Shamsuddeen

Moderation, always; Retweets not endorsement

[A.I. Adamu @isasquare]

Nigeria rewards extreme and shuns moderation.
If u r moderate olodo, u will live a poor miserable life, but if u r extreme olodo, u will be invited as panellist, or paid millions to singing political jingles.
1/3

[Atiku Abubakar @atiku]

On the question of subsidy, my position has not changed and will not change: I will restore it! A nation as blessed as ours has no business abandoning its citizens to hardship. Nigeria is rich enough to look after her own.

I believe the wealth of a nation is not measured by how much government collects, but by how much the money in the pockets of its people can buy.

I want wages to have value again. I want farmers to move produce without transport swallowing their profits. I want families to fill their baskets without emptying their pockets. I want businesses to produce, employ and prosper.

That is why I will restore targeted subsidy and put purchasing power back in the hands of Nigerians.

When fuel rises, transport rises. When transport rises, food rises. When food rises, families suffer.

I will break that wretched chain that has defined our national life in the nearly four years of Tinubu’s presidency.

I will support Nigerian production, reduce energy costs and restore purchasing power. I will not restore the import racket; I will restore relief.

I restated this commitment when I received the Osun State leadership of the ADC in Abuja on Tuesday.

I will make the naira in your pocket worth more, make daily living affordable again, and secure our people.

Economic security. Physical security. A better life for every Nigerian.

That is the Nigeria I intend to build. -AA

[Richard @ricwe123]

"In relation to Israels military operations in Gaza, we conclude that Israeli authorities are responsible for war crimes.
Including extermination, murder, using starvation as a method of war, forcible transfer"

-UN Human Rights Council

[Ali A Olomi @aaolomi]

remember when they said it would be over when the hostages were returned, now they’re threatening to kill kids with kites

[Brian Tashman @briantashman]

Another IDF whistleblower admits that when Israel says they’re “only targeting terrorists,” they simply mean *anyone* in Gaza: They only try to manufacture claims their victims are terrorists *after* the IDF has already attacked

Account published in Le Monde on systematic lying

[oseni rufai @ruffydfire]

Today is Day 102. Mussa and Lassa, pupils from Askira Uba, Borno State, were kidnapped and are still in captivity.
We need another solidarity post please.

[Justin Logan @JustinTLogan]

Lot in this WSJ piece: Gabbard and Vance warned about consequences, Trump overruled them, listening to Netanyahu and Hegseth.

Now the Pentagon is slipping press inquiries, Trump is confused about the consequences, and WH internal polling is dismal. https://t.co/fe1gSUv3V6

[tyro @DoubleEph]

Here's an example of what I was talking about yesterday using Google Earth images (https://t.co/0fTAkv0qOS).

For context, Obajana is the largest cement plant in Nigeria. It was commissioned by former President Obasanjo in early 2007 just before he left office, so coming up to 20 years old. It is a giant complex for which Dangote operated it completely tax free for about 10yrs. He abused the government's pioneer status scheme with this plant to such extreme levels that the scheme was scrapped for cement.

Cement has also been completely protected for more than 20yrs in Nigeria - imports are totally banned with clinker only allowed with 50% tariffs.

Image 1 - shows the plant's footprint and scale in the area
Image 2 - from a June 2022 street view. This is what the surrounding area of the plant looks like at street level
Image 3 - is roughly 5 miles from the plant. You can see mud walls (anytime there are heavy rains in Nigeria, you always get stories of people dying because their mud houses collapsed)
Image 4 - You can rubbish heaps with the plant in the background.

This is where the world's richest black man makes his billion dollar fortune. Once you step outside the factory gates, much of the surrounding area remains unpaved shoulders, rudimentary drainage and pedestrians sharing the road with his thousands of cement lorries.

When I say there is zero evidence of cement linked to Nigerian development in any way, this is what I mean. Nigeria has consumed roughly a third of the amount of cement you'd expect because Dangote extracts an unbelievable price for "manufacturing" cement in Nigeria and "stopping imports". His focus on his margins above everything else is almost deranged.

If you had a man like this in Britain in the middle of the nineteenth century, Bazalgette doesn't get the London Sewer built and cholera does not get eliminated (https://t.co/VY2VLRCB7a). If you had him in early 20th century America, Erle Halliburton does not perfect oil well cementing and the world does not benefit from it (https://t.co/i894J3egUm)

But give it a few weeks, there will soon be another article in some reputable foreign media talking about how Dangote is on a journey to industrialise Africa. Meanwhile the man's two-decade record is right there in plain sight for everyone to see.

