Loud Whispers with JOSEPH EDGAR

Godwin Emefiele on Calvary Cross

I watched in utter shock as the DSS and NCoS officials actually went into a brawl during the last arraignment of the suspended CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele. When I partially recovered from that shock, I wrote something on WhatsApp which went viral and received a lot of positive feedback.

This was what I wrote: “I have watched the thorough humiliation of a sitting but suspended CBN Governor by authorities who are hell-bent on getting a pound of flesh.

I wonder why we cannot treat our people with dignity. Even if Emefiele embarked on a pogrom on the scale of the Cambodian massacre, he still deserves to be treated with much more decorum and respect as a human being.

Fighting and struggling to re-arrest him despite a court order seems to be the norm in this our own variant of democracy.

Until Emefiele is charged with a more gracious offence, all we have to work with is this gun possession thing, which in my barely literate estimation remains bailable.

It is too early in the administration of Mr. Tinubu to regale us with this kind of drama, especially if we look at his credentials as a fighter for democracy during the June 12 imbroglio.

Today, gave me another reason to be ashamed of being a citizen of this great but severely hobbled nation.”

Nothing to add again, I have lost my appetite. Na wa.   

Umaru Kwairanga as New Chairman of NGX

I had failed to congratulate this erudite Nigerian on his recent emergence as the Chairman of the NGX Board. For those of you that do not know, the NGX is the holding company that runs the premier stock exchange in Nigeria. If you have been following me very religiously, you would have been inundated with my pains as to the continuous drifting of the place. You see, the stock exchange is a strong barometer of economic growth in any economy. It is also seen as a very strong engine of economic growth.

Anyway, our own has been hobbling. Hobbled by a very lax regulatory environment, it waddled around in the sea of incompetence, losing its prime positioning to its rival FMDQ- (don’t hail those ones yet o).

Recently, something happened. A new Board was inaugurated and Kwairanga emerged as chairman to halt the drift. I was invited to the inaugural AGM where I watched him express a very clear vision of how things will move in the Exchange going forward.

Incidentally, I have not attended an AGM for a long while, decades even, but the comedic atmosphere that used to pervade them still does. The Ankara-wearing “kobo kobo” shareholders that would come for the corporate gifts and coca cola were still in attendance and in full force. The way they used to analyse financial statements and ask questions ehnnnn, you will fear.

Anyway, a new Board was announced and instantly, they went to work. Committees were set up and a week later, history was made. An interim dividend was announced. Something that has never happened since the bourse was demutualised years ago. Magic o and the market erupted with so much gusto that we here in Shomolu heard and felt the cries of relief from harassed shareholders.

Here are my huge congratulations to Kwairanga who is emerging as a new boardroom titan and his new board which comprises my brothers, Nonso Okpala and Mohammed Garuba. Let’s sustain this renewed vigour, for the market and the country.

Godswill Akpabio: Senators Behaving Very Badly

Barring any editing or the usual social media magic with clips, the clip of the Senate President responding to a parlous motion by a sitting Senator Musa in which he had prayed that we should “let the poor breathe” is in bad taste and highly inappropriate considering the circumstances this new administration has thrown many Nigerians into.

This clip shows a great lack of concern, a derogatory look at the current terrible economic situation that has thrown millions into a fresh round of poverty. Truly, the poor can no longer breathe. We have been reduced in just two months to a country of trekkers with fuel prices hitting the roof and the currency falling like a pack of cards daily, leading to job losses and an inflationary rate that we could only have imagined just one year ago.

The Senate,  headed by my countryman, only responded with this gut-wrenching and disgraceful motion which led to raucous laughter in the chambers.

Like I said, I will give them the benefit of the doubt that there could be a strong possibility that the clip which we have seen, may have been edited to achieve this disgraceful behaviour and as such, I will not really push hard at Mr. Akpabio and his colleagues.

But if we are to look at their pedigree especially the news that they seek a N70 billion furniture allowance in this terrible economic situation, then we cannot put it past them that they could simply be laughing at us for not having the guile to throw them out of that place with immediate effect and automatic alacrity like Chief Eleyinmi would say.

Godwin Obaseki: Inside the Flood We Stand

I have never seen a governor with the worst media team in this my life. It is either they are pursuing him on the street of New York, heckling him and calling him names or he is being shown in pictures like those “aje butter” we used to just bully for the fun of it in school those days.

During the week, a devastating video clip of His Excellency purportedly stuck in a muddy flood somewhere in his state emerged. The clip complete with commentary by his kinsmen showed some big gubernatorial convoy stuck in very terrible flood waters with the people jeering and yabbing that, “shebi you refuse to repair the road, we go all collect.”

I did not see Governor Obaseki so I cannot say for sure that it was his convoy or that he was even in the car, but the imagery of it all was so powerful that it hit his already poor public standing like a tsunami.

Poor roads, flood, wobbly cars, poverty-stricken people with pants rolled up wading through roads, and flood waters that are government incompetence all juxtaposed with the gleaming luxury four wheels that are also luxury that ensconces our leaders. This is Obaseki’s imagery. This is what we will remember him by. An incompetence that is laced with an annoyingly nauseating standoffish outlook. Make I just no talk too much.

