By Samuel Itodo
The recent alliance between Nasir El-Rufai and Babachir David Lawal to thwart President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid in 2027 is more of a predictable manoeuvre and a fiendish scheme. Lawal’s assumption that their devious machination represents a growing dissent against the presidency is nothing short of astonishing.
What’s even more disturbing is the tendency of former public officials to assume the role of self-appointed critics. Their selfish and self-centred actions while in power have led to a downward spiral of noise-making and political distress. It’s a never-ending cycle with no escape. The recent report on the Daily Post is likely nothing more than a fabrication. Lawal will probably emerge from his “drunken state” to issue a rebuttal, as is his usual tradition.
His agitated and power-drunk reasoning has led him down a path of self-imposed assumptions. Has he conveniently forgotten his past? The man who oversaw the destruction of Nigeria under the Buhari administration now claims to be a champion of the people. It’s a shameless attempt to deceive the public and an insult to our collective sensibilities.
Why do these disgruntled former officials think they can manipulate us, destroy our collective wealth and prosperity, and then return as saints? Do they assume we’re gullible and forgetful? Babachir’s assumptions are all mischievous fallacies and a factor of the modicum of his infertile calculations and confused mind. He is simply the new orange in Town.
Back in the 70s, there was this popular television series in the United States that was based on a memoir by Piper Kerman while he was serving terms in prison for drug-related offences. The memoir was written to his girlfriend, referencing the colour of the prison jumpsuits, which incidentally played into the theatre world and became a lexicon. The gist of the story depicts, how Bennett is about to leave, and Cesar gives him a crib that belonged to Dava as a baby, as a lover left the crib by the roadside and drove away (“Beds Bugs and Beyond”) absconding both his job and responsibilities.
Two things are inseparable in this story; orange being the common colour of the uniforms in the American prison system has been changed to “a new black” which is what is trending, always on the rise, and like Bennet, while the bear the crib the abdicate throwing away the baby and the crib, “Beds Bugs and Beyond” just like Babachir and his co-travellers, neglecting the welfare of the people for obdurate and primitive accumulations and chasing what is in trend.
Babachir wants power, not for the prosperity of the people. He wants to be in politics, not for development. He wants it to accumulate for himself and his family. For him, politics is and must always be about ‘me, myself and mine’. It is either for him or for his family. Does he think we have forgotten how he plundered his country and brought it to ruins? Has he forgotten his 10-count charge, bordering on fraud, diversion of funds and criminal conspiracy to the tune of over N544 million?
Did he forget that even as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) he was still a director of Rholavision Engineering Ltd and knowingly held indirectly private interest in the contract awarded to Josmon Technological Ltd but executed by Rholavision Engineering Ltd for the removal of invasive plant species and simplified irrigation to the tune of N258,132,735.99 (Two Hundred and Fifty-eight Million, One hundred and Thirty-two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty-five Naira, Ninety-nine kobo) only, by his office through the Presidential Initiative for North East (PINE)
Babachir Lawal’s sudden amnesia is astonishing. Does he really think the nation has forgotten the allegations that led to his suspension as Secretary to the Government of the Federation? The Senate probe into his involvement in a consultancy contract awarded to his company, Rholavision Engineering Limited, for the removal of invasive plant species in Yobe State, is still fresh in our minds.
We haven’t forgotten how his actions exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the North East, leading to the disastrous plights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and poverty and hunger in the region. The Senate’s findings during a three-day public hearing are still etched in our memories: a serious humanitarian crisis in the North East, with hunger, disease, squalor, deprivation, and want amongst the IDPs.
It’s appalling that Lawal thinks we’ve forgotten the claims of Federal Government Agencies under his control, which alleged that huge sums of money were spent on IDPs in the North East, yet nothing was on the ground to justify such claims. The acute shortage of food in the camps, despite the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE) awarding contracts under the principle of emergency, is a stark reminder of his mishandling of the situation.
Lawal’s mischief has led him to forget the severity of his actions, but we haven’t forgotten. The nation remembers how PINE took undue advantage of emergency contract situations to over-inflate contracts and award them to companies belonging to top government officials, including his own company, Rholavision Engineering Limited.
What can he say about the fact that although he deceitfully pretended to have resigned from the directorship of the company in September 2016, he was still the signatory to accounts of the company? Let him explain, as he goes around as a lollygag, in a voyage of self-distraught, the fact that 95% to 100% payments of all contracts awarded by PINE were paid even when some contracts were yet to be fully executed. For example, the payment of One Hundred and Eight Million Naira (180,000,000) for the supply of 1100 units of temporary tarpaulin carbines even though 125 units valued at Thirty Seven Million, Seven Hundred Thousand Naira (37,700,000) was yet to be supplied.
As the SGF, what positive thing did he bring to the table as reforms or strategic policies that will ameliorate the plight of the citizens? What were his contributions to his home State or even his immediate Local Council or every home, if not his palatial building and opulent, ostentatious lifestyle, displaying the people’s wealth at every opportunity? Let him tell us who and who is with him on this. We know he is alone, and has always been a lone ranger. His best bet is himself and his immediate family members. He knows who brought about the poverty and hunger in his zone.
Uncle Babachir David Lawal should therefore cover his face in shame, and stop making noise, because he is the New Orange in Town, the more we see, the less we understand, and more so we know his nefarious past and understand his present criminal instinct of trying his hand on what may be trending, thinking instigating the people against President Tinubu will give him popularity and a chance to come back to power. When he is talking Orange, he is showing Black.
*Itodo is a public affairs analyst