Dear former First Lady,

You asked the question that millions outside the US have been asking for weeks if not months: Why can’t America see former President Donald Trump for who he is – a congenital liar, a narcissist, a fascist, and a demagogue?

At a campaign rally in Michigan on October 26, you criticised those holding Democratic candidate Kamala Harris to a higher standard than they have held Donald Trump despite his four chaotic years as president and his even more crooked lifestyle, long before that.

“I’ve got to ask myself,” you said, “why on Earth is the race even close?” There are a few possible answers.

Crucify immigrants

Trump and his campaign have been telling Americans precisely what they want to hear: that their problems have been caused mainly by immigrants stealing their jobs.

And that under Joe Biden’s presidency, during which his deputy, Harris, has been the “border tzar,” illegal immigration has worsened to the point where a floating sea of rotten immigrants from Puerto Rico now threatens to submerge their country. They must take their country back.

He has been telling them that their country, once the beacon of exceptionalism, has been captured by the Deep State pursuing the vindictive and narrow agenda of a few. Trump has been telling Americans that fundamental values, such as freedom of expression and public trust, are under threat. Big media, he says, has been hijacked and can no longer be trusted as arbiters of the public good.

Socialism redux and victimhood

That’s not all. Trump is telling Americans that they’re currently in danger of something worse than the nanny state. Socialism and Marxism are in resurgence, and a country known for hard work, individualism, and limited state intervention is at the risk of being overrun by modern-day cousins of the Red Army.

In case they don’t believe him, Trump is telling Americans to look at his own life, his travails, as a living example of deep-state victimhood. He has been framed, lied against, prosecuted, persecuted and shot at for nothing other than mortal fear that he might indeed be the God-send to make America great again.

And if they don’t believe him, they can look at their own lives. In his classic Trumpian way, he has reminded them that they were better off under him, with less inflation and more money in their pockets for groceries. He even said on Tuesday that the stock market was rallying on the expectation of his victory.

It's a woke country

Trump is telling Americans – at least the conservatives –that a wave of wokeism and post-modernism on sexual orientation and preferences has seized America driving it down a depraved slope where gender pronouns will mean nothing anymore. This is the kind of thing that many evangelicals can’t say publicly but are pleased to hear amplified by Trump and his campaign.

Trump has also been discussing America’s place in the world. He has been saying the world was far more peaceful before Biden, that the war between Russia and Ukraine and the war in the Middle East, which has become a meatgrinder, were enabled by weak US leadership, epitomised by the disorderly and humiliating US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

You might argue, dear former First Lady, that Americans should know better and that the facts, for voters who care, contradict Trump on almost every count.

Killing facts

For example, there’s hardly any evidence for the anti-immigrant rhetoric of job stealing. According to a Brookings Senior Fellow, Vanda Felbab-Brown, “The impact of immigrant labour on the wages of native-born workers is low…undocumented workers often work the unpleasant, back-breaking jobs that native-born workers are not willing to do.”

Though Biden said three years ago that Harris was the most qualified to lead the administration’s efforts to manage the border with Mexico, she was never “border tzar,” as Trump has successfully branded her. It was another Trump lie. But all is fair in politics as in war.

Is the Deep State after Trump, making his life a misery for leading the Salvation Army? This claim of a deep-state offensive is at least four years old. It started with claims in 2020 that the “deep state” was slowing-walking vaccine treatment for Covid-19 so that he could lose re-election.

Scapegoating as art

Then, when he lost, he blamed the deep state for rigging him out and has doubled down on his anti-deep state rhetoric since, blaming everyone from civil servants in Washington to the FBI and the State Department for all his self-inflicted legal problems.

Dear First Lady, the race is tight because voters won’t have facts for dinner. The facts show that inflation, worsened by post-Covid-19 supply chain problems, is cooling, but voters feel poorer than before. They are clinging to the false nostalgia that Trump would bring back the old times, despite the forecast by 16 Nobel prize winners in Economics that the US economy will be worse off in a Trump second term.

Also, an inconvenient point, dear former First Lady, is that Kamala Harris is part-paying a backlash from Barack Obama’s era that your husband didn’t do enough for people of colour, especially blacks. This is a race of margins, and despite his charm and eloquence, your husband and former president has struggled to convince black male voters that Harris will serve them well.

