Nigerian Political Commentator, Governance Advocate & Public Affairs Analyst
“How Independent is the Independent National Electoral Commission?”
PROFESSIONAL PROFILE
Henry Shield is a prominent Nigerian political commentator, governance advocate, and public affairs analyst known for his frank assessments of Nigeria’s political landscape. With extensive experience in party politics, having previously served as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and held positions as political assistant to ministers, Shield brings insider knowledge to his analysis of Nigeria’s democratic institutions.
INTERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Interviewer: Good day everybody. We’re here again, State of the Nation Nigeria, the largest concentration of black people on the face of the earth. Plenty to unpack, there’s always something going on. But today we’re going to look at the Independent National Electoral Commission. How independent is the Independent National Electoral Commission? You know, there are so many issues of public trust. You know, and it’s not new. From the days of NADECO, you know, You know, I mean, the most distinguished among them probably is Nwosu, who against all odds was still able to, you know, in the military rule, make sure election results were going out until he was stopped forcefully. You know, but every other person seemed to be at the whims and caprice of the ruling party and the executive.
Henry Shield: Yes, absolutely.
Interviewer: That’s why today I have a special guest also. I always have my guests always very special. It’s a no holds barred thing. So, that’s why today I have my friend and brother Henry Shield. Henry Shield, welcome to State of the Nation.
Henry Shield: Good afternoon from here. And I’m delighted to be on your show.
Interviewer: Thank you, Henry. Henry is well known to everybody. He’s a Nigerian political commentator, governance advocate, public affairs analyst, you know, and so on and so forth. If I start reading everything, we probably won’t leave here today, you know. But one thing he’s known for, he says it the way it is. And that is really very good, you know. And he has also been a member of PDP in the past, you know. He’s been a political appointee as political assistant to ministers and all that. So, he knows the rudiments of what we’re trying to talk about. And for somebody that’s always as consistent as the northern star, my first question to you would be: Do you still have confidence in the Independent National Electoral Commission as a truly independent electoral body? Or has its trust been eroded?
1. CONFIDENCE IN INEC: “ABSOLUTELY NOT”
Henry Shield: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. From the swearing in of this current INEC chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, to the sequence of things that have happened since the swearing in, they lend credence to the fact that it cannot be said, not just by me, but any rational thinking Nigerian.
There’s even something that is cooking presently. Sahara Reporters, just yesterday, about 24 hours ago, made a disclosure that this current leadership of the INEC have been given $50,000 each and also a plot of land each in choice areas in Abuja by the FCT minister. Don’t get me wrong. Don’t get me wrong. It is okay as an INEC commissioner or chairman, for you are entitled to land as far as you are a tax-paying Nigerian. But when special concessions are made for you by politicians that you’re supposed to administer over, then it becomes bribe.
There is no other way to call it because what they should—whether you are INEC, whether you are governor, whatever. None of them has denied it.
Interviewer: No, no, no, they didn’t deny it. They only denied the $50,000 aspect, not the land.
Henry Shield: In fact, the commissioner of the INEC REC in FCT, the Resident Electoral Commissioner for FCT, acknowledged receipt of that land, of that allocation of land from the APC.
Interviewer: Oh, wow.
Henry Shield: Yeah, I think I saw that.
Interviewer: Wow.
Henry Shield: So, on what basis should anyone trust INEC? Look at the charade the chairman has been displaying since last week against the ADC. Why would the national chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission become like a spokesperson or advocate for a splinter group within a political party? Theirs is supposed to be strictly regulation of political parties’ activities, nothing else. You should not be an advocate or an actor. I don’t know. Why is Mahmood Yakubu speaking for Bala? Why is he speaking for the man who wants to hijack the ADC?
We are fast on the wrong lane. Because what we are witnessing today under this current INEC leadership is a total desecration of the sanctity of the electoral process. A total desecration. You look at what INEC is saying. You look at what the presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, is saying. Then you look at what Naf
iu is saying. You will see a synergy between the three of them.
INEC, INEC, INEC. And I am glad that you chose to address INEC. You did not choose to address Tinubu. You did not choose to address the governors. You chose to address the foundation of our democratic experience, which is the actions and inactions of the INEC. This current INEC needs to retrace its steps completely and save Nigeria’s democracy.
