nation can develop in a confused state!

Nigeria, as it is today, is in that state!

Sovereignty is absolute in every state or nation. The Sovereignty of Nations we are seeking to be like are clearly established. Of a socialist state like China’s, Islamic State like the United Arab Emirates, or free enterprise states powered by democracy like the United States of America. Should we talk about conservative democracy like Singapore’s and Malaysia’s?

However, Sovereignty on paper is to the Nigerian State, but our unfortunate reality speaks to the truth!

This is mailable in Southern Nigeria. While the conflict of civilisation in Northern Nigeria seems to make the establishment of an Islamic State a common yearning among the people. This, more than anything else is what is fanning related insecurity of Boko Haram, banditry etc.

Here is the puzzle. It is however mandatory that an Islamic State truly inspired by the Quran as taught by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) must differ to an Emirate and a Sultanate. The question then is, how culpable are Northern Emirs in the process towards the realisation of an Islamic State being triggered through non state actors who have taken over the space in Northern Nigeria to the extent of even collecting taxes? At the base of a Sultanate is the emergence of a Caliph who by conquest declares his or a territory a Sultanate!

The Nigerian Sultanate is home in Sokoto and the territory is assumed to cover the whole country through the administration of Islam, but strongly, Northern Nigeria through local administration of law; Sharia!

By implication there are two laws; Sharia and Secular Law. At the peak of every legal system are authorities for its administration. For secular law as passed down by our colonial master. You won’t need religion to administer it and so the head of the 3 Arms of government; the President, Senate President and CJN are free to be from any religion.

In the Sharia legal system it is Haram for a non Muslim to have hands in the administration of Islamic jurisprudence.

Going forward, the loyalty of bandit groups, terrorist groups to the Sultanate must be investigated. The role of untouchable Negotiators like Sheikh Gumi in their operations and rewarding system must be ascertained. Findings must determine the declaration of Islamic State or renunciation of it.

The divorce notice served on Nigeria by her “Biafra bride”, which was forcefully overruled by her oppressive husband must be revisited. Marriage is not by force. If the Nigerian State is not ready to give South East her rights and privileges in a marriage, she should be allowed to go back to her father’s house!

Sir, don’t fall into the deception of the Nigerian State. It has never been well with Nigeria! It was fair in the past because the real problem of political instability as a result of varying ideologies were not too obvious because of the presence of strong regional Governments. This has been complicated by the introduction of the unitary system of government by the Military and its many attendant consequences.

Nigerians must talk, we either sit to talk or war to talk, a good day is that day when we shall be led to sit and talk, postponement of this is what makes for the evil day of war!

May you be encouraged to convene the good day and avert the postponement of evil days, AMEN!

Should I bring to the notice of Your Excellency as the Commander in Chief of the Armed forces and President of the Federal Republic who got 298,396 votes from Zamfara State in the last presidential election the plight of the electorate in Zamfara who entrusted their mandate to the son of Oduduwa as against Atiku Abubakar who is a Fulani.

Sir, leaders of bandit groups have constituted themselves into illegal government to control ‘Vassal’ territories where Farmers now pay for privilege to plant and harvest.

Courtesy of Research Gate conducted by Luka Binniyat and Mike Odeh James it has been established that
Farmers in the 14 Local Government Areas of Zamfara State are serving up as much as $10 million (₦1,421,000,0000) a year to criminal gangs in so-called rents that are extortion payments to gang leaders, a TruthNigeria investigation has concluded.
“Farmers, large and small have become vassals, who face heavy “fines” if they do not pay “rents” before they access their farms to cultivate and before harvesting their crops, according to farmers reportedly interviewed by TruthNigeria.
Failure to pay attracts brutal penalties including the burning down of villages or kidnapping of family members.
For example, on November 24, 2023, scores of gunmen led by an infamous bandit leader called “Damina,” invaded 6 communities in Maru county of Zamfara State and killed 3 after the villagers failed to settle a N200 million Naira tax imposed on them.
Communities typically raise money for the terrorist-bandits by selling cash crops, since most of their livestock already has been rustled by the gangs.

Your Excellency, two farmers from Tsafe local government paid more than ₦1.12 billion to a known face and name; Hassan Makera, the leader of one terrorist gang, before they could cultivate their farms and harvest the farms in 2023, the farmers told TruthNigeria.

“Again, during the harvesting season, the terrorists would come to our farms and count what we have harvested. If you harvested 10 bags of beans, they would take 7 bags and go,” he added with bitterness.
“Failure to pay the taxes imposed on us would result in either death or burning down of our farmlands and village,” said Mohammed Isa Sungawa.

