**Tinubu Govt’s Response to New York Times Article Is An Insult On the Collective Intelligence Of All Nigerians (Read the FULL TEXT of Dr. Ope Banwo, The Mayor of Fadeyi, responding to Bayo Onanuga, Presidential Adviser’s press release in response to the New York Times article on the state of our nation under present Tinubu at https://mayoroffadeyi.com/tinubu-govts-response-to-new-york-times-article-is-an-insult-on-the-collective-intelligence-of-all-nigerians/)**

I read today with increasing irritation and disappointment the rejoinder of Bayo Onanuga, a top spokesperson for Tinubu, to the New York Times’ scathing evaluation of the first year of President Tinubu’s administration.

Let me first say with sincerity that I have a lot of respect for Mr. Bayo Onanuga as a journalist (at least before he joined this new government), and I appreciate that he has a job to do to defend the government that pays his salary. His job portfolio includes being part of the team of government apologists to present the best side of the government, especially when it is underperforming.

However, there must be a limit to the defense of the indefensible, or the defender himself will lose credibility before his admirers, as Bayo Onanuga, our hitherto much-respected journalist, appears to be doing. Seeing some of his recent defenses of the Ashiwaju Tinubu government, I am beginning to wonder if the bug of Aso Rock, which seems to rob people of their professional integrity, has not bitten this erstwhile respected journalist.

In his unnecessarily aggressive press release on the New York Times and his defense of the underperforming government, the special adviser displayed some familiar traits common to a government that has no answer to a legitimate, if somewhat brutal, appraisal of its record:

1. *The Annoying Finger-Pointing At The Government’s Predecessor* – Rather than rolling out the legitimate achievements of the government, if indeed it had any to boast of as a defense to the perceived New York Times attack, our presidential spokesperson spent a considerable part of his long rejoinder whining about the poor economy his administration inherited (as if his principal didn’t help create that past government in the first place) and predictably waxed very eloquent in pointing fingers of blame at the previous administrations.

Please, somebody needs to let the spokespersons of the Tinubu government, and maybe even the president himself, know that we are sick and tired of our leaders blaming their predecessors for the so-called ‘problems they inherited.’ The fact of the matter is this government took a voluntary assumption of risk by fighting so hard to be elected, and its operatives like Bayo Onanuga need to man up and deal with what they willingly and aggressively signed up to solve.

Reality check to Mr. Onanuga and his fellow apologists: Nigerians did not come to Aso Rock to beg Ashiwaju to run for president. In fact, on the contrary, if truth be told, he ran and won against the wishes of the majority of the people because less than 20% of Nigerians actually voted, and even among those few who voted, less than 50% of the voters voted for APC and Ashiwaju in the elections. He only won because he had the highest votes in what was essentially a three-way race (even when you accept all the dubious votes INEC gave APC and the Supreme Court decision that the election was legit, he is still a minority president). Even with all that, less than 50% of Nigerians wanted Jagaban.

That’s a fact and not an Obedient or Atikulated sore loser allegation, as I expect his die-hard supporters to allege in their clap back as they always do when pinned down with the truth. Go verify it.

President Tinubu, despite admitting he was the architect that put together the coalition that gave us the disastrous Buhari government, woke up one day and declared his ‘Emilokan Gambit.’ He then followed up his declaration and spent considerable money, put his fragile health at risk, and endured the most excruciating expose of his personal and public life by relentless ‘stubborn pursuers’ like the award-winning journalist, David Hundeyin, and a posse of Obedients, The Dissatisfied Diaspora Coalition, dissatisfied Nigerians, and The Atikulated Gang, The ‘Revolution NOW’ crowd, etc., to run and win.

President Tinubu, in his vaunting ambition to be president, played every political card he had and called in every favor he had amassed over his more than 40 years in politics to seize the Aso Rock iron throne and then keep it despite the unrelenting challenges from his competitors.