2. THE PROBLEM: LACK OF ACTUAL INDEPENDENCE OR PERCEPTION?
Interviewer: Let me ask you this because the issue of independence and perception. So, from your perspective, is the problem with INEC a lack of actual independence, you know, or a great perception among Nigerians that it is no longer neutral? Because the INEC chairman and most of the people in charge are being appointed by the president. So, one would think that it’s impossible for you to have been appointed by the president in the first instance and not be loyal to the president. So, from your perspective, is the problem with INEC a lack of actual independence?
Henry Shield: Well, the system itself that created the formation of INEC, this current law that we have, which makes it the duty of the president to appoint an INEC chairman—that is a flawed provision in our law. A very, very flawed process.
It is something the provision should have been that someone is nominated and then the Council of State or whatever decides. You understand? The appointment shouldn’t be done by a politician belonging to a political party. And this has nothing to do with—
Interviewer: The Council of State ratifies it.
Henry Shield: But then, the president is a member of a political party.
Interviewer: Oh, well, that’s true.
Henry Shield: He is a member of a political party. He is partisan. Yes, he’s the president of the country, but he is also a card-carrying member of a registered political party. So, just the way you called me and asked that we have this interview, imagine that you called me for an appointment, “Oh, Shield, I want you to oversee so-and-so project on behalf of Nigeria or behalf of my company somewhere.” Definitely, if I get to that position, it is your interest as my appointer. It is your interest that we want to protect.
3. PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY OF INEC CHAIRMAN
Interviewer: Wow. Okay, so let’s look at this way. To what extent should the INEC chairman be personally accountable for the controversies and credibility issues surrounding, you know, mistakes made by INEC, election irregularities, you understand? To what extent? I mean, I’m talking of the INEC chairman now. Because Jega was appointed by Goodluck Jonathan. You understand?
Henry Shield: Yes.
Interviewer: And for all intents and purposes, Jega did not toe Jonathan’s line. You understand? And I didn’t see Jonathan try to force Jega to do anything, you understand? Even though we know how powerful the president of Nigeria is, you understand? He could have done and undone so many things. So, that’s why I asked, “To what extent should the INEC chairman be held personally accountable for the controversies and credibility issues surrounding recent elections?” Over to you.
Henry Shield: Okay, thank you. You see, we all have our personal beliefs. Personal beliefs, okay. We have our levels of discipline. Discipline. Like you rightly said, Jega was appointed by Jonathan, but you saw the actions. His actions were to protect the institution that INEC is. Was to protect the Nigerian electoral process. Was to protect everything that had to do with the election that was conducted under Jonathan. And there was no interference.
Now, that is for people who believed in MKO. That was, you know, people who felt there’s a need to separate the state from individual office holders. But we do not have that today. Yeah, yeah. We have today people who are emasculating the very system that brought them in. We have a situation where the erstwhile INEC chairman has just been appointed by APC as an ambassador. The man that retired in November. That’s like 5 months ago. 3 months after his retirement, he has been given a political appointment. That is not how nations are built. That is not how institutions are built. That is not how to—because what you are doing, you are signalling. You’re signalling the next INEC chairman that if you fail, there is also a reward for you tomorrow. So what it means is that you need to play to our tune. You need to make sure that you cover, you protect our interest. So that when your tenure ends, we will also know. There shouldn’t be such rewards. The man has served this country already, whether creditably or discreditably, it is between him, his conscience, and his God. But do not give political appointment.
If you say how much should the INEC chairman be held accountable? My brother, it is left to him. For a chairman who has shown obvious and apparent and public bias against the opposition, I have a serious reservation about his person, his character, and his ability to hold his own against the people that appointed him. I have a serious reservation about that. Because a lot of things have happened. When we started, we were talking about the allocation of land by Wike. Last year. Last year. The same Wike decided that it was time to build a new headquarters for the INEC.
Now, what happened? He invited the president who was on his way to Benue. The president came and commissioned a flag-off a new INEC headquarters there on Zambezi Crescent in Maitama, right? What this means is that everyone in INEC now sees APC as their boss. Oh, these are the people giving us new headquarters. These are the people funding all these. It shouldn’t be so. It should never be so. What they should have done, if INEC wanted to build a new headquarters, they could have made the request in their budget presentation to the National Assembly. It is then the National Assembly will allocate such funds to them. If the executive is okay with it, they release the fund. INEC goes and gets its own vendors or contractors to come and build. But for the executive, for the APC government to now do like it is donating a headquarters to INEC, it rubs off on the credibility of the commission. It speaks negatively to their nature as an umpire. It discredits them. It discredits them as a platform that should be unbiased to all political parties.
