QUALITY, PERSISTENCE AND CONSISTENCY: THE BURNA BOY 2-YEAR PLAN TO GREATNESS

Wizkid and Davido can afford to drop 10 below-par singles at a stretch and still have their fans going crazy at the mention of their names.Burna boy enjoys no such luxury.He is not a pretty boy with a charming personality or one whose personal life is a PR dream,he's had to claw up to this present level by being nothing other than an incredible artiste.Burna is something we hadn't and still haven't seen anything like.

He is not your regular Nigerian artiste who says they aren't afro-pop but go on to realize they actually are.He is a mixture of so many natural sounds, he best captures it with the 'afro-fusion' appellation.That baritonal voice whipping up mesmerizing rhythms on some breath-taking melodies.Such a magic recipe.

Burna boy has been around and was one of the very few Nigerian artistes to have a major international deal but the last 2 years have been the most pivotal in his career since 2012 when he dropped the monster hit, Like to Party.2017 was when Burna understood what his craft needed.It had to transcend just an album and singles off it.

He had a unique product; a quite unrivalled one and guaranteed a good song.If he kept himself busy and stayed in our faces with a slew of good releases,he would become a mainstay.He needn't have a Manya like Wizkid or a Fia like Davido,all he had to do was drop or get on a good vibe as consistently as possible.From DJ Jimmy Jatt's Chase to the fire-cracker Chillin Chillin with A.I,he kept the heat coming.

When he dropped Gba along with the bedazzling Deja Vu late that year,he had everyone looking forward to his Outside album dropping early 2018.All he had to do was deliver and even if he decided to go on a hiatus from thereon, it would do practically no harm.Outside turned out arguably the best album by any Nigerian artiste in the last 5 years and debuted at number 3 on the billboard reggae chart.Heaven's gate and Streets of Africa were deliberate attempts to score a global hit and even if none ended up another Man's Not Hot,he made a solid impression.

Google searches for Kanye West's Ye (album) led to Ye,a song off the album and curious listens across the globe led to a regenarated buzz 5 months after its release and Burna capitalized on that to shoot a video for the song.Ironically,that was when it became a hit in Nigeria.What that moment proved was that if you didn't love the songs on Outside then you probably hadn't heard them.

Consistency is the word.That is what has gotten him from the undisputed title of Nigeria's most underrated artiste to the very best at the moment.Despite not being on the same pedestal as a Davido or Wizkid in terms of mega-hits, he has built a reputation as the GoTo man for music out of the ordinary.

The blue print of the previous year extended to 2018 and after just 3 months of the 'mandatory' waiting period for promotion,videos et al, he dropped his first post-album release titled Agbada.After that came Vampire and once Major Lazer caught a hard-on for afro-beats,it was only a matter of time before they kicked it with him.They made a super jam called All My Life.Gbona came and then On the Low.Aggressively in your face.No chills.

It has paid off handsomely.The world already knew the stuff he was made of,he just had to make it count.Burna boy may not have the fanatical following of his contemporaries but he can boast of being loved by every music fan.The Burna boy topic quells a Davido/Wizkid debate.

The willingness of both sets of fans to accept he has something extra their artistes don't exposes not only their sentimental attachment to them but also an acknowledgement of their being first and foremost, lovers of good music. He has not had anything outside of the music working for his brand.Quality,Persistence and Consistency.All it took.

MY TOP 20 SONGS AND BEST 5 ALBUMS OF 2018

1. BLACK EFFECT-THE CARTERS

2.MY OWN-STYLES P FEAT WHISPERS

3.SISI MARIA-MALEEK BERRY

4.CAN'T BE BROKEN-LIL WAYNE

5.GRINGO-SHATTA WALE / DIET-DJ ENIMONEY FEAT SLIMCASE,TIWA SAVAGE & REMINISCE

6.LAND OF THE FREAKS-2 CHAINZ / BANGING-MR 2KAY FEAT REEKADO BANKS

7.DEATHROW-YOUNG SCOOTER / HERE AND NOW-PRAIZ

8.PRAISE THE LORD-A$AP ROCKY FEAT SKEPTA

9.WHITE LABEL-NAS /AFTER PARTY-DESIIGNER

10.PLAYLIST-MI FEAT NONSO AMADI

11.SURVIVAL-DRAKE

12.KWEKU-CHIEF OBI / CHILLIN CHILLIN-BURNA BOY FEAT AI

13.SUPER EAGLES DODORIMA-AUSTINO MILADO

14.ALL MY LIFE-MAJOR LAZER FEAT BURNA BOY/ HOUSTONFORNICATION-TRAVIS SCOTT

15.OLA-PERUZZI FEAT MAYORKUN

16.ONE TICKET-KIZZ DANIEL FEAT DAVIDO / END OF DISCUSSION-RICH THE KID FEAT LIL WAYNE

17.NEGOTIATIONS-WALE

18.LOVE YOU LONG TIME-MALEEK BERRY FEAT CHIP

19.ON THE LOW-BURNA BOY / CALM DOWN-BURNA BOY

20.FRIENDS-THE CARTERS

TOP 5 ALBUMS

1.OUTSIDE-BURNA BOY

2.TRIPPPLE CROSS-YOUNG SCOOTER

3.STRINGS AND BLINGS-NASTY C

4.HEARTWORK-PERUZZI

5.DAYTONA-PUSHA-T

MY TOP 10 SONGS FOR 3RD QUARTER 2018

1.CAN'T BE BROKEN-LIL WAYNE

2.ALL MY LIFE-MAJOR LAZER FEAT BURNA BOY

3.OLA-PERUZZI FEAT MAYORKUN /ONE TICKET-KIZZ DANIELS FEAT DAVIDO

4.ZANKU (LEG WORK)-ZLATAN IBILE

5.10 FREAKY GIRLS-METRO BOOMIN FEAT 21 SAVAGE / THE BENZ-SPOTLESS FEAT TEKNO

6.GAWU-MYSTRO / LOVE YOU LONG TIME-MALEEK BERRY FEAT CHIP

7.BAD INTENTIONS (DE DE DE)-BLACK MAGIC / ARREST THE PRESIDENT-ICE CUBE

8.GUCCI SNAKE-WIZKID FEAT SLIMCASE / ON THE LOW-BURNA BOY

9.DOING YOU-MALEEK BERRY

10.WONDER WOMAN-DAVIDO / TRAP BABY-YOUNG DOLPH

TOP 3 ALBUMS

1.HEARTWORK-PERUZZI

2.CHAMPIONSHIPS-MEEK MILL

3.CROWN-LOOSE KAYNON × AQ

ON THE MAN AND THE SYSTEM: KEYAMO SPEAKING LOUD IN FAVOUR OF ATIKU

To be very honest,i thought President Goodluck Jonathan was going to rig the 2015 Presidential elections and that thought crept in from the day, Femi Fani Kayode was made the spokesman of his Presidential campaign.FFK was a talking time bomb.Patience Jonathan's comments on how 'people dey born shidren troway for the other side' targeted at the north, stuck that thought to my head.Card reader was definitely a Jonathanian scheme.

I was back home in Kaduna at that time and my folks had stocked the house with just about everything from food down to movies.Jonathan was going to win against the people's will and violence would erupt.Never under-estimate the power of prayers.The Merciful Lord urged him to fight a clean contest and he did.

It was simply unthinkable that a man shouldering the sad burden of public discontent, would appoint a man with a tongue like FFK's as his head of publicity.A lot of Nigerians knew both weren't the candidates they would ordinarily vote and the fears some of us had about President Buhari have been justified.Instead of engaging in a 'your father this,your father that' yabbing contest with Rotimi Amaechi (his counter part on the other end), FFK could have done a number of things,among them spreading the video of President Buhari urging his supporters at a campaign rally to kill anyone who prevents them from protecting their votes.The major ill in appointing the wrong spokesperson is not only that they would be incapable of managing your public image like they should, they could very much end up doing your enemies' job for them. 

Festus Keyamo was doing an impressive job so far of defending and selling Buhari to Nigerians.He believes so much in his lies they have turned truth.He sounds nothing like the man who told Akeem Nafiu of the New Telegraph newspapers on Monday 20th November 2017 that stealing was still unabated under the Buhari administration.A real hustler.

He understands if his product is inferior then he has to spend more time trying to degrade the competition but in doing so Keyamo wobbled all the way to justifying the very thing the competition was saying about them.In response to Atiku's comments telling Buhari his anti-corruption drive wasn't making much progress because he was slow and not the system like he claims, Keyamo issued a statement saying if the system had been working well before 2015, Atiku would be in jail.Minus the allegations he made, what Keyamo and Atiku are saying are identical.The system was bad then and is still bad.No 'change'.

