Governor Godwin Obaseki has talked himself into national and international ridicule. A graduate of Classics with an unremarkable career as a stockbroker, he ventured carelessly into a field he lacked the competence to sensibly navigate. Driven by malice but undone by his ignorance, he told a specific lie that the Federal Government was printing money for states to share as monthly allocation.
All available information reveal this claim to be false. The Federal Government has dismissed it, and responsible media outfits like The Cable have also conducted independent checks and arrived at the same conclusion: that Governor Godwin Obaseki told a barefaced lie.
“There is no single item suggesting that N60 billion was added to the pool from any source,” their investigation concluded. Their report suggested Obaseki may be confused, his confusion contributed in part by his lack of a Finance Commissioner who may have provided the antidote to his ignorance and saved him the embarrassment of making such reckless accusation in public with bold conviction.
But whose fault is it that six months post-election, Governor Obaseki has no cabinet in place to draw up and implement policies, in addition to protecting the state, and by extension now the country, from the ignorance of the Governor through reasoned debate and needed education on sensitive issues? Ironically, the one who loudly but falsely leveled allegations of mismanagement is himself a ‘mismanager-in-chief’, incapable of administering a state. Obaseki has all the makings of a poor leader – he is loud and proud, reckless and malicious, and suffering a chronic lack of self-awareness.
To cushion the blow and help the confused governor come out of this with some pride left, the PDP, following the signal of Obaseki, has decided to twist the words of the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, when he affirmed the power of the independent institution he heads to increase or decrease money in circulation to ensure financial stability. Nowhere in his comment did he provide any corroboration for Obaseki’s basic argument that the Federal Government specifically printed and distributed 60 billion naira to states last month.
He did talk about the CBN intervening to help ease the financial pressure on state governments – but definitely not through money printing for distribution to states as monthly allocation as the Governor very specifically alleged. The CBN reportedly halted the deduction of ecological fund and granted an additional moratorium on matured loans obtained by the states. Again, nothing to support the wild claims of printing 60 billion naira for sharing, as Obaseki put it.
With little room left to wiggle as criticism from citizens and international spectators displeased by the sensational and misleading claim of Obaseki continues to pile, the PDP resorted to ‘patriotism’, that last refuge of the scoundrel, and admonished the APC to heed the words of a man who, at worst, is a malicious liar on a mission to destabilize the country – and at best an ignorant man who lacks a sense of propriety and the humility to educate himself before making public claims on sensitive topics.
They also asked the Federal Government to plug financial leakages and save expenditure on projects that could be handled by the private sector. There was no mention of any such project, and the fact that PDP Governors only just left Benue State where they had convened in jets to commission a 3KM road, the result of two terms, did not prevent them from offering the ‘advice’.
Indeed, love for one’s country does not preclude criticism, whether mild or harsh. But there is nothing patriotic about using lies to inflict damage that could impoverish millions and repeal growth. A consequence of Obaseki’s falsehood is shaken investor confidence which means fewer jobs and revenue.
And on the task of rescuing the country’s economy, the PDP ought to have provided the results of its own efforts towards that collective task in the state it manages, even if as indicting examples of expert management. But it didn’t and we know why. In Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, and Cross River, three PDP states enjoying extra federal allocation in derivation funds, what the party has to show is record unemployment figures. Talk is cheap.
This is not the time for obfuscation disguised as ‘clarification’ or defense, neither is it the time for a pretentious call to patriotism from a party that presided over historically high crude oil price but failed to invest in Nigeria and her people. It is a time for somber reflection, humble admittance of error, apology and recompense – or at least, a time to stop talking. Enough has already been said.
Mayaki is a graduate of International Studies and Diplomacy, University of Benin.
Archivist, Documentalist, Communication, Culture and Media expert (Coventry University, England).
An Oxford and Cambridge University-trained entrepreneurship, leadership and sustainability expert.
He’s also a Professional Consultant on Communication, Management and Strategy (Chattered Management Institute, England).