So he got the Aso Throne, and his supporters hailed him as the last man standing, and rightfully so, but that didn’t remove from the fact that he fought a scorched earth war to become president. So how can he now turn around and blame the conditions of the country he inherited for his lack of ability to make serious progress after one year?

The fact is, if President Tinubu was indeed serious that being president was his destiny and that it was his turn, he owed himself and Nigerians the responsibility to have done his homework to really know the real problems and to have a great plan to solve them before embarking on his do-or-die fight for the office.

Or is he telling us now that he just ran for the office so he could say he was a president before he dies or just winding us?

Every lame government Nigeria has been unfortunate to have always blamed their predecessor instead of moving forward to solve the problem they promised us they would.

I can probably understand if an illiterate government operator who got his job based on being the nephew of the president or side-chick of one of his boys is talking this kind of tired rhetoric, but I get positively incensed when I read such apologetic diatribe from a journalist of Onanuga’s pedigree, intelligence, seasoning, and reputation who can look at Nigerians in the eye and say ‘don’t be harsh on us, we inherited the worst economy in the world.’ Excuse me?? With profound respect, Mr. Onanuga, that’s an insult to our collective intelligence. Mr. Bayo Onanuga knew better and needs to apologize to Nigerians for that lame response.

The truth is, I know I would (and most Nigerian parents would do the same) smack my 16-year-old daughter if she ran for class captain by her own choice, and then came home to tell me she is not performing on her promises to her classmates because her predecessor did a very bad job before her. As she cried after she started seeing red with my quick back-end, I would have asked her if she didn’t do her homework well to know that it’s a Herculean task before trying to boost her ego by running for class president. Nobody except thieves should be killing themselves to win elections only for them to turn around and say ‘it’s the fault of my predecessor.’

At this point, Nigerians, especially those suffering and barely holding on to life in Fadeyi side of life, do not care what the Ikoyi leaders think about President Jonathan, Buhari, or even President Obasanjo. You voluntarily took the job by fire by force, and now you must do it with dignity and acceptance of responsibility for EVERYTHING the country is facing. You are the leader NOW, and NOW is where we are. Stop being a historian and do your job!

You all campaigned to solve the problems, KNOWING OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN, how bad it was if you are a serious politician with good intentions, not to remind us of the past anytime you get squeezed by respected international news media or politicians in the opposition.

Please, man up, sir, and fix this mess, or the entire government should just resign and go!

In my considered opinion, and I have read the New York Times article, everything it said was true and believable, I will say somehow understated in some parts to be honest (and Mr. Onanuga did NOT provide any receipts to debunk any of it other than claiming it’s the fault of Buhari or that the article was motivated by hatred of Nigeria 🤷🏿‍♂️). Since Mr. Onanuga has decided to make the New York Times article an issue instead of wisely ignoring it and praying nobody would read it, I will direct that everyone wondering if indeed the New York Times article unfairly attacked our country or government can go read that depressing but TRUE article for themselves here: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/world/africa/nigeria-economy-strike.html.

3. *‘I Know My Neighbour’ is NOT Abuse* – As my Aunty Mosun would say when my friends would call me by one of my many annoying nicknames while growing up in Fadeyi, ‘Mo Mo Ara Ile Mi Ki Se Ebu’ (Roughly translated: When your neighbor accurately and truthfully calls you a name you dislike, you cannot take that as an abuse. Truth is NOT abuse even if annoying to you). My point? Everything the New York Times article said about Nigeria is mostly verifiable fact. So why is Onanuga or Jagaban’s government getting mad at them for calling it as it is?

Instead of getting embarrassed and irritated to the point of putting out an even more annoying rejoinder, they should either keep quiet and hope many Nigerians will not read the annoying article OR provide cogent evidence to show that the NYT deliberately lied about your records.

Or is it not a fact that real inflation has gone supernova in the last year?

Or is it a lie that our government inherited an exchange rate of LESS than N700 to $1 but today it’s N1,500 to $1?

Or are you going to look us in the eye and claim unemployment rates went down since you took over?

Or would you look Nigerians in the eye and tell them they have better electricity today than they did on May 29th, 2023, when you took over?

