Buhari: The Push-And-Start President

Buhari: The Push-And-Start President By Comrade Erasmus Ikhide

In a functioning democracy that is not necessarily saddled or burdened with locomotive president, the likes of Babachir Lawal, Secretary to the Government of Federation, Ayodele Oke, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) (both just recently fired); Mr. Maikanti Baru, NNPC (GMD), Mr. Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abdulrahman Danbazzau, Minister of Interior, Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff, Yusuf Buratai, Chief of Army Staff and Mr. Maina Abdulrasheed, the reinstated and sacked ex-Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Pension Reforms should have lost their jobs way before now. Even now, President Buhari has conflated his anti-corruption crusade the more. Nigerians have lost hope in his integrity and the credibility of his anti-graft efforts. It took nearly two weeks before Buhari could make pronouncement on the MainaGate!

Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari has contracted the infectious familiar Aso Rock ailment, called nativity. This disease was former President Goodluck Jonathan major undoing prior to 2015 presidential election.

All entreaties to Mr. Jonathan to do away with Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, the Minister of Petroleum Resources and Abba Moron, Minister of Interior occasioned by their public nuisance they constituted in his government fell on his deaf ears. Now, Mr. Jonathan knows better how not to be a president.

Throughout Mrs. Diezani’s perfidious profligacy as oil minister and the very obvious grafts that attended her administration of the oil sector, President Jonathan was more daft about her glowing and burning beauty than heeding the counsel to ease her out from the plump job.

President Jonathan was so deaf, dumb and clueless that he could not sack Abba Moro, his Minister of Interior who raided and extorted billions of naira from millions of unemployed Nigerians and allowed scores of them to die in a stampede.

In a functioning democracy that is not necessarily saddled or burdened with locomotive president, the likes of Babachir Lawal, Secretary to the Government of Federation, Ayodele Oke, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) (both just recently fired); Mr. Maikanti Baru, NNPC (GMD), Mr. Abubakar Malami, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abdulrahman Danbazzau, Minister of Interior, Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff, Yusuf Buratai, Chief of Army Staff and Mr. Maina Abdulrasheed, the reinstated and sacked ex-Chairman of the Presidential Taskforce on Pension Reforms should have lost their jobs way before now.

Even now, President Buhari has conflated his anti-corruption crusade the more. Nigerians have lost hope in his integrity and the credibility of his anti-graft efforts. It took nearly two weeks before Buhari could make pronouncement on the MainaGate! It will take him yet another weeks before decision will be taken whether on or not Mr. Maina and Ambassador Ayodele Oke will be prosecuted.

The face-saving sacking of the duo is an afterthought and a tactical maneuvering by President Buhari who acted because of the outcry of Nigerians against the fraudulent reinstatement of the former Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Pension Reforms, Mr. Abdulraheed Maina, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Babachir Lawal and Suspended Nigeria Intelligent Agency NIA Ayo Oke.

The indicted and sacked SGF, NIA Director General and others still in Buhari’s government should be handed over to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for thorough investigation and prosecution, instead of using probe panels to shield people accused of corruption in his government. They should be arrested, detained and prosecuted by the EFCC, as is the case with others perceived Buhari’s political enemies.

The minimum Nigerians expect from President Buhari who rode to power on the basis of integrity is a total cleansing of his government, rejuvenation of the antigraft agencies and empowerment of its operatives, instead of setting up panel to investigate corruption allegations involving his men and reluctantly sacking a few of them because of public outcry.”

Aside from merely sacking of Oke, and the likely prosecution of (NIA) officials, Nigerians would like to know the full details of the report on the $43 million discovered in an apartment at Osbourne Towers, Ikoyi, Lagos.

The report should be made public. We are entitled to know what happened to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu’s allegation of award of $25 billion contracts without following due process against the Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Dr. Maikanti Baru.

Nigerians need a total disclosure of the report of the panel that looked into the Department of State Service (DSS), report that indicted Acting Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu of corruption.

We’re interested in knowing why the former Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Lamorde, who was accused of corruption by the Senate, removed from office unceremoniously and declared wanted is now the Commissioner of Police in charge of the Special Fraud Unit (SFU), Ikoyi, Lagos.

It would be in the national interest to know the rationale behind the appointment of Ahmed Gambo Saleh, the Supreme Court Registrar who was indicted and put on trial for alleged over N2 billion fraud, as the Secretary of the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the Corruption and Financial Crime Cases Trial Monitoring Committee.

It’s Nigerians business to know the role played by President Buhari on the behind the scene fraudulent reinstatement of Maina as revealed by the Head of Service of the federation, Mrs. Winifred Oyo-Ita. Mr. Maina was reinstated on the auspices of President Buhari.

Mr. Buhari’s imperfection, lackluster and/or outright ethnocentrism which drilled holes into his War Against Indiscipline (WAI) in 1984 over stowaway 53 suitcases is gradually playing out in more dreadful form.

The 53 suitcases saga arose in 1984 during the currency change exercise ordered by the Buhari junta when it ordered that every case arriving the country should be inspected irrespective of the status of the person behind such.

The 53 suitcases were, however, ferried through the Murtala Muhammed Airport without Customs check by soldiers allegedly at the behest of Major Mustapha Jokolo, the then Aide-de-Camp, ADC, to Gen. Buhari.

Atiku was at that time the Area Comptroller of Customs in charge of the Murtala Muhammed Airport. Surprisingly, Buhari refused to take action against any of the culprits in spite of deafening outcry.

Yesterday, President Buhari further shocked Nigeria when he disclosed the reasons for not constituting boards of parastatals, while addressing the National Executive Council meeting of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Abuja.

“Last year I said we would re-constitute the Boards of Parastatals. I must regret the fact that we have not done so, for many reasons.” Some of us in this meeting may know I had given instructions since October 2015 for this exercise to start. But there have been inordinate delays through several Committees in an attempt to get the balance right and to make sure all parts of the country are equitably represented.”

“On the other hand I am keenly aware that our supporters are very eager for these appointments to be announced. “By the Grace of God these appointments will be announced soon. Especially now that the economy is improving, we will have the resources to cater for the appointees.”

He also made doubtful political statement that the economy is healing from the bashing it received from the previous government. “We can be proud of our achievements in the last two years, Boko Haram, Niger Delta, Regular Fuel, Improved Power, TSA, Agriculture and Fertilizer, above all, the knowledge that corruption will not be tolerated in this Government. We all know there is CHANGE.”

You’re wont to ask, is the change reflecting in the standard of living for the common man? Roads are still bad, no improved healthcare system, no good education, companies are folding up and are relocating to other African countries, Nigerians are thrown out of their jobs, President Buhari’s children still school abroad, he himself still enjoy his medicare abroad with his family, there is no consistent power supply for six straight hours a day! When a government claimed to be improving the economy, it should be a statement from the people, not some statistics from lazy World Bank statisticians.

Except President Buhari takes urgent and tough stand against his inner cycle of corrupt cabinet members and rid it of mindless graft, it will remain in the consciousness of the people that he is aiding and abetting corruption with his push-and-start responses that have retarded the nation from speedy recovery from its economic woes.

Comrade Erasmus Ikhide

Erasmus, a Public Affairs Analyst writes from Lagos Email: ikhideerasmus@gmail.com. Follow him on twitter @ikhide_eraamus1