Knowing its virtually impracticable for Keyamo to market his product by illustrating in detail, how the system is slow and not the man in charge, he decided to take shots.A careful look at the allegations Keyamo threw the path of Atiku all but confirm Atiku's assertions on corruption thriving and left unchecked under Buhari.Something Keyamo himself once said.The limitation law may hinder any move to prosecute Atiku acquiring substantial shares in INTELS as a customs officer but the other things alleged of him are what Buhari's 'system' can fix.A probe, which many justifiably expected to not even take-off, has already been ordered of Obasanjo's $16b power spendings so nobody can tell Nigerians the system is not fast enough to prosecute Atiku and OBJ for awarding themselves licenses to operate private universities contrary to the Code of Conduct for Public officers.All that needs to be done is to secure and check the dates on the certified true copies of the licenses from the Nigerian University Commission.That more ratifies the notion that the system is ineffective and has left corruption to thrive than that it is slow.

Keyamo went on to say the EFCC had indicted and recommended Atiku for prosecution in respect of a Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) scandal when he was Vice-President.Though the said indictment was quashed by a court of law, it in no way precludes the EFCC from charging him to court.We voted Buhari to change the way things were run and it is sad that these same people sit and bemoan what they can quite easily make right. All the EFCC has to do is file a charge in court.If they know all these and are doing nothing, then they have deliberately left room for corruption to fester.

What made Keyamo look more pathetic was his recourse to Atiku's indictment in the US for money laundering.The Americans have never requested that Atiku be handed over to them in a matter it had prosecuted and convicted Siemens.As a matter of fact,the United States department of justice has said the US has no criminal case against Atiku Abubakar.If Buhari and Keyamo think otherwise what then is stopping them from handing over a man presumably wanted in the US for prosecution?.Or is the United States of America some village here that banishes criminals as punishment?.

Keyamo may have been doing a good job prior to his response on Atiku's claims but he is fast towing the path of FFK.As far as Atiku's alleged corrupt past goes, his open challenge for anyone to provide any evidence of corruption against him and also his promise to probe the Buhari administration if elected, has won him a lot of converts from those whose only problem with him were these sort of allegations people like Keyamo bandy around.If he was dirty, he wouldn't promise to probe Buhari because this government would dig up all his wrongs and hold him accountable for them.That is the most sense anyone would make of this.

Keyamo didn't just shoot at open space in his counter, he confirmed what the opposition was saying.The Buhari administration has allowed corruption to thrive and if he was diligent in his responsibilities, not only would Atiku be standing trial for obtaining a license to operate a university while still in office along with his former principal, he would also be handed to the US since they maintain he has a case to answer there.Either way, Buhari pulls down his main obstacle to returning for a 2nd term while doing the country some good.Except of course, he and those that speak for him are desperate liars or are incompetent to fight corruption like Atiku has suggested.The problem is not the system.It is the man in charge of the system.Keyamo only confirmed that.

THERE'S STILL A COUPLE MORE DAYS LEFT IN 2018 & PERUZZI REMINDS US OF THAT.HEART WORK EP IS ONE OF THE BEST MUSIC PROJECTS MADE THIS YEAR

There's always been one problem.Peruzzi has a better lyrical prowess than Mayorkun and even his label boss,Davido.That is a sparkling quality in the saturated afro-pop scene where everyone wants to dance or sing-along.But what Mayorkun and OBO undoubtedly have over Peruzzi is a better understanding of the workings of the ideal naija song.The chorus is 90% of your song around here and these artistes are deft in their use of lines and syllables that not only appeal to the fans but stick with them for a long long time.A great song doesn't necessarily translate to a hit.

Peruzzi's biggest claim to fame asides of course, being a cousin to Davido's beau, Chioma (of Assurance fame), is that he was featured on 2baba's Amaka.A song some of us believe 2baba was paid to make just so Peruzzi could get on it and garner some publicity for himself.It ended up a smash hit with 2baba keeping virtually all of the credit.Heart Work was going to be his first real chance to make a bold statement and he did just that.

While he may not possess as much connectivity to the street fan as a Davido or a Mayorkun,he has proven he can win just as much with what he is made of.On Heart Work, he strikes the right balance between good sounds and a vicious commercial edge.No one song tells this better than Ola with Mayorkun.A quite pleasant pop medley which pretty much appears the very first made here.

The ideal artiste understands his craft better than anyone and nothing speaks more to that than the type of artistes they feature on their songs.Every collabo works for Peruzzi on Heart Work.Burna boy complements him on without a doubt,the most radio friendly song of the entire EP, Champion Lover.A breath-taking love exposition that underscores his ability to make a mass appeal song just as well as anybody.Peruzzi may lack an innate street flavour but he not only boasts an uncanny ability to whip up catchy lines in his verses,he boasts of a little more grit than your regular pop artiste.Stand-out qualities are invaluable assets for any singer looking to break into the mainstream.Why Burna boy guarantees you a hit with every release.

He fuses some of that grit with a natural desire to have fun on a track to spawn the hilarious Did You and the very raw Dina with Barry Jhay and Jamaican super star, Popcaan.A ragga cut as explicit as it is brilliant.He's as rude a boy as warning the gyal dem "Listen up one time/Me no come here fi play/Me no run a f**king pageant/Me no Ben Bruce".LOL

He solicits label boss,Davido for the very infectious Try, a song with just as much smash hit potential as Champion Lover.

We see all shades of the artiste on Heart Work and in as much as i'll give him credit for his ability to up the tempo a notch like he proved on Sagbana,he'll need to work some more on making a slow song.As pleasant as Majesty may sound,patches of unbalanced rhythm rub off on effect.Maybe Bleed needed some of the intensity of Majesty but it certainly didn't deserve a chorus like the one it had.The 'If i wait for you' part was an ear sore.

Davido has been working really heard to get this artiste heard and loved and with 3 videos at a go of the very best songs on display, Peruzzi should get all the attention he deserves.More than a leaked bedroom video ever would fetch him.

Because Heart Work is without a doubt, one of the very best projects by a Nigerian artiste in 2018.

PDP ISN'T WHY BUHARI HAS FAILED

Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on media,Garba Shehu, Monday on Channels TV in a response to a statement by Phrank Shuaibu,the SA public communications to PDP Presidential candidate,Atiku Abubakar said the late submission of hand-over notes by the Jonathan administration was responsible for the late appointment of ministers.

I remember citing the timing of the submission and the voluminous nature of the notes in pleading for patience for President Buhari back then out of a desire to see him succeed.So did a lot of other voices.

But what Shehu needs to know is that,as time went on,Buhari's inaction proved instrumental to writing off his administration as one lacking in focus and direction.A leader who knows what he wants and where he is headed,should already have the names of everyone he intends to serve with by the time he assumes office.That is the ideal practice.Atiku Abubakar has long promised to have his list ready by latest,May 29th 2019 if elected.Shehu not only proved to us why he is a better alternative but also helped further his cause.But then Shehu was only towing the path of Buhari,Osinbajo and the entire APC-blaming the PDP for everything.

In places where governments are held strictly accountable and pinned to the highest standards,an incumbent government seeking re-election campaigns on the strength of its accomplishments over its first term.Its been 4 years and the PDP 16-year misrule is still the APC's strongest campaign point.While the opposition candidate synonimized himself with jobs and cleared whatever doubts we had with his blue print; the Atiku Plan which among all things highlights a heavy resort to empowerment by having master craftsmen train a million apprenctices annually.The type of schemes the $324 million Abacha loot should finance instead of a N5000 'chop money' empowerment.

While the average nigerian has come to know Atiku to profess a burning desire to revamp our economic fortunes,Buhari and the APC,just less than 3 months to the 2019 general elections,have come to be identified with 2 things-the 'Next Level' phrase and 'PDP 16 years'.It is not in dispute that even the die-hard Buharist still can't pin-point any part of 'Next Level' good enough to drive his candidature.It is important Buhari and his party first correct the notion that people deem them a failure because of their inability to handle the insurmountable challenges the PDP years placed before them.

A lot of people like myself support every government at the very beginning perhaps out of a desperation to see a better nation and virtually everthing that has made those people turn on the Buhari government are totally unrelated to the PDP.

The PDP is not responsible for President Buhari's proclamation of providing dividends along voting lines; 97% will get more than 5% was what he said and that singular act at that time,justified every agitation for a separate state.Things have gotten so bad, 'One Nigeria' has become a campaign point for politicians.