Just as misery loves company, nothing makes greater company for voters than a scapegoat. Trump has scapegoated immigrants, the deep state, China, UK’s Labour Party, and virtually everyone in sight. And the biggest scapegoat of them all is Biden.

Unfortunately for him even the best presidents fall out of favour with voters by the end of their first term. Their achievements are often dwarfed by their flaws and demagogues whose mess they came to clean up begin to look like saints. Like Trump. That’s why the race is tight.

Double-edge sword

The false start by the Democratic Party after the catastrophic presidential debate didn’t help matters. Whatever advantage it may have conferred on Trump initially, the party lost time healing the wounds created by Biden’s preemptory removal.

Tight races are not new in US elections, but this one feels peculiarly tight because even though facts and decency suggest that it should have been a mismatch, America is being seduced by its worst self.

It’s a measure of the state of US politics today that even after the results have been announced and the winner declared, except if that winner is Trump, the former First Lady may find herself asking, why has US politics gone so low?

** Ishiekwene is the Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP and author of the book Writing for Media and Monetising It

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) says its members were unable to load petrol from the Dangote refinery for days.

Abubakar Garima, IPMAN’s president, spoke on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ programme on Wednesday.

Garima expressed surprise at the comments of Aliko Dangote, founder of the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, that marketers were bypassing his company to purchase imported petrol.

On October 29, Dangote had said his refinery had over 500 million litres of petrol available for sale.

The billionaire said retailers were not collecting available products to ease petrol queues, resulting in financial losses for the company.

In response, however, Garima said IPMAN members were not importing petrol, as claimed by Dangote.

The IPMAN president said the refinery should allow independent petrol marketers to register directly to facilitate access to the product, rather than require them to go through the NNPC.

“If he (Dangote) can be able to sell the product to us directly, we can buy the product, because we have to pay before we pick. Presently, we have N40 billion with the NNPC but we cannot source the product,” Garima said.

“Just of recent, there are some of our marketers that NNPC sent to load in Dangote refinery and those marketers stayed with their trucks for four days, and they couldn’t load.”

Garima said allowing independent marketers to load directly from the Dangote refinery — as NNPC does — could lead to a reduction in petrol prices.

The IPMAN president also urged Dangote to review his prices if marketers are opting to import petrol instead.

“Since he (Dangote) says marketers are not buying his product, he should check his price properly. Is it higher than what they are obtaining outside or is it the same rate?”

Garima said although some marketers might opt to sell imported petrol, Dangote should evaluate external market prices and consider the delivery timelines for marketers to stay competitive.

A Federal High Court in Abuja has barred the Central Bank of Nigeria from disbursing further monthly allocations to the Rivers State Government, citing alleged constitutional violations by Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

In her ruling on Wednesday, Joyce Abdulmalik, the presiding judge, found that Governor Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget to a four-member House of Assembly breached constitutional protocol.

Abdulmalik highlighted that since January, Rivers State has received and spent allocations based on an “illegitimate” budget, describing this as a “constitutional aberration.”

The court order further restricts the CBN, the Accountant General of the Federation, and the state’s accounts at Zenith Bank and Access Bank from releasing any funds to Fubara.

The judge contended that the governor’s actions ignored constitutional requirements for budget approval by a fully constituted House of Assembly.

Delivering judgment in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/984/2024, Abdulmalik declared that decisions made by the four-member Fubara-backed assembly were void, referencing prior rulings by the Federal High Court and Court of Appeal that had annulled its authority.

Abdulmalik stressed the CBN’s responsibility to ensure that state budgets are approved by a constitutionally recognised House of Assembly before releasing funds.

“Any appropriation bill must pass through the constitutionally recognised House of Assembly,” she stated, “without which any budget implementation is unlawful.”

The ruling also held that Fubara’s actions violated Sections 91 and 96 of the 1999 Constitution, and warned that any continued bypassing of legislative processes constituted an affront to the rule of law.

The court’s decision followed a suit filed by the Rivers House of Assembly faction led by Martin Amaewhule, challenging the legitimacy of the four-member faction loyal to Fubara.

The Amaewhule-led Assembly had earlier declared in July that all state expenditures would be halted until the governor resubmitted his budget to the legitimate legislative body.

