LETTER: How Tinubu caused unprecedented hardship Nigerians currently face, by Ilyasu Gadu

*Says President implemented IMF, World Bank policies on fuel subsidy removal, naira floating unilaterally 

*As Pastor Emmanuel, Sunday Igboho attempt to blame Northern Nigeria for hardship

By KEMI KASUMU

A concerned Nigerian, Mr. Ilyasu Gadu, in an Open Letter on state of the nation, published by the press on Tuesday March 5, 2024, says President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his own simply inflicted the pangs and pains of hardship Nigerians currently exoerience on them by himself without consultation with anyone.

He said the President implemented the fuel subsidy removal and floating of the Naira as demanded by International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank with no recourse to the council of Ministers and the National Assembly hence the problems.

Gadu said this amidst attempts by some South West people across Churches, socio-cultural groups including Sunday Igboho-led Yoruba Nation militants and traditional rulers community to shift blame of the unprecedented hardship to what they unappologetically call the “North that contribute nothing” and “forced marriage called amalgamated Nigeria” in order to exonerate their own, President Tinubu.

In a viral video watched by The DEFENDER, Pastor Femi Emmanuel, the Presiding Pastor of the Livingspring Chapel International, while preaching in the church, clearly exonerated Tinubu, as he practically knocked and blamed Northern Nigeria as responsible for the problems of the country he called a fraud even as it is obvious that with number one to twenty of his government being Yoruba or his own long allies, Tinubu is fully in charge and not the North.

Pastor Emmanuel said: “I pray God will give Asiwaju the courage to do it because it will affect even himself. It will affect all the APC powers. It will affect all the MDs of banks. The MDs of banks are the destroyers of this system. The powerful, the high and tge mighty, he is stepping on their toes. I pray God gives him the grace to do it.”

It will be recalled that Pastor Femi Emmanuel, who is said to be exonerating Tinubu from hardship caused by his government’s misapplied policies of fuel removal and naira now, was among the Church community that stood against his emergence because of their anti-Muslim-Muslim campaign of pre-2023 election. Same with Sunday Igboho, who is now acting like spokesman of the President event to the extent of insulting some other Yoruba traditional rulers.

Their new pro-Tinubu’s stand now is making many to question the sincerity of what they describe as preaching of hate by Yoruba clerics and others, who see Tinubu’s government as Yoruba’s time to show the stuff they are made of against the same North that worked him to power.

Pastor Emmanuel, continuing, particularly said, “The next thing he (Tinubu) should do, tell him if you know him, is to restructure this country. Nigeria is fraud. One particular tribe repressing the whole of us. Did you hear what Central Bank Governor wants to do? Just a department. The operations department of Central Bank to be moved back to Lagos, where you have 99 percent of the headquarters of banks. The North is agitating, ‘Don’t take Anuja back to Lagos’. They don’t care! If we all become beggars, it’s okay for their oligarchy mentality.

“I talk like no other pastor talks because I have seen into governance, I have seen into the church and I know where the problem is in this country. Are you hearing me? You may not like what I saying but you cannot dispute the truth. This country cannot go on like this.

“I was talking about those who migrated. I don’t blame those that want to japa. You know initially I was blaming those who japa, do you hear me say that again. Japa if you want to japa o.

“Because you look at the country and say, what future? If it goes on line this, what future? If it goes on line this, Civil War is imminent. If it goes on line this, military intervention is imminent! Do we want to go back to that? No! Something must happen. I have always believed that something must happen.

“Do you seevtge way we pray in this church? Make Nigeria one. Nigeria is not one and we can never be one. We are different nations toed together by force. We should still be one country but let everybody govern himself the way he likes. Let the Niger Delta have their oil. Let the Eastbhave their resources. Let the Yoruba people have their resources. Let the North have their resources. Let them manage their security. Give everybody state police. Let everybody guardhis border. Let everybody generate his economy.

“Why must you generate oil in the Niger Delta and take it to the North? Why must you generate IGR here, all the VATs abd take it to the North that generates nothing?

“The 10 key Northern states have Sharia. Sharia says no to alcohol. Sharia says no to tobacco. But alcohol and tobacco is what give us VAT here and you take the money from there to spend where you say you say you don’t want. But you like tge money.

“Hoooooor! Fraud! Fraud!! Fraud!!!” And tge Church congregation bursted into a huge applause. He continued, “Fraud! Unfairness! Injustice!”

He asked, “Where did we sit down to make Nigeria a 36 states? Nigeria was negotiated three regions, 1963 by Plebysite Mid-West came in. Where did we sit down and say we shall be 36 states plus Abuja and tge biggest ones taken to the North, more Local Governments?

“Then we cane with Federal Character, you are qualified but from the tribe you came from you can’t be qualified. Now you can’t pass any law in that National Assembly without Northern approval. They are in larger quantity, deliberately made so! How do we go from here?” Pastor Femi Emmanuel asked during the Church service that should have been dedicated to cleansing the hearts of congregation to become better Nigerians but ended up making them return home full of hate in their respective hearts against other fellow Nigerians.