The PDP is not responsible for Buhari's refusal to diligently probe bailout funds issued to states to pay salaries.The Bauchi governor categorically said to everyone he wasn't obligated to pay salaries with them and Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state 'commissioned' his mansion in Kogi while some workers were being owed 10 months salary.

The PDP is not responsible for the high level of insecurity across the country.In addition to boko haram,we have seen the emergence of a killer breed of fulani herdsmen who have massacred scores of innocent lives since President Buhari came into power.Boko haram on the other hand has become a bigger and 'richer' threat with the UN indicting the Buhari-led Federal government of paying millions of euros to secure the release of the kidnapped Dapchi school girls.The Presidency also exchanged boko haram prisoners for 82 chibok girls.The government got back and returned kidnap victims to their families,i commend that.But it has also strengthened the sect with cash and man power.Now boko haram is attacking military bases and killing our soldiers.Technically,the government is sponsoring and fighting the war on insurgency.Add also the sky rocketing of kidnap cases across the country and you have why Buhari has performed worse than any administration since 1999 as far security is concerned.

The PDP is not responsible for Buhari's insistence on the EFCC boss,Ibrahim Magu despite an indictment for corruption by the DSS and his appearance on tv with a Buhari 2019 lapel pin on his suit.

The PDP is not responsible for the non-prosecution of Babachir Lawal and Patience Jonathan despite the EFCC having seized her money and properties.

The PDP wasn't responsible for President Buhari's clueless dance round critical issues like the banning and unbanning of rice importation through land borders and the removal and reinstatement of fuel subsidy en route a hike to N145.The handling of the fuel crisis was the first real pointer to Buhari's incompetence.After a merry-go round lasting about six months,they came out to tell us the scarcity was as a result of marketers' inability to access dollars.What a proactive government would have spotted from the onset.Well,Atiku has promised to revert fuel price to N87-N90.

The PDP is not responsible for the non-prosecution of embattled DSS boss,Lawal Daura.A man many think is a scapegoat.He raided Saraki and Ekweremadu's residences along side the police just weeks before the invasion of the national assembly.Aisha Buhari's ADC,Baba-Inna is also detained without trial.He has been alleged to be a front for the first lady's extortion of politicians scared of the EFCC hammer.Maybe somebody doesn't want the world to hear what they have to say.

The PDP is not responsible for President Buhari's refusal to probe AGF, Abubakar Malami SAN despite an indictment by the senate for his role in the reinstatement of wanted fugitive,Abdulrasheed Maina back into the civil service.When the bubble bursted,Maina practically strolled away from our shores.

The PDP is not responsible for the President not hosting and rewarding the Super Falcons winning the AWCON title in Ghana.After their previous win in Cameroom,the girls had to hit Abuja streets with placards before they were paid their dues.The Sports minister's excuse then was that no one expected them to get this far.Atiku had to bail out the amputee Eagles with N10M to enable them attend the Amputee Football World Cup in Mexico.The government totally turned a blind eye to their predicament.Our sportsmen and women have never been so under-valued and No,the PDP is not responsible for that.

The APC seems to forget that if Nigerians were satisfied with the PDP's way of doing things and didn't feel they deserved better,they wouldn't have voted them in to 'change' things.And like Atiku would say,the most critical question is-are you better off than you were 4 years ago?.

PDP isn't why Buhari has failed.Let that sink in.

EFCC IS A 'NON-PARTY' WITH NO 'LOCUS' AND NO, NBA-NEC IS NOT JOKING

Seven years after my NYSC,I still hold my boss in high esteem.Olumuyiwa Olowokure was not only understanding,patient and tolerant,he was courteous and very refined.He was a black oyibo.Oga O.O it was who when he called me to his office with my law school gra-gra to ask how i thought a certificate relating to a computer-generated document as per the provisions of Section 84(4) of the Evidence Act ought to be prepared and i said we had to prepare a separate document.

He asked me to look up certificate in the Black's law dictionary.A certificate could be just under the document printed from the computer.I'm a fan for life.

Then there was Lamidi 'the learned' Obaro who took interest in me right from my final year in the university.He gave me books,adviced me and always had a little 'roger' for the boy.He gave me my first robe and all i had to do was buy a wig for my call.My senior CY in quite a moment that really got to me,told the story of how he was serenaded in school with tales of how it was a tradition for senior lawyers to be generous to their juniors.It wasn't so in 'reality' as only 'learned' had ever offered to pay for his pounded yam at the buka.These men have one way or the other helped mould me.

Very fortunately for me,none of these men were present at the last NEC meeting of the NBA.The issue of contempt and what is and what is not prejudicial to the fair hearing of a matter in court is a topic for another day.And until that day,i'll dwell on how lawyers who at the very least, a generation look up to ; some of them mentors of our mentors, gathered in one room to disgustingly talk about 'attorney-client privilege' and EFCC being a 3rd party in 'contractual relationships'.Men who we listen and nod to when they say what you learnt in school is different in practice.

First,we must bear in mind that statutory law supercedes case law and no where in Rule 19 of the Rules of Professional Conduct is fees listed as a privileged matter.Some of those men will be heard proclaiming the dangers of importing foreign meanings into the actual wordings of a law before this week runs out.Sub-rule (3) of 19 clearly states the exceptions in the 2 preceding provisions.

A lawyer can reveal privileged information to defend himself,his employees and associates if accused

of wrongful conduct.Supporting that anyone shouldn't amounts to encouraging illegality and shielding the winds of justice.In a profession where the 'fit and proper' criteria supercedes everything,we should be seen to be promoting values like transparency especially when law enforcement agencies come calling.But No.

A group of people that make me want to retire and at the same time think of the abundant opportunities abound with mediocres like them around,are telling us an anti-graft agency adequately empowered by its enabling law to investigate economic and financial crimes has no 'locus-standi' to ask questions regarding fees believed to be the proceeds of a crime because it is a 'non-party' to a contractual relationship.Really?.LOL.

I spent a whole day verifying that indeed supposedly trained lawyers would not only spew that nonsense but adopt it as the official stand of the NBA.In December of 2018,lawyers gathered to say the EFCC cannot ask questions as to money it reasonably suspects to be criminally sourced because it cannot meddle into a contractual relationship as a non-party.I'll never forget.

We sit down in gatherings to severally bemoan the state of the legal profession and if we will continue,it is imperative we all tell ourselves the truth.This is not a fight between the EFCC and the NBA.It is a fight between the EFCC and one man.Abstaining from the needful which in this case is urging Paul Usoro to declare his fees as prescribed by Rule 19 (3) in the best interests of justice and transparency and instead, ridiculously proffering distasteful and invalid legal theories is a most degrading act.The profession is being brought to disrepute.

My dear seniors,equals and juniors,i humbly dissociate myself from not only the NEC resolution on the criminalization of legal fees but any attempt by any legal practitioner to paint the EFCC's case against Paul Usoro as one against all lawyers.Thank you.

BUHARI,PLEASE TALK TO US HERE...

President Buhari's most sensational comments since assuming office have come from outside Nigeria-South Africa,the UK,Qatar and more recently,Poland.Unsurprisingly, most of the questions he has also been asked have been outside these shores.It appears he is too scared of the many questions that will be asked of him if he hosts a media chat or any other interactive session with nigerians here or the press so he rather waits till his next trip abroad where he gathers nigerians who only 'hear' in one room and tells them they 'heard' wrong.He not only tells them that,he also tries to put us on the offensive.He may actually be smarter than a lot of people give him credit for.

The best way to escape culpability is to shift the blame right back at the accusers.Instead of highlighting the efforts his government has made at providing the 3 million jobs he promised yearly and shedding more light on how about 10 million jobs had been lost instead,he said most nigerian youths were lazy and wanted government to provide them with everything.When his jobs weren't forthcoming and a lot of nigerians were leaving the country,he went to the UK to say they should stay back home where their 'services' are required because americans and europeans don't want them due to too many being in prisons world wide.This is the very same President who said in South Africa shortly after assuming office he was happy wherever nigerians were around the world,they will make both 'postive and negative' (Yes, negative) impact.

We really should be worried if we have a President who not only feels freer baring his mind outside these shores but one who has over time,displayed a propensity to declare war on us the moment he lands overseas.If 'some christians' raising concerns over Buhari entering us into a Saudi Arabia led coalition of islamic states to help fight terrorism are not being told to go and fight boko haram themselves then nigerians are lazy or criminals.This is what i think we have done to piss off the President.We have asked too many questions.We are guilty of holding him to his campaign promises and bemoaning the sad state of the nation.We deserve better and we know it.After the first and only media chat and the Buharimeter town hall meeting involving some ministers,President Buhari has refused to be asked any questions here.He would rather fly abroad to grant interviews to the foreign press and host nigerians whose passing knowledge of the state of affairs is more to show off to other compatriots in the diaspora.Buhari is asked soft questions with little or no rebuttals to his answers.