4. IS THE PDP DEAD AND BURIED?
Interviewer: So I think that answers the question. Let’s look at what is happening in the PDP and the ADC. Let’s start with the PDP. You know, of course we all see that Governor Makinde was saying that he was at a meeting where Minister of FCT, that’s Wike, promised the president that he would hold PDP down for him. Is it fair to say the PDP is dead and buried?
Henry Shield: Oh, well, I don’t know how long you’ve noticed what I say most times in the media. About 2 years ago, about 2, 3 years ago, immediately Tinubu came in and the issue in PDP started, I made a public pronouncement and I said that the PDP will most likely not have a presidential candidate in 2027. That is like 2 and a half years ago. You know, a lot of people came, “you are making negative declaration, prophecy of doom,” and everything. I said because I have seen the trend, I’ve seen the way this thing is going.
The aim of Wike is not only to undermine the success of PDP or the blowing up of PDP. His aim is to ensure that Tinubu is re-elected. He doesn’t have any problem with states or local government or senator or House of Rep positions. What is Wike’s only assignment in the PDP is to undermine it and ensure that the party that once led this country for 16 years does not produce a presidential candidate. Number one.
My own take is we live in a lawless country. That is why things like that can actually happen. Wike has been all over the country shouting the praises and campaigning for Tinubu. Wike has been in Port Harcourt setting up structures for the renewed hope agenda for Tinubu’s 2027. He has disbursed buses and what have you. Wike has never hidden his plan to campaign for Tinubu. He has always campaigned for Tinubu. Members of the judiciary have been seeing that in the news. They’ve been watching that and they’ve been seeing everything. This matter came to the judiciary and guess what the judiciary did? The judiciary stamped its seal of either legitimacy or illegitimacy on Wike and gave Wike and his group the legal backing. You understand what I’m saying? Even when they have seen everything this man is doing.
So yeah, I have said times without number that if the PDP did not watch itself, it was not going to have a presidential candidate. And what did I expect the leaders of the party to do? I expected the leaders of the party to reach out to a lot of stakeholders who have left the party. Think tanks, people who are strategists, to say, “Ladies and gentlemen, how do we move forward? This thing has been said that is going to happen in 2027. How do we avert it? What do we do? What plan do we engage?” Nobody, nothing. When they go for their meetings, their meetings are always about, you know, inconsequentials. And here we are today.
Pride, ego, greed, greed. Those are the three things that got the PDP to the sorry state that it is today.
Interviewer: Wow. So uh—
Henry Shield: And I don’t see any—sorry, I don’t see any hope. I don’t see any hope. The moment the PDP allowed the APC to hijack the judiciary, they lost every form of surprise or comeback or salvation. The moment you allow the ruling party to hijack the judiciary, then you are done for. And that is the same thing happening in the ADC today. Using the judiciary to undermine the opposition. Using the judiciary—our judiciary has become shamelessly partisan. Recklessly involved in politics.
5. IS THE JUDICIARY AT THE WHIMS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?
Interviewer: Okay. Still on the ADC matter. You actually—do you believe that the judiciary is actually at the whims and caprices of the federal government?
Henry Shield: I believe so. Absolutely.
Interviewer: Wow.
Henry Shield: Just ask me my reason.
Interviewer: What are your reasons? Naturally, I will do that.
Henry Shield: Thank you. God bless you. Because when we talk, I would like to lay my own facts, my observations, on the table, all right? Now, every time, every case involving the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, all cases, whether he is the litigant, whether he is the defendant, or the appellant, doesn’t matter. Every case that involves him, he always wins in court. Every single case. And I can call them for you. Wike never loses in the Nigerian court, ever. He never loses in the Nigerian court.
So what you have is—and then, there are special judges. Special judges that are assigned to any case involving Wike and any other person. Only about three of them. Those three judges are the only judges in the federal high court in Nigeria that take cases that pertain to Wike.
My brother, there’s nothing else we need to look at. That is just the truth. The judiciary has gone to bed with our oppressors.