Like Pastor Emmanuel said his own, Sunday Igboho, upon return to the country for the burial of his mother, recently also said his with him reiterating his call for Oduduwa Republic saying the Hausa-Fulani and Yoruba people, who have interrelated as brothers and sisters as well as husbands and wives since 1814 over 100 years in amalgamated Nigeria, cannot live together. He has, however, been countered by some other Yoruba leaders represented by a voice in a video warning Tinubu against allowing him (Igboho) to penetrate him as he is a scammer.

But in what looks like correcting the wrong impressions about problems of the nation and its good peoples under the current administration of a President from the tribe of Pastor Femi Emmanuel and militant Sunday Igboho but which are being shifted to Northerners, an entirely neutral Ilyasu Gadu did an Open Letter that has been widely circulated in the Nigerian Press (including The DEFENDER) redirecting the people wgat actually is responsible for the hardship.

In the letter he explicitly asked Tinubu to take responsibility for the consequences of his actions on the policies of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, which he decided unilaterally to implement and impose on Nigerians without required consultation with the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly, domestically.

Gadu believes that the challenges of Nigeria predate Tinubu to the tail end of former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration when the new naira policy of the time threw Nigerians into economic hardship but stopped during the same Buhari’s administration.

He was disappointed that Tinubu, who should bring hope of a better time to Nigerians, ended up making lives unprecedentedly difficult for the people by his romance with IMF and World Bank policies – which Buhari refused to embrace – and still vows that he will not go back from doing so.

Ilyasu Gadu said, “For sure this situation predates your coming to power. Towards the end of the President Buhari administration, which you took over from, Nigerians were subjected to a callous, ill-thought-out currency reform programme implemented by then Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, which threw many businesses into insolvency and even bankruptcy.

“The policy, as we were told then, was designed to introduce new currency notes into circulation and for this there was need to mop up existing ones. But in reality, as we came to know, the measure was political, targeted to achieve the objective of influencing the outcome of the upcoming national elections.

“Although the policy was eventually stopped following massive nationwide protests and court action instituted against it, the damage had been done to the psyche of most Nigerians who had suffered its severe effects.

“Subsequently, by the time of your election and inauguration, many Nigerians have been so battered economically and socially that they were only barely surviving. Mr President in that situation, many looked forward to your coming as a glimmer of hope with the expectation that things will change however slightly for the better.

“But the expected hope soon evaporated in the air following your surreptitious and whimsical decision to hike the price of petroleum products which you termed ‘’removal of subsidies’’. You also moved to massively devalue the naira under the pretext of ‘’merging the exchange rates’’ all on the very day of your inauguration on May 29, 2023. Since then, all hell has been unbound in the economy leading to the difficulties and uncertainty we now face as a country.

“As Nigerians now increasingly groan under the excruciating pains of your economic measures three things are now evident; your policies have all but killed the strong and resilient ‘’informal economy’’ which formed the bedrock of sustenance of many Nigerians; and apparently you came with no concrete remedial economic plans to ameliorate the pains you have caused, leading Nigerians to believe you actually came to continue the woes Buhari inflicted; and finally in the process you have lost whatever reverence and regard they have of you as a crusader for social justice in the country.

“These three elements are the fuel feeding the storm currently heading towards Nigeria with a frightening gale force velocity.

“Mr President, as it is now very few in Nigeria would connect you with the political activist who fought the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha to a standstill over issues of social justice in the country.

“Equally, many who saw and heard you lead the protests against President Goodluck Jonathan when he marginally increased the pump price of petroleum products in 2012, a measure you described as ‘’Goodluck Jonathan tax’’ and whom you termed as ‘’drunken fisherman’’ are surprised that you have even surpassed these two leaders in causing more pain to Nigerians.

“It has not helped matters that in the midst of the pains and suffering you have caused the people of the country, you stated flatly that there will be no review of the policies. In other words, Nigerians should not expect a letup from the knee you have placed on their throats with your suffocating economic policies.

“Mr President Nigerians know that you are not minded to take off the knee on their throats because you dare not go against both the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank from where your economic policies are derived. Indeed like the vampires they are, they have applauded you for causing more hardships for Nigerians and have even directed you to be prepared to implement more anti-people policies in the coming weeks.

“But Mr President, perhaps it might not have been pointed out to you, but what you should know is that the IMF and World Bank policies you are implementing in Nigeria are actionable under domestic and international law for the following reasons;

“Any International organisation made up of willing sovereign members where one or more members decide to unilaterally alter or change the terms and conditions of the agreement setting up the organisation without consultation with other members renders that organisation and its activities null and void in law.

“In 1971 President Richard Nixon of America invoked Executive Order 11615 under the Economic Stabilization Act passed by the American Congress unilaterally and without consultation with other members and removed the gold and dollar peg which the United States had agreed to and had been enshrined as the guiding principle of the Bretton Woods system.

“With this unilateral action on the part of the US, the Bretton Woods system effectively collapsed rendering the operations of both IMF and World Bank illegal under International law. By the same token, the activities of both institutions can thus be challenged under the domestic law of member countries. Even a review of the action of the United States which was done six years later, in 1976, in Jamaica by member countries, this very fact could not be resolved.

“Mr President, this effectively means that in both domestic and international law your dealings with the IMF and World Bank including signing and implementing policies agreed upon with these two bodies can be actionable under domestic and international law especially given that you implemented the decisions without the ratification of a council of Ministers and the National Assembly,” he said in the letter yet to be published in full.