There’s a growing, observable trend since President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration began on May 29, it is the effort that has gone to discredit the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan. My taking on this issue is not an attempt to white wash the image of the former president or robe that administration in any undeserved garment. I believe things could have been done differently under President Jonathan, which could have made the country a better place than we presently have. But my take on this is ‘to every man his style’. One does not expect a Jonathan to behave like a ( Late President Umar) Yar’Adua. Neither would we expect a Buhari to see things the same way (former President Olusegun) Obasanjo would see it. We all have different world views based on our backgrounds, and these shape the way we react to issues.
The trend to discredit the Jonathan administration either through attacks on him or any of his ministers cuts across. If it is not former President Obasanjo, it is one of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governors.
In one of such diatribes on Tuesday, the former President Obasanjo took a swipe on Jonathan , describing him as lacking in vision in the rehabilitation of the Nigerian Railways. He said the rail lines were obsolete having been constructed in 1903. “For what reason should anybody in his right senses in Nigeria of today believe that rehabilitating the railway system which was completed in 1903 to carry three million tonnes of goods is what we need today,” he said.
This is just one of such attacks in recent time. A few weeks after the inauguration of the present administration, he had castigated the former President saying the country had been mismanaged under his tenure. Without sounding disrespectful of the revered former president, I recall that in the dying days of his administration, a contract of $8.3billion was awarded for what was described as the modernization and expansion of rail lines. The administration of Yar’Adua which was uncomfortable with the contract set up a committee to review it. The committee and a World bank report advised that the contract be discontinued. This was after a mobilisation fee of $250 million had been paid. One of the reasons cited, leading to the termination of the contract was lack of transparency in its bidding and inflation of that particular contract. So what are we now talking about. The former President, though highly respected, does not really have a moral right to condemn Jonathan especially on this issue. We saw the result of the rail project under the Jonathan administration, the same cannot be said of Baba’s contract which was awarded in the twilight of his administration.
Also more recently, some of the ministers that served under the past administration came under attacks. There is no denying the fact that it is an indirect attack on the Jonathan administration. There was no weapon that was not used to convey that message- photographs that were played up to mean what they were not really for. There was a particular photograph of former Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison-Madueke who was said to have gone to the home of former Head of State, Abdulsalami Abubakar to plead with him to intervene on her behalf with President Buhari. It was actually a photograph taken at a different occasion. There was another one of hers purportedly running after President Buhari.
The other day, it was the Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole who took on the former Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala over the spending of the excess crude account.
“The last time the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy reported to the Council and it is in the minutes, she reported by November 2014, that we had $4.1 billion( in the Excess Crude Account) but today the Accountant General Office reported we have $2.0 billion, which means the Honourable Minister spent $2.1billion without authority of the NEC. And that money was not distributed to states, it was not paid to the three tiers of government”, he accused.
There is also a tendency to also view some of the recommendations in the Ahmed Joda committee’s report as a subtle attack on the last administration. The committee recommended that President Buhari should terminate all ‘dubious appointments made by former President Goodluck Jonathan in the last nine months and review all contracts awarded by the administration in the last 18 months.
For those who are discerning, this is a subtle attack on the last administration. I wonder whether the committee realized that the appointments that they recommended should be terminated were made to Nigerians. One would have though that the recommendation should have been to review and retain whoever is found suitable and terminate the dubious one. The tendency is to think that party affiliation played a role in this recommendation. Since the appointees are not APC members, it would be an opportunity to do away with them.
As much as I do not support the shenanigans of top government officials and the officially sanctioned corruption that has taken over governance in the country, I do not think the public pillorying of the people the citizens look up to should be the practice. It is clear that the recent outburst stems from the President’s statement that he would probe the Jonathan administration. Thus every other person sees this as an opportunity to carve a little out of the hide out of the ‘Jonathanians’.
We often wonder why there is no longer respect in the society. The reason for this could be drawn from the above when due process is not always followed. I personally do not see the necessity of these public condemnation because it is fashionable to do so. Nobody in his right senses would oppose the prosecution of those who betrayed public trust, but such actions should be conducted with dignity. I expect our public office holders to conduct the affairs of state with dignity and also protect the sanctity of public office. Some of those speaking now are occupying these public offices today and they see it as opportunity to say whatever they like, but they should remember that what goes around comes around. If we are talking change, that change should also affect the way we conduct our affairs.
SUN
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