THERE were celebration chants on May 29, 2026, as President Bola Tinubu marked his third year in office. One of the highlights was that he had stabilized the naira. Even the opposition could not fault this incredible achievement, with our currency hovering around N1,400 to the dollar.
I was going to send a congratulatory message when my Socratic mindset sprouted back to life. If the naira has been stabilized, who destabilized it?
I think the case of Adelabu is better than that of former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, who did not even get the chance to run in the primaries. He said as he prepared to enter the contest, he received a directive from President Tinubu that he should not resign as the pro-chancellor of a federal university to contest because there was already a chosen candidate. Shittu, who, far back in 1983, was an Honourable Member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, did not verify the alleged directive before exiting the race. He later discovered that the alleged directive from the President was fake. When asked why he did not verify the directive from Tinubu himself, the former minister cut a sorry sight as he lamented that since he helped Tinubu win the elections three years ago, he has been prevented from seeing him.
The naira under the ‘clueless’ Jonathan was for years around N161 to the dollar. Then, the ‘Change’ caravan arrived in May 2015 and instability began. By the time the great President Muhammadu Buhari handed over the baton to his teammate in May 2023, the naira had climbed to N700. Then Tinubu ran with the currency so fast that within a year it got to the N1,850 mark before climbing down to the current rate.
ALSO READ: ‘To Keep It Coming’: Reflections On Framework Building, Idea Formation And Scholarly Reception; By Max Amuchie
So, if the currency Tinubu met at about N700 to the dollar is now at an average N1,400, can we say the naira has been stabilized or devalued by one hundred percent?
When in the dying days of the Buhari dynasty I filled my fuel tank with N14,000 at the Black or White Market, I was furious. I swore under my breath that Buhari had outlived his welcome and had to go. But now that I cannot fill my tank with N60,000, I have learnt how to remain silent, as anything I say may return to hunt me.
In the past, I would have responded to the President’s anniversary speech when he made various claims that do not align with reality. For instance, when he told Nigerians that he “understands the sacrifices many families have made in recent years,” I would have said he does not. How can he when he does not buy food or fuel, pay house rent or children’s school fees, pay electricity bills or buy cooking gas? Just yesterday, cooking gas was N21,250 for 12.5kg. Some months ago, it was N12,500.
ALSO READ: How I Returned From The Gate Of The Other World (Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4): Readers’ Comments (I)
When last Friday I heard President Tinubu confidently declare that “many communities and highways are becoming safer and more economically active,” I shook my head. Who is packing such stuff in our dear President’s head? His speech writers – are they high on something? If the President is unaware that insecurity has worsened under him, with the bandits spreading through Kogi and Kwara States and now roaming around the West, how can he tackle the challenge?
In fact, these days when it starts raining, rather than thinking of its soothing effects, my mind races to the dozens of pupils and teachers in the open forests who were abducted on May 15, 2026, from multiple schools in Ogbomosho.
One of the children is as young as two years old, and the bandits are so vicious that they thought nothing of beheading one of the teachers. If a four-year pupil is forced to undergo a worse trauma than a sixty- or seventy-year-old, it is a calamity.
So, I should be excused from the ongoing celebrations, including the President’s victory dance after he scored 10.9 million votes at the APC presidential primaries. Some have claimed that the votes are far higher than the registered number of party members. This might have made party chairman Professor Nentawe Yilwatda proclaim that APC has 12.9 million voters. Some have challenged the veracity of these figures, and even the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has diplomatically said it was not in a position to vouch for their authenticity.
ALSO READ: What Is Magnifica Humanitas And Why Should You Care? – Rev. Fr. Nwagbara
I also do not accept the learned professor’s figures because he may actually be de-marketing the party. The APC in 2022, according to its then Caretaker Committee Chair, Governor Mai Mala Buni, had 41 million members. Since then, millions more have flocked to the party. So, the APC members in 2026 should not be less than fifty million.
In rounding up these chronicles, let me thank the Tinubu administration for criminalizing the use of unearned titles. It has ordered that those who parade the title ‘Ambassador’ without being so appointed by Tinubu or affix the title ‘Dr’ without earning it in academics would be sent to jail. Yet this same government, through the Electoral Act, has decreed that the submission of false academic qualifications to INEC cannot be a basis for disqualifying a candidate. In other words, it has decriminalized criminality in the electoral system.
Talking about party primaries, former Power Minister, Bayo Adelabu, cried that the Oyo State gubernatorial primaries were held in some parts before the appointed time. In some, people were prevented from voting while in some cases voting did not take place, but results were declared.
ALSO READ: United Elites, Divided Masses: Nigeria’s Crisis Of Self-Interest And Political Survival; By Lawan Musa Danlami
However, I think the case of Adelabu is better than that of former Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, who did not even get the chance to run in the primaries. He said as he prepared to enter the contest, he received a directive from President Tinubu that he should not resign as the pro-chancellor of a federal university to contest because there was already a chosen candidate. Shittu, who, far back in 1983, was an Honourable Member of the Oyo State House of Assembly, did not verify the alleged directive before exiting the race. He later discovered that the alleged directive from the President was fake. When asked why he did not verify the directive from Tinubu himself, the former minister cut a sorry sight as he lamented that since he helped Tinubu win the elections three years ago, he has been prevented from seeing him.
At least Shittu claims he was deceived; that was why he did not run. What can we say of ‘Professor’ Benedict Bengiuoshuye Ayade, who said he is not running in senatorial elections because Tinubu directed him not to contest? It is incredible, or is it disgraceful, that Ayade, who parades a PhD in Environmental Microbiology, was a senator from 2011–2015 and a two-term governor of Cross River State from 2015, would not run for Senate because a fellow human being ordered him not to do so.
Ayade, rather than assert his constitutional right to contest the elections, cried: “I dare not question his authority, but I challenge his conscience. According to 1 Timothy 5:18, the labourer deserves his wages. Therefore, I am worthy of a reward… For over three years, I have been sidelined without appointment.” He claimed he donated hefty sums to the party’s national convention and provided logistics, including vehicles and motorbikes, for Tinubu’s 2027 re-election. So, what manner of a politician or leader is this who does not display the slightest self-worth?
ALSO READ: The Abacha In Tinubu; By Iduh Onah
In rounding up these chronicles, let me thank the Tinubu administration for criminalizing the use of unearned titles. It has ordered that those who parade the title ‘Ambassador’ without being so appointed by Tinubu or affix the title ‘Dr’ without earning it in academics would be sent to jail. Yet this same government, through the Electoral Act, has decreed that the submission of false academic qualifications to INEC cannot be a basis for disqualifying a candidate. In other words, it has decriminalized criminality in the electoral system.
I need to stop these chronicles as I am mindful of the cyberstalking law; as you know, the truth is no armour against treason.
