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Amosun’s Three Yrs, Better Than OGD’s 8yrs In Office –Dr Tunde Ipaye, World Bank Consultant….

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Dr Babatunde Ipaye could be tipped as one of the few Nigerians often referred to as professional in politics. Ipaye who consults for the World Bank in Nigeria is a workaholic dude with humane traits that has paid his dues in grassroot politics.
Perhaps for the first time, Ipaye speaks exclusively on how Gov Ibikunle Amosun rebuilding mission in Ogun state has influenced his likes to join active politics in order to better the lot of the people the more.

 

For the sake of those who don’t know, who is Dr Tunde Ipaye?

My name is Dr. Babatude Ipaye. I’m a Public health Specialist; my people call me ‘Idunnu’ which is the hospital I established in 1995. Anytime I walk round the street, people call me ‘Idunu’. I consult for the World Bank in Nigeria; I supervised the World bank projects in 35states. I have been a specialist to the United Kingdom department for International Development; I also oversee their HIV projects. I was once a technical specialist to National Malaria Control Programme in Nigeria. I was a lecturer in the Obafemi Awolowo College of Health Sciences of Olabisi Onabanjo University several years back before I resigned. I was a Students Union activist. I was the President of Resident doctors at the teaching hospital in Sagamu. I had a private hospital which I ran for fifteen years from 1995-2010. I am a family man.

Let’s go to your background?
It’s something I love to talk about because it is interesting and educative. I came from a poor background, extremely humble. I was born in a local community in Ijebu-igbo, Oke-agbo. I had my primary education in a local primary school, I had my secondary education in Beje High School which is unknown to many people.But in 1986, I came out top from Beje High School, I had the second best result in WAEC, so my school was noticed . Without that, I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to reach where I am today. Everybody started looking for that unknown school and the attention of everyone was on that school. I received a lot of scholarships that year.

How has your background affect your character?
My background is tailored with the lessons I learnt from my mother. My mother as a poor, local woman can actually give an eye of herself to save another eye. Despite her poverty, she is cheerful. When we were growing up, she taught us what I call extended family orientation, that what you need in your life is not your wealth but the people around you and that is, if you are good to people, people will be naturally be good to you.

Why did you go into that line?
When I was in Secondary school, the dream of every young boy is to become a doctor or lawyer, which was the orientation especially when you are brilliant, people would advise you to study Medicine. When I wrote JAMB which was paid for by my school principal, she affirmed that this boy must write Jamb, I never planned to go to University. The first three children of my father didn’t go any further after their secondary education. I actually told my father that I wanted to be a shoe maker and we registered but somebody paid for my Jamb, I had a good score but I didn’t check my result. I wrote my WAEC, someone came and told me I had 8 distinctions which I didn’t know. I was playing football in front of my father’s house when a bike man came and brought my admission letter to study medicine.

Can we have an insight into your family?
I got married to a girlfriend of mine which I dated in the university for six years in 1996 and we have been blessed with many children. I want to keep my family private.

You actually said you are a doctor and yet, you go into politics. How has that emerged with you being a doctor and aspiration for Political office?
One way or the other, when I was in the university, I was in union activism. I was a treasurer for Ogun State Medical Students Association in 1990 which was my intro into participating in democracy. When I was doing my post-graduate in Medicine Residency, because of the qualities my people saw in me, they said I must come and lead them, so I was voted as their President in 2004. Before then, I’ve been actively involved in Politics, I joined the NADECO Movement, Abraham Adesanya resided behind my hospital in Ijebu-Igbo in which I supported him and his cause. When AD was formed, I was part of the state officers of AD, I was initially the deputy treasurer and later became the state internal auditor till 2005, and in 2005 when AD splitted, we went to the DPA arm of AD. I was the campaign manager for the governorship candidate of DPA, now Senator Adegbenga Kaka and of course in the ACN, I was his campaign manager, the chief strategist, and returning officer in which I’ve been supporting participatory democracy especially on the progressive tendencies.