On his recent trip to Poland,he chose to make a big deal of a question on whether he was cloned by adding to the answer and later tweeting on his handle that a lot of people hoped he was dead while he was receiving medical care in London and that they approached Vice-President to take his place when he eventually became President.Those of us here know there was never a time a 'Buhari is dead' rumour came up.There was a photo of him an average once every week.If his wife wasn't visiting then Tinubu and other APC stalwarts were.Everybody back home is the enemy.

The only issue really worth talking about from that trip was his controversial claim that boko haram was in control of 17 local government areas when he became President.A claim we have heard several times over the last 3+ years.After the postponement of the 2015 general elections by 3 weeks to enable the Jonathan administration tackle the boko haram threat,a resurgent nigerian military with the help of Nigerien,Chadian and Cameroonian troops launched an unprecedented offensive on the sect.As at April that year,a final count down was on.The media was feeding us updates of the exploits of the troops-4 LGAs then 1 in the hands of boko haram and finally none.Till this administration was sworn in,nobody from anywhere including Buhari's APC queried these claims to our hearing.

Nobody in Poland probed him on his claims.

In as much as we will never apologize for asking the questions that need to be asked,we call on Buhari to answer our questions here first.Charity begins at home.

COMMS & A HANDY AIR SUPPORT: 2 BASIC THINGS BUHARI'S $1BN COULD HAVE PROVIDED TO PREVENT METELE

President Buhari's decision to withdraw the sum of $1bn from the excess crude account to fight insecurity raised a lot of eyebrows.He was initially reported as saying the sum was specifically intended for the war against boko haram before Vice-President Osinbajo adjusted the rhetoric to 'fighting insecurity across the country'.Either way, government's priority had always been the security situation in the north-east and not a few tongues wagged as to the President's insincerity not only to nigerians but himself.A supposedly 'technically defeated' and 'degraded' boko haram shouldn't command that much attention.Word in most quarters was that President Buhari and the APC wanted to start preparing early for 2019 and also the Ekiti and Osun gubernatorial elections holding this year.

The massacre of 100 soldiers at the military base in Metele,Borno state by the boko haram sect all but confirms that that money did not go into equipping our troops.A survivor narrating the ordeal he and others went through said the officer at the observation post alerted others about an approaching entourage of boko haram fighters a whole hour before they got to the base.With the billion dollar kitty Buhari had,it is simply unimaginable that a military base in a war zone like the north-east would lack an active comms system to call for reinforcement or air support.Its excruciating to think those men were left on their own to ward off at least 20 trucks of well armed insurgents hell-bent on achieving their aim of attacking as many military bases as possible.It is interesting to note that Metele isn't the first nor is it the second military base to be attacked this year so if our soldiers weren't better prepared than they were then they were as best as they possibly could.

A UN report revealed the federal government paid a huge sum of money to secure the release of the school girls kidnapped in Dapchi,Yobe state.Though the videos circulating online of the insurgents killing nigerian soldiers have been said to be not those of the Metele massacre,one can see how the use of rocket grenade launchers helped weaken the resistance by our soldiers.Government did not bother equipping the military with the right arms to fight insurgents it had funded with ransom

payments for kidnap victims said to be in double-digit millions of euros.

Our billion dollars well spent would have meant not a single soul lost in Metele.A functional communication system would have enabled the soldiers who had a full hour to prepare and who spent close to 40 minutes exchanging fire with the insurgents before they ran out of ammunition to call for air support.With fighter planes SUPPOSEDLY handy in times like these,one hour 40 minutes is enough time to fly and reclaim a distress zone.Nothing could be more shattering than learning some soldiers went to fetch the bodies of their dead colleagues and were ambushed in the process.No air support,no prior surveillance.These men were sent blind and practically helpless to be finished off by a better equipped enemy.What manner of military,with full knowledge of a very obvious pattern of attacks by its enemies that had claimed the lives of several of its men,wouldn't have taken extra measures to forestall or at the very least,repel future occurences?.That President Buhari has refused to sack the service chiefs lends further credence to the fact that he fully understands he has not availed them with the resources to do that.

A lot of people questioned the propriety of buying 12 fighter planes to be built and delivered by the US in 2020 with the instant threat on ground.A regular tucano plane has been quoted by foreign military sources to be in the $10M-$18M range while the Super Tucano which Buhari ordered is said to cost $30M tops with all the fittings.The goverment says it paid over $41M for each.Thats $136M shy of the amount Buhari claims he paid for them.A whole $136M.

E-mails to the US mission asking questions as to costs are replied with a message directing all inquires to the Nigerian government.Say President Buhari was magnanimous enough to spend some of that $1 billion on this very controversial purchase,was it a wise call?.I doubt so.

What we needed was a very short-run supply of equipment to totally annihilate insurgents he has referred to as 'technically defeated' within the shortest period of time.

100 soldiers were killed in Metele.Kareto and Baga before that.Our service chiefs are still in office even with soldiers openly bemoaning the lack of equipment to fight boko haram.Buhari as an ex-army general who was a direct beneficiary of a coup plot need not be told the far-reaching consequences of leaving a military disgruntled.What we see today as soldiers raining abuses and crying over out-dated ammo tanks could very well transform into an overthrow of a democratically elected government.

And in that television and radio broadcast if it does happen,the state of the military even after President Buhari's withdrawal of $1b to fight insurgency will feature prominently.God help us.

BUHARI'S CREDENTIALS: THE 'STAFF' MUST STOP

Much back in the days when the military was still in power,it was a common sight for a soldier in a commercial bus popularly referred to as 'danfo' whether in uniform or mufti,to reply a conductor's request for bus fares with the word 'staff'.Like magic,the conductor moves on to other passengers and lets the man be.It is one of the privileges of being a 'staff'.Lagos being Lagos,a lot of non-military personnel tried to 'staff' their way out of paying bus fares but the consequences of getting caught were very dire.Fellow Nigerians,it is time we catch Buhari in this 'staff' game of his.He has taken us on this ride for too long.The army Buhari still claims has his credentials has long said they only have a letter of recommendation from his school principal.Buhari has never attempted to disprove the army's claims that his file only has a letter from his school principal,he has never demanded that his credentials be handed to him and he has never written WAEC to re-issue him a new one.INEC must start to comply strictly with the provision of Section 131(1)(d) of the constitution which stipulates a secondary school leaving certificate or its equivalent as a requirement for election into the office of President.
By allowing President Buhari run without proof of a certificate,it is not only promoting unconstitionality but criminality as well.The all too familiar video of the military debunking Buhari's claim to being in possession of his credentials in 2015 has resurfaced online over the last few days and if Buhari has sworn to an affidavit still maintaining his credentials are still with the military then we may very well be watching the man commit perjury; lying under oath which is a criminal offence going by our laws.It is not INEC's responsibility to write to WAEC or the nigerian military,it is the President who has to prove to it that he has fulfilled that criteria.If not in abidance with the law then at least in the interests of transparency and integrity.He may have successfully gotten away with it in the past but it doesn't make it right.As things stand,President Buhari is not eligible to contest the 2019 Presidential election.
Those claiming he is qualified by virtue of the wordings of Section 318 of the constitution which defines 'secondary school leaving certificate or its equivalent' need to look a bit more closely at the the definition.Sub-head(c) states that he must have a primary school leaving certificate in addition to serving in the public or private sector in any capacity acceptable to INEC for 10 years,attending courses in institutions acceptable to INEC and ability to read,write and communicate in english language to the satisfaction of INEC.
Does Buhari have proof of a primary school leaving certificate?.The man has said his credentials are with the Secretary of the military board which the military has denied.So it is illogical for one to pick any of the accompanying criterias to the possession of a primary school leaving certificate and hinge his eligibility on that.

Buhari is not the first ex-military President we have had.As a matter of fact,President Olusegun Obasanjo got into the army before him and he didn't tell nigerians he left his credentials there.In law we have a saying-'Nemo dat non quot habet' (You cannot give what you don't have).Nothing suggests President Buhari has a school leaving certificate to present and INEC must stop perpetuating illegality.

AISHA BUHARI'S ADC AND LAWAL DAURA: FOR THE BUSH MEAT TO NOT MAKE THE HUNTER PREY..

