The biggest losers of the year

Either by design or by default, the year that should have ended up in glory for them turned sour and they ended up as losers.

1. Abdulrasheed Maina

Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, the former Chairman of the Pension Reforms Committee was one big loser in 2017 and he knows this, no wonder he was doing everything to get back into the reckoning.

The scandal rocking his sudden reemergence, reinstatement in the civil service, his immediate sack and becoming a fugitive will remain an indelible mark in his life.

Before the bubble burst for Maina, information had it that he was being positioned to run for the governorship in Borno State in 2019, but with the way things turned out, it is a big doubt if that dream will come to fruition.

He is now a wanted man after the EFCC and the Interpol placed him on their list and he has been firing on all cylinders in his hiding place.

2. The APC Losing Abubakar Atiku

The All Progressive Congress may be all powder and pancakes on the surface but they have really lost one of their most powerful political bigwigs in the person of former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar who resigned from the party in 2017.

While resigning, Atiku mentioned some internal cracks the party had tried so much to paper and not allow outsiders to know there were problems within the party but with Atiku's revelations, Nigerians now know all is not well with the APC.

Atiku is one very influential politician any party would want to have in their fold with his influence especially in his geopolitical zone and his resignation from the APC is surely a big blow.

3. Diezani Allison-Madueke

When Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke was Minister of Petroleum, she was seen as the most powerful person in the country, only second to her principal, President Goodluck Jonathan.

But since her party was booted out of power in 2015, Mrs Allison-Madueke is now the most talked about member of Jonathan's cabinet, albeit in the negative.

No week passed in 2017 without a mention of her name and all the looted money and property linked to her.

Over a hundred houses, cash and landed properties have been reportedly recovered from her while attempts she made to be brought back to Nigeria to stand trial on the myriads of allegations hanging on her were rebuffed and laughed to scorn.

In the end, Mrs Allison-Madueke is now seen as the most corrupt person Nigeria has ever known or seen since independence.

4. Dr Ibe Kachikwu

When Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu left his plum job with Mobil Oil to take up the position of Minister of State for Petroleum, little did he know that such a position was not meant for a gentleman and that there are forces he would have to deal with?

Dr Kachikwu did not know that the cabal he would be dealing with is so powerful and one man cannot clean the Augean stable.

He learned the hard way when the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Maikanti Barau, who should naturally be answerable to him, saw him as nothing more than an underling to the substantive Minister, the President himself.

By the time he found out, he had burnt his finger with a leaked memo where he reported Barau for awarding contracts without involving the Board of the NNPC.

In the brouhaha that emanated from the scandal, Kachikwu was made to look like a learner as he has not only been sidelined in the scheme of things but also rendered redundant.

5. The PDP

The immediate past ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] was also one of the biggest losers in 2017 as they kept wobbling and fumbling while trying to fix its house.

Apart from not being able to elect a substantive chairman, the PDP was often enmeshed in one court case or the other and its top members promptly defected to the ruling APC for fear of losing their relevance.

Many of their top functionaries were regular visitors to prison yards or the EFCC offices following several corruption cases, real and imaginary.

Even with all they have gone through, the PDP has still not learned and it is yet to be seen if they will rise from their ashes come 2019 and reclaim power from the APC.

6. Babatunde Raji Fashola

Before Babatunde Raji Fashola was made the Minister of Power, Works, and Housing, he had boasted that if given the opportunity, he would fix Nigeria's light problems within six months.

According to the former Lagos State governor, fixing of power was not rocket science and based on his track record, he was saddled with the three-in-one portfolio but in the end, he realized that managing Lagos was a different ball game.

A lot was expected from Fashola based on what he was able to do in Lagos but amazingly, two years in the saddle, he has been made to look like a midget and nothing he touches has turned to gold.

The power situation in the country has never been this bad while the state of roads in the country has been at its abysmal low.

7. Peter Obi

Former Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi did not know what hit him when his candidate in the state gubernatorial election, Oseloka Obaze, was trounced in the November 18 elections.

According to information, Obi had put in so much money in the campaign for Obaze with the hope of recouping his investments but in the end, the sitting Governor Willie Obiano not only trounced Obaze but also made Obi look like a learner when it comes to election campaigns.

Today, Obi is still licking his wounds and ended the year as a big loser.

8. Nnamdi Kanu

The leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra [IPOB], Nnamdi Kanu would have come out smelling like roses after he was granted bail by the Federal Government after spending years in detention.

But he shot himself in the foot when he decided to dare the government by flouting all his bail conditions and therefore became a wanted fugitive.

Not only did he declare war on the government, he went ahead to set up a parallel army in a sovereign country by setting up the Biafra Secret Service, daring the government that he was ready for a full-scale war.

But when the government unleashed its military on him, he promptly went underground and has not been seen since October. Not only that, a faction of the IPOB came out to declare a persona non-grata over allegations of embezzlement.

He ended the year as a big loser.

9. Nigerian Workers and Pensioners

The year 2017 was the worst for workers and pensioners in Nigeria, especially those in the employ of some state governments.

Apart from being owed backlog of salaries running into several months, some of the workers practically became beggars as they had to beg for money and food to feed their families.

While the governors and their families and cronies live in affluence and opulence, the Nigerian workers were rendered useless as the governors refused to pay them even when they were bailed out by the Federal government.

Some pensioners died in abject poverty and penury as they waited for their stipends while the governors kept complaining there was no money to pay them their entitlements.