"THE GOP FOCUSES ON SCANDAL-CREATION INSTEAD OF SOLVING ITS MINORITY PROBLEMS"

The Republican Party of America that is also known as the Grand Old Party or the GOP is fighting the most important political battle of its life to remain a viable national political organ that is capable of winning the White House again in 2016 or in the nearest future. The presidential election results of November 6, 2012 showed that America's major minority groups and demographics, such as the Latino-Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans,  the young Americans between the age of 19-30 years and the single white women that are under 40 years old all united together to reject the GOP in 2012. If these ongoing political trends continue unabated, the GOP may be reduced in the nearest future to a southern or a regional political party that will be made up of the majority of the American old white men and women.

This huge political challenge or problem in the GOP has forced all its politically diverse and ideologically different interest groups, such as  the establishment, the Tea Party, the Christian religious rights, the Libertarians and the Birther Movement of this party to continue to fight for the control of this political party at the center. These groups within the GOP are also solidly united together for the political destruction of the presidency and the political agendas of Barack Obama in his second term or his last term in the White House. The fear of Hilary Clinton, who remains the most popular politician in America today, and with the high possibility of running for the White House in 2016 and how to stop her before 2016 remains the biggest political nightmare for all these diverse political elements of the GOP today.

Because President Barack Obama cannot be defeated again by elections, the GOP has now developed a new political method based on the hurting for political scandals that never existed as their only way to achieve their political goals against the Obama's second term presidency. The entire GOP machinery and its House members are doing everything that is humanly and politically possible to turn the terrorist attacks on the American consulate office in Benghazi, Libya last year that resulted in the death of the American ambassador to Libya and the 3 other Americans into a political scandal for Obama. In the last one week, the GOP have also attempted to turn the administrative decision that was carried out by the IRS officials who decided to over-scrutinized the registration applications of some of the conservative groups who applied for tax exemption and the social welfare status into a political scandal for Obama. The recent revelation that showed that the United States Department of Justice seizure of the phone records of some of the Associated Press offices and their journalists has now become another political opportunity for the GOP to create another political scandal for the Obama presidency.

These self-made and self-created political scandals of the GOP will soon collapse like a pack of cards and will never stick to the historical presidency of Barack Obama because the President does not oversee directly the day to day operations of the IRS, the US Justice Department or the State Department. President Barack Obama has also done everything within his constitutional powers and responsibilities to address all these issues as required by law. These politically generated scandals that do not exist in all reality may cause the GOP the loss of some of its House seats in the 2014 midterm election and may encourage Hilary Clinton to run in 2016 for the White House again all these odds from the GOP. The biggest problem that GOP faces today in my own judgement is not those non-existing scandals but how to win back the hearts and the minds of the American minority groups and demographics that rejected the GOP at the polls in 2012. If the GOP continues to focus all its time, energy and attention on scandal-creation when no scandals exist anywhere, this political method will never allow the GOP to become a truly viable national political party again in America that will be capable of winning the White House back in 2016 or in our lifetime.

"THE UNANSWERED QUESTION OF NATIONAL UNITY IN NIGERIA 100 YEARS LATER"

"THE QUESTION ABOUT THE TRUE NATIONAL UNITY LINGERS ON IN NIGERIA TODAY AFTER ALMOST 100 YEARS OF FORMATION":Even Lord Lugard, who was the British Governor General who set up the Nigerian nation on January 1, 1914 and the principal founding fathers of Nigeria that fought for her independence from Britain and won it in 1960 who had had the major universities, streets, public buildings, national currencies and postage stamps named in their memories in Nigeria today did not believe in one united Nigeria that is ethnically and religiously blinded from the onset and from their various documented comments about Nigeria that are listed below:
LORD LUGARD:“The North and the South are like oil and water, they will never mix.” Yet he went ahead and amalgamated them.

ALHAJI SIR ABUBAKAR TAFAWA BALEWA:“The Southern people who are swamping into this region daily in such large numbers are really intruders; we don’t want them and they are not welcome here in the North. Since 1914, the British Government has been trying to make Nigeria into one country. But the people are different in every way, including religion, custom, language and aspirations… we in the North take it that Nigeria unity is only a British intention for the country they created. IT IS NOT FOR US”.

CHIEF JEREMIAH OBAFEMI AWOLOWO:“Nigeria is only a geographical expression to which life was given by the diabolical amalgamation of 1914, that amalgamation will EVER remain the most painful injury a British Government inflicted on Southern Nigeria”.

