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| Lekan Abiola to Asabeafrika…’We have criminals in all religion, we have Christian criminals and we have Muslim Criminals’ |
Alhaji Lekan Abiola, one of the scions of late symbol of democracy Bashorun MKO Abiola and
first Child of martyr of democracy Hajiya
Kudirat Abiola has offered his voice to the ongoing fuel scarcity crisis
rocking the country blaming the pressure on government’s indecisiveness on the
removal of the infamous petroleum subsidy which is widely believed to have suddenly become the
corruption pipe through which some fraudulent oil marketers are looting the
government treasury. Lekan offered
his opinion to Africa’s number 1 Celebrity encounter blog, Asabeafrika last Saturday November 21st during the
christening of a new born baby boy for his younger brother, Alhaji Jamiu Abiodun Abiola (Shetima
Rasheed of Borno) in Ikeja area of Lagos.
first Child of martyr of democracy Hajiya
Kudirat Abiola has offered his voice to the ongoing fuel scarcity crisis
rocking the country blaming the pressure on government’s indecisiveness on the
removal of the infamous petroleum subsidy which is widely believed to have suddenly become the
corruption pipe through which some fraudulent oil marketers are looting the
government treasury. Lekan offered
his opinion to Africa’s number 1 Celebrity encounter blog, Asabeafrika last Saturday November 21st during the
christening of a new born baby boy for his younger brother, Alhaji Jamiu Abiodun Abiola (Shetima
Rasheed of Borno) in Ikeja area of Lagos.
The Abiola scion who described the
Nigerian economy as “Terrible” also lambasted the infamous Boko Haram militants destroying the northern part of Nigeria;
describing them as criminals and not devotees of Islam as being speculated in
some quarters. For those who don’t know him, Lekan Abiola is MKO’s son who was asked by famous media mogul
turned politician Aremo Segun Osoba
to step down for his own son, Olumide
couple of years back when the former vied for a federal house of representative
position in Ogun State. Enjoy the excerpts
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What are your views about the Nigerian
economy?
economy?
The economy
is very unfriendly; it is a terrible economy right now. There is no doubt about
that and as a matter of fact the economy is going to be very bad in the coming months and here we have a new
government that has not started achieving anything yet; I think they are just
trying to tidy up things and recover from the pattern of the past government.
is very unfriendly; it is a terrible economy right now. There is no doubt about
that and as a matter of fact the economy is going to be very bad in the coming months and here we have a new
government that has not started achieving anything yet; I think they are just
trying to tidy up things and recover from the pattern of the past government.
You are one of those who passionately
supported President Mohammad Buhari’s candidate during the campaign; do you
think Mr. President is living up to your desire?
supported President Mohammad Buhari’s candidate during the campaign; do you
think Mr. President is living up to your desire?
It will be
too early to come with a definite assessment for a six months old regime of
four years tenure. We need to see the government go half way into two years and
after two years we can now make some reasonable remarks. Don’t forget President Buhari took over power in an
economic season when the productive prize of our number one economic earners,
crude oil has crashed. Even other oil relying economies in the world like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the rest are struggling, not only our country is a victim
of this economic recession. We have to understand that as a key point; that the
price of oil has crashed. At the same the new government just inaugurated her
cabinet and the new ministers have not done anything yet. We have to give this government enough
patience, yes, life is tough for everybody.
too early to come with a definite assessment for a six months old regime of
four years tenure. We need to see the government go half way into two years and
after two years we can now make some reasonable remarks. Don’t forget President Buhari took over power in an
economic season when the productive prize of our number one economic earners,
crude oil has crashed. Even other oil relying economies in the world like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the rest are struggling, not only our country is a victim
of this economic recession. We have to understand that as a key point; that the
price of oil has crashed. At the same the new government just inaugurated her
cabinet and the new ministers have not done anything yet. We have to give this government enough
patience, yes, life is tough for everybody.
“It is ridiculous, this is what is
killing capital projects, there is no road network happening, there is no water
supply happening, there is no educational development, nothing for the youth
because everything goes to the Civil Servants and this same people wants more,
they want an increase on their salaries. They should even sack half of the
Civil servants and slash half of their salaries so that half of the money can
go into things that will touch the lives of average Nigerians”
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| Lekan Abiola to Asabeafrika…’President Buhari should remove oil subsidy and let Nigerians damn the consequence’ |
The scarcity of petroleum product is
biting harder?