Abdulmalik denied a request to stay the proceedings, dismissing the application as “frivolous and vexatious.” She also refused to recuse herself from the case, rejecting the defence’s allegations of bias.

Punch

As reactions continue to trill the judgement of a Federal High Court in Abuja on the Rivers State fund, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has cautioned the judiciary against acts capable of setting the state on fire. 

Atiku, while expressing dissatisfaction over the ruling, lamented that Nigerian courts are playing a more ignoble role in fostering political crises across the country.

The court on Wednesday barred the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from disbursing further monthly allocations to the Rivers State Government, citing alleged constitutional violations by Governor Siminalayi Fubara.

In her ruling, Joyce Abdulmalik found that Governor Fubara’s presentation of the 2024 budget to a four-member House of Assembly breached constitutional protocol.

The court order further restricts the CBN, the Accountant General of the Federation, and the state’s accounts at Zenith Bank and Access Bank from releasing any funds to Fubara.

Reacting, the 2023 Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in a statement by his Media Adviser, Paul Ibe, said it was appalling that “some elements loyal to the Federal Government were pulling the strings from behind” the scenes.

He wondered why Abdulmalik issued the order when it was public knowledge that Rivers State had already challenged the Court of Appeal’s judgment on the legality of Rivers State’s 2024 budget.

“Last week, the Court of Appeal declared that the Rivers State budget was illegal because it was passed by an inchoate assembly. The court ordered Fubara to present the budget afresh.

“The Rivers State Government has already filed a notice of appeal so that the Supreme Court can hear the matter.

“However, some elements in the Bola Tinubu administration have procured a judgement intended to undermine the Supreme Court.

“Even before the judgment was delivered, legal luminary, Femi Falana, had alerted the Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho of possible compromise after house gifts had been presented to judges in Abuja. Sadly, Falana’s warning was ignored,” the statement quoted Atiku as saying.

Atiku also praised the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, for summoning the judges involved in the Rivers State cases.

He, however, appealed to the nation’s top judge to ensure that those found wanting are disciplined in order to restore the fading glory of the judiciary.

The statement continued “The former Vice President said Nigeria has descended into the theatre of the absurd since the Tinubu administration took office.

“Courts are playing a more ignoble role in fostering political crises within political parties and even in states. From the emirship tussle in Kano State to the Rivers imbroglio where courts are going as far as preventing elections from holding, taking Nigeria back to the dark days of June 12, 1993, when polls were annulled.

“Sadly, under the leadership of those who claim to have fought for Nigeria’s democracy, the country is descending into chaos with conflicting orders from courts of coordinate jurisdiction flying all over the place while judges are being induced in the name of empowerment and provision of houses.

“The result is that Nigerians are gradually losing confidence in an institution which prides itself as the last hope of the common man. Foreign investors will avoid any place where judgments can be bought by the highest bidder.

“Nigeria should not descend to the Hobessian state of nature where life is short, nasty, and brutish, where citizens opt for self-help. Rivers State accounts for almost 25 per cent of Nigeria’s oil assets. For a country facing an economic crisis worsened by vandalism and banditry, Tinubu should put his 2027 ambition aside and put Nigeria’s interest first.

“We call on the Nigerian judiciary to restore its image before it gets too late.”

Daily Trust

Lebanon, Israel could agree to ceasefire within days, Lebanese prime minister says

Lebanon's prime minister expressed hope on Wednesday that a ceasefire deal with Israel would be announced within days as Israel's public broadcaster published what it said was a draft agreement providing for an initial 60-day truce.

The document, which broadcaster Kan said was a leaked proposal written by Washington, said Israel would withdraw its forces from Lebanon within the first week of the 60-day ceasefire. It largely aligned with details reported earlier by Reuters based on two sources familiar with the matter.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he had not believed a deal would be possible until after Tuesday's U.S. presidential election. But he said he became more optimistic after speaking on Wednesday with U.S. envoy for the Middle East Amos Hochstein, who was due to travel to Israel on Thursday.

"Hochstein, during his call with me, suggested to me that we could reach an agreement before the end of the month and before Nov. 5th," Mikati told Lebanon's Al Jadeed television.

"We are doing everything we can and we should remain optimistic that in the coming hours or days, we will have a ceasefire," Mikati said.