Yes, the Nigerian government is retarded enough to let this happen so it is not all his fault. But does Dangote himself have no shame? No innovation, no technology mastery, no impact on his immediate doorstep. Just his margins and counting his billions of dollars.

[Hanno Hauenstein @hahauenstein]

Israeli whistleblowers are confirming what Palestinians - and really anyone with eyes wide open - have been saying all along.

Guess what? You can believe it now.
https://t.co/zktRkuENes

[Nojeem ‘Nudge’ Yusuf @NudgeTM]

I have never for once imagined a day would come when the country’s chief revenue officer would be a fundraiser for a political campaign.

The optics don’t look good.

I am told the gentleman is a chartered accountant. I hope he has checked the Code of Ethics and satisfied himself that his role doesn’t impair his independence and objectivity. And if there are threats to that independence, the Code expects safeguards. The gentleman knows the Code, likely more than I do.

You can’t run the revenue service with one hand and raise campaign money with another hand, and you think that’s okay.

People close to him should have this conversation with him.

[Nojeem ‘Nudge’ Yusuf @NudgeTM]

The person running the office that holds the biometric data of Nigerias is in charge of data management to help re-elect Tinubu.

So brazen. Makes no sense to me at all.

I hope no one argues freedom of association.

[Champagne DT @ChampagneDT]

In this article, I argue that if Nigeria’s policymakers continue doing what the people want, rather than what the country needs, the saxophones of economic decline will only get louder.

https://t.co/YoSaXFOIWw

[liam cunningham @liamcunningham1]

Israeli defence minister Katz has issued a decree to execute any child flying a kite.
Don’t forget to remain silent about this!

Silence is complicity.
Silence is taking the side of the psychopaths.
Silence is taking the side of those committing genocide.

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

Israel has said that paper kites flown by Palestinian children will be treated as weapons of war.

Read that again.

This is the reality of genocide: the total destruction of innocence, freedom and joy.

End all military cooperation with Israel, now.

[Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod]

This image of a football match in Gaza was removed from a sports photography festival in France, following Israeli pressure.

[A.I. Adamu @isasquare]

How this is not the biggest news of terror in the world is beyond me.
The cry of innocent kids.
Something has to give in this country.

[Ose Anenih, CPM @ose_anenih]

A few random thoughts.

Under Nigerian law, there’s nothing wrong with this list. In fact, this campaign council seems to indicate that the APC is ready to do all it takes to win the 2027 election.

I also like that roles have been created for young party members, outside the usual youth/new media roles. Audu Maikori as Secretary of Election Planning and Mobilisation is a great signing.

However, there are two appointments that perhaps could cause moral entanglements. Precisely Zach Adedeji (FIRS boss) in fund-raising and Bisoye Coker (NIMC boss) in data management.

These two gentlemen hold all the information about the taxable revenues of corporations, individuals and their identities. Imagine a negotiation with a major taxpayer where tax liabilities are written off in exchange for campaign donations. Or a situation where the campaign’s voter outreach infrastructure is populated and hosted on NIMC’s backbone.

These things have not happened, as far as I am aware. And they might not. I am only highlighting how the pursuit of partisan electoral objectives might result in the abuse of high political office.

Kenya discourages this. You cannot even use public resources to initiate new projects during campaigns; or advertise government achievements. Their Electoral Umpire is empowered to even seize official vehicles used to bring officials to campaign events.

Sadly no comparably enforceable law exists for political appointees here in Nigeria.

In the absence of such a law, it would be in the interests of our democracy if these two fine gentlemen recuse themselves from the APC campaign council.

[Abdool Moh. @abdool_moh]

Nobody will save them. Just like the Borno kids and the thousands kidnapped across the North, they have two choices;

To be tortured, killed and completely forgotten like they never existed or for their families to sell everything they own to rescue them because they already do not exist to the Nigerian government.

[Galadiman Samaru @Galadima_Samaru]

The director of data management of the APC presidential campaign council is Dr Bisoye Coker who is the DG of NIMC.
Our entire data is at the disposal of the APC.
It has never been this bad & brazen.
Tinubu has blurred the line between governance and politics.
We must reject this.

[Alice Rothchild, MD @AliceRothchild]

The Lancet calls out the Israeli Medical Association & its complicity in the destruction of the health care system & the killing, injuring, & arrests of health care workers in Gaza. There's a campaign to demand that the World Medical Assoc. expel the IMA. https://t.co/XsfucsHg5Z