 

Can you tell us the position you are vying for and why you chose it and not something else?
Let me tell you that, I’ve never thought I will reach the stage where I would make this decision. When I joined Politics, I’ve always been on the thought of me supporting good people to get to government because I have thought that the decay in our politics is because we have allowed any sort of character to lead us. In the last 12-13years, I’ve supported people that are of good character to contest election and some of them have won while some lost. From my poor background, I have the belief that with the little that God has provided for me, I’ve served humanity and I’ve always thought I could even get enough to serve everybody but sometimes I realized that even if you get the desire to serve everybody, you cannot do as much as you desire to do. And in the engagement of the public sector through my work as a public health specialist, I’ve seen public resources been wasted and people have simply lost their voice because they are not able to speak for the masses. I thought strategically, you need to reposition yourself where you can also help in a situation where public resources can be made available for the greater good of the greater number of people and I thought the best way to do that is to come out at the policy and law level where you ensure that if you are able to influence decisions at levels where resources are computed, where policies are formulated, where laws are made, common Nigerians would be the first consideration of people to serve, that has been my major consideration for making myself available for service. I want to serve people; people must accept me to serve them. If people said that I shouldn’t serve them, I will simply continue to serve myself.

 

Do you think this is the right time for you to come out, why not come out in 2011? Why 2015?
I’ve told you earlier that I’ve always supported people to get into position. The first question I expect you to ask is that ‘have they done our heart desire?’ which is ‘Yes’ and some ‘No’. Why have people changed? Why have they lost their voice? I don’t have an answer but I can postulate that people just get into the system possibly because they don’t have any other life out of that system but for some of us who independently have life out of the system, I can always dust my certificate and do something else. For those that extremely have another life out of the system, we can actually stand up to tell the authority the truth. If people is the center, then we must focus on the people.

People have been coming promising and it has always been the same every year. What are your promises?
I don’t make promises; promises are meant to be broken. I’ve got antecedents; I’ve got a past in which people are connected to the fact simply know that Babatunde Ipaye does not have a fixed deposit in any account in Nigeria, I’ve never fixed money and I don’t intend to fix money because I think it is stupid for anybody to try and acquire resources you don’t own and keep it somewhere. I do not aspire to buy a private jet because it is stupidity, it is better to fly in first class than to have a private jet. I do not aspire to build houses with 20+ rooms because I know it is stupid to sleep in a room with more than 14*14 room, it is completely stupid. What I do is connect to people; I know that what you give to people is what they need. How can you promise what people have not stated as what they need. I think in democracy, one should go to the people and ask how they can be served. Why will I say I want to build school, I want to build house when they have not said that is what they want. All I can say is that I have lived a life among my people, I grew up among them, I live among them, what God has given to me; I share among them. I have produced 2 first class graduates in the last four years, one of them is going abroad, so for me; it is just service to humanity in the best way that God has made me to do. Let me also tell you that as a parliament, I know that my rule is catalytic, I will continue to use some of my personal resources to assist people individually but I told you that the catalytic one is to change the mindset and the concept of governance in Nigeria.

 

I believe you are a card carrying member of a party, what is your connectivity to your party?
My party is All Progressives Congress of Nigeria (APC), it is a merger of a party I belong to before now which is ACN, I’ve always belonged to the progressive end. I know that you can say what is the ideology behind that? I’ve told you the history, as a history, it was the only progressive party even when it was not qualified to be registered. I told you about DPA, we moved to ACN and now APC. APC is the only credible opposition that we have to the party in the central for 14years and you know what the party has done to Nigeria in the issue of security, no light, no water and I think we can’t continue to do this the old same way or else we won’t have different result.

 

What is your assessment of the Amosun led government?
I’ve told many people that Amosun is not a perfect person like many of us. You can’t solve all problems in 3years but let me tell you the comparison because in development, you must do comparative analysis. I was telling someone that Amount, compared to the immediate past of bank robberies. Ogun state is a state where bank robbery was constant; my town lost two banks to armed robbery, Ogbere lost first bank to armed robbery, Ijebu-Ode’s GTB was robbed almost every fortnight and suddenly that has disappeared. The fundamental essence of governance is the security of lives and properties, if you could rate the Amosun government, it should be rated over 50% pass mark for even managing security alone. In Sagamu, nobody banks in the day in Sagamu, people take their cheques to Lagos cash. Abeokuta bankers will never open their banks three years ago until they see army along the street. We have forgotten that 3years ago, all these were happening and some of us now are asking of what Amosun has done because now we have comfort. For me, if the fundamental reason for governance is security, he has done credibly well because lives and properties, business bond everybody. Three years ago, a road will be constructed, rain will fall and the road will be washed away, that’s why Amosun has done the best construction which can last for the next 20-25years. Compare a government that comes to you and say ‘I cannot do this, I cannot do that’ and people say ‘why can’t you do it?’ to a government that says ‘I will pay salary and he wouldn’t pay’. If you look at the Amosun among the options that we have, I think he is the best option we can have and we need to support. In development, we say resources are not unlimited because we cannot have the resources to go round everybody at every time but people also say the human need is their basic, I agree and we can always address that as it comes but fundamentally if a government has taken the IGR of a state from 700million to about 4billiion, I think we need to give credit to that government. If a government has given so much to infrastructural development, we need to give credit to that government. If a government has managed the issue of security, I think we need to give a lot of credit to that government. Like he said ‘People will always ask for more’, we just need to tell him the area in which he needs to improve, and we support the government.

