“Buhari is dictatorial in nature, almost 100 days in Office, no minister. You saw his appointment so far, so no Igbo sons and daughters is (sic) qualified to be made minister? He is too tribalistic and not the leader we desire”-Traducer
The above is one of vitriol that burst into my phone as I was putting together my objection to Shaka Momodu’s The Purveyors of Half-Truths and ‘True-Lies’; in the “THISDAY, September 1, edition. Notwithstanding, ultra-primordial comments sassail Nigerians from unappeasable commentators still burying their heads in the sand like ostrich afraid of coming to terms with the reality of PMB’s presidency; as they often view every steps of the president at moving the nation forward through their tribal binoculars.
However, my focus here is on Shaka Momodu’s very informed weekly which I often identify with for its usual free flow of prose and lucidity of his critiques in any chosen subject of his.
But I take exception to the views as expressed in his ‘This Republic’. For if I was not conversant with some of Momodu’s previous articles, I would have glossed over it as the rants of one of the numerous notice-me, self-advertising armchair columnists that often barge into readers thought-space with penchant; ogling desperately for some celestial catapult into the corridors of power; aside my reservation for his medium’s somewhat editorial stance toward the present government.
For avoidance of conjecture, the spur for this rejoinder is as a result of my desire for enthronement of the rule of law; where system drive governance irrespective of who is in the saddle as opposed to the whims of an individual or a group of individuals occupying positions of power at any point in time. Therefore, I am neither a spokesperson for the APC, PMB or his government. But as a concerned citizen and patriotic stakeholder who abhors ostrich approach to issues.
Part of this ostrich approach to the numerous fundamental issues teetering the polity to the present seemingly snail speed efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari could be gleamed from the cadence of Shaka Momodu’s narrative concealed in smoking angst over his perceived ‘transferred’ performance of the former President Jonathan to Buhari which can best be termed ‘JONABUHARI PERFORMANCE’ which like a co-joined twin awaits the scalpel of an informed surgeon to intricately separate with each having it own life without one having to be a parasite to the other!
But wait a minute: why would it be at the arrival of PMB that things began to take shape for good? What went wrong that PHCN, Gas Stations, Fuel Supplies; and Law and order among others are beginning to operate at near optimal level less than three months into the life of this administration? Why was Jonathan not in charge as the captain of the ship of the Nation while the voyage lasted? And, why did he make himself cat’s – pawns amid his crew members?
As Shaka Momodu patriotically would want PMB to ‘govern’, could any form of government be formed with near emptiness of the treasury which was obviously plundered by the immediate past government? Should he govern with his bare hands; or from his personal purse as a farmer? Or should he have plunged into governance at the behest of ‘business-as-usual’ syndrome as people were clamouring? No Sir!
This is because first things first and must be done first, and that is; PMB must first clean the Augean stable which has to be done with studied quietness!
This is because were all things being equal, and PMB still chose to be lethargic in his strides then Shaka Momodu’s views would have elicited a thumb up!
Were all things being equal, former President Goodluck Jonathan should have left all aspects of governance healthier for his successor to build upon; and this would have enabled PMB to hit the ground running as most people, including Momodu desired.
But because all things were not equal, therefore the challenges faced by PMB deserve empathy, sympathy and genuine understanding of every citizen on account of the rot he met.
Therefore, the performance of PMB is more organic than the cavalcade of mundane romanticism and overweening emotive displays of bile as often noised about by most arm chair critics.
For the records, the government of former president GEJ could not thumb its chest and categorically tell Nigerians how much his administration was leaving behind for its successor nor could he tell the nation the number of accounts he was signatory to as the C-in-C; none knew; including his finance managers!
It is an open book that the unbridled larceny in all government agencies, especially the NNPC and its subsidiaries are no longer eavesdrop affair. It is on record that PMB has commenced surgical operation of the financial hemorrhage that bedevils the NNPC with the smart appointment of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu with the mandate to sanitize the corruption infested organ and put a stop to the crude thievery in the oil sector. Isn’t this a milestone for PMB’s government? Of course it is!
Another milestone of PMB is the integrity he has brought to governance for in less than three months of his governance; various arms of government are now on their toes for productive engagement with the change mantra of the APC-led government!
It is unarguable that PMB has given vent to his 3-key-point (3KP) campaign promise of his avowed commitment to tackle insecurity, fight corruption and re-position the prostate economy. These were his refrain during his Spartan campaign promises which he repeatedly re-echoed at every forum of his campaign outings. These are verifiable performance without any speculative interpretations.