Let me be
honest with you, I want to see a situation whereby Mr. President will even
remove the subsidy on petroleum once and for all and let Nigerians bear the
consequence instead of the government doing a merry-go-round all the time; you
have oil today and after a month the scarcity hits town. People are now paying
N200 to N250 per liter in some parts of the country, even if they even remove
the subsidy and we are paying N130 and the supply is stable at N130, we will
adjust to it than you selling it for N87 in Lagos and people outside Lagos and
Abuja cannot get it for that N87. So, it is better for government to just take
a clear decision and remove this thing once and for all. Government just sent a
request to the National Assembly to clear a N430 billion bill for the oil
marketers’ subsidy gain, what kind of mad budget is that? We have no road, we
have no water supply, our schools are in bad shape and we are wasting N430
billion to pay some elites? If Cotonou in
Benin Republic and Togo can buy petrol at N140, N160 per liter, Nigeria can do the
same. Let government take their hands out of this issue, we import diesel as
well and we have not heard about this kind of crazy bills on diesel
importation. Let us know what it takes to refine the oil and if the prize is
N130 per liter let us pay it instead for you to be selling a liter for N200 per
liter outside Lagos and they will now come and collect subsidy again from the
government and earn double gain from both government and the people. I want
honest with you, I want to see a situation whereby Mr. President will even
remove the subsidy on petroleum once and for all and let Nigerians bear the
consequence instead of the government doing a merry-go-round all the time; you
have oil today and after a month the scarcity hits town. People are now paying
N200 to N250 per liter in some parts of the country, even if they even remove
the subsidy and we are paying N130 and the supply is stable at N130, we will
adjust to it than you selling it for N87 in Lagos and people outside Lagos and
Abuja cannot get it for that N87. So, it is better for government to just take
a clear decision and remove this thing once and for all. Government just sent a
request to the National Assembly to clear a N430 billion bill for the oil
marketers’ subsidy gain, what kind of mad budget is that? We have no road, we
have no water supply, our schools are in bad shape and we are wasting N430
billion to pay some elites? If Cotonou in
Benin Republic and Togo can buy petrol at N140, N160 per liter, Nigeria can do the
same. Let government take their hands out of this issue, we import diesel as
well and we have not heard about this kind of crazy bills on diesel
importation. Let us know what it takes to refine the oil and if the prize is
N130 per liter let us pay it instead for you to be selling a liter for N200 per
liter outside Lagos and they will now come and collect subsidy again from the
government and earn double gain from both government and the people. I want
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| President Buhari |
President Buhari to make a stand on
this mater and remove subsidy now.
Don’t you think this will lead to
public uproar since crude oil is our biggest natural resources and this
supposed to give us economic comfort and not distress?
public uproar since crude oil is our biggest natural resources and this
supposed to give us economic comfort and not distress?
They will
handle it In-sha-Allah. It is worst that Nigerians are buying a liter of fuel
for N200 in Auchi, in Kogi and other places, why can’t we
have a jacket price and make the supply stable. It is a necessity because we
all need petrol to fuel our cars and move around. It is more proper to clear
the bunch of subsidy and let Nigerians know the exact price needed to be paid
on a liter instead of putting the entire country at the mercy of marketers who
keeps putting guns to our head. Because government has not paid them N430billion
now, you withdraw supply and created artificial scarcity. And when you give
them the money, you release supply then after like two months again, you
withdraw supply and Nigerians keep dancing back and front. Let us deal with
this situation once and for all and Nigeria will be good for it in the long
run.
handle it In-sha-Allah. It is worst that Nigerians are buying a liter of fuel
for N200 in Auchi, in Kogi and other places, why can’t we
have a jacket price and make the supply stable. It is a necessity because we
all need petrol to fuel our cars and move around. It is more proper to clear
the bunch of subsidy and let Nigerians know the exact price needed to be paid
on a liter instead of putting the entire country at the mercy of marketers who
keeps putting guns to our head. Because government has not paid them N430billion
now, you withdraw supply and created artificial scarcity. And when you give
them the money, you release supply then after like two months again, you
withdraw supply and Nigerians keep dancing back and front. Let us deal with
this situation once and for all and Nigeria will be good for it in the long
run.
“I don’t think politics should be
taken as a profession; one should not become a professional politician. I am a
business man and I only dabbled into politics at the time and the question of
me going back is relative because it is not a profession”.
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| Lekan Abiola to Asabeafrika…’Half of Nigerian Civil Service must be sacked and their salary slashed’ |
How do you think Nigeria can work;
today, it is like oil has become a curse than a blessing to us. How can Nigeria
work like countries like Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Botswana and few others?
