23/03/2026
RANDOM MUSINGS:
A STATE VISIT, CRUDE OIL MIDDLEMEN AND ONE OTHER THING.
with
Ben C. Abraham.
A STATE VISIT AND NO ‘WONDER’
Nigeria, I mean this presidency, broke some kind of record this past week. They pulled off what hadn’t been done in 37 years; a British monarchy State visit for a Nigerian Head of State. The last time the horse-and-carriage welcome held was in 1989, and it was for the wily General, Ibrahim Babangida. You can now understand the reason for the cheers, bear hugs, backslapping and champagne-popping. And the media? Oh, they splashed it all over! The British monarch rolling out the red carpet for a Nigerian leader? With all the heckling, shoving and badger by the ‘opposition’ sponsored US stare-down? You’ve got to cut these guys some slack. They pulled something off! And who said that the Jagaban couldn’t hold his own at the pinnacle of royalty? Well, you saw him wine and dine and carry himself with the air of a man atop a Nation of 200+ million people. Despite this ‘achievement’, bad belle people whose stomach churn at success went to town with how the British monarch, King Charles III held the President’s hand to support him during the visit. Of note is the fact that the King is officially older than Tinubu. The anti-success horde didn’t understand how the older man should support the younger. The President’s visit to Turkey quickly came up again – the trip and fall. The hashtag trended. Why the hullaballoo? If anything, Nigerians are used to wonders. Older King Charles giving support to ‘younger’ Jagaban lest he fall is not unusual, it is not a wonder. What the President told us about his age is true and final. QED. For a thing to be considered a wonder in Nigeria in the real sense of the word, then it must be beyond the terrestrial realm. Things like the National Security Adviser, Ministers of Defence, Finance, Foreign Affairs and hundreds of Government officials going ahead of the President to wait and welcome him in UK is also not a wonder. Or is it? You know. Or is it the same group racing back to Lagos to welcome him to Nigeria just before the Eid prayers? That too is not a wonder. Or do you want to refer to the fact that while other sovereigns suspend or cut foreign trips in the event of a National calamity or emergency, our own went ahead with the UK visit a short while after the Borno bombings. It is not a wonder my friend. The daily deaths of Nigerians – military and civilians - at the hand of Boko Haram and Co is not a wonder. Those are mere statistics in a war that Nigeria is winning. Don’t even tell me that grapevine leaked that the State visit wasn’t state as in State; they say it was arrangee; and if you doubt it, look at the deals that were signed. The same source stated that the visit – a diplomatic image laundering - was in exchange for the deportation of ex-cons in His Majesty’s prisons, and the over N1trn ports renovation loan to be administered by the Creditor. This is not a wonder. In Nigeria, nothing is a wonder, and you know what? That in itself is a wonder.
DANGOTE AND THE MIDDLEMEN;
The Chair of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) revealed something rather unsettling in the week. Ikenga Ugochinyere, that is his name, stated that Nigerian crude oil was being sold to Dangote Refinery through middlemen in London and Dubai. He alleged that because of these intermediaries every $100 worth of crude added another $18 which go to these intermediaries without any added value. The Chair warned that unless this arrangement is checked, the refinery may run out of crude supplies with the attendant result of increased product pricing locally. Hon Ikenga made these revelations while addressing the media on Thursday last week. So far, neither NNPCL nor the Ministry of Petroleum Resources has responded. Sometime in December 2025, the Chairman of the Dangote Refinery and Africa’s richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote intensified his earlier criticism of what he described as criminal networks undermining Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, claiming that an “oil mafia” working in Nigeria exerted more influence than notorious drug cartels. He stated that resistance from entrenched interests opposed to local refining were at the helm of the sabotage noting that both local and international actors continue to benefit from Nigeria’s dependence on imported petroleum products. He emphasised that this mafia was threatening both private investment and national petroleum infrastructure. Since these weighty claims by Dangote himself, we have not heard of any inquiry, investigation or probe into how this mafia works and most importantly who they are. Unfortunately, Hon Ikenga’s allegations, though highly patriotic, sound more like a refrain. Have you forgotten the subsidy thieves? Or the post subsidy mismanagement currently going on? Or even the NNPCL’s refineries and how many trillions went into their turn-around? Mafia. I beg prayer warriors and other conjurers to rise and fight this mafia who have perpetually cast a spell on Nigeria just like Sisyphus the Greek king who was condemned by Zeus to the endless cycle of pushing a large boulder up the hill only for the boulder to roll back to the bottom. Oya gbadura!!
……AND ONE OTHER THING:
STILL ON PRE-2027 TENSIONS;
‘…in Ibadan here when they wanted to mess up I killed 32 people…even the police and the soldiers told me good job. President Tinubu will win the 2027 elections…’ The preceding quote is attributed to one Ambali Abdulkabir alias Shawarma, an Ibadan based self-confessed assassin, while expressing his support for President Tinubu ahead of the 2027 General elections. Shawarma made a video where he and his accomplices declared that the President had already won the election. By touting his exploits (real or fabricated), Shawarma was passing a message to anyone who cared to listen that victory for Jagaban would come at any price. Last week, I touched on the increasing decibel of dangerous rhetoric and actions ahead of 2027 citing the attack on Peter Obi in Benin and Rotimi Amechi in Rivers State as instances. But days before Shawarma made his video, Sunday Adeyemo aka Sunday Igboho, the self-styled Yoruba Nation agitator who recently returned from exile had spewed fire. In what many described as double-dealing, Igboho threatened that no other party would campaign in the South west except Tinubu and his APC, the ruling party. In very specific terms, Igboho addressed Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar thus, ‘no more useless Atiku or Obi in Yoruba land. If you know that you are crazy, campaign for one Atiku or Obi in Yoruba region’. Perhaps in a bid to prove his indebtedness for the presidential forgiveness Igboho went on, ‘Tinubu for second term, beyond 2027. 100 per cent. After eight years of Asiwaju, we’ll pray for extra years. Throughout Lagos and Yorubaland, it’s for Asiwaju. We will all vote for him’. While the security agencies have not reacted to the video and threats, some Nigerians have weighed in. The Obidient movement of Peter Obi have also responded and stated that Igboho should realize that Nigeria belonged to everyone. The last time I checked, Igboho was trying to carve out a Yoruba El Dorado from the present contraption. His reason for championing the defence of Yoruba land, amongst others, was the unchecked menace of the Fulani marauders and bandits who had pillaged villages and kidnapped and killed rural dwellers and travellers in Yoruba Land. For his daring actions against the caliphate, he was hounded and almost killed by the DSS. He fled for his life into Benin Republic where the then regime’s fangs still extended to. Under Tinubu he was welcomed home and I guess he has to pay back. You may ask if his South west utopian State has become a reality. Expecting the security agencies to crack down on these characters may be a long shot because we easily recall the ‘fight for it, sn**ch it, grab it’ declaration. In our part of the country we say, ‘agwo aghaghi imu ihe di ogologo’; the snake cannot miss birthing a long thing. In simple terms, like father like sons. Before I sign out, I heard that Jagaban was recently visited by two eminent Nigerians – General Yakubu Gowon and General TY Danjuma – in A*o Rock. What did they even tell him? Ok. For now, over to the DSS.