It didn't make sense that Lawal Daura was acting without the knowledge of the Presidency when his operatives shut down the National Assembly on the 7th of August 2018.Particularly because the DSS with the help of some police officers had barricaded the residence of the Senate President,Dr Bukola Saraki and that of his deputy just days earlier.Nobody in the Presidency raised any eyebrows.What made perfect sense however was that the Buhari administration was put under immense pressure by the numerous inquiries by foreign governments as to the manner of national security threat that warranted locking out lawmakers who had reported to carry out their duties.Lawal Daura was the best possible scapegoat.You knew something definitely had to be wrong when the official narrative was that Saraki was using Daura to witch-hunt himself for 2019 purposes.Its been over 2 months now and if indeed the man had done anything wrong,he would have been before a competent court of law.

When news broke that Sanni Baba-Inna,the aide de camp of Aisha Buhari,
wife of the President of Nigeria had defrauded some undisclosed persons of the sum of N2.5b in her name,the spokespersons of the Police and DSS claimed to be unaware.The only thing holding everything together in the first few hours that the story broke was the fact that the newspaper alerted the world to Former finance minister,Kemi Adeosun's fake NYSC certificate and was generally known to be accurate in its claims.Lo and behold,the first lady confirmed the story herself and from then on,there had been more questions than answers.In addition to the denials by the spokespersons of the Police and DSS,the first report on the scandal also claims the IG of Police has been listed as being among those who were defrauded by the ADC to which he denied.Who exactly are those persons Baba-Inna swindled?.No one has managed to even as much as speculate as to that.This only lends credence to the notion that the man dipped his hands into the first lady's pie without her consent.He was part of some racket and started to grow some balls.

Before frontline activist and convener of the Concerned Nigerian movement,Adedeji Adeyanju paid a visit to the family of the detained ADC,a lot of us have been privy to rumours of the first lady collecting huge sums from prominent ex-office holders under EFCC investigation and eager to avoid prosecution.Adeyanju's visit was unravelling.Family members told him in as much as they know he has made a statement to the authorities denying the commission of the offence,they know he did it and that he would never relinquish possession of the money.The family said they knew he collected bribes on behalf of the first lady and was more or less her front.He helped her buy some properties in Asokoro and in Maitama,Abuja for her daughters.

He is also in the know of a property she recently acquired in London and had photocopies of documents bordering on the transactions.Baba-Inna was said to have dared his interrogators to ask the first lady how he came about the said sum (from who he got it).The family further told Mr Adeyanju that he had started to divert money he was collecting on behalf of Aisha Buhari and had gotten wind of plans to replace him which may have prompted him into taking the said N2.5b which became an issue only when he blatantly refused to return it.If this is not the truth then it is not far from it.

The ADC of the first lady has still not being charged to court in what clearly suggests that someone somewhere is afraid of what he may disclose in public.

Daura and Baba-Inna are ordinarily people the Buhari administration would be in a hurry to prosecute.Asides from adding a much-needed tinge of credibility to the President's anti-corruption war,their cases would serve as a deterrent to the most crucial class of office-holders; those that weild power and influence at the highest levels.

Daura and Baba-Inna know too much and their oppressors are scared of putting them in a position to say all they know.Things are better this way.For the bush meat to not make the hunter prey.

BUHARI'S EXECUTIVE ORDER 6 IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

The legality of President Buhari's Executive Order 6 (EO6) has been affirmed by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of the Abuja Federal high court and right now the most cries against EO6 seem to be centred round Buhari's cronies not listed among the 50 persons banned from travelling outside the country but a careful look at the constitution viz-a-viz EO6 would show Justice Ojukwu erred in her decision to uphold the constitutionality of the President's EO6.

The exception to the constitutionally guaranteed Freedom of Movement which the President's EO6 purports to breathe life into is Section 41 (2a) of the constitution.

S.41.— Right to freedom of movement - Every citizen of Nigeria is entitled to move freely throughout Nigeria and reside in any part thereof; and no citizen of Nigeria shall be expelled from Nigeria or refused entry thereto or exit therefrom.

(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall invalidate any law that is reasonably justifiable in a democratic society—

(a) imposing restrictions on the residence or movement of any person who has committed or is reasonably suspected to have committed a criminal offence in order to prevent him from leaving Nigeria;

I base my submission on the unconstitionality of EO6 on Section 36(2a) of the constitution.

36.— Right to fair hearing

(1) In the determination of his civil rights and obligations, including any question or determination by or against any government or authority, a person shall be entitled to a fair hearing within a reasonable time by a court or other tribunal established by law and constituted in such manner as to secure its independence and impartiality

(2) Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this section, a law shall not be invalidated by reason only that it confers on any government or authority power to determine question arising in the administration of a law that affects or may affect the civil rights and obligations of any person if such law—

(a) provides for an opportunity for the person whose rights and obligations may be affected to make representations to the administering authority before that authority makes the decision affecting that person ; and

(b) contains no provision making the determination of the administering authority final and conclusive.

Section 36(2a) clearly provides that any law which confers power on government or any authority to determine questions pertaining to the civil rights and obligations of persons is legal only to the extent that it affords those persons an opportunity to make representations before the administering authority.And don't for once think Section 41(2a) which EO6 is hinged on and Section 36 (2a) is one of those instances where the constitution appears to be contradicting itself.It is not.

The word 'reasonably' in Section 41(2) implies an intention for the determination of the restriction placed under Section 41(2a), the President's EO6,to be a fair one.It has always been within the exclusive confines of the court to determine who is the 'reasonable man'.That above every other thing should warn our courts as to the intentions of the draftsmen to connote fairness rather than arbitrariness.Having said that,the reasonability of the circumstances warranting the imposition of such an order can only be determined if the other party is allowed to make representations before whomever the administering authority is.Going by the very explicit provisions of Section 36 (2a).

As soon as the government released a list of persons it labelled looters; people not so adjudged by our courts,some of us were quick to warn on the legal implications of doing such.Its a clear case of defamation of character.As it turns out,High Chief Raymond Dokpesi and Prince Uche Secondus have instituted cases against the government demanding billions.The judiciary must guard against aiding this goverment perpetrate illegality.

Without a knowledge of legislation stipulating procedures and ones governing the evidential arm of law,even the non-lawyer can key into the 'spirit of the law'.The reason why they get a lot of things lawyers get wrong,very right.Just like you can't call anyone who hasn't been so proven by our courts a looter.The non-lawyer's view on it not being right for the President to have it within his power to ban people from travelling is very much in order and should be a topic when next our constitution is amended.

A just law ought to reserve such powers for the courts but until then,the law as it stands is that he has no powers to decree such except those persons make representations before him.

HOW WILL ATIKU CREATE JOBS?

For the second consecutive presidential election,a lot of nigerians are yet again saddled with the choice between 2 frontline contenders they would rather not vote for.President Buhari was elected into office largely due to public discontent for the Jonathan administration than any sterling quality he may possess.We were that lady who had just suffered a heart break and sought comfort in the arms of another man.In the desperation to ease her pain and feel loved again,she allows his words sweep her to the realm of no second thoughts.'Buhari will end boko haram in 2 months'.Of course he can.He was an army general. 'Buhari will make N1 equal to $1'.Yes,he lived in times when the exchange rate was just that.The man's gross incompetence aside,a lot of people are now ashamed they fell for such words.To put Buhari's performance in one sentence,it is the worst by any nigerian president dead or living.

The very urgent need to rid ourselves of this administration has made separating the ideal from the pragmatic highly imperative.A lot of nigerians are going to vote for the PDP because they don't want to take chances.They don't want Buhari in office when his tenure lapses.The Sowores,Moghalus and Durotoyes would have stood a much better chance in a different time and under different circumstances.

At the start of Atiku's campaign,as far back as 2016 (unofficially i must add),it only seemed possible he would be president not only if he was running against Buhari but also as his main opponent.He has managed to get himself in place.

Yet another president thrust at us by the discontent for an incumbent?.Most likely.We are again the metaphorical heart broken lady and Atiku has chosen 'jobs' as his soothing melody.Yet again,nobody is asking the comforter any questions.

With external debt having risen by $11bn to an unprecedented high of $22bn and President Buhari planning to take a fresh $3bn loan,how will Atiku create these jobs he talks about?.A video was going round this week of his speech at Chatham house,London and Atiku spoke of engaging the private sector and proposing a mass recruitment drive on their end while they get some tax reliefs.Government's lost revenue in taxes paid by those private companies, he intends to recoup in personal income taxes of the new employees.This reasoning is faulty and if its the best he can do then its best we already start to lower our expectations and console ourselves with the fact that he likely won't turn out a leader to justify every agitation for a separate state with a 95%-7% dividend formula or one who would tell us he needs to reward his loyalists instead of appointing competent hands.