If you are voted into power, what will be your legacy?
I will remain the Babatunde Ipaye that everybody knows, a man that would eat amala by the roadside along with his people, not artificial popcorn. A man that will go to grassroot , his hometown and centre development on his people. A man that would reasonably see to what comes to his people rather than what comes to himself, a man that would live a life of humility, a man that would continue to be a responsible family man, a man that wants to live and die among his people.

You are out to represent the people of Ijebu-Waterside, Ijebu-East and Ijebu-North in the Federal House of Representatives. What is your message to this people?
My message is that, we should reflect what we’ve done in the past and connect it with our future; we should take decisions based on what we know of people that represents us. We should vote wisely void of sentiment. We should disallow distractions and we should put the best person forward because representation is taking your needs to the central and bringing back to you what you truly deserve and I think I’ve shown from the life I’ve lived that I can do that for my people. Thank you.

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Sunday Igboho, Gani Adams on warpath over assassination allegation…..

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Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, alias Sunday Igboho; and the Chief of Staff to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Mr Tayo Ayinde, have both threatened to drag the Aare Ona Kakanfo, Iba Gani Adams, to court for allegedly accusing them of plotting an assassination.

Igboho and Ayinde, in separate pre-action letters by their lawyers, demanded that Adams should retract the said assassination claim against them or they would drag him to court.

But when contacted by The PUNCH, Adams declined comments on the matter, saying: “No comment on that. No comment.”

In a March 20, 2024 pre-action letter, Ayinde’s lawyer, Adeyinka Olumide-Fusika (SAN), demanded that Adams should retract the allegation “without any need on my client’s part to press you further on the subject.”

Olumide-Fusika said the pre-action letter was informed by the content of a press release issued by Igboho, titled: “I did not take part in killing Chief Bola Ige…”

According to Olumide-Fusika, Igboho said the press release was in reaction to some allegations against him in a viral voice note made by Adams.

Olumide-Fusika said, “In the press release, Chief Sunday Adeyemo claimed to be reacting to ‘issues raised by the voice notes going around on social media released by Aare Gani Adams,’ which ‘attacked his character’.”

The lawyer said his client’s name was mentioned in Igboho’s press release, a situation that had made many people from within and outside Nigeria to inundate him with phone calls, prompting him to go and listen to the said voice note.

According to Olumide-Fusika, the 10th paragraph of Igboho’s press release suggested that Adams claimed that Ayinde hired Igboho to assassinate him (Adams).

According to Olumide-Fusika, Adams, in a viral voice note, was allegedly heard saying in Yoruba language: “I would send you a letter signed and sent by these people to Tinubu, imploring him to stop wasting time and give them the go-ahead to eliminate me (Adams). The letter was signed by them and sent to Tinubu’s Bourdillon address, and it was received there. Those are the characters in the circle of this thoughtless fellow; he covets their association. My enemy’s friend is my enemy. He (Igboho) says we should combine forces to liberate our people, but he is in bed with enemies of our cause.

“So, be careful associating with Igboho. Just last night, he was with Tayo Ayinde, the Lagos State Governor’s Chief of Staff. He was heavily paid. You know that I have an extensive intelligence network as Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. Until about 2:45am, he was with Tayo Ayinde, the Lagos State Governor’s Chief of Staff, who Tinubu also uses in Lagos to coordinate the execution of his evil machinations. He has been doing work of that nature for Tinubu since his days in the SSS.

“He resigned from the SSS, Ibadan to concentrate fully on such work for Tinubu, who compensated him with the office of Chief of Staff to the Lagos State Governor. It was at his hotel somewhere in Ikeja, Lagos, that Igboho visited him to collect money for logistics to confront me. Igboho left lbadan at about midnight to attend this meeting which ended at about 2:45am.