6. HOW DID INEC END UP WORKING FOR TINUBU?
Interviewer: Wow. Okay. So, now, I mean, let’s look at the INEC chairman still, you know, in 2023, it was clear that Buhari was not particularly supporting Tinubu, at least not verbally, his body language and all that. Yeah. I know there were some period they wanted Lawan, but given the run of play, Tinubu came in. Now, I mean, so, it’s obvious that Buhari was not pushing INEC per se. So, how then did INEC chairman then, Mahmood Yakubu, Professor, end up working for Tinubu? Do you understand? The president—
Henry Shield: I don’t think you actually know who this man called Tinubu is. There is nothing he can’t compromise. Nobody he cannot compromise. Except you’re ready to lay down your life and defend what you believe in. There is nothing and nobody that Tinubu cannot compromise.
During the run-up to the last election, there was a voice recording of a phone call that got leaked. And in that phone call, a particular contractor in INEC claimed to have received $170 million. $170 million. A particular contractor that claimed that so-and-so had given it to him. It’s online. The tape is online.
Interviewer: In fact, I remember.
Henry Shield: You remember? Okay, so, my brother, how many people will see $170 million and still stand for the truth? How many people will see such a humongous amount of money and still stand for what is right? Not so many people. Not so many. Not so many people. That’s number one.
Number two, we have a proverb that says that the witch cried last night and the baby died this morning. After we saw that leaked audio recording of somebody allocating $170 million for INEC to help him achieve his aim, on election day, on election day in 2023, we witnessed what INEC termed glitch. Technical glitch. Glitch. You understand what I mean?
Interviewer: Yeah, of course.
Henry Shield: While the whole world was focused on Nigeria, while the whole world was watching Nigeria, while everybody was concentrated on what was going on in Nigeria, an individual had the temerity to switch off the IReV and disrupt the uploading of results from the polling unit to the INEC database. One individual decided to switch it off on election day. That’s wrong. That’s wrong and that’s wrong again. But on election day, someone had the guts, the audacity to switch it off. My brother, there is nothing that this man cannot compromise.
I haven’t made any allegation. I’ve just stated my own observation. This is what I see. This is what I have seen. And then, when litigants, when the opposition went to court and everything, you saw INEC coming out to defend the actions of the current occupant of the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. INEC coming out and an unbiased umpire coming out to take sides. Refusing to release documents and what have you to the litigants just to ensure that they thwarted the process of litigation, the election petition process.
When you say INEC under Mahmood Yakubu, I think Mahmood Yakubu remains one of the most suspect INEC chairmen apart from Maurice Iwu in the history of Nigeria.
7. OPTIONS LEFT FOR ADC
Interviewer: Okay, so, with all you’re saying now, yeah, let me ask you, from your political experience, what are the options left to the ADC now? Given all that.
Henry Shield: I will not be able to say the option online. I might text it to you later, but the option is not palatable, but that is the only way to go because the level we’ve gotten into today, we’ve seen the handwriting on the wall. Labour Party, they caused commotion there. PDP, they caused commotion there. NNPP, they caused commotion there. ADC, they want to cause commotion there. These people do not want any challenger against 2027. They are doing whatever they can do and they are provoking Nigerians and daring Nigerians to do their worst. So, what is left on the table for ADC today is something that is not palatable, but it’s the only thing that must be done.
8. PROTEST AND DEMOCRACY IN ICU
Interviewer: Okay, let me give you an example. Okay. Go ahead.
Henry Shield: On this last Thursday, there were people that wanted to go and protest at the INEC office to protest the removal of the names of the national chairman and national secretary of the ADC, right? Now, I will take your mind back. A day before that, a day before their protest, the opposition’s protest, some group of people protested to the INEC head office that oh, they must remove the man’s name, they must remove the name, they must obey so-and-so order. They protested peacefully in front of INEC office, peacefully. Nobody harassed them. Nobody disrupted their protest.
Guess what? The next day that opposition wanted to go and protest the removal of the names of their chairman—do you know what I saw there? I was there. I saw armoured vehicle. Armoured vehicle. I saw soldiers. They parked them behind the high court. Okay? Then, for you to access INEC head office from both sides, both from the NEPA side and the next third phone side, they had police barricade the road with their vehicles. And then you had a lot of police vehicles along that Zambezi Crescent road, on that Zambezi Crescent road. Just because people wanted to come and protest.