You cannot
even compare Nigeria with those countries you mentioned. For instance a country
like Botswana has a tender
population of two million people but Nigeria has a population above one hundred
and seventy million people and the President has said that, the government will
focus on agriculture and mining. If we can get money from mining and
agriculture, we will equally need to spend money on infrastructure because we
cannot build a first class economy on the back of a third class infrastructure.
If government can spend much on railways, on roads then the multiplying effect
will be tremendous on the economy, we need government to actually go back to
the cradle of capital expenditure. Most of the government’s expenditures right
now is going towards the recurring, the civil servants who are less than 1% of
the Nigerian population are taking 75% of the entire revenue of the country, if
the governors are now saying they can not pay the N18.000 minimum wage because
of the droppings in oil price, then they have to reduce the work force. It
won’t augur well for a state to be using about 80% of its economic earning to
pay for less than one percent of its entire population. It is ridiculous, this
is what is killing capital projects, there is no road network happening, there is
no water supply happening, there is no educational development, nothing for the
youth because everything goes to the Civil Servants and this same people wants
more, they want an increase on their salaries. They should even sack half of
the Civil servants and slash half of their salaries so that half of the money
can go into things that will touch the lives of average Nigerians. This is time
for hard decisions. It is not time to be maintaining the statusquo, it is a
time for change and change is going to be painful and the civil service system
must feel the change, half of them should be fired and the ones that are
remaining, their salaries should be slashed into half so that money can be
freed to go into other areas that will touch the lives of Nigerians.
even compare Nigeria with those countries you mentioned. For instance a country
like Botswana has a tender
population of two million people but Nigeria has a population above one hundred
and seventy million people and the President has said that, the government will
focus on agriculture and mining. If we can get money from mining and
agriculture, we will equally need to spend money on infrastructure because we
cannot build a first class economy on the back of a third class infrastructure.
If government can spend much on railways, on roads then the multiplying effect
will be tremendous on the economy, we need government to actually go back to
the cradle of capital expenditure. Most of the government’s expenditures right
now is going towards the recurring, the civil servants who are less than 1% of
the Nigerian population are taking 75% of the entire revenue of the country, if
the governors are now saying they can not pay the N18.000 minimum wage because
of the droppings in oil price, then they have to reduce the work force. It
won’t augur well for a state to be using about 80% of its economic earning to
pay for less than one percent of its entire population. It is ridiculous, this
is what is killing capital projects, there is no road network happening, there is
no water supply happening, there is no educational development, nothing for the
youth because everything goes to the Civil Servants and this same people wants
more, they want an increase on their salaries. They should even sack half of
the Civil servants and slash half of their salaries so that half of the money
can go into things that will touch the lives of average Nigerians. This is time
for hard decisions. It is not time to be maintaining the statusquo, it is a
time for change and change is going to be painful and the civil service system
must feel the change, half of them should be fired and the ones that are
remaining, their salaries should be slashed into half so that money can be
freed to go into other areas that will touch the lives of Nigerians.
You once went into politics until
Chief Segun Osoba ordered you to step down for his own son-Olumide, are you still interested in
coming back to politics?
Chief Segun Osoba ordered you to step down for his own son-Olumide, are you still interested in
coming back to politics?
I think one
way or the other we are all going to be in politics. I don’t think politics
should be taken as a profession; one should not become a professional
politician. I am a business man and I only dabbled into politics at the time
and the question of me going back is relative because it is not a profession.
If you are asked what is your profession? It is you are a either a carpenter,
you are a doctor, or you are a driver or you are an engineer, a businessman or
a trader. You cannot say ‘oh, I am a politician’. If you run for an office and
you win you must do your best for those who voted for you, if you run and you
don’t win, then you go back to your business. So, I am not a professional
politician. Maybe if I am called upon in the future or I decide to contest in
the future, the most important thing is my religion which is about worshiping
God, after that, good health and the family matters, after family, your
business and making sure that everyone around you is fine is neext. I might
decide to run, maybe; I might decide not to run, maybe. If I am called and
given an appointment I may take it or reject it, it has to do with my
principle.
way or the other we are all going to be in politics. I don’t think politics
should be taken as a profession; one should not become a professional
politician. I am a business man and I only dabbled into politics at the time
and the question of me going back is relative because it is not a profession.