On assumption of office PMB together with his vice president did not only cut their salaries by half but went ahead to declare their assets in compliance with the constitution to the bureau of code of conduct though this is yet to be made public. This shows the integrity of their intentions for a new Nigeria.
Also President Muhammadu Buhari’s appointment of seasoned service chiefs to replace the former president’s appointees and his initiative to take the command structure to the epic-centre of the Boko-Haram menace that have snowball into monstrosity under former president Goodluck Jonathan from a mere rag-tag miscreants is another bold step by President Buhari which has buoy up his performance rating across the country in the few months of his administration.
Another studious performance stride of PMB is the introduction of the TSA; Treasury Single Account System to check the slipshod accounting profile of the federal government and its parastatals at all levels. This has not only received wide acclaim of experts at home and elsewhere around the world but has also elicited goodwill of world leaders commending the initiative as a resourceful masterstroke that will boost and bring integrity, transparency and discipline into the receipts and expenditures of government to enable full consolidation and optimal utilization of it cash resources.
On the heels of this is the cessation of fuel queues in various gas stations across the country dispensing fuel at N87 per litre from Enugu to Sokoto and Jos to Ibadan and indeed across all the Six Zones of the Federation.
Also, the absence of irregular power supply since PMB’s arrival cannot be attributed to juju. Equally significant is the dusting of the Ogoni Bill of Rights by PMB to sanitize the crude oil ravaged community which had hitherto gathered dusts even under the watchful eyes of the former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan whose habitat is next door to the Ogoni enclave! This indeed is a milestone by this supposedly non-performing President.
What with the anti-corruption stance of Buhari? His body language is already sending cold shivers down the spines of the enemies of the state who are bent on pummeling the nation’s commonwealth with reckless abandon thus causing pains, sorrows and bereavements to the citizenry.
Unlike PMB, former President GEJ’s body language incubates and gestures corruption with the seal of his famous declaration of “Stealing is not Corruption”.
It is equally on record that the former President did not declare his assets as he once retorted in the glare of the Public: “I don’t care a damn”, in an apparent response to a media prod in that regard!
In fact, the damnable and frightful revelations of mindless plunder of the nation’s treasury trailing former President Jonathan and his lieutenants stagger believe.
Until they all climb down their high horses to clear themselves and make restitution where appropriate to the Nation; the stench and stigma of corruption will continue to dodge their path as no amount of exparte motions or perpetual injunctions can extricate them from the arms of the Law and divine justice. Just as no amount of perfumery however pungent can deodorize the stench of corruption oozing out of some of them; not even with all the perfumes of Arabia!
Also the setting up of Itsay Saggay Legal Reform Committee on the Nation‘s legal rigmarole is another loud plus for PMB even though his critics would never admit this in the open including the tribal choristers.
Equally significant is the plugging of the loopholes from treasury leakages and the reinvigoration of various anti-graft agencies; these are cheering news to all Nigerians.
It must be stated at this juncture that when PMB was making his campaign promises, he never envisaged that GEJ’s government would ground the economy of the Nation before it departs with unimaginable larceny!
Therefore, were all things equal; assuming all Jonathan’s appointees did the needful and went about their various assigned roles patriotically and faithfully discharge their duties with zero-tolerance for corruption in mind; this alone would have vindicate them and self-advertise them without some spin doctors having to labour themselves to befuddle the polity in contest to extricate them and their principal from their obvious self-inflicted incompetency and heinous thievery witnessed during their tenure.
As they did not only corrupt and corrode all known government sectors which would take years of studious engagement to put aright; but spared no thought in betraying the mandate freely conferred on them by Nigerians for Six years; and in the process frustrated the rising expectations of Nigerians for good governance while their reign lasted. Any wonder therefore that PMB is resorting to cautious optimism in trying to gather those that will galvanize the much envisaged change that Nigerians are eager to witness?
Indeed, were all things equal, there wouldn’t be any need for the purveyors of Half-Truths and ‘True-Lies’ to want to heat up the polity because such energy and ample time would have been devoted to some other fruitful investments.
Therefore, the studied performance strides of PMB to clean and cleanse the Augean stable for effective government to take-off is an achievement on its own, side-by-side the groundswell of goodwill of world leaders now re-animating their confidence in Nigeria’s ability to rise again under president Muhammadu Buhari deserves unalloyed support of all Nigerians to usher in a corrupt-free polity.
THISDAY
END
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