The draft published by Kan was dated Saturday. When asked to comment, White House national security spokesperson Sean Savett said: "There are many reports and drafts circulating. They do not reflect the current state of negotiations.”

But Savett did not respond to a query on whether the version published by Kan was at least the basis for further negotiations.

The Israeli network said the draft had been presented to Israel's leaders. Israeli officials did not immediately comment.

Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah have been fighting for the past year in parallel with Israel's war in Gaza after Hezbollah struck Israeli targets in solidarity with its ally Hamas in Gaza.

The conflict in Lebanon has dramatically escalated over the last five weeks, with most of the 2,800 deaths reported by the Lebanese health ministry for the past 12 months occurring in that period.

Hezbollah did not immediately comment on the leaked ceasefire proposal.

Earlier on Wednesday, the group's new leader, Naim Qassem, said the Iran-backed armed group would agree to a ceasefire within certain parameters if Israel wanted to stop the war, but that Israel had so far not agreed to any proposal that could be discussed.

It was Qassem's first speech as secretary-general, a day after Hezbollah announced his election to the post after Israel assassinated the group's longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

ISRAEL STRIKES HISTORIC CITY

Israel's operation against heavily armed Hezbollah in Lebanon continued to expand on Wednesday as the Israeli army launched heavy airstrikes on the eastern city of Baalbek, famed for its Roman temples, and nearby villages, security sources told Reuters.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese, including many who sought shelter in Baalbek from other areas, fled after an Israeli evacuation warning.

Bilal Raad, regional head of the Lebanese civil defence, said the scene was chaotic. "The whole city is in a panic trying to figure out where to go, there's a huge traffic jam," he said ahead of the bombardment.

Lebanon's health ministry said 19 people were killed in Israeli strikes on two towns in the Baalbek area on Wednesday.

It said 2,822 people have been killed in Israel's military campaign in Lebanon since October 2023. More than 1.2 million people have been displaced.

Following the airstrikes, the Israeli military said it had targeted Hezbollah fuel reservoirs in the Bekaa Valley region.

Responding to a question about Israel's bombardment of Baalbek, the U.S. State Department reiterated on Wednesday that Washington supports Israel's right to go after legitimate Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. But it said Israel must do so in a way that does not threaten civilians, critical civilian infrastructure and significant cultural heritage sites.

For a third straight day, Hezbollah reported intense fighting with Israeli forces in or around the southern town of Khiyam - the deepest Israel's troops are reported to have penetrated into Lebanon since fighting escalated five weeks ago.

Hezbollah also said it had targeted a military camp southeast of Tel Aviv in Israel with missiles.

PLAN FOR PERMANENT CEASEFIRE

The White House said U.S. security official Brett McGurk would visit Israel on Thursday along with Hochstein. A U.S. official had said they would be there to discuss a range of issues "including Gaza, Lebanon, hostages, Iran and broader regional matters".

The Lebanese prime minister did not comment on the draft proposal published by the Israeli network, which called for a permanent ceasefire to take effect after the initial 60-day period based on implementation of United Nations resolutions 1701 and 1559.

Mikati said Lebanon was ready to fully implement 1701, passed in 2006, which directed the demilitarisation of southern Lebanon and established a U.N. peacekeeping mission there.

Earlier this month, Hochstein told reporters in Beirut that better mechanisms for enforcement were needed as neither Israel nor Lebanon had fully implemented the 18-year-old resolution. The draft leaked on Wednesday called for creating an independent, international arrangement to oversee the ceasefire.

Resolution 1559 was adopted in 2004 and called for disbanding and disarming all militias in Lebanon.

The push for a ceasefire for Lebanon is taking place alongside a similar diplomatic drive to end hostilities in Gaza.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Russia asks at UN: If West aids Ukraine, why can't North Korea help us?

Russia's envoy to the United Nations on Wednesday questioned why its allies like North Korea could not help Moscow in its war against Ukraine given Western countries claim to the right to help Kyiv.

Vassily Nebenzia faced a blunt argument at a Security Council meeting from the United States, Britain, South Korea, Ukraine and others, who all accused Russia of violating U.N. resolutions and the founding U.N. Charter with the deployment of troops from North Korea (DPRK) to help Moscow.

