Fellow Nigerians, let me say categorically and emphatically that
our dear beloved country is dangerously haemorrhaging again and this perfidious
drift must be halted urgently before we all end up in perdition. Anyone telling
President Muhammadu Buhari that all is well or that his government is moving in
the right direction is either lying or pretending like a rattlesnake. And there
are many scorpions around ready to mislead every government and move on
effortlessly when things fall apart. For sure President Buhari possesses the
ability to move this country in the right direction and lead us to where we
want to be but right now it is not happening and the soul of the people
palpitates! I’ve been on several television and radio interviews in the past
one week and the commonest question is on the performance of our President. The
general perception is that the change mantra seems not to be working and the
world is worried because of the importance of Nigeria in the comity of nations.
President Buhari and Dele Momodu |
I hope our President will get to see this piece, read it and
ruminate on the points I will raise. The Buhari government has lost a
substantial equity in just one year as I will try to explain in the next few
paragraphs. It must be noted that Nigerians were happy with the election that
ushered in President Buhari. Even those who did not vote for him accepted him
with unusual equanimity. Those we expected to fight and throw tantrums simply
vamoosed into their bunkers. The expectations were high then but I doubt if
enough effort was put into seizing the momentum and translating it into a mass
movement that would have stood the test of time. It is not too late to reclaim the
moment.
The faith Nigerians had in the abilities and incorruptibility of
Buhari is mighty enough to move mountains. But unfortunately, I think the
government took many things for granted once it took over the reins of power.
The government mistakenly believed that the support of the people was like
several blank cheques which it could cash at any point in time. The general
impatience of Nigerians and their desire for progressive action were never put
into consideration. I remember writing two memos to our President in quick
successions, when I realised that Nigerians were getting restless and restive,
one of which was the desperate memo that earned me an invitation to the
Presidential Villa for which I am so honoured and proud.
Still the government did not respond appropriately to the
yearnings of the populace. The major problem is that the priorities of Buhari
were never palpable to the general public as everything seemed to operate in
utmost secrecy. This is probably a relic of the military days when surprise and
spontaneity achieved more. However, democracy is an open book and it has become
even more so since the internet turned the world into a global information
minefield. I’m sure it was assumed that the people would never doubt or query
the sincerity of a messiah. So there was no need to provide any real
information about the activities of government. That was the first fallacy.
The second fallacy is that people would give the President plenty
of time to unfold his change agenda. One year on, it is obvious that this has
not been the case. President Buhari should have moved faster once the people
started grumbling about the apparent sluggishness of his administration. The
selection of his cabinet was annoyingly slow and by the time it eventually came
it had evaporated into a deja vu. There was no element of surprise to elicit
major excitement. In fact, most people wondered why it took so long to assemble
his present team most of whom he could have picked in two weeks or even before
he was sworn in. The demystification of Buhari became manifest from that moment
not because the team he picked is not worthy or creditable but because the
interminable delay in making the choices cost the nation dearly.
The next problem was that the President should have moved to unite
and unify the country immediately. It was clear that the previous
administrations had riven great division into the Nigerian polity. A new
beginning seeking to heal the ulcerous, cancerous wounds of religious and
ethnic disunity and disaffection was required. However, starting with a war of
attrition, it was obvious our President would soon have his hands full. Not
that some of the wars were unnecessary but the timing and methodology should
have been meticulously weighed and analysed before launching into the requisite
offensive. There was a lot to learn from our nascent democracy. It would have
been easier to embark on some of these wars as a military ruler that the
President formerly was but not as a civilian leader which the President now is.
That realisation appears to have been missed by some of our President Buhari’s
advisers.
For example, while the war against corruption was desperately
urgent, it ought to have been known that it was intricately and delicately tied
to the economy. The need to recover the looted funds as quickly as possible and
use them to reinvigorate the economy needed to be balanced by the need to do so
expeditiously and tactfully so that the main objective would be fulfilled. My
humble opinion and advice would have been to use the carrot and stick method
rather than the kill and go style that has now exposed our economy to grave
danger and imminent collapse. The angry mob of Nigerians goading on our
President has blatantly refused to assimilate the magnitude of the resultant repercussions.
But it should be noted that those who feel frustrated about a rotten system can
never be bothered if the entire structure collapses. It is such acute
disillusionment that gave rise to the ascendancy of a Donald Trump in America . It is
the duty and responsibility of leadership to wear its thinking cap well and
rise above the giddiness of the baying crowd who have nothing to lose and only
wish to see the spectacle of blood flowing without any degree of humanity or
compassion for the impoverished masses that they claim to represent. The same
people who hailed Buhari yesterday are the ones denigrating him today.