Hyperinflation are functions of insecurity and criminal violence more than they are of exchange rates, the fall of Dollars against Naira is marginal enough to reflect on food prices, but prices of grains have refused to respond to the crashing Dollars. Federal officials rarely cite banditry, terrorism, and land control by criminal gangs as a major driver of growing food insecurity in the nation, although criminal control of land undoubtedly plays a large role!

A 50 kg bag of Maize is now ₦55,000 while Soya Bean  is now ₦42,000, Guinea corn now costs ₦38000, Millet is now ₦44,000 and a bag of rice is ₦55,000, combination of factors of which less access to farmlands resulting from the violent crimes against villagers across most parts of Northern Nigeria stands most prominent among reason for which price of grains are undaunted in the face of rising naira. Tuwo of any type are gradually a hard chase by the majority of the northern Nigeria population.

Most Nigerian workers do not earn more than $127 a month, according to Techpoint Africa.. Small-plot Zamfara farmers typically earn between ₦100,000 and ₦300,000 a month, according to sources consulted. From this amount, the criminals often take more than 50% share!

Your Excellency, be not deceived Sir. Our outrageous exchange rate is not what is responsible for the rising cost of living and food scarcity. It is the activities of dissident groups, outlaws who are trampling on the Federal Constitution and promoting their quest for widespread Emirates and Islamic legal system thereby challenging your authority as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces!

Let me join your friends at the national assembly to sing you your favourite song for this birthday, peradventure, I might successfully pad my desire for a better and greater Nigeria into yours for your accent;

On your mandate we shall stand.

On your mandate we shall stand.

Bola! On your mandate, on your mandate we shall stand”.

It is your mandate, Your Excellency, to end every transaction with Terrorist Gangs within the borders of this Republic now!

Sir, the potentials of Northern Nigeria to generate resources for her development is not in doubt. Terrorist-bandits today make more money by imposing taxes than they once did through abductions, according to Global Initiative. In addition, the criminals increasingly are farming, themselves. The same was recorded by TruthNigeria reporters who studied the long-term battle between the Ansaru insurgency and bandit terrorists in the ungoverned spaces of Western Kaduna in 2022. The Ansaru insurgents lost out to the gang of the late Dogo Gide, whose gang members cultivated large swaths of land in Western Kaduna. This confrontation awaits the mandate of Your Excellency. And I know you won’t let the people down.

To a sovereign national conference we must all be converged. We must be brought to brotherhood from our tribes and tongues to decide our nationhood. The farmers in Zamfara from which a total of 298,396 million votes were cast for you in the last election are being extorted in the name of tax under a festering Islamic State ideology, they must be given the opportunity to make the choice between Islamic Republic of Nigeria or the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This prevention is robbing us of ‘generatable’ resources and is responsible for leaking in accruable resources.

Sir, I need not tell you that Lagos votes is more ideologically determined along the lines of programmes, policies and how well they are debated than religious beliefs. You lost Lagos for the content of your campaign than for any other reason. Taking over all religious structures in Lagos is not likely to change your fate in Lagos in 2027. Let me share with you the last birthday message I got from my cousin Tunde Oyegbami on my birthday on the 5th of August 1990, the card read: “don’t believe them when they say an old dog can’t learn new tricks”. Sir, it all depends on the teacher, approach and time. An old dog can learn faster. Those in charge of your estate in Lagos may set the country on fire with tribal and religious bigotry before 2027 the way they are going about Agenda 2027 if they don’t learn how to whistle to a dog that has mastered your antics in over 4 decades (1999-2024).

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu, Sir, be reminded that as the Chief Warrior of Borgu in Niger State North Central Nigeria where over 20 soldiers were killed by rampaging beast of no nation you have a point to prove more than Okoama, Delta State South South Nigeria. You have two titles to defend in Niger State, you should successfully do that, backed by the influence of your office now as the Commander in Chief of the Armed forces.

May you find courage to serve the drinks of security, meal of peace and cake of prosperity to all Nigerians as the 73rd year of your life starts its count today. Happy birthday, Akanbi ogo!

Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi is an Apostle and Nation Builder. He’s also President Voice of His Word Ministries and Convener Apostolic Round Table. BoT Chairman, Project Victory Call Initiative, AKA PVC Naija. He is a strategic Communicator and the C.E.O, Masterbuilder Communications.

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