Seyi Tinubu as Guarantor-in-Chief

The gross insensitivity of the government to the ongoing pains we are suffering as a result of their policy is nauseating. All we have heard, though informally, is that “it will take between one year to four years for the benefits of these policies to start showing.” If in two months, Naira has crashed by over 600%, inflation has crossed the 22% mark and fuel is approaching the N1,000 mark, then you can imagine where we would be in one-year, talk less of four.

It is no wonder that names like Venezuela and Zimbabwe are beginning to be silently whispered beside Nigeria in some very critical circles.

Well, we need not bother. The First Son to the Commander-in-Chief has sent in his guarantees. He has assured us in a footage complete with his ceremonial uniform – black cap, black kaftan and black slippers – that all will be well. He had said in the footage that I have seen and monitored from Shomolu that, “I guarantee you that President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, will not fail.”

My people, please take this guarantee to the nearest filling station and show them and see if they will give you fuel or show your doctor so that he can treat your kwashiorkor and malnourished children and see.

Guarantee ko, guarantee ni.

Rotimi Akeredolu: Get Well in Peace

Did you guys see that clip? He was dressed in white and sat in what looked like a wheelchair. He raised his arm in an obvious struggle to show good health. The young man beside him was wishing him a happy birthday and another one showed his wife also in the same mood.

What was constant in both clips was his very frail health. The man is not well, simple. And why we continue to do these things beats me. I am not a doctor and as such cannot diagnose a boil from a bad case of STD talk less of giving a diagnosis from this video, but what is very clear here is the fact that Baba is very very ill and needs to concentrate on his health and leave all this “yama yama” around him alone.

Reports have shown that he is really ill and he has done the right thing by transmitting power to his deputy until he comes back. Brilliant effort.

They should now just leave him alone to focus on the mortal fight for his health instead of dragging him out in an all-white ensemble resembling Morgan Freeman in one of those his movies in a failed attempt at showing a speedy recovery and in a morbid and embarrassing attempt at sending a strong signal, that we are on the way back.

Mbok, let Baba be. What he needs now is excellent medical care and our prayers. He should forget Ondo state for now, the state will be ok. It’s not a problem, the state will be ok. Baba just concentrate and fight for your health.  My honest advice. Thank you.

Atiku Abubakar, Heaven Can Wait

My brother, heaven can wait o. Nothing will happen if this court case goes against Emilokan. All that talks about anarchy is the usual “owambe shakara” that is meant to scare and make the people afraid.

If you sef had run a more serious campaign, maybe we would not be in this situation where we are praying for heaven not to fall. Shebi we were telling you that time. You saw Wike and you chose that one that cannot even shout at his housemaid. Shebi you saw five governors leaving and you were there standing behind one party chairman who cannot even win a vote in his backyard. You saw Obi’s strength and you cannot do everything within your powers to harness it.

You just do like “JJC politician” that time and now we are here praying that heaven should not fall. This is the dilemma we find ourselves in this country with all these- ring- a- ring- a- roses politicians who never do the right things at the right time.

Anyway, we are here awaiting the ruling. Me don buy umbrella in case rain fall on the day of judgement. Na wa.

Makinde Adeniran: A Man on Fire

Let me just use this opportunity to send a shout-out to Mr. Makinde Adeniran the great Theatre director and art aficionado. For the last three decades, he has pursued his art, mentoring people, and growing the structure leading to his well-recognised positioning in the space.

Makinde has been directly involved in so many projects that have not only created jobs but impacted very succinctly in the space in particular and the economy in general, hence my shout-out to him this morning.

As we continue to build an art and culture space that will partner with the government in credible developmental initiatives, people like Makinde should continue to be heralded and encouraged in their pursuit of macro fulfilment.

Well done bro, and God bless.

Femi Otedola, It’s About Time

I have refrained from commenting on the current storm going on within FBN Holdings, the holding company of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, one of my favourite banks. I have uncharacteristically held back because of the sensitive nature of my relationship with very strategic people in the system.

But the news of Mr. Otedola’s proposed appointment to the Board as a non-Executive Director hit with a sound thud in the guts. You see that bank has been under the grip of Nebuchadnezzar for some time now. There was a time when you gauge the health of the nation’s financial system with that of First Bank. Today, the place is like….. make I no talk. Kai, I no free to write my mind for this matter oooooo. Which kind wahala be this?

Let me just say that, I am very happy that Mr. Otedola has finally jumped into the fray because what we are seeing with this King Herod or should I say Pharaoh is not the one that we will be investing in and be jumping on cruise boats and licking Italian ice cream and waiting for magic to happen.

Mr. Otedola, we will need a very hands-on approach on this one. The integrity and the financial sanctity of this great Nigerian institution must be maintained and the needed experience and weight at the board level is very much required if we are to have any hope of stabilising this weakened giant.

Make I just keep quiet for now.