AL-HAJJI SIR AHMADU BELLO:“The new nation called Nigeria should be an estate from our great grandfather, Othman Dan Fodio. We must ruthlessly prevent a change of power. We must use the minorities in the North as willing tools, and the south as conquered territories and never allow them to have control of their future.”

Retired GENERAL YAKUBU GOWON:“Suffice it to say that putting all considerations to the test, political, economic as well as social, the basis of unity is not there.”

Is Nigeria not more divided today in 2013 than in 1914? Are those caliphates, kingdoms, empires and their internal boundaries that were officially eliminated in 1914 by the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates together to form Nigeria not rapidly forming back again almost 100 years later? Do Nigerians today see themselves first and foremost as Nigerians or as ethnic nationals, Christians, Muslims, traditionalists or pagans? Are MASSOB, OPC, MEND, Boko Haram and the other ethnic, religious, militants and cultural groups across the length and breath of Nigeria today not the new 21st century caliphates, kingdoms and empires that were believed to have been finally laid to rest in 1914 by Lord Lugard?

In conclusion:what is the way forward for Nigeria in this 21st human universe? I believe 100% that the present day Nigeria that was formed in 1914 was structurally deficient. Nigeria will never work without holding an independent Sovereign National Conference that will decide the new terms of engagement for her 450 ethnic nationalities, many religious faiths and cultures who were fully exempted by Britain and Lord Lugard in the formation of Nigeria in 1914.

"NIGERIA:A NATION OF JOKERS, CLOWNS AND CARNIVAL BARKERS IN POWER"

How in the world do we as a nation known as Nigeria ever allowed a mediocre and a nonentity like Dr. Yerima Ngama to be our finance minister in Nigeria and to be speaking to the nation on why we need to borrow more money from those westerner financial agencies? In his words, Dr. Yerima Ngama said “Nigeria’s debt is about 18 per cent of the nation’s GDP. The nation is under-borrowing. The standard is 40 per cent of GDP; it is when it is over that that there is a problem. We should borrow more, considering our economic activities. There is no problem with the level of our debt. The problem is the domestic debt. Interest rates are too high. Yes, we must continue to borrow. It is only poor people that do not borrow. Dangote and others borrow; you can borrow once you are credit worthy. America is the most indebted country in the world. Borrowing is good. The more money you have, the more money you need. There is nothing like satisfaction. If we are not oil rich, nobody will lend to us. We are borrowing because we have many projects.”.

(i). Is Ngama truly a good or a poor student of history to have easily forgotten how Olusegun Obasanjo, the former Nigerian President went all over the western world and begging for the forgiveness and for the cancellation of our huge crushing foreign debts? (ii). Has Ngama forgotten that the debtor is always the servant and at the mercy of the borrower (the master(? (iii). Can Ngama show to every Nigerian publicly those proposed national projects that will benefit this nation and make this nation better that he plans to use the proposed borrowed money for? (iv). Has Ngama forgotten that America may be the most indebted nation in the world today, but it is an advanced nation and a manufacturing economy unlike Nigeria that is 100% a consuming nation that depends 100% on her oil for her state revenue? (v). Is Ngama planning to take us back as a nation into those huge foreign debts again that we will never be able to pay in this generation and in the future generations of Nigerians?

(vi). I challenge Ngama to show to Nigerians how we have managed our present huge oil revenue that is based on 2.5 million of barrels of oil a day at about $100 a barrel and why we need to borrow more today for national development. (vii). Has Ngama forgotten that the problem with Nigeria is not the insufficient revenue, but massive official corruption, mammoth mismanagement of state resources and the using of over 30% of the present annual federal budget to pay the salaries and allowances of those 17,500 public elected and appointed officials in the name of democracy, party politics and public service? (viii). Has Ngama forgotten that more borrowing by Nigerian government translates into more money to be stolen and to be mismanaged by our public officials and without anything on the ground in Nigeria to show for it?

"TO SOW A SEED FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO GROW IS NOT A BIBLICAL DOCTRINE"

"TO SOW A SEED FOR YOUR BUSINESS TO GROW:ANOTHER UNBIBLICAL TEACHING OF THE SO CALLED PROSPERITY GOSPEL":Businesses primarily provides goods, services and employment for any communities where they are established or operated all over the world. Businesses cannot survive, function or thrive in all reality without the customers' patronage, profit making, new innovations, new business plans or ideas and the ability to compete effectively with their rivals. Businesses must provide high quality goods and services to their customers in order for those businesses to survive the world of competition from their other rivals.

