In which we discuss the (s)election of a new president - not of the NLC, that's for later  - but of our glorious federal republic. In addition to offering various takes on the titular question, we also attempt to assess the reasons behind the historically low turnout of voters as well as how the Nigerian left should respond to plans by the main opposition parties to challenge the result in court.

Coming back from our harmattan hiatus, we round out the presidential campaign  banter with a discussion about the naira scarcity: whether it really is engineered by 'the cabal' (per El Rufai's claim); how it might affect the election; and how an organized left would have responded to this moment. 

@dvmilola joined us for our second film review, this time about an authorized biopic centered on Nigeria's wannabe Pinochet and so called "evil genius", Ibrahim Badamisi Babangida. We disagree about whether the emerging sub-genre of historically-based Nollywood films should strive to be objective, but ultimately agree that IBB is one of the greatest scam artists in Nigerian history. We watched it so that you don't have to (spoilers herein contained, obviously). So enjoy. 

And happy new year. 

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In this episode, we revisit the Cement Armada Scandal, which we consider one of the foundational scams of the Nigerian political economy. The scandal saw the newly oil-rich post-civil war Nigerian government bumble into ordering half of the world's concrete supply, by some estimates. The arrival of hundred of cement laden ships effectively shut down the ports in Lagos for over a year,  forcing the Nigerian government to pay huge fines to real and fictitious shipping companies as a result of the delays. Involving corrupt Nigerian officials, wily shipping companies, devious British MPs, a Balkan princess,  a Czech spy, a body in the Thames, and a host of other scalawags from across the globe, the scandal 'cemented' Nigeria's international reputation as an Eldorado of fraud, among its other significant legacies.

In the first of our special series on Nigeria's foundational scams, we go through the major turning points of the scandal, debating its origins and long term impacts. 

Special thanks to @Tay007 who runs the Youtube channel "My fellow Nigerians" from which we cribbed the intro summary of the scandal. Check out his page.  

And, also...

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Further Reading:

Legacies of the Cement Armada

Untangling government, market, and investment failure during the Nigerian oil boom: the Cement Armada scandal 1974–1980

(Image courtesy of https://jojonaija.com/cement-armada-affair-how-the-gowon-regime-flooded-lagos-port-with-cements/)

This episode draws out the key debates that came out of James Barnett's (@jh_barnett) reflections in our previous episode, centered on the findings of his in-person interviews with bandits in Zamfara.

The full episode containing our earlier interview with James,  which was free-to-listen for a limited time , is now accessible via our Patreon — which you should check out.

As usual, praise, reviews, feedback and (particularly) criticisms welcomed.

Recent in-depth reporting on Banditry:

What has become of North-West Nigeria's chronic security crisis following the Abuja-Kaduna train attack, the Kuje prison break, and the fallout of the BBC Africa-Eye's  documentary "THE BANDIT WARLORDS OF ZAMFARA"?

Guest starring scholar/adventurist James Barnett (@jh_barnett), this episode revisits the topic of Nigeria's 'other' insurgency, variously known as the crisis of 'Banditry', of 'Fulani herdsmen', or simply as the spread of 'Boko Haram'/terrorism. 

After musing about the possible 'sponsors' of James' own extensive research in North West and North Central Nigeria -- research which has included speaking to many of the so-called bandits themselves -- we attempt to grapple with the origins, causes, and possible trajectory of the crisis. 

The wide-ranging discussion also considers the evidence for possible links between this crisis and Nigeria's various jihadist movements, as well as both the role of the state in all of this and the possibility that various parts of Nigeria are witnessing a slide into what James refers to as 'Warlordism'. Surely one of our more informative episodes -- so we've decided to release the entire thing for free. Enjoy. 

Further readings:

Finally, be so kind as to check out our Patreon for past and future exclusives.

This week, we spoke with Kunle Wizeman Ajayi (@AjayiWizeman), former Lagos chair of the African Action Congress (AAC), about the AAC's ideology, 'structures', and electoral prospects. 

We also talked through some of the possible limitations of the AAC's strategy as well as the party's plans to respond not only to the 'obidient wave', but also to the more established obstacles: APC and PDP. 

One annoying issue with the recording (at least the first 10 minutes or so) is that the the mic kept picking up the vibration from Kunle's phone, as messages from AAC activists rolled in -- our sincere apologies. And special thanks to one of our day-one comrades, Commander Matrix, who recorded the disclaimer you'll hear in the intro. 

Enjoy. And, also...

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In this episode, we spoke to radical ASUU member Temitope 'Maberu' Fagunwa (@RealMaberu), who is also an afrobeat musician, a pan-africanist and a history Lecturer at the University of Osun State, UNIOSUN. 

We also asked  Maberu about his 'Aluta' band and where his politics and music intersect. 

One for the books, this. 

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(by popular demand, now liiberated for the masses)

Did Atiku shout us out?

We review some of the best (real) feedback we've received so far, and hint at future directions/collaborations.

Subscribe to our patreon for upcoming and previous bonus and premium episodes.

This is a teaser for the full episode in which we review some of our favorite feedback on the show so far. 

Listen to the full episode on our newly introduced patreon page (https://www.patreon.com/join/nigerianscam). 

We hope to use the patreon to keep up audience engagement with tailored episodes and content -- as well as to raise funds!