One of the policemen that I interfaced with told me that ah, their job is to pursue anybody that wants to come here and protest in a democracy. In a democracy. In a democracy. So, let’s not be diplomatic about what is going on in Nigeria. The truth of the matter is democracy is dying already. In fact, it is in coma. It’s in the ICU currently. The only thing that can restore democracy to Nigeria is a total face-off. I wouldn’t say more than that. That word I don’t want to say, I will still not say it. Okay? But the only salvation for ADC and the opposition in Nigeria today is a total face-off.
9. CAN OPPOSITION WIN AT PRESIDENTIAL LEVEL?
Interviewer: To me, that is the only way. But you think an opposition party can never win the election, at least at the presidential level?
Henry Shield: Unless there is a total face-off because these guys, I see them manipulating the whole system. I see them even creating two templates of results. I’m sorry, but you know, there’s a whole lot around this. I see them—you know, when I was with I think it was Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV. When I was with him on his podcast last year, and we’re discussing Wike matter and everything, and I told him, I said, “See, I see a situation where the court will give legitimacy to Wike to issue nomination forms.” That already kills the PDP. You know, the follow-up question made it seem like he didn’t believe what I was saying, but where are we today? That is where we are, right?
Let me make another projection. Let me make another projection against 2027. Okay, go ahead. I see a situation where there will be two templates of results. Two templates, right? One is the one that you people went to vote at the polling unit. One is the one they manufactured. The one that favours them is the one they will upload. It is just a hypothesis. It is just a postulation, but that is my projection for 2027. Wow. Unless the opposition is able to counter it. Unless the opposition is ready to challenge that. Unless the opposition is able to strategise and counter this plan. That is what I see happening in 2027.
10. OPPOSITION UNITY: THE MISSING LINK
Interviewer: Do you think they’re doing that? Or do you think they have the capacity to do that?
Henry Shield: Well, I think they have the capacity to do it. The issue is, do you think they are willing? Because I’ve interfaced with a couple of the opposition leaders from the top. Most of them, I’ve interfaced with them, the presidential aspirants. I’ve interfaced with them. A lot of them. And what I see is there is a level of distrust between all of them. You understand? This one doesn’t trust this one, this one doesn’t trust this one, this one doesn’t trust this one. You understand what I’m saying? So, it is a serious issue and it is causing friction.
The synergy that should be there is not there. I’m not seeing it. Yes, what we see in public, what they post out in public, yes, they try to show that it is one house, one family, but that is not what I see, that is not what I am witnessing, that is not what I have seen with my eyes. And until they are able to close ranks, they need to close ranks for the sake of dying Nigerians. They need to close ranks for the sake of this country. They need to let their ego go. They need to overcome their personal greed and ambitions. Let this 2027 be about saving Nigeria first.
Unless that is done—like I saw a few days ago, they are setting up their diaspora network. Do you know how many years ago I raised the issue of diaspora externalising the party against APC? Under Buhari, this is over eight years ago that I started raising this issue. We did a letter to the White House. We wrote to President Trump in 2016 when Buhari was misbehaving. We even led a protest to the US Embassy here in Abuja submitting a I think about 15-page petition against Buhari to the United States government. I led the protest. So, it’s not something anybody is telling me. I led the protest. You understand what I’m saying?
And everything we wrote down against Buhari, we expected the opposition to—since we are no longer members of any party, we expected them to look at these issues that we raised and use their networks to make sure that the international community reads what we said or the complaints we are laying. They didn’t. Look at what Buhari did to them in eight years. Look at what Tinubu is doing to them in three years.
So, I’m happy they’ve taken that advice, they’ve decided to externalise the war. If Tinubu is misbehaving in Nigeria, things can be done to him abroad. You know, the government doesn’t like international disgrace and all the rest. It’s a very good idea. There are other strategies that also need to be adopted. Listen, it is possible. And let me be on record as saying this. It is more than possible to remove Tinubu from government next year.
11. WHY TINUBU CAN BE REMOVED
Interviewer: Why do you say that?