The most successful businesses in the world today have already established their reputation or image, operate with the monopoly of those goods and services that they provide to their customers, have the expanded customer base, have the effective advertisement programs or publicity, are unique in the types of goods and services that they offer their customers, use modern business strategies such as, offering of return policy, warranty policy, discounts or special reduction sales, must be innovative and dynamic in the production of their goods and services and operate the most effective customer services.

This is the real secret behind the success of the biggest businesses around the world today, such as, Microsoft, Apple, Walmart, British Airways, Toyota Motors and many others. The doctrine of sowing a seed for a business to grow is not biblical and this heretic teaching has no single precedence from the entire Scriptures. This strange doctrine is man made and man designed to primarily benefit the man that preaches this anti-business teachings in a diabolical manner and using a deceptive package that is known as the prosperity gospel or the greed gospel of money and materialism.

"EVERY PASTOR WHO COLLECTS TITHES IS NOTHING BUT A THIEF AND A ROBBER" - FEMI ARIBISALA.

According to the scriptures, money is not acceptable as tithe; it has to be food-crops or livestock. 

As far as many pastors are concerned, the most important scripture of all is not to be found in the word of Jesus.  Neither is it even in the New Testament.  That scripture says: “‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’” (Malachi 3:10).

This scripture is drummed repeatedly into Christians on Sundays.  However, the only time Jesus mentioned tithing in scripture, he pointed out that it was not a weighty matter of the law. (Matthew 23:23).  Hebrews says people only receive tithes “according to the law.” (Hebrews 7:5).  It then insists tithing (and everything else under the law) has been annulled: “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless.” (Hebrews 7:18-19). Nevertheless, mercenary pastors continue to insist on the payment of tithes.

Latter-day Pharisees

Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for keeping part instead of the whole law. (Matthew 23:23). That is what tithe-collecting pastors do today.  If we insist our congregants must pay tithes, we must also insist that they keep the rest of the law.  James says: “Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.” (James 2:10). Therefore, if we insist on tithing, we should also refrain from eating pork.  We should stone adulterers, execute homosexuals, kill Sabbath violators and restore blood-sacrifices. 

Tithe-collecting pastors counter this by maintaining the payment of tithes pre-dated the law.  Here Abraham is cited as the cardinal example of someone who paid tithes before the promulgation of the Law of Moses, as did Jacob, his grandson.  However, such arguments are disingenuous. 

Before the law, tithing was at best an example but not a commandment.  Moreover, pastors fail to mention that Abraham only tithed once in his lifetime.  When he did, he did not even tithe his own money: he tithed the spoils of war.  He gave ten percent of the plunder he took when he rescued Lot to Melchisedec, king of Salem.  But then he did not even keep the rest but returned it (all ninety percent) to the king of Sodom.

For his part, Jacob also tithed only once.  He did this in a “let’s make a deal” arrangement he offered to God: “Jacob made a vow, saying, ‘If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God.  And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you.’” (Genesis 28:20-22).  This kind of deal about accepting God only under certain self-serving conditions should certainly not be a term of reference for any serious believer.

Lies upon lies

The first lie pastors tell Christians is what some have referred to as “the eleventh commandment:” “Thou shalt pay thy tithes to thy local church.”  But the bible says no such thing.  The storehouse of Malachi was not a church.  It was a place where food was kept. 

Pastors hide from church-members the fact that money was not acceptable as tithe.  The tithe was a tenth of the seed and fruit of the land and of the animals which ate of the land. (Leviticus 27:30-32).  That is why God says: “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be FOOD in my house.” (Malachi 3:10).  He does not say “that there may be MONEY in my house.”  The food was used to feed the Levites, the poor, widows, orphans and strangers. 

Pastors also conveniently fail to teach the biblical tithe.  The principles of tithing were not laid down by Malachi.  They were laid down by Moses.  The study of Moses’ guidelines quickly reveals that the biblical tithe has no application whatsoever to Christians and is mischievously violated by tithe-collecting pastors today.  

According to the Law of Moses, the tithe was divided into three allocations.  The first year, it was given to the Levite.  The second year, it was given to widows, orphans and the poor.  The third year, it was eaten in the company of the faithful before the Lord as thanksgiving for his faithfulness. (Deuteronomy 14:22-28).  In the seventh year, there was no planting and no reaping and therefore no tithing.

So the next time your pastor asks you to pay tithe, ask him about the seventh-year reprieve.  Also ask him if you can give your tithe to the orphanage, or bring it as food items to be eaten in church.  Believe me; he will not agree with you because it is your money he is after. 

