What if we are witnessing the formation of the next Cabal? What if President Buhari’s government and the cabal controlling it, as alleged by the First Lady, some time ago is only a dress rehearsal for what is to come in 2023? When it comes to coincidences, I am an agnostic, and I have never believed in arbitrariness. This position of mine was reinforced by a TV series I saw last year, titled, “Numbers”, which sharpened my mind to the extent that I am always on the lookout for hidden patterns in seemingly unrelated events. My major takeaway from that TV series was the idea that even the mud splatter on an object on the side of the road, coming from a poodle driven through by a fast-moving car, could be explained mathematically. Therefore, if one extrapolates this idea to our country, Nigeria, the so called chaos, and wanton killings and destruction in every part of the country are all interrelated to some degree. The patterns are evident, even with only a cursory look.
The patterns are already telling the story of our future; the future of a country in the stranglehold of a group of oligarchs. The telltale signs are everywhere for those who care to see. In Russia, Vladimir Putin and his cronies control everything, while the people are only allowed to pick up the crumbs. With all the brains Russian has, it is rare to find any major scientific or economic breakthrough coming out of Mother Russia. Even in International University Rankings, it is hard to see the best university in Russia ranking higher than their counterparts in China. As a result, the oligarchs send their children to universities in the west. In Nigeria, the oligarchs have destroyed the public primary and secondary school system, and they are now working very hard to sink the public universities while propping up their own private universities, which are now more than Federal and State universities put together. Meanwhile, all their children are in the best universities abroad. The relevance of this little narrative might seem farfetched, but this is exactly the current story of Nigeria; and the future is likely going to be worse, especially using the ASSU interregnum as a case study
The exorbitant cost of APC’s expression of interest and nomination forms have signaled the institutionalisation of corruption in Nigeria. It is unfortunate that this same party which gained ascendency in 2015 with the mantra of change, has indeed brought about earth-shaking changes, but not in the direction we envisaged. Buhari’s policies and body language could be felt in every nook and cranny of this country, not for upliftment, but for destruction.
In response to an array of criticisms, APCs National Chairman, Mr. Abdullahi Adamu, had said that the purpose of the skyrocketing cost of presidential forms was to weed out jesters who are only out to cause trouble. But, this line of thought or defense is lame, or an outright joke, because if we assume this to actually be the party’s position, then people like Dr. Chris Ngige, and other credible candidates who withdrew due to the N100 million price tag, are all jesters and trouble makers.
Most of the presidential candidates have claimed that their forms were bought by support groups. For instance, it was learned that the form of the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, was purchased by rice farmers. Nigerians would want to know who these rice farmers are, how they are able to raise N100 million in the space of a month in our current economic climate; and maybe, what they intend to do now that Emefiele’s form was not returned.
To pacify Nigerians, the EFCC was in the news saying what the average Nigerian wants to hear. It claimed that it was going after the accounts of so-called form purchasers. But we already know it would amount to nothing. From the signs available, this is pure racketeering happening before our very eyes; and it has been orchestrated both by those in the open and those in the shadows, and almost everyone who purchased the APC presidential form is either a bonafide member of the next Cabal or is standing proxy for an interest group.
With the level of damage done to the country already, (some of them irreversible), the apprehension some of us are having, as we observe the formation of, and the possible installation of a new cabal is palpable. Some might think we are beside ourselves, but this is de Ja Vu. We were here in 2014 when we saw a mishmash of interest groups coming together, just for the purpose of grabbing power. That power was handed to a destructive force, called Buhari.
If we are to take our reading of the 2022 Electoral Act at face value, it means that all the underworldly behaviour we are used to during elections could now be a thing of the past. Consequently, if ballot box snatching and thuggery are now impossible; what other options are available to the APC oligarchs? Vote buying is the only possible option for APC after President Buhari had presided over the hemorrhaging of the country for seven years.
The 2023 election is actually a do-or-die affair in an existential sense for every cheated, exploited, attacked, and impoverished Nigerian, because if we get it wrong from either side of the aisle, be it APC or PDP, we are finished. Every Nigerian on the street knows what is at stake; therefore, the idea that APC has amassed a war chest in the neighborhood of N30 billion from the sales of forms alone should be an issue for concern. Again, N30 billion is a pittance, compared to how much has been stolen in that ministry where Buhari is the Minister. So much has been said about the Ministry of Petroleum and the NNPC, yet nothing has happened, in fact, based on the data presented to the National Assembly by the Auditor General of the Federation on the misappropriation, mismanagement, and misrepresentation of trillions of Naira by NNPC, and the latest suit brought against President Buhari’s Government by SERAP, challenging the N1.48 trillion spent between 2015 and 2020 on the maintenance of NNPC refineries with zero results, I am sincerely hoping that Saint Buhari would face the same fate as former Minister for Petroleum, Deziani Alison-Madueke, because under him as Petroleum Minister, NNPC has become the epicenter of corruption in Nigeria.
They have seen the handwriting on the wall; therefore they are leaving nothing to chance, but their war chest of trillions of Naira will fail them, because Nigerians will disappoint them, by rising with one voice to demand real change in 2023, they will dismantle both the old and the emerging cabal.

By: Raphael Pepple