Atiku's private sector partnership can't generate more than 70,000 jobs at the very most for the simple reason that these companies are already going the extra mile to cut costs due to the harsh economic climate and it would be catastrophic to keep cutting down government revenue to make it work.

To take him up on giving companies a tax rebate,Nigeria generated N680bn in the first 6 months of 2018 in company income tax.It is safe to say we will earn approximately N1.3trn off that by the end of the year.Say the Federal government gives a N300bn tax concession to these companies and each of about 70,000 employees make N720,000 per annum at best and pay a personal income tax of N130,000.If you multiply that by 70,000 employees you get roughly N6bn.How does losing N300bn to gain N6bn make any sense?.Especially in a place contending with reduced oil income which is its primary source amidst huge debt commitments?.Governments in developed countries are in much better positions to grant concessions to companies to generate employment because they don't face our type of problems.Simply put,they are richer and have less burden than us.If this administration doesn't increase the minimum wage,Atiku would be pressurized to do that.More financial commitments.

In as much as we all want to see Buhari leave,it is important we ensure we aren't taken for fools or experimental lab rats.Atiku has been screaming jobs too loud not to get asked some very good questions on how he intends to make them happen.

SOME OF THE ISSUES BUHARI WOULD RATHER NOT TALK ABOUT...

Garba Shehu,the Special Assistant to President Buhari on media just a day ago,made the first official reaction on behalf of the Presidency to an allegation against its Chief of Staff,Abba Kyari of defrauding a contractor to the tune of N30 million in a transaction for the supply of 15 hilux vans to the Aso rock villa.Mr Shehu did not issue a press statement,he tweeted at a newspaper accusing them of publishing falsehood in a matter the Presidency had refused to address in what has become its customary posture towards grievous allegations against prominent members of its cabinet.

The President did not deem it fit to initiate a probe or mandate the authorities to look into the matter with a view to taking decisive action.Kyari had been tried and acquitted indoors.

What baffles most is the utter shamelessness with which the Presidency goes about this business of over-looking critical issues involving its officials and cronies.They don't seem bothered in the least about public opinion.There is virtually no effort most times to even show up for the cameras.

These are 5 issues Buhari wants waved aside...

1.AGF MALAMI'S INDICTMENT BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN THE REINSTATEMENT OF PENSION FUNDS FUGITIVE,ABDULRASHEED MAINA

A 12-man ad hoc committee was set up by the house of reps to look into the reinstatement of Abdulrasheed Maina,a man declared wanted by the EFCC for embezzling what is believed to be up to N17.1bn of pension funds and its findings were that the Attorney-General of the Federation,Abubakar Malami SAN met with Maina in Dubai despite knowing he was a fugitive and pressurized everyone he possibly could to get him back into the civil service.The man was allowed to get away after he was discovered and the Federal government's claim that he had been added to Interpol's wanted fugitives list has been punctured as Maina can not be found anywhere on that list.

Till date Buhari has not acted on that indictment by initiating a probe but it suprises no one considering the fact that the head of service,Mrs Winifred Oyo-Ita  has said Buhari was aware of his reinstatement and that she had earlier warned him on the possible implications on his anti-corruption war.Maina himself has said Buhari reached out and reinstated him through the AGF.

Buhari is shameless enough to not bother probing and exonerating Malami even for optics.He is not bothered by an indictment by the 2nd arm of government despite its previous one having led to the sack of the Secretary of the government of the Federation.Integrity my big black foot.

2.THE NON-PROSECUTION OF BABACHIR LAWAL AND PATIENCE JONATHAN

President Buhari had to be forced by public outcry to assign the probe of his former SGF, Babachir Lawal and EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu to the Attorney General of the Federation.Malami issued a clean bill of health and after more outcry over Babachir's blatant guilt and the AGF's non-suitability for the task,he formed the Osinbajo committee which indicted him.Shortly after which Babachir was removed and arrested by the EFCC.

A lot of people knew not to jubilate as there was a lack of will to punish Babachir in the first place.Their fears have been justified as the EFCC held him for a day and granted him administrative bail 'pending further investigation'.Its been almost 8 months since Babachir was set free in a matter already investigated and acted upon by the Senate,AGF and a probe committee with each's findings at their finger tips.

Patience Jonathan's case has to be the most astonishing of Buhari's anti-corruption crusade.The woman claimed ownership of millions of dollars in the bank accounts of her cronies and even went ahead to sue the government.The mere audacity of that act led to the inevitable conclusion that the Jonathans may either have something very damaging on Buhari or may have 'settled' him.The EFCC even after seizing houses belonging to Dame Patience,still hasn't invited her for questioning.Talk more prosecute her.

3.MALAMI PAYING OVER $17M TO 2 NIGERIAN LAWYERS IN THE RECOVERY OF $321m ABACHA LOOT

The AGF claims that Enrico Monfrini,the world renowned swiss lawyer engaged by the federal government stuck to a 20-30 percent fee rate for the recovery of the mass monies looted by the Abacha family and stashed in various financial institutions across the world.Malami said that agreement was no longer tenable hence the hiring of two nigerian lawyers-Oladipo Okpeseyi and Temitope Adebayo who agreed to a 5 percent fee from the $321m recovered from a bank in Luxembourg.

Monfrini's attention was drawn to the story being bandied around by Malami and he gave his own version of events,which have by a hundred thousand miles been the most compelling.Monfrini said he had never heard of a lawyer anywhere in the world collecting a 20-30 percent cut in such a huge legitimate transaction and that he charges 5 percent or even less.The records are there,he has been engaged by the Federal government since as far back as 1999.He had completed his job on this instalment and all that remained was for our government to write a letter requesting that the money be transferred down here.Technically,it means Malami hired 2 nigerian lawyers to request the money for a sum of $17m.

Cable Journalism Foundation,CJF,a partner organization of TheCable newspaper have continually written to the AGF requesting information and documents on the said transaction with no response coming from him.It has gone to court seeking an order of mandamus compelling Malami to furnish it with all it is requesting in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) 2011.Why would the AGF hire lawyers for $17m to do a job already done by Monfrini?.Neither he nor the government are willing to answer that.

4.KEMI ADEOSUN'S NYSC CERTIFICATE

This pretty much is an open and shut case.Records show Kemi Adeosun graduated from a university in the UK at the age of 22 and the NYSC mobilization is mandatory for anyone who graduates under the age of 30.Much fuss is being made over an exemption certificate which automatically puts her in the wrong even if she does have a valid one.That is if she does because everything points to the fact that she doesn't.

The NYSC said she applied for an exemption certificate and has left it at that till date and hasn't responded positively to enquiries by private individuals and bodies.

First Mr Lai adopted the NYSC statement saying she applied for an exemption certificate as the government's stand on the matter before he and Garba Shehu composed a new tune titled 'Under investigation'.

The woman graduated at 22 and has been parading an NYSC exemption certificate since she started work here.Both very verifiable facts.But again,we have been asked to dance to 'Under investigation'.

5.THE 'TACTICAL AMNESTY' GRANTED DEZIANI ALLISON-MADUEKWE

The EFCC has said it is not in negotiations of any kind with Deziani but a critical look at her case will reveal a shockingly lackadaisical attitude on the part of our authorities..The AGF and Ibrahim Magu, the EFCC Chairman,had both said she won't be extradited to face charges as the UK government was also ready to prosecute her.She had had her £25,000 seized in that country in 2015 and with James Ibori in mind,it made perfect sense that she should be prosecuted there .The UK government said it was going to charge her to court in June 2017 which it didn't and by September 2017 (3 months later),Magu had back-tracked and was talking of on-going plans to extradite her.

Her properties are being seized in Nigeria and the UK but like Patience Jonathan,the authorities aren't too enthusiastic about taking her to court.

The word on the street is that this administration may have negotiated a deal with the UK authorities it had convinced to help bully her for non-prosecution in exchange for a certain amount of her loot in their shores.Exactly a year later,Magu's plans to extradite her are still on-going.

The Buhari government hasn't hosted a media chat since its only one on December 30th 2015 to answer our many questions.Questions it doesn't seem to have any answers to.So much for the transparency and accountability we were promised.