If you are asked what is your profession? It is you are a either a carpenter,
you are a doctor, or you are a driver or you are an engineer, a businessman or
a trader. You cannot say ‘oh, I am a politician’. If you run for an office and
you win you must do your best for those who voted for you, if you run and you
don’t win, then you go back to your business. So, I am not a professional
politician. Maybe if I am called upon in the future or I decide to contest in
the future, the most important thing is my religion which is about worshiping
God, after that, good health and the family matters, after family, your
business and making sure that everyone around you is fine is neext. I might
decide to run, maybe; I might decide not to run, maybe. If I am called and
given an appointment I may take it or reject it, it has to do with my
principle.
“You have to be closer to your God;
of course other terrible accidents of life can do it, you can be involved in a
plane crash, you can be involved in a motor accident but all the same, one
idiot can just blow you up, you must be closer to your God so that whenever it
happens God can grant you paradise”.
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| Adolf Hitler |
With the killings by ISIS and Boko
Haram in Nigeria and elsewhere, the recent killings in Paris, the hostage
takings in Mali and the killings in Northern Nigeria, many feels that Islam is
a terror-religion. As a devoted Muslim Leader, what is your opinion?
Well, I am a
Muslim; I am not a Muslim leader. I am
just a Muslim. Having said that, the whole scenario like the killings in France
and the attacks in Mali and killing in the north eastern part of Nigeria, these
are all criminal actions. And you can get criminals from any religion; we have
criminals in many religions. We have Christian criminals, Muslim criminals. In
history, we had the Nazis Germans under Adolf Hitler; they committed a lot of
atrocities and killed millions of people including six million Jews. And most
of this German Nazis were
Christians. So, you can have criminals from any religion and we definitely have
among the Muslims, we have criminals, I mean people that go to markets and go
into mosques and blow it up while people are praying. If you are a Muslim, how
can you go to a mosque and blow it up when people are praying? And you now kill
people and you say you are fighting for Islam, no. Those are criminal actions.
These people are criminals and they practice their criminality and they now put
an Islamic flag in front of their criminality but a criminal act is a criminal
act, weather you put a white flag in front of the act or you put an Islamic
flag in front of it, a criminal act is a criminal act. Those are criminals. So,
we hope that our government will work hard to make sure that the army is well
equipped and well motivated to checkmate their actions. Because these people
(Boko Haram & ISIS) are ready to kill anybody at any time. So, any human
being should be close to his or her God because as you are going out today
either to your place of worship or to a restaurant tomorrow or you are in a
mosque next tomorrow or you are in the market, one idiot can decide to blow you
up and then you find yourself dead. You
have to be closer to your God; of course other terrible accidents of life can
do it, you can be involved in a plane crash, you can be involved in a motor
accident but all the same, one idiot can just blow you up, you must be closer
to your God so that whenever it happens God can grant you paradise.
Muslim; I am not a Muslim leader. I am
just a Muslim. Having said that, the whole scenario like the killings in France
and the attacks in Mali and killing in the north eastern part of Nigeria, these
are all criminal actions. And you can get criminals from any religion; we have
criminals in many religions. We have Christian criminals, Muslim criminals. In
history, we had the Nazis Germans under Adolf Hitler; they committed a lot of
atrocities and killed millions of people including six million Jews. And most
of this German Nazis were
Christians. So, you can have criminals from any religion and we definitely have
among the Muslims, we have criminals, I mean people that go to markets and go
into mosques and blow it up while people are praying. If you are a Muslim, how
can you go to a mosque and blow it up when people are praying? And you now kill
people and you say you are fighting for Islam, no. Those are criminal actions.
These people are criminals and they practice their criminality and they now put
an Islamic flag in front of their criminality but a criminal act is a criminal
act, weather you put a white flag in front of the act or you put an Islamic
flag in front of it, a criminal act is a criminal act. Those are criminals. So,
we hope that our government will work hard to make sure that the army is well
equipped and well motivated to checkmate their actions. Because these people
(Boko Haram & ISIS) are ready to kill anybody at any time. So, any human
being should be close to his or her God because as you are going out today
either to your place of worship or to a restaurant tomorrow or you are in a
mosque next tomorrow or you are in the market, one idiot can decide to blow you
up and then you find yourself dead. You
have to be closer to your God; of course other terrible accidents of life can
do it, you can be involved in a plane crash, you can be involved in a motor
accident but all the same, one idiot can just blow you up, you must be closer
to your God so that whenever it happens God can grant you paradise.