“Tayo Ayinde gave N45m in cash to Igboho for the operation, thus shortchanging Igboho to the tune of N5m out of the N50m purse provided by Tinubu. The discovery of this has brewed disenchantment in their midst.”

In the pre-action letter written on Ayinde’s behalf, Olumide-Fusika described the alleged claims by Adams as injurious to the person of his client, asking the Aare Ona Kakanfo to retract the same.

The lawyer said, “You will agree with me that the imputations in the above are as serious and damaging, as those who have listened to the ‘voice notes’ have represented it to my client by their telephone calls and visits. It includes that my client is complicit in a conspiracy to murder you (Adams), and is in fact the coordinator of the phantom operation.

“Given your own experience in life, I am sure you will appreciate how painful it is to be unjustly accused, as you have done in this instance against my client.”

The lawyer added, “My instructions are, therefore, to respectfully demand that you retract the false and wicked allegation, either through another voice note to go round the same social media, or by a press release referencing and recanting the allegation.

“I do believe that this gentlemanly request will be voluntarily heeded by you without any on my client’s part to press you further on the subject.”

On his part, Igboho in a letter by his lawyer, J.A. Sanusi, dated March 18, 2024, addressed to Adams, stated that he had been inundated with several calls “over the unfortunate lies peddled by you (Adams) against him (our client).”

The lawyer, on behalf of Igboho, said the people of Nigeria world over wished to confirm the veracity of the said “malicious interview or phone calls you (Adams) had with a person unknown that has become subject of public embarrassment and caused serious odium against the person of our client.”

The letter, which asked Adams to retract the allegations, also demanded the sum of N500m in compensation.

It partly read, “You (Adams) are aware that there is an audio clip which is presently going viral on all new media platforms where you have alleged the following against our client (Sunday Igboho) viz:

“That our client is an assassin who used to work for His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“That our client is rumoured to be one of the persons that assassinated the late Chief Bola Ige, SAN, together with one Fryo.

“That our client was involved in a series of murder cases but escaped prosecution as a result of his political connection.

“That our client received the sum of Forty-Five Million Naira (N45,000,000.00) sometime in 2022 to carry out some dirty works for His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR; and

“That our client swindled Nigerians in diaspora for a fake self-determination agenda of the Yoruba race.”

Sanusi said Igboho wished to inform Adams “that the malicious lies against our client only exist in the figment of your imagination as our client is a law-abiding citizen, whose only offence at the time was to protect the interest of the Yoruba race, a responsibility which you were ordinarily saddled to discharge but failed to so do.”

He stressed that the false outburst had not only caused embarrassment but also economic losses to Igboho.

He stated further, “It is in the light of the above that we call on you to forthwith retract all the negative comments (highly defamatory too) made against the person of our client which has just been released to the social media, including YouTube platform.”

The lawyer said Igboho would be seeking redress in the court should Adams fail to meet his demands.

 

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Olayemi Cardoso Trudges On

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It was unprecedented, and never before seen, the way the naira to the dollar exchange rate galloped out of control. There was close to a 300% fall in the value of the naira against the dollar. From as low as 450 naira to the dollar, we witnessed an astronomical climb to about 1900 naira to the dollar. It defied all economic theories and indices, as the CBN huffed and puffed to anchor the psuedo-fall of the naira. The dollar remained bullish and defied all the laws known to the nation’s financial regulators, including the ‘laws of gravity’ within those 8 months spell. Ten months after, the dollar that was rearing towards a rate of 2,000 naira to the dollar, has now plummeted to about 1,362 naira to a dollar at the parallel market. The dollar-rate run has finally come to a halt, but not without some very drastic measures put in place by the apex bank.

It was more than evident that the exchange rate was not determined by market forces. The per-second shift in rate was egged on by speculators who had made the naira a commodity, and were making a kill off of the buying and selling of the naira and dollar. They were enabled by online exchange platforms, especially Binance and other cryptocurrency channels. The CBN had to clampdown on these agents. Notably, Binance executives were interrogated by the CBN along with the NSA’s office over fraudulent activities enabled by their platform, that saw to the manipulation of the naira-dollar exchange rate. Binance had just recently been fined over 4 billion dollars for financial impropriety in the US, and it remains to be seen whether the CBN will take such measures, including their demand for the names of subscribers that have been used as proxies for the sponsorship of terrorism.

