Parable Of Tinubu’s Wristwatch

I never knew that Kashim Shettima is a good story teller. Last Thursday, he regaled Nigerians with some tales about the austere lifestyle of President Bola Tinubu at a book launch in Abuja. According to Nigeria’s Vice-President, Tinubu has a good soul and he is a leader we can invest our trust in.

Hear him: “He (Tinubu) is not in power to engage in primitive capital accumulation. He is in power to leave landmarks in the sands of time. He is the most demonized politician in Nigeria. The first time I went to his house at Bourdillon, I was looking forward to seeing a mansion comparable to Buckingham Palace, with gardens, and swimming pools, but there was nothing special about that house. My house in Maiduguri is better than the house in Bourdillon.”

Shettima added that at the formative stage of the All Progressives Congress (APC) they held a meeting in Tinubu’s house where they were served a variety of sumptuous meals. But Tinubu “opted to take garri with groundnut for lunch. Since I have known him, he has been using only one wristwatch, and in fact, I dress better than him.” His candid advice is that Nigerians should “rally around this poor man” who means well for Nigeria. Poor Tinubu!

Shettima’s paradoxical parable teaches us that Tinubu does not care much about the things of this world; and that we should emulate his frugality, humility and love for Nigeria. Incidentally, he is a public figure. His worldview, lifestyle and worldly acquisitions are not hidden.

In Lagos where the President was governor for eight years, he is reputed to own many properties. He was the one who, as governor, initiated the life pension law for former governors and their deputies in 2007. The Lagos life pension law, which former President Olusegun Obasanjo described as daylight robbery, stipulated that a two-term former governor of Lagos State, starting from him, was entitled to a house each in Abuja and Lagos, six brand new cars every three years, some domestic servants, 100 per cent of the basic annual salary of the incumbent governor per annum, 300 per cent of annual basic salary as furniture allowance and many other entitlements. The Lagos State House of Assembly only slashed the pension benefits by 50 per cent in 2021. The President’s grip on Lagos is such that no one can become governor of Lagos without his stamp of approval.

As President, Tinubu moves in a convoy that could make the United States President green with envy. Not satisfied with the jets in the presidential fleet, he moved to acquire a brand new one. Last week, Zhongshan Fucheng Industrial Investment Co. Ltd., a Chinese company which had a raw business deal with the Ogun State government, obtained a court order seizing three of our presidential jets in France. One of the seized aircraft happens to be the newly purchased Airbus A330 valued at over $100 million.

In September 2023, Tinubu was in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Reports indicated that for the one week he stayed in that city, Nigeria spent $507,384 or N390.6 million on hotel rooms alone. He appointed 48 ministers, the highest since the inception of this democracy in 1999. Also, there are hundreds of presidential and ministerial aides.     

In the 2023 supplementary budget of 2.17 trillion, Tinubu’s government earmarked N5 billion for Presidential Yacht, N1.5 billion for purchase of vehicles for the office of the First Lady, N2.9 billion for SUVs for the Presidential Villa, N4 billion for the renovation of the residential quarters of the President and N12.5 billion for the Presidential Air Fleet, among other profligate spending.

In June this year, the President graciously commissioned the official residence of the Vice-President which cost the nation a humongous sum of N21 billion. Obviously, Shettima is overjoyed at this gesture. So, praising Tinubu for using one wristwatch is the little he could do to return the favour his principal has done for him.

One good thing about Tinubu is that he does not eat alone. He usually invites many of his friends and supporters to his dining table. Under him, Nigerian lawmakers have enjoyed a lot of perks, notwithstanding the hardship in the country. In October 2023, each of the 469 members of the National Assembly took delivery of new sport utility vehicles worth between N130 million and N160 million. This cost a total of N57.6billion. These legislators have received and continued to receive sundry allowances, including the one Senator Godswill Akpabio called ‘prayer token’. Apparently, this is to make it easier for them to enter heaven.

These wasteful spending have engendered public scrutiny over the salaries and allowances of these legislators. They claim they earn about N1 million monthly. But former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently accused them of unjustifiably fixing salaries and allowances for themselves. The Senate leadership not only descended on Obasanjo; they also denied his allegations.