"Supporting an act of aggression, which completely violates the principles of the U.N. Charter, is illegal," South Korea's U.N. Ambassador Joonkook Hwang said. "Any activities that are entailed with the DPRK's dispatch of troops to Russia are clear violations of multiple U.N. Security Council Resolutions."

Some 10,000 North Korean troops were already in eastern Russia and it appeared likely that they would be used to support combat operations in Russia's Kursk region, near the border with Ukraine, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday.

Nebenzia said Russia's military interaction with North Korea does not violate international law. Russia has not denied the involvement of North Korean troops in the war, which it has been waging in Ukraine since February 2022.

"Even if everything that's being said about the cooperation between Russia and North Korea by our Western colleagues is true, why is it that the United States and allies are trying to impose on everyone the flawed logic that they have the right to help the Zelenskiy regime ... and Russian allies have no right to do a similar thing," Nebenzia said.

Ukraine's U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya responded: "None of the countries that provide assistance to Ukraine is under Security Council sanctions."

"Receiving assistance from the fully-sanctioned North Korea is a brazen violation of the U.N. Charter," he added. "Sending the DPRK troops to support Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine is a flagrant violation of international law."

North Korea has been under U.N. Security Council sanctions since 2006 and the measures have been steadily strengthened over the years with the aim of halting Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

North Korea has not acknowledged the deployment of troops to Russia, but said any such move would be compliance with international law.

"If Russia's sovereignty and security interests are exposed to and threatened by continued dangerous attempts of the United States and the West, and if it is judged that we should respond to them with something, we will make a necessary decision," North Korea's U.N. Ambassador Song Kim told the council.

"Pyongyang and Moscow maintain close contact with each other on mutual security and development of the situation," he said.

However, deputy U.S. Ambassador Robert Woodward warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un: "Should DPRK's troops enter Ukraine in support of Russia, they will surely return in body bags. So I would advise Chairman Kim to think twice about engaging in such reckless and dangerous behavior."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Kremlin reveals key condition for Ukraine peace talks

No negotiations with Ukraine can take place unless Kiev gives up its attempts to join NATO and its troops withdraw from Russian territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary was commenting on speculation by the British outlet Financial Times about 'secret' peace between Russia and Ukraine talks, branding the story fake news.

Citing anonymous sources, the FT has claimed that Moscow and Kiev are “in preliminary discussions” to resume peace talks. According to the outlet, Ukraine is interested in restarting Qatar-mediated negotiations “that came close to an agreement in August before being derailed by Ukraine’s invasion of Kursk.”

“The basic conditions [for talks] were in the president’s peace initiative,” Peskov told reporters on Wednesday, referring to terms Putin outlined earlier this year, including the removal of all Ukrainian troops from Russian territory, Peskov said, referring to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as the full administrative boundaries of Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions.

The outlet also claimed that the Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services have reached a mutual understanding to stop targeting each other’s energy infrastructure, calling it “the most significant de-escalation” of the conflict to date.

Peskov responded by saying that “nowadays there are a lot of bogus stories that have nothing to do with reality,” adding that “even the most respectable publications do not shy away from planting this misleading information.”

Russia received a Turkish request to discuss energy infrastructure strikes last month, according to former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, who now serves as the secretary of the Security Council. According to Shoigu, Russia was willing to consider a potential deal, but the Ukrainian side rejected it.

Reuters/RT

When you finally read The Guardian editorial that drew the ire of presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga, you cannot help but wonder at his overreaction. For a Presidency that forged its path to power through journalistic propaganda, these people are too jumpy when they encounter media reports they consider unflattering. Even before being sworn into power, Onanuga had started gaming regulatory agencies against the media house that refused to drool before their almighty presence.

An egregious instance was the NBC imposition of a N5m fine on Channelsat their prompting. If the court had not put paid to that nonsense, that is the singular errand the NBC would have been running for this administration by now. The other day, their government also threatened to sue Daily Trust. Now, Onanuga is going after The Guardian? And that is not even counting his social media meltdowns. For an ex-journalist, this man sure has both the determination and zeal for single-handedly policing the media―old and new—on behalf of his principal. One can only wish him good luck on this crusade.