Inapplicability of tithes

Tithing was only applicable to Jews and to the land of Israel.  When large populations of Jews lived in Babylon, Ammon, Moab, Egypt, and Syria, these lands became tithe-able lands.  However, tithes were not acceptable from strictly Gentile lands.  So you need to ask your pastor how come he is collecting tithes in Nigeria. 

Servants or slaves who worked on the land did not tithe because the land did not belong to them.  Since only agricultural and animal resources were included, a fisherman gave no tithe of his fisheries.  Neither did a miner or a carpenter pay tithes, nor anyone from the various professional occupations.  So if you are not a farmer or a keeper of livestock, tell your 419 pastor tithing is biblically inapplicable to you. 

Moreover, the only people authorised to receive tithes were the Levites. (Hebrews 7:5).  So if your Pastor is a “tithe-collector,” ask him if he happens to be a Jew.  Remind him that, even though a Jew, Jesus could not receive the tithe because he was not from the tribe of Levi but from that of Judah. 

The trick, of course, is for pastors today to claim we are “Levites.”  If your pastor is one such dissembler, ask him if he lives as a Levite.  Remind him that Levites had no land and did not have private property.  Ask him also how he knows he is from the tribe of Levi, which happens to be one of the lost tribes of Israel.  Point out to him that even Jewish rabbis don’t claim to be Levites today because all Jewish genealogical records were lost with the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, ensuring that it is no longer possible to ascertain the true identity of Levites. 

Therefore, if Jews no longer tithe because the Levites are a lost tribe, how can Christian pastors collect tithes when we are not even Jewish, how much more Levites?  If Jewish rabbis, whose terms of reference remain the Old Testament no longer collect tithes, then pastors who insist Christians are under a New Testament have no business doing so. 

The conclusion then is inescapable.  Every pastor who collects tithes is nothing but “a thief and a robber.” (John 10:1). 

"THE MADNESS ABOUT PRIVATE JET OWNERSHIP IN THE GOVERNANCE OF NIGERIA"

Nigeria has about 17,500 public elected and appointed officials at all levels of her government. These political leaders account for about 0.001% of the entire Nigerian population of around 160 million citizens. These public officials gulp about 1.13 trillion Nigerian Naira ($7.1 billion) yearly as their yearly salaries and allowances out of the federal budget of 4.9 trillion Nigerian Naira ($30.6 billion). In terms of numbers, the 0.001% of Nigerians are using 24% of the federal budget of Nigeria for themselves in the name of democracy and public service and leaving behind the 160 million ordinary Nigerians to jointly share the remaining 76% of the nation's income or $23.5 billion. The data above shows that Nigeria as a nation practices the highest wealth gap, the most massive poverty-creation scheme and the most pronounced income inequality today all over the human universe through this system of governance.

Today in Nigeria, some of the 36 governors are now acquiring expensive private jets that run into tens of millions of the American dollar through their tax payers' monies, state budgets or their own state security votes in the name of governance or public service. The states that most of these governors run in 2013 do not have the basic MRI machines in their hospitals, computers and internet connections for the students in their public schools. The roads in the states that they govern are all 21st century death traps and their citizens do not have any access to treated water or employment opportunities. These governors who own those private jets govern states that are so geographically small or insignificant in their territories or landmass and their states can be criss-crossed easily in two hours of road driving.

The only two public elected or appointed officials in Nigeria today that can truly justify the ownership of those private jets are the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and his foreign affairs minister. The President has constitutional responsibilities that cover the 36 states of Nigeria, ECOWAS, African Union, Commonwealth of Nations, United Nations, bilateral agreements and treaties with other governments and nations of the world. The foreign affairs minister has a portfolio that takes him or her to all the nations of the world that have diplomatic relationships with Nigeria. The other federal ministers and the 36 governors in Nigeria do not have any demanding constitutional responsibilities that are worldwide in nature in all truth, honesty and reality to own those private jets. They can fly on the first-class or the business class tickets of the major commercial airlines that fly into Nigeria from the nations of the world and also fly out of Nigeria to the nations of the world.

"I COME TO BURY JONATHAN" - RUDOLF OGOO OKONKWO

President Jonathan has said that corruption in Nigeria is exaggerated. In the eternal words of William Shakespeare, if it were so, it was a grievous fault on the part of those Americans who pointed it out. And grievously have those Americans answered it.

