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Fuel Subsidy: Patrick Obahiagbon Speaks On Tinubu’s Directive
In a recent interview, Patrick Obahiagbon, renowned politician and former campaign manager, shared his thoughts on various aspects of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership, including his victory in the presidential election and his stance on fuel subsidy removal.
On the topic of President Tinubu’s position on the removal of fuel subsidy, Obahiagbon expressed his surprise at the criticism.
“Am maniacally bewildered that the righteous position of Mr. President on subsidy has generated some verbal animadversion from some censorious analysts. What did the President say that was new? Mr. President only gave a Presidential obiter dictum to what was already a self-fulfilling reality. It just goes to demonstrate the fact that we are our problems in this country.” He remarked (Most people knew subsidy would be removed so President Tinubu merely did the obvious)
Regarding concerns about Tinubu’s statement causing chaos and panic, Obahiagbon responded, “It verges on hair-splitting and sciamachy for critiques to go to town calumniating Mr. President as being culpable for the pandemonium that greeted his statement when he said at the presidential inauguration that the regime on subsidy has come to an end. He was only echoing a legal reality that the Buhari government has enthroned.
“Has there not been regular chaos in this aspect of our lives before Mr. President’s statement? There was no basis for the chaos following his speech since this was a situation the nation was well aware of. Let us blame our mephistophelian profiteers, philistine carpet baggers, and prebendal homo-sapiens,
“What we need right now is an audacious leader capable of providing himself as a political minesweeper and taking the big decisions. So from that point of view, Mr President’s asseveration on the subsidy indaba was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Obahiagbon asserted. (What he means is that Tinubu’s decision on subsidy is great but we should blame profiteers for the initial chaos)
He further stated that “My sense of fulfillment can be announced at mountain Olympus. The presidential campaign was quite enervating and mentally sapping no doubt but I was not didymusian that we were going to huzzah a political eureka at the terminus ad quem with a clinical and unstoppable presidential victory for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” expressed Obahiagbon confidently when asked about Tinubu’s presidency. (He’s simply saying that he was sure of Tinubu’s victory).
Regarding the claims of flawed election processes made by the Labour Party (LP) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Obahiagbon responded, “The claim by both the LP and PDP that the election was rigged falls flat in the face of a cornucopia of objective realities. So President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had the leverage of rigging the Presidential election and he did not factor in Lagos state in the rigging plan? So there was a rigging agenda and former President Muhammadu Buhari who was then the Commander-in-Chief did not factor in Katsina state in the agenda? So when the Labour Party had a clean sweep in the South East and the Christian middle belt, there was no rigging?
“The truth of the matter is that President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the most politically prepared and as someone who joined other’s in managing the presidential campaigns all over the country, I can pontificate on the fact that he was not only the one who worked the most but he was the only presidential candidate that broke the shackles of meningistinal statism, ethnocentric chauvinism, gangrenous parapoism, syphilitic tribalism and all other fault lines of our national ossification and prebendalism.
“How could the Labour Party have won the election with no national political architecture and how was PDP going to win with its political house enveloped in a state of political topsy-turvydom and especially when it was inebriated in a Frankenstein aqua? (LP didn’t have the structure and PDP was disunited)
When asked about his confidence in Tinubu, Obahiagbon stated, “My great sense of aplomb was situated in political pragmatism and historical realism from the point of view of the fact that it was audible to the deaf and visible to the blind that the People’s Democratic Party came into the contest corrosively decimated, performatively macadamized and centrifugally lacerated that it did not stand any chance.
“It was also pellucid to me that historically speaking, the Labour Party stood a ramshackle chance since it ran its campaign on the marshmallow of ethno-religious fault lines and the whirligig of the prevalent youth recusancy.”
Expressing his confidence in Tinubu’s abilities as President, Obahiagbon stated, “Am supremely confident he has the requisite mental pabulum, the leviathan sense of magnitude, and sheer audacity to take both the right and big decisions that will lift the country from the bootstraps of economic quagmire, political phantasmagoria, and social atrophy.
“His political history also proves that he is a political agglutinant with a gargantuan drive to provide the much-needed anodyne that would heal our pestilential and pestiferous national proclivities.” (He is saying Tinubu will perform)
When it comes to concerns about Tinubu’s age and health, Obahiagbon dismissed them, saying, “Again people are playing god here. Life and health are absolutely in the hands of the Great Architect of the Universe.
“In any case, with my impressions of him during the presidential campaign, he unmistakably comes across as a President that is as fit as a fiddle. Don’t forget that the Presidential campaign was one of the longest in our electoral history, and yet he went through it with a eulogisable regime of mental magnitude and physical agility.
“I don’t worry for his health, and let nobody be thrown into a state of heebie-jeebies on account of that.” (meaning Nigerians should not worry, Tinubu is fit and strong to deliver)
Embattled Nigerian pastor and founder of SPAC Nation, Tobi Adegboyega, has defended his opulent lifestyle, claiming it serves to inspire young people rather than flaunt wealth.
This statement comes amid a UK Immigration Upper Tribunal ruling ordering his deportation over visa violations.
Adegboyega, 44, faced accusations of overstaying his visitor visa, which expired after he arrived in the UK in 2005.
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He had applied to remain in the country on human rights grounds. The tribunal, however, ruled against him, citing his failure to regularize his status.