After reading through The Guardian article at least twice because I genuinely wanted to understand why a reputable media house would go to the extent of “openly inciting unrest against President Bola Tinubu’s administration and advocates regime change,” I found nothing of the sort either explicitly stated or implied. Onanuga had to have been responding to some other issue other than that piece. Whatever it is that bothers him, it has made him the proverbial old man who gets uneasy each time dry bones are mentioned in a proverb.

First, they must understand that nobody needs to read The Guardian or any other newspaper to be incited against a government that has systematically despoiled them, tanked the quality of their livelihood, and has no comfort to offer other than the same jading platitudes with which they fed us through “nine years of Buhari.” If the government—through any of its officials—think that the revolution against their poorly-contrived policies will be activated by reading newspaper editorials, they have another think coming.

Between the time I first drafted this article and when I sent it off to the editor, fuel price increased by N27 to N30. That looks like a negligible amount, but the multiplier effect that increase will have on goods and services will further dwindle the purchasing power of an already denuded people. Given the speed with which people’s lives are changed by the vicissitudes of T-Pain’s economy, I can assure Onanuga that newspaper editorials/features, no matter how provocative, can only react to a reality that has already been reshaped. They are not the ones who will incite the revolution; the best that printed journalism can do in the age of new media technology is to analyse the revolution after it must have happened, exploring the angles that online and 24-hour on-call analysts on social media might have missed.

As that Guardian report duly noted, people’s nostalgic longings for a return of the military government are not unfounded. I agree. The factors shaping Nigerians’ angst are based on material conditions of hardship they experience, something which Onanuga and his paymasters—safely ensconced in the villa from where they keep throwing out one harsh policy after the other—can never quite understand.

Twenty-five years is near enough for people to look back and wish for the return of the former oppressors. Yet, 25 years is also distant enough for the memories of the pain that comprised the military years to have receded and replaced by misguided desires. It does not help that the rickety government that Onanuga serves hardly has any coherent results to show for all their pretentions at reforms. They embarked on costly restructuring without proper cost-counting, and that is how we found ourselves stuck with reforms that even the government that initiated them cannot properly defend. All they offer by way of projection into the future are vague promises.

There are many days when Nigeria under Tinubu feels like living under Sani Abacha with social media. We can start by recounting the records of the violation of human rights that have so far been perpetrated by the so-called fighters for the return of democracy. From key officials in the Tinubu administration, to the police who run the errands of egotistic big men in power, and the array of wannabe dictators who have the Police IG on speed dial, this is a government that serially forgets that it is supposed to be democratic. Then add the rapid impoverishment millions of Nigerians have experienced in a short while and the sense of despondency pervading everywhere, and you will see why people cannot but make an association between their lives under the Tinubu administration and the military. The days of Abacha and the days of Tinubu have so much in common that it feels as if history has been static.

Every reasonable person can agree that a return to the military is not the solution. First, because they are anachronic, and second, because anyone who thinks that a military that has been severely depleted by fighting terrorism, banditry, and other categories of restiveness throughout the country is the one that will launch an economic agenda that will redeem Nigeria’s history is self-deluded. The Nigerian military cannot even manage its own budget effectively!

No matter how illusionary the desires for a military return might be, there is a context dictating them. Those who lived under the military and want their return do not see an enlightening difference between this present darkness and the one they experienced under the military. They take Nigeria’s foray into democratic rule as a farce that should be ended. For another generation that never quite witnessed military rule and relies on passed down accounts, the longing for the military is precipitated on the longings for an efficacious power; the power that can compel history into motion, not the effete one that calls itself democracy.

One cannot blame them for such delusions. Structures of political power in Nigeria are so perverted that the only thing they breed is ill consequences. At this point, Nigeria is basically a one-party state; hardly anyone can afford principled opposition. Basic political science teaches us that the three arms of government are supposed to serve as checks and balances for each other, but there is no such integrity anymore. Leaders can do basically whatever they want, and they have not hesitated to take advantage of the lack of a viable system of accountability. It is a democracy, but it is also not one in spirit and truth.

The spirit of democracy has been routinely violated, and people know from experience that hardly any other means exist for them to get rid of this power and principalities that assumes a lordly reign over their lives other than through a violent upheaval. That is why the desire for a military intervention is not about to go away. People like Onanuga might chalk down the desires for insurrection to the antagonisms of tribal politics, but the truth is that their own government and its inefficacies have done more to promote the military in the imagination of Nigerians than the coups in our neighboring countries.