For the purpose of simplifying this argument, let us forget everything that happened when Goodluck Jonathan was Deputy Governor under Governor Diepreiye Alamiesegha or when he was the governor of Bayelsa State following the impeachment of Alamiesegha for corruption - including the arrest of Mrs. Patience Jonathan for money laundering (redacted and deleted from the memory of Nuhu Ribadu and the EFCC). Let us forget all that happened when he was Vice President under President Musa Yar’Adua or Acting President following his death. Let us start from the time he won elections as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on April 16, 2011.

Two weeks later, on April 29, 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan secretly approved the transfer of $1.1 billion to the London account of Malabu Oil and Gas owned by former Minister of Petroleum and a convicted money launderer, Dan Etete and Sani Abacha’s son, Mohammed. The money came from funds paid to the Federal Government by two multinational companies; Nigeria Agip Exploration Limited and Shell Nigeria as part of the settlement of the Malabu oil block case between the Federal Government, Malabu and the two multinational oil companies. As soon as the money got into the account of Malabu Oil in London it was wired to secret accounts of cronies and some political associates of President Jonathan. One of the beneficiaries was Abubakar Aliyu. He received over $500 million of that money through several companies he owned. Nobody could fathom what his companies did to warrant such payments. All that we know is that the man is a close associate of Diepreiye Alamiesegha and that he was the same man who (with President Yar’Adua’s help) bought 80,000 square feet of NITEL’s land in Abuja for N1 billion and turned around (with President Jonathan’s help) to sell the same piece of land for N20 billion to the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Other than travel round the world, the next big thing President Jonathan did was increasing the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol, from N65.00 to N141.00 on January 1st 2012. This action prompted spontaneous protests across Nigeria and abroad. Even though President Jonathan and his team threw around conflicting figures- which showed they had no understanding of what was really going on in the oil industry- they kept arguing that the pain would be temporary and that after the pain the benefits would overwhelm Nigerians. They promised urban buses, monthly publication of the amount of money saved, maintenance of the Port Harcourt refinery, construction of eight major roads, two bridges etc. The subsidy they said had gulped down N1.43 trillion by the end of 2011. With subsidies removed the government said it would realize N1.134 trillion. The protests forced the government to adjust the PMS price to N97. That would have brought half of the projected N1.34 trillion; that is N600 billion into the coffers of the government. However, a year later, none of the promises had been fulfilled. Nobody can say, with any authority, where the N600 billion made in 2012 in subsidy removal was.

In the course of the tussle over the subsidy removal, the Ministry of Finance was forced to set up an inquiry into the government’s subsidy payments to oil marketers and importers. The committee led by Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, looked at the subsidy claims of 2011 and discovered that the Federal Government had overpaid importers and marketers of petrol by a whopping N430 billion naira. Yet, before December 2012, the Federal Government had exhausted N888 billion of the 2012 budget meant for payment of subsidies. An additional N161 billion in supplementary funding had to be approved for subsidy payments else marketers and importers were going to carry out their threat to cease importation of petrol into Nigeria, thereby grounding the country.

(Please pause and think of this: In 2012, N600 billion was realized from partial subsidy removal. N430 billion in over payment to marketers and importers was discovered from the 2011 receipts. Also N888 billion was budgeted for subsidy payments in 2012. Yet, by December 2012 an additional N161 billion in supplementary funding was added. So despite the identified overpayment of N430 billion, Nigeria spent N1.14 trillion in subsidy in 2012. And if you add the unaccounted N600 billion saved, that gives us an amount of N1.6 trillion wasted.)

As part of the gains of the protests, a presidential panel was set up to look into what was really happening at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The Ribadu-led panel came out with a report that suggested that Nigeria had lost about N4.64 trillion in the last 10 years from deals Nigerian government officials signed with foreign oil multinationals. (A good example is the recent deal involving Petroleum Minister Mrs. Diezeani Alison Madueke and Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) Limited over foou large oil blocks (OMLs 26, 30, 34 and 42). The Madueke deal is said to shortchange Nigeria to the tune of billions and billions in loss associate with billions of cubic feet of gas. Five aggrieved oil-producing communities in Delta State are engaged in a fight with the minister and her friends at the multinational companies). The Ribadu report also revealed that the NNPC had failed to report N86.6 billion to the government in 10 years by simple manipulation of exchange rates by officials of the corporation. The report further showed that about 150,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen each day in Nigeria. So Nigeria loses about $13.5 million per day (at $100 per barrel). In a year, that stands at $5 billion (N750 billion)