ALBUM REVIEW: BLAQBONEZ'S BAD BOY BLAQ IS AN UNEXCITING VOYAGE THROUGH 10 TRACKS

Bad boy blaq is the last of Chocolate City's LAMB August releases.The expectations were AQ and Loose Kaynon with a pure form of the art.MI,a more flexible side to that purity and Blaqbonez,the inescapable reality album; the game as it is.How true to the culture and far from a vulture was he going to be?.That everyone looked forward to answering.

Judging from a couple of freestyles online,Blaq had shown he was quite enthusiastic about dropping bars than it may seem.Bad boy blaq was going to be essentially a modern day Mc with more recent influences finding the right rhythm between spawning tasty ear candies stacked with sing-alongs and groovy sound bites on one hand and sticking to the ever-constant basics of the art on the other.

Sadly,Bad boy blaq doesn't quite impress.More modestly put,he scratches the surface with little or no cutting edge to the songs on display.If there is one thing to love about the new era Mcs it is the energy and intensity they give towards creating a catchy vibe.Hold onto the key words-energy and intensity.

The singing rapper isn't quite one to impress with his chords but in as much as Play and Consent are good songs,a little more intensity would have lifted them to the realm of extraordinary.

He may be a better artiste than Bad boy blaq depicts but there is a gaping need to work more on his craft and the first step towards that is understanding his strengths and weaknesses.Accomodate and Denied have a nice ring to them but like in a couple more tracks,we see a rapper with little or no odds of dropping a line to remember trying to flex lyrical weight.That robs Woke of some shine as well.He is basically an artiste cut out for pleasant noise and not mind-blowing lyrics.

Being more pop inclined than the average Mc will give him an edge once he learns to make the most of his skills.Knowing when and how to apply what.Take Mamiwota which is a good attempt at mass appeal.A good instrumental and a nice hook by Oxlade but anything outside that needed more robustness than Blaq could generate.

No sparks,no surges.Bad boy blaq is an unexciting voyage through 10 tracks.

MY TOP 10 SONGS FOR 2ND QUARTER 2018

1. BLACK EFFECT-THE CARTERS

2. PRAISE THE LORD-A$AP ROCKY FEAT SKEPTA

3. GIVENCHY-NASTY C / ANYBODY-DJ HAZAN FEAT C-BLACK, SHINA PELLER & BEEZY

4. WHITE LABEL-NAS

5. HOUSTONFORNICATION-TRAVIS SCOTT / SO MI SO-WANDE COAL

6. KWEKU-CHIEF OBI / SUPER EAGLES DODORIMA- AUSTINO MILADO

7. 4TH DIMENSION-KANYE WEST x KID CUDI / ELEVATE-DRAKE

8.JUNGLE-NASTY C / FRIENDS-THE CARTERS

9. SANTERIA-PUSHA T / BABA-DJ SPINALL FEAT KIZZ DANIEL / SURVIVAL-DRAKE

10. INFRARED-PUSHA T / AFTER PARTY-DESIIGNER

TOP 3 ALBUMS

1.STRINGS AND BLINGS-NASTY C

2.DAYTONA-PUSHA T

3.L.O.D-DESIIGNER

ALBUM REVIEW: MI'S YUNG DENZL SUFFERS FROM A CHRONIC IDENTITY CRISIS

MI's Yung Denzl was the most high profile release of LAMB August and a lot of people expected it to be the focal point of his bid to give Nigerian hip hop a face-lift.The goal of his movement,if we understood it well was to loosen the grip of indigenous and 'pop' rap on naija hop hop and promote the purer aspects of the culture but on this album,we see an artiste distancing himself totally from the naija rap culture and trying too hard to prove he is of international standard.Yung Denzl suffers from an identity crisis so profound the first song-Do you know who you are?.Take your time and meditate on yourself is actually an anti-racist song.."Do you realize a negro is a hunted commodity/Look around you/Observe your ecology".What ecology around me,Nigeria?.

The album is pretty much a one-dimensional work with all songs either on the slow and mid-tempo range which technically puts a lot of dependence on his lyrical abilities,hip hop movement or not.If not thought-provoking then the very intriguing lines.The self-evaluation of Yung Denzl measures up to that standard with the very immersing "All i wanna do" vibe he was on.But on a wholesale,MI quite regrettably fails to do vocal justice and never really puts the icing on a some fabulously made joints.The worst victim being You are like melody.My heart skips a beat.Lorraine Chia is so breath-takingly awesome on the hook,you could listen to it forever and its really sad how MI ruins quite a high with his verses.

He gets the sound right on a couple of message-themed cuts but it doesn't help that he's set the songs up to rest on his flow.He ticks every box on Last night i had a dream about a hummingbird but on Stop! Never second guess yourself he tries to preach self-confidence and loving oneself with a big boss chic narrative.The last person that needs any such sermon.It pretty much captures the lack of effortlessness on most songs.

He beasts through I believe in me.You should too,believe in you  but then there is the sheer arrogance in expecting the audience to feed off his cockiness.He doesn't in anyway try to strike a balance between his story and the listener he seeks to inspire.

Mr Incredible appeared to be having a mid-life crisis when he said he was better than 95% of american rappers and 2 years down the line, Yung Denzl only proves he still harbours such laughable thoughts.He says on I believe in me.You should too,believe in you that Pusha-T should be honoured to be mentioned in the same breath as an African King of the mic and that he was kin to BIG,2pac and Jay-Z.Thats highly outrageous.

Only bested by the irony of a rapper chastising his peers for singing on You rappers should fix up your lives and doing so himself on Love never fails but where there are prophecies,love will cease to remain.

Loyalty is probably hip hop's 3rd favourite subject after nothing to something and stunting on the haters.Hip hop isn't just music,its a culture and everyone keys into its universality with their very own reality.

MI talks loyalty to Choc city on Another thing! Do not be a groupie and it felt quite odd listening to him try to make a big deal of sticking to a label he became partner and Vice-President at since blowing up.Word had always been he was responsible for signing every artiste since Jagz and Ice Prince.Its as off as a father yelling for accolades for paying school fees.

Hip and catchiness to appeal to the core of the nigerian music market and a distinctive lyrical edge to re-awaken the consciousness of the average hip hopper.That is what nigerian hip hop needs and not a total inculcation of foreign values.MI's work can't seem to get a grip of anything.Loose and AQ's Crown works despite not having the mass appeal element because it is a lyrical magnum opus.And also noteworthily because they don't try too hard to be alien.

MI does.

ALBUM REVIEW: CROWN IS TRUE,PURE AND AS REAL AS IT GETS

Sheer hypocrisy!!!.That was the problem most people had with MI's declarative You Rappers Should Fix Up Your Lives.Mr Incredible hadn't done anything for the culture other than show up when he had an album and a following mixtape to drop with his last coming 4 years after his sophomore release.These rappers were a lot more active and could reasonably raise 'adjusting to times' in their rapid drift into popular music.Nobody was disputing the fact that MI Abaga was Nigeria's number one rapper.The question was how much different was he from anyone who had accepted the status quo?.He has answered that a year later.

MI is making the most conscious effort ever to revive hip hop in these shores with the LAMB releases all scheduled for August and that no one is giving him the 'he think he Kanye' treatment all attests to the wide acknowledgement and  support of his generous moves.

Crown; the first of the 3 albums is a collaborative one by AQ, a rapper finally rewarded for staying true to the game and Loose Kaynon, one most people feel they were yet to see the best of.This was either going to chart a course for MI's hip hop movement or give the ever vocal pessimists the upper hand.

We'll look at the album from 3 perspectives.

DEPTH

No,you got it twisted if you expected a glorified battle rap treat.These artistes actually gave us an evenly balanced work that embodies the art in virtually all shades.They drop bars over 9 cuts with the soberly introspective,the strong message and the lyrical bravado elements perfectly in place.Songs like Out Of This World,Regrets and Hustlers Prayer not only contain so much power,they are fabulous replications of the golden era of hip hop and the fact that a work in these parts not only dares to venture into hip hop's best times; when it had grown to have its purity whipped to just about any form but to also do it oozing so much class is priceless.The humming on Hustlers Prayer,Debbie Romeo's gripping vocal performances on Regrets and Out Of This World all ensure these tight Mcs give us not just great lines but whole songs to remember.

We are guaranteed a new era feel in Blaqbonez's upcoming album; the last of the trilogy but if the aim of MI's hip hop movement was to take back the game from the vultures,Crown and indeed his  would to an appreciable degree,have to key into rap in its present state to not just skool the rapping artistes but to set an example for the incoming breed of cats.The 'trappy' God Wants Us To Be Too Lit does that best.Its such a beauty.The Blaqbonez effect on Off Black gave it a fascinatingly 'now' edge too.