But Senator Kawu Sumaila, who represents Kano South in the upper chamber, came up last week to state that each Senator gets N21 million monthly as ‘running cost’ contrary to what the Senate wanted us to believe. Former Senator Shehu Sani, who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th Senate, made similar revelation in 2018. According to him, he earned N13.5 million as running cost, outside his monthly salary and allowances of N750,000.

The Senate leadership has stridently denied these revelations. They say Senators receive only the salaries and allowances fixed by the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). Senate spokesperson, Yemi Adaramodu, added that running cost was not salary or personal allowance, but money meant for oversight functions, community engagements and the daily running of offices by senators and other attached statutory officials. The funds are purportedly meant to be retired by relevant officers. Talk of sophistry!  

The judiciary is also enjoying under Tinubu. Recently, the President approved a 300 per cent salary/allowance increase for judicial officers. This is apparently to compensate them for the great work they do in interpreting and misinterpreting the laws of the land, especially when it comes to election petitions.

It is unfortunate that some people, wittingly or unwittingly, misuse the lifeline the President has given to them. Last week, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) granted administrative bail to the Executive Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) Jalal Arabi, and the Secretary of the Commission, Abdullahi Kontagora, over allegations of gross misappropriation of the N90 billion subsidy for 2024 Hajj. More arrests have been made and investigations are ongoing.

The truth is that profligacy under this present government is unparalleled in recent history. Some government officials enjoy globetrotting in the name of attending conferences or looking for investors. This does not show seriousness in a country purportedly led by someone who has worn one wristwatch and inexpensive clothes for years. Let’s be serious for once please!

The worst is that the majority of the citizens are dying of hunger and other deprivations. I read with tears the account of a widow who fed her children with chicken feed in Akwa Ibom State the other day. Some Nigerians now pick food from the dustbin. Some others have made begging their major source of livelihood. They have no choice because they have no job and have been incapacitated by the hyperinflation we have had to contend with since this government came on board in May 2023.

One politician who has given Nigerians hope about the future is Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election. He is one billionaire politician who does not bother much about flamboyance. Though he is frugal, he spends money on causes that are worthy and absolutely important. He is the one Shettima should praise when it comes to austere lifestyle and not the President. Nigerians are not blind and deaf. They see and hear how our top politicians fritter away our national resources. So, telling us to clap for Tinubu for wearing one wristwatch and living in a low-cost house in Ikoyi, Lagos, is nothing but cock and bull story!     

Re: Toast to JAMB Registrar, Oloyede

Dear Casy, I commend Prof. Oloyede for shifting the paradigm in JAMB. He has made the world to know that JAMB can remit far more than it was remitting to the FG coffers before he (Oloyede) was appointed. He seems to be a man of integrity. However, his academic discipline frightens me. All his degrees are in Arabic. I have a feeling that he might be the next INEC Chairman when the tenure of the current one expires in 2025. Can such a man be honest enough as INEC chairman in any election, especially presidential election that involves a Muslim against a Christian? Can he declare the real results?

–Ifeanyi, from Owerri, 0806 156 2735

Well said Editor. Prof. Oloyede is an uncommon public servant. But, JAMB is an exam body not a revenue or profit-making agency. I am not impressed with it remitting N50bn every year to the federal government. It’s implicit tax on candidates and their parents. The right thing is to reduce JAMB exam fees. JAMB should charge such fees to maintain itself and have a modest reserve. It’s cruel to tax candidates/parents and hand over the money to a financially reckless FG.

–Ugo, 0805 470 0139

Casmir, Prof Oloyede is a professor indeed. He is certainly doing a yeoman’s job by trying to sanitise an education sector that is oozing out putrid odour at the tertiary level. These giant strides deserve commendation as you have rightly done. He is a shining light in a country where moral values are at basal levels vis a vis corruption! What he is doing is utopian in Nigeria! Only men of honour, good principles as well as good conscience mixed with the fear of God do that. He doesn’t want to have his hands soiled; a virtue missing in our political leaders! Someone with an attitude of don’t struggle if there is nothing in it can’t do it. To such people, life starts and ends here on planet earth. But to prof, it is the good of the larger society that is motivating him to greater heights. We need more of Prof Oloyede in all our institutions – academia and non-academia – for him not to be a lone voice in the wilderness. The desperation that makes admission seekers & parents dwell in vices must be tamed or curtailed at all cost.

-Mike, Mushin, 0816 111 4572