Once it was impossible to generalise the war against corruption to
engulf all politicians tainted with corruption no matter their affiliation the
government should have requested for a blanket return of government booty via
negotiation with all public office holders. Those who failed to take up this
generous offer of recovery could then be visited with the might and power of
retributive justice. An example of when this great opportunity was missed was
when government unreasonably told Nigerians they could no longer pay foreign
currencies in cash into their accounts. Perhaps government in its naivety did
not remember that politicians had prosecuted the last election through the
almighty dollar because it reduced the bulkiness of gratifications. Government
should have patiently waited for the dollars to come in, whether in cash or
not, before pouncing on the owners. Once that opportunity was missed, the next
was to discreetly stretch its tentacles across the world in search of thieves
and money launderers. Assets at home and abroad should have been quietly traced
for possible confiscation. This could have been done without all the present
grandstanding and hullabaloo. When you hear the elephant stomping the ground
behind you in a one directional manner, you know it is time to run and hide. In
this period when we are celebrating the life and times of Mohammed Ali perhaps
it is poignant to say that you do not telegraph your punches rather you “rope a
dope”!
Also, the moment our President chose a military style of operation
he should have known that corruption would fight back with ferocity and
velocity. For example, once it seemed the former President, Dr Goodluck
Jonathan had been marked for humiliation even demolition, I knew our President
was playing with the tiger’s tail and I sounded my note of warning. Before we
could say Jack Robinson, the Niger Delta avengers returned with a vengeance and
brought us back to our knees. Today our oil production has plunged to an
all-time low even when we had been grappling with the nightmare of low crude
oil prices. The Niger Delta Avengers army seems ready to make Boko Haram look
like child’s play as they strangulate the economy, degrade the environment and
decimate the local population that they claim to be fighting for. Is this what
we need to add to our plethora of problems at this time? The answer is a big
NO.
The militarisation of Nigeria has become very suffocating.
Shiites are being killed in droves in the North West . Mass graves have been identified
and uncovered. The Biafra agitators are being
massacred in broad-day light and its leaders detained indefinitely. Boko Haram
remains a monumental menace to society despite the extra-ordinary efforts of
our military and Intelligence agencies. The Fulani and or Libyan herdsmen have
added to the conundrum out of the blues. Different militant groups are now
armed to the teeth. Trust me these guys don’t look like they are joking. Nobody
fights on as many fronts as this government now seems to be fighting without
risking it all.
Many have argued that Nigeria should be restructured. It
is believed that its present configuration is too artificial. Most of the
States are no longer viable while some fringe or full-blown eccentrics are
asking for more. It is interesting that in the build up to independence our
leaders from the North, Southwest and East were saying the same thing in
different words. Nigeria
is peopled by diverse nationalities and any nation must recognise this
diversity and give it voice and room to flourish. A continuous denial of this
fact can only lead to self-destruction. One of our erstwhile leaders in his
wisdom foisted unitary system on us when we had successfully thrived under true
federalism. That was a mark of courage notwithstanding that it was a totally
flawed decision. Our President must find a similar kind of courage to find and
examine all the previous recommendations made during different and various
constitutional conferences and implement the universal clamour for true
federalism. There is nothing new under the sun, as they say, our President
already has a rich reservoir of knowledge deposited in some government archives
to reach the best decision and modality that will achieve this end. My simple
solution, Nigeria
must return to and embrace and practise true Federalism. Not doing so is like
pushing our luck too far and postponing doomsday.
What is of utmost importance in calling for a political
configuration that will meet the yearnings of our people is the state of the
economy. My submission is that the economy will never recover in an atmosphere
of tension, uncertainty and panic. The Federal Government needs to tone down
the negative rhetoric about our country. That unfortunate moniker of a corrupt
nation that has been hung round our necks is dragging us down and denying Nigeria the
investment in its future that it requires. Our President must make it clear
that he is not the only saint in Nigeria but that the majority of
Nigerians are saints and he is the leader who epitomises that. This is why he
was chosen by the majority of good and well-meaning Nigerians who want someone
that would demonstrate to the world that the generality of Nigerians are
decent, hardworking and honest and that it is a small minority of Nigerians
that are crooks. We must begin to walk away from our ugly past and work
assiduously for a beautiful future.
Every nation has lived through its terrible moments but none ever
cuddled the past forever as we now seem to be doing. Nigeria is richly blessed with
human and natural resources. There is always a new dawn tomorrow and we must
get ready for it, embrace it and by so doing seize the initiative. There would
always be criminals in every society but we must never allow them to steal our
future or still dominate our narrative when we have so many great men and women
we can be proud of. Fortunately, we have a President that stands head and
shoulders above all else and he clearly leads the way. He must now show it by
moving at the fast pace that his country desires, nay demands!
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