In January this year, a presidential committee on public service reform discovered that top government officials in Nigeria take home N1.126 trillion a year in salaries and allowances – out of a national budget of N4.9 trillion. These public officers constitute just 0.013 per cent of Nigeria’s population. It is common knowledge that Nigeria’s 108 senators each make over $1.7m dollars a year when US President Barak Obama only makes $400,000 a year. That alone is $183.4 million (N28 billion). Then the 360 members of the House of Representatives each takes home over $1.2 billion dollars, which amounts to $432 million dollars (N65bn). Again, each state governor collects an average of N200 million naira a month just as security vote. In a year, they each get N2.4 billion naira. So our 36 governors take home N87 billion naira on security votes alone every year. Add our 38 ministers and ministers of state, 100 plus heads of federal and state agencies, over 432 state commissioners,  774 local government area chairmen or caretakers, almost 10,000 councilors and you will understand where the N1.126 trillion goes.

While all these were going on, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole was arrested and charged for embezzling a N10 billion naira loan borrowed on behalf of the House. He has since been released- awaiting trial, like many governors of the past 13 years. Also an assistant director in the Federal Civil Service, John Yusuf together with his friends stole N27.2 billion from the Police Pension Fund. He was tried and sentenced to 2 years in jail with an option of a N750, 000. At the same time, a Pension Reform Task Force set up by the government to recover looted funds found billions in some banks. Its chairman Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina transferred the recovered funds to his private account. When asked to appear before the senate, he absconded to Malaysia.

Around the same time, the former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili accused Presidents Yar’Adua and Jonathan of squandering in 4 years the $67 billion in External Reserves left by Obasanjo’s government in 2007. She offered to have an open debate with Jonathan’s government but the government called her names and shut her down. Jonathan’s team told Nigerians excited by the prospects of a debate to keep quiet; after all, Nigeria’s external reserve is back up to $48 billion and our national Sovereign Wealth Fund is now $1 billion. (Big deal, until you look at what Algeria ($190 billion) and Libya ($130 billion) and India ($290 billion) and Singapore ($260 billion) have in their foreign external reserves.)

This is the world of revolving billions and trillions that President Jonathan and his 0.013% of Nigerian public officials are living in. In such a world you will understand why President Jonathan had no sense of outrage as he pushed through a proposal for a First Lady Mission that would cost N4 billion to build. You will also understand why a food allowance of almost N1 billion did not sound outrageous to the presidency. In this world of revolving billions and trillions, where everyone in their circle is getting theirs, you will understand why nobody who is getting paid will seriously raise a hand to point at others in the same club.

Many of us do not know but Nigeria makes an average of $20 billion dollars (N3 trillion) in oil and gas revenue a year. Nigeria also makes N5 trillion from Federal taxes. From Customs duty, Nigeria makes another one trillion. That is a total of N9 trillion. If you add a typical year of $10 billion in Excess Crude Account, you are looking at an annual income of over N10 trillion.

In a typical year, Nigeria budgets N4.9 trillion. N10 trillion in revenue minus N4.9 trillion budgeted you have about N5 trillion out there for politicians to play with. If we were to share the N10 trillion naira revenue amongst 170 million Nigerians, every citizen should get N59, 000.00 naira each. A typical family of six will get N354, 000.00 a year.

And if Jonathan closes the loophole through which N750 billion is lost in stolen crude oil, even if it is by 50%, an additional N370 billion will come in. Last December, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala announced proudly that Jonathan’s government has recovered N29 billion naira from oil marketers out of N234 billion certified as stolen. Again if Jonathan ends the waste from oil subsidy, at over N600 billion a year, Nigeria will get an additional revenue of one trillion naira a year for a grand total of N11 trillion each year.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s external debt has been on the increase since Ngozi Okonjo Iweala came back. It is projected to hit $20 billion in external debt and N6 trillion in domestic debt next year. That means, in less than 10 years after Ngozi Okonjo Iweala paid $12.4 billion of Nigeria’s money to the Paris and London Clubs to fulfill her now abandoned goal of having Nigeria as a debt free nation, Nigeria’s debt is back in full.

President Jonathan is lucky that Nigerians are too busy with more important things – fighting over Chelsea and Manchester United and Arsenal and the decision the coaches of each team make each Saturday and how the European league referees perform on the pitch. So far, Nigerians have abandoned their own team, their own coaches, their own referees, their own pitch and the matches that affect their lives the most.

The day Jonathan’s luck will run out is the day Nigerians will grab a calculator and add up these billions and trillions. Until then, it is mere exaggeration when I say; I come to bury Jonathan not to praise him.