By Akinwale Kasali

To stem the current violent protests by many Nigerians against hunger, hardship, and bad governance under the Government of President Bola Tinubu, a former Minister for Education under the Government of  former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili, has asked the President to step out of the high walls of the Presidential Villa, meet the Protesters at their protest grounds and speak with them.

Ezekwesisli urged the President and the 36 State Governors of the Federation to up the ante in order to bring to an end  the ongoing hunger and bad governance nationwide.

The protest which began on August 1, 2024, has led to loss of lives and destruction of properties in some part of the country. It has also taken a ridiculous but ominous signs with some Protesters in the North, particularly in Kano and Kaduna, waving the Russian National Flag, and calling on the Nigerian Military to sack President Tinubu’s Government.

Both Tinubu and the Military have described both action and utterance as treasonable. The President has also ordered the arrest of those flaunting the Russian Flag. The Russian Embassy in Nigeria has distanced its Country from the bizarre action.

And, after an assessment of the situation,  Ezekwesili said it is unwise for President Tinubu and the 36 state Governors to threaten, taunt, brutalise and shut up protesters demanding an end to bad governance and hunger in the country. She  stressed that they have the right to protest and demand for good governance.

In a post on her X handle, the former Minister said Tinubu, governors, and other political leaders still have a slim window of opportunity to swiftly do the right things for their citizens. She asked them to end bad governance in Nigeria as the protest enters Day Six.

According to Ezekwesili, to take Nigeria and its citizens out of the unfortunate predicament the country found itself in, Tinubu and State Governors must be ready to listen to the protesters, engage them and persuade them with factual counterpoints.

She wrote, “Let me reiterate a possible Pathway for @NigeriaGov @officialABAT to take Nigeria and Nigerians out of the unfortunate quagmire the country finds itself:

“When Citizens tell their Leaders that they are hungry and angry due to #BadGovernanceInNigeria, the unwise thing to do was the orchestrated efforts of @NigeriaGov to shut them up, threaten, taunt, brutalize them and generally act detached from their suffering.

“Such triggering display of empathy deficit has obviously strengthened the resolve of the Protesters to continue into Day5 of their Protests as we can now all see.

“The @NigeriaGov @NGRPresident @officialABAT @nassnigeria @NGRSenate @HouseNGR and Governors of State and their State Assemblies still have a slim window of opportunity on this Day 5 of the nationwide protests to swiftly do the right things by their Citizens who are asking them to #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria:

“Go out NOW to their Protest Grounds across the Country and ENGAGE your Citizens. Hear them express their Demands to you directly. Do not lock yourselves away behind the High Gates of your publicly-funded State and Government houses enjoying indulgent lives while your Citizens are out there crying out in pain from the severity of economic hardship induced hunger and anger.

“The @NigeriaGov @NGRPresident @nassnigeria and Governors of State and their State Assemblies, go out NOW and start connecting with your Citizens:

“Listen. Listen. Listen”

President Tinubu, on Sunday, addressed  Nigerians in a Nationwide broadcast. But that has not stemmed the protest. Instead, a couple of States in the North witnessed more violent protests than before, forcing their State Governments to declare 24-hour curfew.

By Akinwale Kafsali

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has faulted President Bola Tinubu’s removal of oil subsidy without adequate preparations. Obasanjo, also, revealed that Shell Petroleum rejected his offer, when he was President, to buy a stake in Nigeria’s refineries and run them.

The former President also, after an analysis of the debacle between Africa’s Richest Man, Aliko Dangote, and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, on the Dangote Refinery alleged that there is a plot to frustrate the money man.

Obasanjo put that plot at the door steps of those he identified as “cabals in the cabinet of President Bola Tinubu”. He said they are bent on frustrating Dangote’s refinery.

The former President expressed concerns that those currently profiting from Nigeria’s profitable fuel importation sector may seek to undermine the Dangote Petroleum Refinery.

It would be recalled that Dangote had accused certain ‘mafias’ of attempting to sabotage his $20 billion refinery project.

Obasanjo in an interview with the Financial Times said that if the refinery succeeds, it could boost investment from both Nigerians and foreigners.

His words: “Aliko’s investment in a refinery, if it goes well, should encourage both Nigerians and non-Nigerians to invest in Nigeria.

“If those who are selling or supplying refined products for Nigeria feel that they will lose the lucrative opportunity, they will also make every effort to get him frustrated.”

Recently, officials of the Dangote Group cried out that international oil companies are hampering the refinery by either refusing to sell crude or charging up to $4 above the standard price.

They also accused the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authority of intentionally issuing licenses to individuals to import fuel.

The regulator denied this, saying Dangote diesel was inferior, when compared to imported ones.

The NMDPRA Chief Executive, Farouk Ahmed, also stated that the country would not stop fuel importation to avoid a monopoly by the Dangote Group.

But Obasanjo remarked that Nigeria made a critical error by focusing solely on oil, neglecting opportunities in gas and agriculture.

“I believe we made a very, very deadly mistake. We put all our eggs in one basket of oil. We even ignored gas. We were flaring gas, which is a very important commodity

“We ignored agriculture, which should have been the centrepiece of our economic development,” Obasanjo stated.

He recalled attempting to persuade Shell to operate Nigeria’s refineries, but the company refused, citing excessive corruption in the sector.

“When I was President, I invited shell to come and take equity and run our refineries for us. They refused and said our refineries were not well maintained. We brought amateurs instead of professionals. Then there was too much corruption with the way our refineries were maintained. They didn’t want to get involved in such a mess,’’ he said.

Obasanjo further criticized the Government’s approach to revitalizing the refineries, saying: t

“How many times have they told us that the refineries would be fixed, and at what price? Those problems, as far as the government refineries are concerned have never gone. They have even increased. And if you have such problems, and the problems have not been removed, then, it means we are not going anywhere.”

He also faulted President Bola Tinubu’s approach to removing fuel subsidies, arguing that the administration should have first considered the potential hardships and ways to alleviate them.

“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Not just wake up one morning and say you removed the subsidy. Because of inflation, the subsidy that we have removed is not gone. It has come back,” Obasanjo stressed