In Fadeyi AND Ikoyi AND Abakaliki AND Kafancha, EVERYONE has seen prices of foodstuffs like rice, beans, yam, and plantain TRIPLE, and some even quadruple in the last year since we all accepted our fate and accepted your government as our de facto and de jure government!

So what exactly did the New York Times say that’s so untrue that the government then decided to make it a ‘roforofo’ fight with the innocent reporters of the New York Times? What exactly did they get wrong?

Or is the Ashiwaju Government expecting THEM to make excuses for why our government is underperforming even with some of the brightest minds serving under it? Hello!! That’s NOT their job! They are not Nigerian journalists and owe us no obligation about our sensibilities on their characterization of our problems about our nation. Truth is bitter, as they say. Swallow it sir and work hard so you can really have something to brag or be annoyed about, sir!

 

4. *Bayo Onanuga’s Response To Defense Of The Government Is Not Exactly Forthright and a Tad Annoying* – After Mr. Bayo Onanuga finished pointing his fingers at the previous government, he then tried to tell us how ‘great’ the Tinubu government has been doing… and according to him, and I quote:

⁃ Onanuga, in the poor defense of the government, said, “stability is being restored in the foreign exchange markets since the naira depreciated to an all-time low of N1,900/$.”

ME: Excuse me, sir, can someone remind him how much was the exchange rate his government inherited? So, they met the exchange rate at N700 to $1, but under your watch, rates went all the way to N1,900 to $1 in less than 8 months, but now that you have managed to ‘reduce’ it to N1,500 to $1, we should clap for you now? Pally, you are still underwater from where you started by more than 50% depreciation!

⁃ Onanuga also said, “The economy recorded a trade surplus of N6.52 trillion in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, against a deficit of N1.4 trillion in Q4 of 2023.”

ME: Seriously? ‘Trade surplus?’ With who? And in any case, ‘improving’ on your own very poor record for the 4th quarter of 2023 in the 2nd quarter of 2024, even if true, is not something to dance buga over. Our government’s ill-conceived and ill-executed policies took us into that rabbit hole in the first place last year, and making feeble attempts to get themselves out of the hole they dug does not deserve any special appreciation.

⁃ Also, according to Onanuga in his staunch attempt at defending the indefensible record of this APC government: “With the World Bank extending a $2.25 billion loan and other loans by the AfDB and Afreximbank coming in, Nigeria has become bankable again. This is all because the reforms being implemented have restored some confidence.”

ME: Truthfully, I had to laugh in Ijebu at the sophistry argument and attempt to insult our thinking capability as Nigerians. Okay, explain this to me like I am a 10-year-old: So your defense against an allegation that your government keeps borrowing money is that it is because you have been able to borrow $2.25 BILLION in proof that your government now made Nigeria bankable again? Ha ha. Oti ye mi o. Well done.

⁃ Going further in his very ‘brilliant’ analysis on behalf of the Tinubu Government, Mr. Bayo Onanuga said, “Nigeria is not the only country in the world facing a rising cost of living crisis, adding that the United States is also experiencing a similar situation, with families finding it hard to make ends meet. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen raised this concern recently. Europe is similarly in the throes of a cost-of-living crisis.”

ME: This resort to this ‘Ajegbodo’ Defense Strategy is laughable, though not surprising. This particular move has been the normal refuge of this APC government when pinned to the corner. They will tell you indignantly, “Don’t drag us joor; after all, the USA too is suffering.”

I always marvel at the hypocrisy of our government’s people who like to drag other countries into the national debate when it suits them. Still, when we try to tell them that our minimum wage is N30,000 (With forex exchange, that’s $20 MONTHLY), in comparison, the equivalent minimum wage in the USA for the lowest paid worker is about $1,400 MONTHLY (i.e., over N2,000,000.00 monthly), they will call you names and say you are mad for daring to compare Nigeria to America.