To provide the balanced perspective that he thinks The Guardian missed, Onanuga’s rejoinder added the “positive developments” that have occurred under his principal’s watch. If he is certain of the veracity of his figures, I encourage him to go to the marketplaces and tell those buying food at astronomically high prices about the “notable decline” of the revenue-to-debt service ratio this year, the rise of foreign reserves, a higher GDP growth, and even increased exports. In his own interest, he should also go with his hearse in tow.

Punch

Aditi Shrikant

There are few massive success stories that didn’t start out with some sort of failure.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — now the second richest man in the world — had multiple failed attempts at building a platform for third-party sellers to list their products before founding the e-tail giant. Olympic champion gymnast Gabby Douglas credits her missteps on the floor for helping her adopt a resilient attitude. 

“It’s gonna sound weird, but success for me was failing,” she told CNBC Make It. “It was falling seven times. It was making mistakes. That way, I could go back in the gym and be like, ‘Okay, what do we need to work on to make sure all areas are covered and shored up?’”

Failure being a catalyst to success is well-documented. But why failing can lead to better future outcomes is generally misunderstood, says Amy Edmondson, a professor at Harvard Business School and author of “Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well.”

“There’s one really important misconception about failing, which is that failure and mistake are the same thing,” she says.

A failure, she says, is when you properly use your knowledge and resources to accomplish a goal, but it just doesn’t pan out. A mistake, on the other hand, is when you stray from a process proven to lead to success.

If you’re baking a cake and accidentally leave out the eggs, that’s a mistake. If you’re creating an entirely new recipe and it doesn’t taste the way you hoped it would, that’s a “productive failure” because it probably taught you something about how to improve the cake on your next attempt.

“There is a lot of happy talk out there about how we should celebrate mistakes,” Edmondson says. “We should celebrate productive failures.”

If you’re pursuing a new hobby or switching into a different role at work, know that failure is likely ahead. And that’s OK, Edmondson says, as long as you learned something from the process. A productive failure meets four criteria, Edmondson says.

4 pillars of productive failure

1. Takes place in new territory: You’re diving into a project or a field where you have no prior experience. “If I decide to write a brand new book that doesn’t yet exist, it’s new territory, by definition, and there will be failures,” Edmondson says.
2. Working toward a goal: You’re clear about what you want to accomplish. This can help you act with intention and track your progress.
3. Backed by research: Just because something is new to you doesn’t mean you have to go into it blind. Do some homework on where someone at your skill level should start.
4. No bigger than necessary: Don’t exhaust your resources on a project you’re just learning how to approach. “Let’s say you have a brand new product,” Edmonson says. “We don’t know whether it will work or whether customers will like it. What you don’t do is announce to the whole world, ‘We got this new product’ and roll it out at scale.” Instead, take baby steps toward your goal so you can course correct as needed.

By reframing failure as an essential part of the learning process, you can feel inspired by it, as opposed to discouraged.

“We should celebrate the new bits of knowledge that disappointingly came because you were wrong about a hypothesis,” Edmondson says.

CNBC

Executive Summary

Nigeria has experienced a significant exodus of both multinational and local companies between 2020 and 2024. This analysis examines the pattern of corporate departures and their underlying causes, highlighting the challenges facing Nigeria's business environment.

Timeline of Major Exits

2020: Initial Wave

Scale: 10+ companies departed

Key Exits:

  - Standard Biscuits Nigeria Ltd

  - NASCO Fiber Product Ltd

  - Union Trading Company Nigeria PLC

  - Deli Foods Nigeria Ltd

Context: The year marked the beginning of a concerning trend, coinciding with global Covid-19 disruptions

2021: Acceleration

Scale: 20+ companies departed

Notable Exits:

  - Tower Aluminium Nigeria PLC

  - Framan Industries Ltd

  - Stone Industries Ltd

  - Mufex Nigeria Company Ltd

  - Surest Foam Ltd

Context: Highest number of exits in the period, suggesting deepening economic challenges

2022: Continued Pressure

Scale: 15+ companies departed

Key Exits:

  - Universal Rubber Company Ltd

  - Mother's Pride Ventures Ltd

  - Errand Products Ltd

  - Gorgeous Metal Makers Ltd

2023: High-Profile Departures

Scale: 10+ major companies

Significant Exits:

  - Unilever Nigeria PLC

  - Procter & Gamble Nigeria

  - GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria

  - ShopRite Nigeria

  - Sanofi-Aventis Nigeria

  - Equinox Nigeria

  - Bolt Food & Jumia Food Nigeria

Context: Year marked by departure of well-established multinational corporations

2024 (Through October)

Scale: 5+ major companies

Latest Exits:

  - Microsoft Nigeria

  - Total Energies Nigeria

  - PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC

  - Kimberly-Clark Nigeria

  - Diageo PLC

  - Pick n Pay (Latest announcement)

Key Patterns and Trends

1. Sector Distribution

   - Consumer goods companies heavily represented

   - Technology and digital services (Microsoft, Bolt Food, Jumia Food)

   - Manufacturing and industrial firms

   - Retail chains (ShopRite, Pick n Pay)

2. Exit Patterns

   - Progressive increase from 2020 to 2021

   - Sustained high levels of departures

   - Shift from local to multinational corporations

   - Increasing prominence of departing brands

Primary Challenges Cited

1. Economic Factors

   - Currency volatility (Naira instability)

   - Rising operational costs

   - Profitability concerns

   - Market viability issues

2. Operational Issues

   - Regulatory hurdles

   - Business environment challenges

   - Infrastructure limitations

   - Market competition

Implications

1. Economic Impact

   - Job losses

   - Reduced foreign direct investment

   - Decreased market competition

   - Potential supply chain disruptions

2. Market Confidence

   - Negative signal to potential investors

   - Reduced consumer choice

   - Possible impact on local industry development

3. Future Outlook

   - Continued pressure on remaining businesses

   - Potential for more exits without policy intervention

   - Need for economic reforms to retain businesses

Case Study: Pick n Pay Exit

The recent Pick n Pay departure exemplifies the challenges:

- Entered in 2016 via partnership with A.G. Leventis

- Opened first store in 2021

- Limited to two locations despite market potential

- Exit after short operational period despite Nigeria's large consumer market

Recommendations for Policy Consideration

1. Immediate Term

   - Address currency stability

   - Review regulatory framework

   - Improve ease of doing business

2. Long Term

   - Develop infrastructure

   - Create investment incentives

   - Strengthen local supply chains

   - Reform business environment

This pattern of exits represents a significant challenge for Nigeria's economy and requires coordinated policy response to retain existing businesses and attract new investment.

Data from Punch

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has again increased the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, across its retail outlets.

On Tuesday, TheCable observed the second increase in October.

NNPC increased the pump price from N855 per litre set in September to N998 per litre on October 3.

However, at the NNPC retail outlets located at Ago Palace Way, Okota, Lagos, the price of PMS has been increased to N1,025 per litre.

In Abuja, at federal housing, Kubwa, an NNPC retail station sold the product at N1,050 per litre.

Other private filling stations such as Mobil, Rain Oil, and AA. Rano have also adjusted their prices to between N1,100 to N1,250 per litre.

The increase comes more than one month after the NNPC commenced petrol lifting at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery’s gantry after an extended period of price negotiations.

On September 15, the NNPC said petrol was bought from Dangote refinery at N898 per litre.

The Dangote refinery countered NNPC’s claim, describing it as “both misleading and mischievous”.

A day after, the national oil company announced estimated pump pricesbased on prices set by the Dangote refinery for its petroleum products, saying petrol will sell for N950 in Lagos and N999 in Abuja.

On October 10, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) asked NNPC to refund the oil marketers’ money or to sell petrol to its members at the Dangote refinery rate.

IPMAN said its members’ money has been with NNPC for over three months.

According to the association, NNPC collected PMS from the Dangote refinery below N900 per litre, but NNPC wants oil marketers to buy the same product at the rate of N1,010 in Lagos, N1,045 in Calabar, N1,050 in Port Harcourt, and N1,040 in Warri.

On October 11, the federal government said oil marketers can now buy petroleum products directly from the Dangote refinery and other local producers — one week after directing the Dangote refinery to sell petrol to only the NNPC.

The Cable