I urge Nigerians to compare the feebleness of Oby Ezekwesili, a former minister of education, and World Bank Vice President, with how vociferous she was in the last four years of the Jonathan administration.
Strange, is it not? Oby was very vocal against the Jonathan government. I often wondered why, until she let slip last year (2021), that she was offered an appointment by the Jonathan administration, but turned it down.
That was a lie. She was never offered an appointment, even though we knew she was desperate to get one. Since she is the one who made the allegation, I challenge her to provide evidence that she was offered an appointment that she turned down. Oby is just a hustler!
And this much was demonstrated by one of Nasir El-Rufai’s minions, who publicly revealed, after a tiff with Oby, that Mrs Ezekwesili was the hidden finger behind much of their propaganda against former President Jonathan, stating that she coordinated their social media activities via WhatsApp messages and texts.
Now, we have had an unprecedented bombing of a train by terrorists, with loss of lives that Bola Tinubu put at “over 60”, including Dr. Chinelo Megafu, the national Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress, and a director of the National Board of Technical Education, amongst others, and Oby’s voice is missing.
Two days before that carnage, terrorists took over the Kaduna Airport, which is also unprecedented, and again, auntie Oby was SILENT beyond some feeble noises on Twitter.
This was a woman that organised protests, rolled on the floor, called press conferences, used harsh language on former President Jonathan and functionaries of his administration.
She claimed she was motivated by the alleged corruption and insecurity in the last administration. Fair enough.
But according to Transparency International, Nigeria is now more corrupt than at any time since 1999. In fact, whereas we were 136 in 2015, we have now moved to 154 out of 180 countries surveyed, falling back five places from our rank of 149 in 2020.
And Nigeria under Buhari is now the third most terrorised nation in the world, according to the Global Terror Index. Only Afghanistan and Iraq are worse than Nigeria.
And good a thing that Oby was herself a former Vice President of the World Bank, because that institution published a report on Tuesday, March 29, titled ‘NIGERIA POVERTY ASSESSMENT 2022: A Better Future for All Nigerians’, in which the institution extolled the Jonathan years as one in which Nigerians prospered.
According to the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria started reducing drastically around May of 2010. What happened in May of 2010? On May 5, 2010, Jonathan became the President of Nigeria after Yar’adua died.
Also, according to the World Bank, the decline in poverty in Nigeria continued until the second half of 2015, whereupon it started rising.
What happened in the second half of 2015? Buhari became President.
I urge Nigerians to read that report. It is an eye opener.
To quote from page 11 of the report:
“Between 2000 and 2014, Nigeria enjoyed a period of sustained expansion, during which the economy grew by around 7 percent per year, outstripping the estimated annual population growth rate of 2.6 percent. Yet real GDP growth dropped to 2.7 percent in 2015, then -1.6 percent in 2016.”
To quote from page 24:
“They also suggest that poverty may have started declining in the first part of the 2010s, but that this trend halted and then reversed around 2015. This is unsurprising—and indeed is hardwired into the back-casting model through real GDP growth estimates—given the 2016 recession.”
And yet, their former Vice President, who was so vociferous under an administration that was reducing poverty, is now feeble under a regime that has dramatically increased poverty and turned Nigeria into the world headquarters for extreme poverty? What is wrong Oby? Why has the cat got your tongue?
I have been racking my brain trying to figure out why Oby cannot or will not talk today. Is it because she is a beggar with a receipt, according to the public allegation made against her by Bello El-Rufai, to which she had still not responded.
Do the All Progressives Congress and the El-Rufais have her on tape doing unimaginable things?
Oby cannot or will not talk today. Yet, she opened her mouth waaaaa under Jonathan! Who knows what else she opened for El-Rufai!
On Saturday, March 26, 2022, terrorists took over Kaduna Airport. On Monday, March 28, 2022, they bombed the Abuja-Kaduna train. On Tuesday, March 29, 2022, they attacked Southern Kaduna. On Wednesday, March 30, 2022, they went house to house in Kubwa FCT and eventually abducted a monarch. On Thursday, March 31, 2022, they blocked the Abuja-Kaduna road. And Buhari is hiding in Aso Rock?
I ask Nigerians if Oby Ezekwesili would be this silent, if half of these things had happened under Jonathan? Naira has collapsed. Nigeria is now the world headquarters for extreme poverty. Life in Nigeria is now short and brutal. But Oby is quiet. Is Oby observing good table manners?
Because, this would appear to be out of character with the Oby we saw under Jonathan. Oby should speak up. If there is duress or blackmail involved, we can help her. She does not have to suffer in silence. The nation needs her voice.
Or could it be that she has been frustrated into silence over the continuous progress of Dr. Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who she has tried, without any type of success, to measure herself against? Oh Oby, we know about that.
In any case, history is being written as we speak, and it will certainly not be kind to auntie Oby. Not at all. Not at all!
Reno’s Nuggets
Sunday is not a special day
Sunday is not a Christian day
Sunday is not a holy day
Christ did not go to the Synagogue on Sunday
Christ went to the Synagogue on the Sabbath Day as lifetime custom-Luke 4:16
Sunday is not different from Monday to Friday
The only day that God set aside is the Sabbath Day, and it is not Sunday.
Neither Christ nor His disciples, nor the New Testament abolished the Sabbath Day. God established the Sabbath Day in Genesis 2:3, and He reminded His people that they must “observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a PERPETUAL covenant.”-Exodus 31:16.
You can now insult me!
Omokri was aide to former President Jonathan of Nigeria