Henry Shield: It is possible. He has failed as a government. He has failed as a president. Economically, he has failed. Health-wise, Nigerian healthcare system, he has failed. Security, he has failed. Employment, he has failed. Even budget execution, budget. Their argument is that he inherited a very terrible economy, a very bad economy. Okay. In what he inherited, eh? Let me tell you because these guys are very vicious in their defence of evil. What Tinubu inherited in 2023, if Tinubu can return Nigeria to exactly that same spot today, we will vote for him. No, we don’t want to add anything, no. He should return Nigeria to where Nigeria was as at the date 29th of May, 2023.
But no, this one is status quo. If Tinubu can return Nigeria to where Buhari handed it over to him, Nigerians will start jubilating on the street. I can take this phone now and move around some streets in Abuja for you to see how many stores are completely shut down, how many businesses are folded up, how many families can no longer feed three times a day.
12. WHAT HAMPERED TINUBU’S ABILITY TO DELIVER?
Interviewer: I have two more questions before I round up. Now, Bola Tinubu is not somebody that can be said not to be prepared for presidency. You understand? He was governor for eight years, he’s always been in the political equation. You understand? Always. If he’s not supporting Jonathan to get presidency, he’s supporting Buhari. For all intents and purposes, he’s been able to hold onto the Southwest very well. Even when he lost it through the court, they got Osun and Ekiti back and subsequently Oyo and Ogun and all that. So, he can’t be said to be a neophyte. So, what do you think is hampering his ability to deliver? What do you think—is it age? Is it what?
Henry Shield: No, no, it’s not age. Let me tell you—yes, age is contributing to it, all right? We have not seen his medical, so we don’t even know if he’s mentally available to govern. You understand? But as an analyst, as an analyst, what I will say started Tinubu’s problem was that his reckless statement on the day of inauguration. “Subsidy is gone.”
Let me tell you today, my brother, there was no plan to remove subsidy on the first day of inauguration. There was no—no, no. It was not in the speech. I can tell you.
Interviewer: Oh, wow.
Henry Shield: It was not in the speech. “Subsidy is gone” was an invention of Tinubu. So, that was the singular mistake he made that has not allowed his government to rest for the past three and a half—three years. That singular error of saying subsidy is gone. Listen, it won’t be the first time someone will try to remove subsidy. President Jonathan tried it in 2012, January. Right? When we heard about Save Nigeria group and what have you in Lagos, Ojota protest and the rest. Yeah, removal of subsidy is something that is drastic. So, you do not do it all at once. You do it in phases. You do it in phases. The reason why you do it in phases is because fuel ties up every other thing in Nigeria. Transportation, housing, food, water, everything in Nigeria is tied to fuel. Once the price skyrockets, it has a devastating effect on every other thing, a spiralling effect on every other thing.
Tinubu was reckless to have used that word. Now, there is something a lot of people didn’t notice. When President Tinubu made that statement, Tinubu did not mean it as a policy statement. He made it as an observation. Please listen carefully.
Interviewer: I am.
Henry Shield: When Tinubu made that statement on the 29th of May, 2023, it was not made as a policy statement. No, no. It was made as an observation of what he has seen from the handover note from President Buhari. Unfortunately, we reacted to it in a panicky way. If you look at Tinubu’s Twitter handle, a day after that pronouncement, his own handle, ABAT, Official ABAT, disclaimed it. Okay, no, it was back media something. Disclaimed that statement that no, we are not removing subsidy. What we are saying is that Buhari did not make arrangement for it, does not mean we will not make arrangement for it. We are not removing subsidy. His own Twitter handle tweeted it. But you know, Nigerians, we react to things, you know, in a very funny way. That was how subsidy—
Interviewer: But from what we hear now, I mean, governors are getting three times their normal monthly allocations. What is the effect of the three times in the life of the common Nigerian? You and I, I’m asking you today, what is the effect?
Henry Shield: I think the problem also is that if you had 3 billion before and you are taking about nine or 10, the value of that 9 billion is like the value of the same 3 billion before or part. You get what I’m saying? It’s not even just that. Do you know maybe the road you would construct in the past with maybe 500 million. Today now you are constructing it with 2 billion. Because what? Your naira has been devalued. Because what? Look at the naira to dollar exchange rate. You understand?
I will still say it, Tinubu did not prepare for subsidy removal and making that statement and not having the courage to retrace his step and tell the public that no, I did not remove subsidy. That is why his government has not found peace up to today. And it is impossible for his government to find peace. It is impossible. You do not remove subsidy which is the livewire of the livelihood of millions of Nigerians. You remove subsidy from 200 and something million Nigerians and you not give it, you not share it within 36 state governors. What kind of government arithmetic is that? You understand what I’m saying?