The partners in crime to the cryptocurrency exchange platforms have been the BDCs. They also arbitrarily switched exchange rates along the lines of the rates quoted by the online platforms. The CBN along with the EFCC had to crackdown on some of the manipulative BDC operators across the country. More than 4000 BDCs had their licenses revoked. Some due to irregularities, and some for fraudulent activities. The CBN has in addition, released new guidelines for the operations of the BDCs, including an increase in the capital requirements to bolster the regulation of the BDC operations in the country. Other measures taken includes the decision to allow International Oil Companies repatriate only 50% of their proceeds abroad. There’s also the enforcement of the Net Open Position of commercial banks, as it was seen that the banks were holding far too much foreign exchange than they are supposed to. The aforementioned efforts have in turn made the naira bullish in its climb up the exchange rate capsule, regaining some of its lost glory. The CBN’s understanding with IMOs is also making available an estimated 20 billion dollars into the Nigerian Market from diaspora remittances. Even the Almighty NNPC is today channeling its earnings to the CBN, which is also boosting our FX reserves and building on transparency.

 

2024 is seeing a lot of positives from the CBN’s tough stances and decisions. It has been able to clear FX backlogs of about 7 billion dollars which will no doubt boost investors’ confidence. Its recent offer of 500 billion naira at the OMO auction was over-subscribed, selling N1.053 trillion, with 79% of the total bids (530 million dollars), coming from foreign investors. This is quite impressive and is a sign that foreign investments are queueing into the country. The CBN has also been able to sustain increases in our foreign reserves, thereby sustaining the availability of forex in the exchange market. As the nation’s daily crude output increases, it will also help improve on our forex inflow, along with other FPIs.

A lot of Nigerians insist that Nigeria does not have a money problem but a spending problem. Just recently, there was a lot of buzz around a seminar hosted for State commissioners of finance at a Hilton hotel in the UK. Those kinds of events and other foreign travels that become jamborees, eats up quite an amount of foreign exchange, and if you put the figures together from all government ministries and agencies, it could be nothing short of a few billion dollars per annum. As a measure to that kind of waste, Mr. President issued a directive to the SGF’s office, banning all foreign trips by all government officials, except with the express approval of the Presidency. This move certainly looks like a Cardoso advisory. It would be a waste of effort and policy if the CBN is struggling to rake in foreign exchange, meanwhile government officials are draining the purse on trips that should be avoided in times of austerity like this. During the campaigns, Mr. President told us about the trust he reposes in the Headmaster, Mr Cardoso. From what we have seen so far with the Headmaster, the naira is ‘headed’ for more gains in no time!

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Nigerian Govt sends Interpol after fleeing Binance Director

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Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris on Monday said there is no hiding place for Nadeem Anjarwalla, a Director of Binance who escaped from custody and fled the country after he was detained by the Nigerian Government.

The minister said the International Police (Interpol) were currently on Anjarwalla’s trail.

Idris was reacting to the Binance executive’s escape from Nigeria.

According to Idris, since Binance is an international firm, there is no way the culprit will evade arrest.

His explanation came barely few hours after the Office of the National Security Adviser confirmed that Anjarwalla, a key suspect in the ongoing criminal investigation regarding Binance’s activities in Nigeria, managed to escape lawful custody on Friday, March 22nd, 2024.

In an official statement released by the Head of Strategic Communication for the Office of the National Security Adviser, Zakari Mijinyawa, it was explained that collaborative efforts between the office, relevant security agencies, various government bodies and the international community are already underway to swiftly locate and detain the fugitive.

The statement stressed that security agencies are working with Interpol for an international arrest warrant on the suspect as preliminary investigation shows that Anjarwalla fled Nigeria using a smuggled passport.

The personnel responsible for the custody of the suspect have been arrested, and a thorough investigation is ongoing to unravel the circumstances that led to his escape from lawful detention.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government of Nigeria, like other governments around the world, has been investigating money laundering and terrorism financing transactions perpetrated on the Binance currency exchange platform.

Anjarwalla, who holds British and Kenyan nationalities and serves as Binance’s Africa regional manager, was being tried by Nigerian courts before he escaped while under a 14-day remand order issued by a court.

He was scheduled to appear before the court again on 4 April 2024.

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