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By Femi Idowu
Nigerians need to turn the searchlight a lot more on top government officials particularly. It’s getting increasingly obvious that the so called vetting process by the Senate for ministers is a sham, absolute deception. Many people are wondering how some top officials were cleared by Senate.
I have had to cover my face, in shame, utter disappointment and embarrassment at the public outing of our minister for power, Adebayo Adelabu as he has been trying to defend the indefensible with regards to the hike in electricity tariffs in Nigeria.
Many Nigerians consider the hike as callous and disgraceful.
Adebayo Adelabu had tried a couple times to become the governor of Oyo State and had on the occasions been trounced, badly beaten by the very cerebral Seyi Makinde.
The people of Oyo State considered it important to roundly reject Adelabu.
We are told that Adebayo is the son of the mythical figure in western Nigeria’s politics of the 50s and 60s, Adegoke Adelabu. I was quite young then but clearly remember the kind of politics, the then strong man of the NCNC played. He was popularly referred to as ADELABU-PENKELEMESS. He was quite charismatic (his son does not look like he’s got that). Adegoke Adelabu said many things people didn’t really understand in those days, but he had a way of mesmerising or possibly hypnotising his audience to ‘swallow’ whatever he offered, including his reference to a particular situation as peculiar mess- which his hero worshipping followers turned to PENKELEMESS!
The situation with electricity tariff hike in Nigeria does not however present any humorous dimension.
The worst part of it has been the pedestrian presentations of the minister, Adebayo Adelabu.
He has succeeded in abusing Nigerians and actually heaping blames on them to justify the senseless tariff hike.
I don’t want to go into the details of the hike here as I believe all the information is out there in the public domain.
However many observers believe Adelabu doesn’t know what he is doing. They believe though he was a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, his experience in that capacity has not been helpful to him as a minister.
The former presidential candidate of the YPP in the 2023 election, Malik Ado-Ibrahim, an energy expert, with a huge track record of success, believes our minister of power does not have a clue on energy related issues. He doesn’t think Nigeria can get a good deal in our bid for uninterrupted electricity supply in the country with Adelabu at the helm of affairs.
Actually Femi Falana doesn’t seem to have any confidence in the Energy minister. In one of his interviews on the energy imbroglio in Nigeria, Falana started all his comments in relation to the handling of the tariff hike by the minister with this statement- WITH PROFOUND RESPECT- but concluded by actually ‘dragging Adelabu, on the floor’!
I believe Adelabu deserves all the flak he is getting. In a way some of his comments remind me of the Patience Jonathan era of political comedy of fellow widowers and diaris God o!
It would have been difficult for me to believe, if I didn’t hear Adelabu say it on National Television, and I’ll just paraphrase- something to the effect that those who have been abroad will know that Nigerians don’t know how to manage energy. This is because, according to him, they don’t switch off their freezer and air conditioner when they are leaving the house for the whole day.
How do you manage energy you don’t have? Does what he said make any sense at all?
Femi Falana responded to that particular ‘misjiving’ by the minister and it’s for those interested in a better Nigeria to find out what he actually said.
One thing Femi Falana also made categorically clear is that the Federal Government of Nigeria had announced the end of subsidy in electricity in 2021 and is asking how the hike palava is now being linked to subsidy on electricity.
What is quite clear is that Adelabu has made a peculiar mess with the way he is handling the electricity tariff hike.
It’s all quite odious!
So how do we mop up the mess?
I have had to cover my face, in shame, utter disappointment and embarrassment at the public outing of our minister for power, Adebayo Adelabu as he has been trying to defend the indefensible with regards to the hike in electricity tariffs in Nigeria.
Many Nigerians consider the hike as callous and disgraceful.
Adebayo Adelabu had tried a couple times to become the governor of Oyo State and had on the occasions been trounced, badly beaten by the very cerebral Seyi Makinde.
The people of Oyo State considered it important to roundly reject Adelabu.
We are told that Adebayo is the son of the mythical figure in western Nigeria’s politics of the 50s and 60s, Adegoke Adelabu. I was quite young then but clearly remember the kind of politics, the then strong man of the NCNC played. He was popularly referred to as ADELABU-PENKELEMESS. He was quite charismatic (his son does not look like he’s got that). Adegoke Adelabu said many things people didn’t really understand in those days, but he had a way of mesmerising or possibly hypnotising his audience to ‘swallow’ whatever he offered, including his reference to a particular situation as peculiar mess- which his hero worshipping followers turned to PENKELEMESS!
The situation with electricity tariff hike in Nigeria does not however present any humorous dimension.
The worst part of it has been the pedestrian presentations of the minister, Adebayo Adelabu.
He has succeeded in abusing Nigerians and actually heaping blames on them to justify the senseless tariff hike.
I don’t want to go into the details of the hike here as I believe all the information is out there in the public domain.
However many observers believe Adelabu doesn’t know what he is doing. They believe though he was a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, his experience in that capacity has not been helpful to him as a minister.
The former presidential candidate of the YPP in the 2023 election, Malik Ado-Ibrahim, an energy expert, with a huge track record of success, believes our minister of power does not have a clue on energy related issues. He doesn’t think Nigeria can get a good deal in our bid for uninterrupted electricity supply in the country with Adelabu at the helm of affairs.
Actually Femi Falana doesn’t seem to have any confidence in the Energy minister. In one of his interviews on the energy imbroglio in Nigeria, Falana started all his comments in relation to the handling of the tariff hike by the minister with this statement- WITH PROFOUND RESPECT- but concluded by actually ‘dragging Adelabu, on the floor’!
I believe Adelabu deserves all the flak he is getting. In a way some of his comments remind me of the Patience Jonathan era of political comedy of fellow widowers and diaris God o!
It would have been difficult for me to believe, if I didn’t hear Adelabu say it on National Television, and I’ll just paraphrase- something to the effect that those who have been abroad will know that Nigerians don’t know how to manage energy. This is because, according to him, they don’t switch off their freezer and air conditioner when they are leaving the house for the whole day.
How do you manage energy you don’t have? Does what he said make any sense at all?
Femi Falana responded to that particular ‘misjiving’ by the minister and it’s for those interested in a better Nigeria to find out what he actually said.
One thing Femi Falana also made categorically clear is that the Federal Government of Nigeria had announced the end of subsidy in electricity in 2021 and is asking how the hike palava is now being linked to subsidy on electricity.
What is quite clear is that Adelabu has made a peculiar mess with the way he is handling the electricity tariff hike.
It’s all quite odious!
So how do we mop up the mess?
Sent from my iPhone
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