A cocktail of Fintiri, NEPA meters, Borno flood and Malami’s son, By Hassan Gimba

Last week, an election for the Governor of Edo State took place. Winners and losers have since emerged. All political parties, especially the two giants—All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)—sang their songs, but that of the APC, the winner, was the loudest.

And as with every election in Nigeria, those who win are rejoicing in their victory, and telling grumpy losers to “go to court,” knowing fully well that politicians have an adage that says “it is better to be taken to court than to go to court”. Here, we have a Hausa saying, “Aikin gama ya gama” or “The deed has been done” because overturning an election victory in court is nigh impossible.

I wouldn’t have brought Edo and the election here if not for the complaint attributed to Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, the governor of Adamawa State, who led the PDP group to prosecute the election in the state as chairperson of the PDP campaign council.

He lamented that the poll was marred by “vote-buying, disruption of collation processes, and suspicious results.” Posting on his X handle, he added, “I weep for Nigeria’s democracy after witnessing the shameful Edo gubernatorial poll.”

I do not know why some of our politicians always do not see how they are bastardising our democracy because of their interests, yet are quick to notice those of others, even if in the figments of their imaginations.

Advertisement

At present, the party that Fintiri owes his stature to is facing existential blitzes from fifth columnists who are hand-in-gloves with a serving minister who was a governor. Where has the Adamawa Governor pitched his tent to salvage the PDP? If tolerating a person who, for personal reasons, is destroying your party is not worth weeping for, then I do not know what is.

For many of our politicians, the wise words of Matthew 7:3-5: “Why do you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your eye? Or how can you say to your neighbour, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’, while the log is in your eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye,” is the best answer. Our leaders need to be sincere to themselves and the people they lead.

It is this sincerity, which is lacking in some NEPA staff, that is causing part of our problems with the poor power supply we are battling with. I prefer to use NEPA because all the changes in names, structure, and duties have not worked well for us. To Nigerians, NEPA is NEPA, that’s all.

To be accountable, meters were supposed to be provided to consumers, but because with the meter you pay only for what you consume, the staff have sabotaged that. They make sure meters are not available and, where available, you pay through the nose to get one. They make it difficult to get a meter because they prefer to hand you estimated bills where, like monsters that suck blood, they suck consumers dry.

I recently became a victim of these monsters who billed me close to ₦500,000 and about ₦60,000 monthly for what I did not consume, as I mainly rely on solar energy. A complaint to their headquarters in Abuja is still hanging, being treated with no serious interest. My experience is no doubt what thousands of helpless Nigerians go through at the hands of NEPA officials. You often want to cry and ask, “Why do we get tripped in making our people suffer?”

One reason Nigeria continues on its sorry path is that no one holds accountable those who cause suffering to the people through commission or omission.

Take the case of the Maiduguri flood that has displaced at least a million people, killed hundreds and destroyed properties worth billions of naira.

Surely there must be an official failure. Or neglect. The question on the lips of all discerning people is, “Who is going to pay for it?”

The authorities established a committee to investigate the imminent collapse of the Alau Dam and provide recommendations for safety measures. That committee turned in a report that said “all is well” to the governor and that there was no “cause for alarm”. Okay, at first, one may assume the “everything is okay” was for public consumption so as not to cause panic, but for the dam to collapse at midnight, barely three days after the report is unforgivable. Some people must take responsibility and must pay for it.

In a saner clime, the governor would resign. However, since resignation is not an option in Nigeria, the authorities must ensure that they take action against the officials responsible for the false or unprofessional reports and bring them to trial in a court of competent jurisdiction.

Our lack of meting out justice and prosecuting offenders is a reason the crime rate is on the rise and people commit offences with impunity. Because we have a brief attention span, we talk and forget everything after a while. As a result, governance has become a joke and those at the helm of affairs flaunt their disdain for accountability in our faces and dare us to do “our worst”, knowing our worst is to clap for them and line up for our crumbs from their tables.

If not, how do you explain the inexplainable riches of one barely out of diapers, 29-year-old, Abdulazeez Abubakar Malami, whose only CV is being Abubakar Malami’s, Nigeria’s Attorney-General and Minister of Justice for eight years under Muhammadu Buhari’s government’s son? He is now the group managing director of Rayhaan Group, an overnight multi-billion naira Nigerian conglomerate with stakes in hospitality, communications, agriculture, education, security, real estate and rice milling.

Sadly, with all these and more, and hearing some things like the controversy surrounding Bobrisky’s imprisonment, you want to give up. Nigeria befuddles.