It is official: Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso are exploring a potential coalition which will make their two parties – Labour Party and New Nigeria People Party (NNPP) – come together. Apart from Buhari and maybe two other people in the North, Kwankwaso has unrivaled electoral value. When he moves, political battalion follows: “It is true we are in talks with Peter Obi and a committee is working to look into how to form a merger between us. Friends and family are being up and doing talking about the merger arrangement,” Mr Kwankwaso.

If this happens, this will become an offensive playbook, not just defensive. The implication will be that NorthWest opens up for the duo. They already have the largest geopolitical zone in Nigeria – the YOUTH.

A real merger is not possible due to  timing; it is too late to dissolve or form a new party now for the 2023 elections. But they can have a coalition where the two parties decide on who to vote for in each contest.

If INEC keeps this game free and fair, Nigeria can have a great 2023. APC is strategizing. PDP is doing the same thing. NNPP/LP combo are possibly coming together. May the best vision win for Nigeria!

(Meanwhile, Obi and Tinubu have selected, respectively, Doyin Okupe and Kabiru Masari as vice presidential placeholders. PDP, we believe, has actually made the final decision on Delta State’s governor, Okowa)

The presidential candidate of the New Nigeria People Party (NNPP), Rabiu Kwankwaso, on Saturday, said his party is discussing with the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, on the possibility of forming a coalition for next year’s general election.

“It is true we are in talks with Peter Obi and a committee is working to look into how to form a merger between us.

“Friends and family are being up and doing talking about the merger arrangement,” Mr Kwankwaso added.

The merger is important because as you can see both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did not pick their running mates from the South-east, Mr Kwankwaso said.

Mr Kwankwaso’s NNPP has a large following in the north of the country, particularly the north-west while Mr Obi recently defected from the PDP and joined the Labour Party. He has endeared himself to large youth following in the south of the country.

As the cryptocurrency market takes further pounding, resulting in heavy losses that have seen its capitalization dwindle from $3 trillion to $1 trillion, investors caught in the turmoil are regretting betting their money on the asset. Seeking reprieve, one is taking a legal step against Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla for fraudulently promoting Dogecoin.

Keith Johnson is suing Musk and his companies for $258 billion over claims they are part of a racketeering scheme to back the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Musk had last year, touted Dogecoin, repeatedly referencing the coin on Twitter, shooting its price up as investors poured their money into it.

Dogecoin rose nearly to $0.74, and Musk referred to himself as the Dogefather. Now, the crypto market downturn has erased the gains and calmed the frenzy. Dogecoin has dropped 67% this year to about $0.5, and investors who were motivated by Musk’s tweets to buy the coin are looking for something to hold on to.

The lawsuit claims Musk and co. constituted an illegal racketeering enterprise to inflate Dogecoin’s price, and defrauded Johnson and others through their “Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme.”

“Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all,” Johnson said in his complaint, filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan.

“Since Defendant Musk and his corporations SpaceX and Tesla, Inc began purchasing, developing, promoting, supporting and operating Dogecoin in 2019, Plaintiff and the class have lost approximately $86 billion in this Crypto Pyramid Scheme,” the complaint added.

The case is Johnson v. Musk, 22-cv-05037, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Johnson, seeking to represent a class of people who have lost money trading in Dogecoin since April 2019, is asking for triple damages of $86 billion, in addition to triple damages of $172 billion, as well as an order blocking Musk and the companies from promoting Dogecoin, and declaring that Dogecoin trading constitutes gambling under US and New York law. The plaintiff alleges that the said amount is how much that has been lost by Dogecoin investors since Musk first started tweeting about it.

Crypto investors have watched billions of dollars of their investment evaporate as mass selloff triggered by the market’s accelerating downturn plummets assets. The lawsuit is believed to signal desperation by investors to hold on to something as consolation, even if it means scapegoating someone.

Revlon, the 90-year-old cosmetics giant, has filed for bankruptcy. This is not because women are not buying makeup and beauty products. Rather,  they have moved on from Revlon. How? The best way to sell makeup right now is to showcase people who applied or are applying makeup in live shows. 

Revlon’s sales lagged over the years and in 2021 fell 22% from its 2017 levels. Shares have fallen more than 80% since the beginning of the year.

With that construct, extremely social media native brands with largely no heritage but in partnerships with influencers and celebrity have become the new category-kings. If you want to look like that queen on TV, buy this makeup. There is no need to waste time checking the Revlon catalog or visiting its website. 

Social media has commoditized the brand and distorted the distribution model. One guy in China sells tens of millions of dollars worth of makeup yearly via TikTok making his channel one of the largest “shops” for makeup in China. He even put more efforts. Kim Kardashian built a $1 billion beauty brand when she sold 20% stake to Coty for $200 million. Her marketing & growth model was powered by social media. 

People, the empires of the future will be controlled by those who influence and control demand, and not those at the supply side. With tens of millions of social media followers, Kim influenced many and built that empire without a single factory, sales team, or warehouse; only her social media handles as other core domains were outsourced. Companies like Revlon got disintermediated in the mix; “if you want to win in the 21st century digital economy, you must control or influence demand, not supply.”

This is the video on the Airbnb piece: If you want to win in the 21st century digital economy, you must control or influence demand, not supply. In the industrial age economy, power went to gatekeepers of supply. Today, the empire builders are those that control demand. This is possible because digital supply is unbounded and unconstrained, making it largely not a factor. Digital utilities like Google, Facebook, and Airbnb which control demand become the new gatekeepers.

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Comment: Yes, Prof. Ndubuisi Ekekwe Social Media Influencers are a major driver of sales in the era. Rihanna is literally sitting on gold with her Fenty brand as she’s one big influencer on Social Media. I guess Revlon was too slow to adapt. Those that can sell value will always be more successful than those that produce value and can’t sell it.