I could go on and on about pointing out all the non-sequiturs in Mr. Bayo Onanuga’s response to the NYT article on behalf of the Tinubu government, but you may not believe me, and my article is already too long, so go read it for yourself on the official Twitter page of our President @NGRPresident no less: https://x.com/ngrpresident/status/1802587019064791175?s=46&t=mDiUCL3j2JN7pkKw6BpO5Q.

5. *The NYT Article Has Nothing To Do With Racism Or Hatred Of Nigeria As Bayo Onanuga Implied* – Fifthly and perhaps even more annoying to me personally is the fact that the highly esteemed Special Presidential spokesperson felt it necessary to descend to the very sad level of trying to make the New York article about race or about the world’s bias against Nigeria.

How come? What is the New York Times’ interest in discriminating or reporting bad stuff about Nigeria if indeed we have not done anything bad? This appeal to faux patriotism is often the last refuge of those who have no defense to anything derogatory being said about their country.

Yes, I am as patriotic as the next guy, but I try not to get mad when people call my country of birth by the name it has earned for itself. It’s the way most Nigerians got mad when one politician was alleged (turned out he didn’t really say that) to have called us a ‘shithole country.’ Many Nigerians were ready to go to war with America and Donald Trump, the accused, and very few took a hard breath and considered if that annoying name-calling has any iota of truth;

• Yet it’s a fact that we live in a country where our minimum wage is like $20 a month (my 30-year-old daughter did not believe it when the matter came up at breakfast on Father’s Day, and Harmony, my 16-year-old daughter, looked scared and she asked me if it’s true and I said yes. Her next tearful concern and question to me was, “How is my grandma still managing to survive with $20 a month?” when three of us just spent about $120 for breakfast in a very ordinary restaurant near our house? (I had to spend almost 30 minutes explaining to her that her grandma is okay and that while $20 a month in Nigeria is bad, it is not as bad as it sounds to those living in the USA);
•  We live in a country where kids stand in a knee-deep pool of dirty water to take classes in school for goodness’ sake, and even when the videos surfaced, our government didn’t go there to shut down the school and arrest the teachers. Now we are all talking about a possible cholera outbreak?;
• We live in a country where 90% cannot boast of constant 4 hours of electricity a day regardless of where they live outside of Aso Rock and special designated bands for the super rich;
• We are in a country where you bought a bag of rice for N29,000 a year ago but it’s N100,000 today; we live in a country where a most-wanted terrorist was turbaned as Emir with the police allegedly looking for him providing security at the occasion.
• We live in a country where a simple Governor’s consent to a land sale can take 7 years (I just experienced this LIVE to my client over a property in Iju area under Ogun State despite having many staff pursuing it in Nigeria all because I refused to go and bribe anybody to do their job).
• We live in a country where drinkable tap water is nonexistent (you drink it at the risk of your life!) and even the poor have to buy ‘pure water’ that is not even pure in any sense rather than drink tap water.
• We live in a country where a simple land or contractual dispute can take 20 years in our law courts (some of the land cases I started before leaving for America in 1995 are still in the court system!).
• Seriously? We deal with all this and MORE and yet we get upset when someone uses the ‘S’ word to describe our country?

Seriously, contrary to the misplaced self-righteous and indignant disposition of operatives like Bayo Onanuga when the foreign press speaks the truth that local journalists cannot dare to speak for risk of being canceled by the government and its supporters, our GOVERNMENT AND US THAT THEY GOVERN need to grow up and deal with our problems and stop blaming outsiders or white people, even if they are part of the problem.

At 64, our country is a fully grown adult as a nation, and we and our leaders must accept responsibility for our condition and actions and also understand that our destiny is in our hands.

The country we see today is what we created, and which those who voted for this government created, so let’s stop whining and start winning. Colonialism was bad, but they handed over our country back to us 64 years ago and if they are still controlling us today as some Nigerian apologists like to argue, then the blame is on us! At least some francophone countries are waking up to that reality and at least trying to become really independent…. But our own leaders steal our money to go invest in the economies of the so-called oppressors, then turn around and shout ‘Neocolonialism!’. Shior.