The pastor’s luxurious lifestyle, including designer clothing and expensive cars, was a focal point of the case.
Addressing the tribunal, Adegboyega stated that his lifestyle is fully funded by his wife, Mary Olubukola Alade, who earns £100,000 annually at AON.
He said, “I live with my partner, Mary Olubukola Alade, who earns £100,000 per year working for AON. I spend my time working for the church, for which I am unpaid. I am entirely supported by Mary. I have a first-class law degree from Nigeria, but I have ‘sacrificed’ my legal career to help those who cannot help themselves.”
Defending his appearance, Adegboyega emphasized the importance of projecting success to his young congregation.
The court noted, “For instance, people have pointed to the fact that he wears designer clothing and drives expensive cars. He was adamant that all of his personal possessions had been paid for by Mary.
“He believes it is important for him to dress the way that he does because he needs to inspire these young people – they need to understand that there are legitimate ways of making money, for instance through entrepreneurship.”
Despite the ruling, Adegboyega dismissed the deportation concerns as insignificant.
“I’m right here at home, no cause for alarm. Naturally, I will dismiss things that have to do with retrogression; every Nigerian should be proud of me. Living in the UK, a city that is well known for pulling people down, I have survived all sorts, so the matter that they are propagating is the smallest matter,” he said.
He further expressed confidence in his resilience. “No panic, I love London city, it is my city, and nobody can do anything. Of all the people of colour you know here – pastors and leaders – I have survived everything. I’m here, I am at home, nobody should panic for me.
“I succeeded well in this country despite all challenges, and I’m in the league of people you look up to. I have survived that well; nothing has changed, nothing will change,” he added.
Amid the growing controversy surrounding the detention of human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi, renowned Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Aare Afe Babalola has publicly addressed the defamation allegations leveled against Farotimi.
The legal action stems from claims made in Farotimi’s book, Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System, which Babalola asserts contains false and defamatory statements about him and his law firm, Afe Babalola & Co.
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In a petition dated November 19 and submitted to the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Adeniran Akinwale, Babalola accused Farotimi of making “criminally defamatory” statements about him, his law firm, and two senior lawyers at his firm, Olu Daramola SAN and Ola Faro.
The defamatory remarks are tied to the Supreme Court case Major Muritala Gbadamosi Eletu & Ors v. H.R.H. Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors.
Babalola revealed that the allegations came to light when one of his lawyers purchased Farotimi’s book while traveling through Murtala Muhammed Airport.
After reading the book, the lawyer immediately brought its contents to Babalola’s attention.
Other members of his firm reportedly did the same, prompting the senior lawyer to take legal action.
In his petition, Babalola pointed to specific passages in Farotimi’s book that accused him of corruption and unethical conduct. The petition reads:
“I write to report the criminal defamation of myself, my law firm Afe Babalola & Co., and my lawyers, Olu Daramola SAN and Ola Faro, by one Dele Farotimi in his book titled ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’, published by Dele Farotimi Publishers, in respect of Suit No. SC/146/2005: Major Muritala Gbadamosi Eletu & Ors v. H.R.H. Oba Tijani Akinloye & Ors.
“Sometime on 2/11/2024, one of our lawyers, while traveling through Murtala Muhammed Airport, bought a book by Dele Farotimi titled ‘Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System’. He read the book and immediately brought it to my attention. Many of my lawyers also bought the book and read it.”
“The defamatory statements are as follows:
- That Aare Afe Babalola corrupted the Supreme Court to procure a fraudulent judgment in the service of his client.
- That Aare Afe Babalola, Olu Daramola, Olu Faro, and the law offices of Afe Babalola & Co. (Emmanuel Chambers) compromised the Supreme Court and the remaining semblance of integrity it might have had, when they went back to the Supreme Court and got the Court to swim in the sewer of corruption and shameful self-abnegation.”
Babalola strongly denies the allegations, claiming that they are false and damaging to both his personal reputation and the integrity of the Nigerian judiciary.
Nigerian author and activist Dele Farotimi’s book, Nigeria and Its Criminal Justice System, has surged to bestseller status on Amazon amid a legal battle with prominent lawyer and businessman, Afe Babalola.
The controversy surrounding the book has captivated public attention, driving both online and offline demand.
The book, which critiques systemic corruption in Nigeria’s judiciary and highlights alleged misconduct by key legal figures, saw modest sales following its release in July 2024.
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However, Farotimi’s arrest on Tuesday, following a petition filed by the 93-year-old Babalola, triggered a wave of public curiosity.
By Thursday evening, it had climbed to the top of Amazon’s bestseller rankings, according to checks by Vanguard. Bookstores across Nigeria also reported a significant uptick in demand.
Biztellers reports that Farotimi was detained in Lagos by armed police officers and transported to Ado Ekiti, about 300 kilometers northeast of the city, where Babalola is based.
The senior lawyer alleged that the book accused him of compromising Nigeria’s judiciary—a claim that has sparked heated debates about freedom of speech and accountability in the legal profession.
On Wednesday, Farotimi was arraigned in an Ekiti court, where the judge ordered his remand pending a bail hearing scheduled for December 10.
Farotimi’s legal team has vowed to contest the charges, framing the case as an attack on intellectual freedom.
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