The album title track; Crown along with SDC is the lyrical show piece but don't sleep on Gang Gang.The only track with an indigenous touch has both AQ and Loose Kaynon flexing some mean lyrical weight.

Crown is rich in content.Probably the richest ever in pure hip hop content.

LYRICISM

AQ, the very flexible and adventurous wordsmith and the rigid and monochromatic Loose Kaynon.That was the impression a lot of people had of these 2 artistes before this album.A whole lot will change once they settle to it.Crown was a joint album by 2 great rappers at the peak of their craft.AQ tones down some of that renowned story-telling prowess for a more robust style complete with the swagger of a rapper finally been paid dues owed him by the rap game.

But the true star of this show is Loose Kaynon if you would have to choose.Think again if you thought you knew that brother well.

The Loose on Crown is as lyrically dope as anyone rapping.Lyricism is always the main criteria when someone comes waving that true hip hop banner.People say rap originated from poetry and whatever is been done today came from hip hop.AQ and Loose Kaynon in very simple terms,had us all loving rap again and that is loving skilful metaphors,brilliant word play and mind-blowing punchlines.Still stuck between Loose Kaynon's verse on Off Black and Gang Gang's AQ massacre on the favourite album verse question and that there are a hundred and one other answers out there testifies to just how lyrically dope Crown is.."F**k a twitter account/Can't cash it/They verify my bars tho/Am doin more numbers than a bar code/They tryin to take shots but they got froze/They tryin to throw shades but i'm astro".Thats AQ on beast mode.

The album title track had SDC on it and with his verse on MI's Popping arguably the flamest ever since,he was everyone's favourite to nail it.The track lives up to its billing as a jaw-dropping lyrical slugfest and Loose Kaynon is the unlikely chief slayer."Think you the shit?/You must be something i ate".And thats just a slice.

Crown is resurrecting hip hop and placing it on a pedestal too high for the culture vultures.

IMPACT

Admittedly,Crown's break from the norm isn't a harsh one and you have to love the Choc City team for that.It makes a huge effort at navigating through the very basic and general aspects that tie together how it ought to be done and how it is being done and pitching its tent at a good spot for the former to appreciate the latter while setting a clear path for it.

For the real hip hop movement to achieve its aim,it must get the current crop to completely trust the process of flipping its purity to any state possible.MI himself jumped on the commercial bandwagon on the Chairman album to illustrate how big a task he and his crew hope to accomplish.

The pollution of hip hop started with the obsession for a catchy sound over lyrics and in as much as God Wants Us To Be Too Lit is a fantastic attempt at merging how it ought to be done with how it is being done,Crown needed more of the 'nigerianess' of Gang Gang.The average nigerian artiste isn't looking to blow up his neighbourhood or chat group,he is looking to have the number one hit.Or at least,get as close to Wizkid and Davido as possible.Some of that local spice is what is needed to convince the subscribers of the present status quo as to the workability of the 'pure' model.

Nevertheless,if hip hop is predominantly lyrics then Crown is substance.You can't change that.

THE MAKING OF A SCAPE GOAT AT THE VERY TOP

I really must say President Buhari's handlers have improved remarkably.First,Lawal Daura was fired in response to the invasion of the national assembly by masked operatives of the DSS,then they allowed Vice-President Yomi Osinbajo take all the credit before letting the world know Buhari authorized it and had it in his plans to sack Daura even before the incident.At the end of it all,the senate president,Bukola Saraki is being accused of using him to witch-hunt himself and that has stuck like glue.

But here is the thing.About 2 weeks ago,DSS operatives along with some police officers,blocked the gates to Saraki and his deputy,Ike Ekweremadu's houses in a purported bid to stop them from conducting a plenary session where 15 APC senators were scheduled to decamp to the PDP.The news of their defection from the APC over-shadowed the other events of that day and very few bothered to pay a little extra attention to the gestapo-style invasion of the residences of the number 3 and 5 citizens of the federal republic.President Buhari and Vice-President Osinbajo did absolutely nothing.Nothing concrete was adduced to wave off the accusing fingers pointed at them.

In as much as it sounds like a very good strategy to endear himself to the average nigerian; a testament to the improved handling of the Presidency's excess baggage,it is simply impossible for the Presidency to sit back and do nothing after Saraki 'staged' the first blockade at his residence by the DSS and police operatives.Buhari wouldn't stay mute while Daura and the IG of police,Ibrahim Idris helped him to hero status except of course,they were complicit.Anyone selling a 'Saraki witch-hunting Saraki' theory would have to tackle that extensively.

Having established that the powers at the very top have made him a marked man,then the next thing would be to fill in the blank spaces.Why was the invasion of the national assembly called off and why was Daura made a scape goat?.

The invasion is widely deemed an act of frustration against the senate leadership after they got wind of plans to impeach them and rallied their troops to check it.What the orchestrators did not expect was the amount of attention it would generate in the international community.Prominent foreign governments through their envoys,were said to have reached out to the Presidency and expressed grave concerns over what manner of threat against national security would necessitate the sealing off of the legislative arm of government by the DSS?.At that point,there would only be one scape goat,Lawal Daura.The aides who followed him to the villa to meet Osinbajo were summoned back to the office and he is presently said to be staying at a guest house of the police meant for high profile suspects.The presidency would really have to go the extra mile to disprove the notion that there weren't privy to his clandestine activities.

They would have to do much more than EFCC investigations that will not end in prosecutions or leaking false atrocities with no tangible proof.A strategically unverifiable report of him claiming to be taking orders from Adams Oshiomole,the APC chairman surfaced and got debunked.Another one claiming Abba Kyari,the President's chief of staff asked him to do it has also been planted.In this PR strategy,even the truth could be bandied and made unconfirmed in an attempt to lead everyone back to the official narrative.

The freezing of 3 bank accounts belonging to the Benue state government by the EFCC after it opened a case against Governor Ortom days after his defection to the PDP and one belonging to the Akwa-Ibom state government in what appears the first shot by the APC on behalf of its latest convert,Sen.Godswill Akpabio in an impending battle for supremacy between him and the PDP state government, all point to a renewed vigour in clamping down on political foes by the government.The foreign powers can't interfere in matters like these and the APC is having a ball going at its 'traitors'.

From where i stand,Lawal Daura is not an enemy of the government.As a matter of fact,he loves it enough to take a fall for it.What remains to be seen is whether he will stay fallen.

FALLOUT REVIEW: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE NEEDS TO STEP UP TO THE NEXT LEVEL

'Ethan Hunt and company eventually contain the threat at the last minute'.The outcome everyone already knew before Mission Impossible 6: Fallout was released.Its 2018 and a sixth instalment with a guaranteed outcome owed us a more robust story-telling with richer sub-plots but sadly,we didn't see that.It was all pretty too vintage to stir up as strong an adrenaline surge as it did back in the day.The intensity of the 2015 release; Mission Impossible 5: Rogue Nation coupled with the much more richer action scenes may have made it a quite decent watch but the lacklustre Fallout has more than anything proven the MI configuration needs to be revisited.

Mad technological effects in line with time and trends seemed a sure thing but some way some how,Fallout seems to fall short of even set MI standards.Benji Dunne (Simon Pegg)'s eye glass transmitter in the previous Rogue Nation outclasses everything on display here.That along with very ordinary fight scenes and a solely Ethan and gang V the bad guys plot all combine to make Fallout a very ordinary spectacle.

Ethan running into his ex-wife,Julia at a medical camp was just the type of twists needed to spice up the too direct outlay but in the end it was uneventful and did nothing for the story.When Henry Cavill (August Walker)'s good guy cover got blown,it seemed pretty convenient that the CIA director not in on his schemes,selected him to accompany Hunt on a chase of the stolen plutoniums.These,especially Julia's re-emergence were points the producers would have woven beautiful sub-plots round to add more glitter to an uninspiring fast-paced movie.MI has thrived over the years on the very direct route but it becomes a huge problem when there is an absence of some nail-biting suspense to cater for the predictability factor.The Solomon Lane break out scene was the most intense of the movie and the flaws therein were of the gaping kind.Notably Hunt starting his motorcycle late after closing down the alley with Walker in their van; how those shots by pursuing cops all miss Hunt at point blank range is incredible to say the least and having a man wear a black hood on the passenger seat of a speeding car during a man hunt with cops in the opposite side of the road not noticing was a pathetic watch.

We all love MI and Fallout may have opened to a franchise-high $61.5M from 4,300 theatres in the US but it will have to go down as one of the worst (if not the worst) screenplay(s) of the series.