Nigerian government and Nigerians really need to stop blaming colonial masters for our mess. They handed over power to us, and so far I did not see any white man running for government in our country since independence. So if our leaders sold us out or are incompetent to get good deals from the white man, why are we blaming the white man? It’s like a black man in the USA who cannot even correctly spell ‘slavery’ who blamed ME, who didn’t even see slavery myself,   AND OTHER AFRICANS  a few years ago, for ‘selling’ his ancestors into slavery in America 500 years ago.

In that situation I just told him he was retarded and walked away, but I won’t say that to my Onanuga or my president for trying to blame USA newspaper or white man or even GEJ of 10 years ago for their inability to perform today. Aunty Mosun will smack me and say that will be very rude even if it’s a fact. So all I will do is beg them to stop assaulting my sensibilities this early morning and pull down that press release o.

Finally, the Tinubu govt has accused the New York times of unfair reporting and insinuated that their piece as a sponsored hatchet job (and if care is not taken they will soon accuse peter Obi , or Obidients or loyl Atikulateds of being being the article as is their custom).  If they have any self respect let them respond ot the REAL ISSUES the article raised and not the straw man defense and responses  we just read from the Presidential Spokesperon on the President Twitter handle. Its an insult ot our collective intelligence and experience.

Instead of the drama, Let Onanuga and the Tinubu government LIST their accomplishments on the following issues that the New York Times article mentioned and kneecapped them on:

• What is their record on Tackling the perennial power failure in our land.;
• What is their real record in managing the galloping price of petrol or record in managing our oil production though our president himself is PERSONALLY in charge of our ministrt of petroleum?.;
• How exactly is this government Tackling mass unemployment among youths and crippling underemployment among our adult population?;
• Maybe the government should explain how managing our forex exchange backwards from N700 to $1 to now N1,500 to $1 in less than a year is a good thing and why the New York times was racist in not applauding them for that ‘beautiful’ record;
• Since the New York Times has claimed that people are really starving in the nation, maybe Mr Sola Onanuga can show us how that is a lie by Explaining how the price of foodstuffs tripled in the last year is a good thing that the New York Times should celebrate them for.
• How exactly is the government Dealing with inflation and unresolved minimum wage agitation that all but crippled the country in only 3 days of strike?
• The Govt should also publish their records how they have actually Increased local production or created new manufacturing companies the country needs instead of telling us what they PLAN TO DO as Mr Onanuga repeats in his piece
• Maybe the government should tell us the great job they have been doing to build good hospitals and good schools for our children or at least provided the enabling environment to let individuals do that profitably.

Good record cannot be denied if it existed. So let them call out New York times with facts and verifiable records on these issues that they mentioned in different ways in their article.

These are some of the things the New York Times article highlighted, and our government is having a meltdown over. If care is not taken, they probably will accuse both Peter Obi and Atiku and the Mayor of Fadeyi all colluding to sponsor that on-point article in the New York Times.

So, in conclusion, though I am not a hater. I actually like and admire Jagaban and his folksy and funny style but its not style we go chop.  I WANT this government to succeed as its success is MY success too especially in a nation where a whole tribe is judged by the performance of the leader from their tribe I give an emphatic thumbs down to that Onanuga rejoinder.

I think he should withdraw it and apologize to Nigerians AND the New York Times. New ork Times is NOT the enemy. They only reported what they saw. So, lets not be obsessing over acne when wwe have serious issue of leprosy and cancer raign our land.

My name is Ope Banwo, and as the Mayor of Fadeyi, I must call it as I see it. My people are literally starving while our presidential advisers are busy doing intellectual masturbation on Twitter with NY Times as their spectator instead of finding REAL solutions to our many problems.

I don go 🚶🏽‍♂️🚶🏽‍♂️🚶🏽‍♂️🚶🏽‍♂️.

Read full article and MORE on the Mayor of Fadeyi Blog at:

Tinubu Govt’s Response to New York Times Article Is An Insult On the Collective Intelligence Of All Nigerians