So, Tinubu made that error, his inability to immediately correct it because immediately he made the statement, by the time he got out of Eagle Square, the venue of the inauguration, he noticed that people have started panic-buying fuel. So, instead of reversing, he just said, “Well, well, let’s just continue.” Now, okay, we have continued. What are your plans? Where are the cushioning effects? What have you put on ground to help buffer the pains? What have you put on ground to help ameliorate the sufferings of millions of Nigerians? Nothing. Absolutely nothing because what? He didn’t have any plan for it.
13. WORST-CASE SCENARIO FOR NIGERIA
Interviewer: Let me ask you this. Time is never our friend. But I need to ask you. What do you see? You know, I mean, everybody is saying the country is in a bad place, the economy is bad, blah blah blah blah. What do you see? What do you see for the future of this country? What’s our worst-case scenario? Because you said the health is not working, security is clearly not working, education, everything is down. Nothing is—
Henry Shield: It is not that I said, this is the reality.
Interviewer: Yeah, I know, I know, I know. I’m buttressing. You understand? And I will say this. Do you know our doctors are going on strike now?
Interviewer: Yeah, I read it. I read it. I read it.
Henry Shield: Do you understand? For a nation that its president is buying 5 billion naira yacht, for your doctors to be going on strike, for a country that your president is launching thousands of new buses, new campaign buses, you say your medical doctors are going on strike. That is absurd. What’s our worst-case scenario?
The worst-case scenario is that Nigerians are going to eat the streets. Wow. That is—see, it’s not even a matter of will it happen? It’s like looking like a matter of when will it happen because there is a level you push people to and when they have no place to run to anymore, they will turn back and face you. And that’s the level Tinubu has pushed Nigerians.
Interviewer: For all indications, Nigerians are extremely religious people. The religious people too are not putting demonstration because most countries that we’ve had this kind of upheaval, it’s always been pushed by the church or the clerics in the Islamic world. It’s not happening in Nigeria. Nigerians are not known, you know, they’re more of docile people that. So, why would you think this time around it will be different?
Henry Shield: Because those religious houses have started speaking out. Those ones that haven’t been able to speak out in the past, they’ve started speaking out. In the north, in the mosque, they have started speaking out. And I know some churches that also have started speaking out. See, there’s nothing to hide. There’s nothing to run away from. The country is in a mess, a total mess.
Let me give you a story. Yes, do. Personally, personally, yes, personally, I fuel my generator 35,000 naira every night. Oh, wow. Every single day. I’m not saying tonight. Every night. Yesterday, today I’m going to fuel 35,000. Tomorrow. In 10 days I run 350,000. In 1 month I run 1,050,000 naira on fuel. Oh, wow. Only in the night alone. I’m in the office now. We didn’t start this interview on time because I had to also go and make sure that they put on the generator and what have you. And I am telling you it is not sustainable. It is not sustainable. It’s not possible. We are an oil-producing country. What is the benefit of this oil to you and to myself and to millions of Nigerians as citizens of this country? Where is the money? Where is our money?
CONCLUSION
Interviewer: Wow. Thank you. Henry Shield, thank you for your time. Thank you for making time for us. Thank you for demystifying NEPA that makes sure you got light that we could have this interview. I know that that’s quite a bit. So, to you the viewers, you’ve heard from him. Things are not looking too good. The INEC is not independent. Even if they are, they’ve not shown that they are, you know. So, maybe Professor Mahmood Yakubu has a lot to prove or more like he does. I’ve heard other people say Mahmood must go, but that cannot be done by just me saying it. The man has just been appointed. Does he deserve a benefit of doubt? I mean, time will tell.
The opposition party too, I mean, the ruling party has said the opposition party should put their house in order. They should not just keep complaining that they have little or nothing to do about whatever they are going through. Of course naturally they must be happy it’s happening, but it’s self-inflicted. So, it’s a wrap there and once again, I say thank you everybody. Mr. Shield, thank you for your time and I’m sure we’ll bring you back again. You know, we’ll bring you back.
Henry Shield: Absolutely. Anytime you want. Thank you so much for having me. I’m grateful.
Interviewer: You’re most welcome.
