Buhari's Appointments; So Far So Good

The Appointments
1. Aide de Camp to president: Lt. Col Abubakar Lawal (Kano State, North-west)

2. Special Adviser, Media and Publicity to the president: Mr. Femi Adesina (Osun State, South-west)

3. Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity: Garba Shehu (Kano State, North-west)

4. State Chief of Protocol/Special Assistant (Presidential Matters):

Rascals in the House by Emmanuel Yawe

Emmanuel Yawe

royawe@yahoo.com | 08024565402

I was watching the Channels Television evening news when an item from Benue state  made a dramatic entry. Members of the State House of Assembly broke into what we call in Nigeria a “free for all”.

They kicked with the fury of Kung Fu fighters; sent boxing jabs with the precision of Mohammed Ali and wrestled with the comic mannerisms of sumo wrestlers. My daughter, a secondary school girl turned round to

Can We Expand The Debate On Appointments Beyond Ethnicity? by Aisha Osori

The right to beg; Part I & II by Sam Omatseye

PART I  

 

Not yet Eleyinmi by Sam Omatseye

The Family Dasuki by SAM OMATSEYE

Col. Dasuki

Whose who hate history and have discouraged our schools from making it a compulsory course of study in our secondary schools should follow the interplay between Sambo Dasuki and Buhari’s men.

For many, it has gone beyond whether the DSS had warrants, or whether the former NSA had 12 vehicles and five armoured cars, or whether Dasuki had a right to wrap soldiers around his home, or whether his driver spirited away five million dollars, or whether he was guilty of treasonable felony, or whether he clucked peevishly at Chatham under Jonathan.

For many it is a story not of 2015, but of 1985. According to the story, Sambo Dasuki, then a dashing and ambitious army officer, led a group of soldiers to pick up then military leader Muhammadu Buhari. It was IBB’s coup. Sambo was IBB’s boy. The mission was to stop Buhari from firing IBB and a few other soldiers whose conducts were out of sync with the perceived moral gravity of the Buhari junta.

Buhari, then as now, was a fatalist, and knew of the plot but reportedly did nothing about it. When Dasuki burst into Buhari’s presence and told him his reign was over, the tall, gaunt and defiant leader still demanded Dasuki and his men to give him the military salute as he was still their superior officer. They obliged before arresting their quarry.

Buhari spent a long time in captivity. When he walked into a free air, he waltzed back into politics. He dueled IBB over June 12. Later, his body language and speech cadences reflected an unfinished match with the man who truncated him, and he ran for president several times. Some said he had to triumph over IBB, and the marker of that triumph was to take back what IBB took from him. His honour lay in returning to the throne.

In the course of this epic duel, Dasuki materialised, sword in hand. He broke the first lance in Chatham House, and according to newspaper reports, he subsequently urged all means necessary to stop Buhari and his whirlwind of electoral change.

Dasuki’s failure is common knowledge.

So when DSS attacked, the temptation was to reconstruct the standoff as comeuppance. Buhari sought his pound of flesh, it is alleged. Whatever the truth of this matter lies in the speculative realm. And all we urge is the adherence to the rule of law. Dasuki is not above the law, and if he has questions to answer, his historic war with Buhari should take a backseat to the preeminence of the law of the land.

What fascinates me further though is the irony of the Dasuki family. They are royalty, and the first hint was when his father mounted the throne as sultan. Some in the royal porch thought he had no right to the preeminent seat of the caliphate. In not many words, they called him an impostor. But he soldiered on as the first feather of the royal cock. Questions about his legitimacy haunted him, until the Khalifa, the goggled tyrant, swept him aside. Earlier in his career, Sambo had left his precious perch as a senior officer and ADC to IBB as well documented in Debo Bashorun’s book, Honour For Sale. Things did not seem to work. It was a duel between two eminently undemocratic forces seeking the public to adjudicate on who was legitimate. It is as though it was anticipated in Soyinka’s dark and cynical play, Kongi’s Harvest, where the king and the dictator provide the Hobson’s choice.

Neither Abacha who ousted him nor the Dasuki family had any legitimacy on the streets, just as Kongi and the oba, and the result was a yam harvest that nourished no one in society.

It took several years and Boko Haram for a revival of the Dasuki name. GEJ appointed him NSA, and the justification lay in his royal roots. He, a prince, was asked to work the paupers, Boko Haram, to a berth of peace in the Northeast. This column warned that Boko Haram had contempt for princes, and a Dasuki provided an antithesis of the militant’s dreams. It was GEJ’s capital misreading of the conflict of philosophy and social hierarchy of the northern cauldron and conundrum.

His stewardship stumbled and fell, and Boko Haram became another manifestation of the royal family’s failure. Just like Mark Twain’s famous novel, the prince could not abide the pauper and vice versa. It was partly because of the prince’s failure that voters swept GEJ out of power and Dasuki floated along in the epic gale.

The DSS standoff is the latest of the Dasuki epic, and something tells me we have not heard the last of it. It is stories like that of Dasuki that provide resources for imaginative novelists to tell tomes of stories of big families, slaughtered ambitions, hubris, intrigues, capitalist acquisitiveness and how such theatrics reflect and prey on the rest of the society over generations. Such books include Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, John Updike’s Rabbit trilogy, Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks etc.

Since the Dasuki family tasted the throne, it has lost its innocence. It is like Anton Chekhov’s famous short story called The kiss, when a man lost all concentration for a long time after an unknown lady kissed him in a dark room. He could not replicate the experience and spent the rest of life in despair of that magical moment.

Ref: http://thenationonlineng.net/the-family-dasuki/

Saraki’s long, lonely walk by The Natiion

Senate President Bukola Saraki is full of guile, courage and ambition, and he has brought all three attributes to his quest for relevance in the polity and dominance in the National Assembly. More accurately, however, he has become a slave to these attributes, deploying one where the other would do, and summoning yet another where, sometimes, just being plain himself would be adequate. Now he can’t think, sleep or move without being guileful, ambitious or embroiled in one stratagem or the other. His life has become one rousing scheme of intrigues and foolhardy confrontation. Yet, what he actually lacks, sadly, is wisdom, without which his attributes, as desirable as they may seem, cannot take wing. The fear among many commentators is that his heart is so full of schemes that there is no room for anything else, let alone that pearly substance, wisdom.

As the 8th Senate was about to settle down for business in June, a defiant Dr Saraki brusquely adopted Machiavellian tactics to seize the Senate throne. Not only did he seize the throne and poke a finger in the eye of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), he also stuck adamantly to his resolve to ignore party leaders’ remonstrances. Worse, when it seemed an olive branch to party leaders would make them sheathe their swords, he preferred to uproot the entire tree and incinerate its branches. Even if the party was reluctantly prepared to concede the throne to him, he was told he couldn’t also determine who would be the party’s principal officers in the Senate. He could, and he would, he growled. And so he did with such infuriating, off-putting panache, leaving his party with the short end of the stick, and lying indecently naked in bed with the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Dr Saraki’s continuing defiance notwithstanding, the public and party leaders had probably thought the crisis in the APC could not get any worse, and that sooner or later, the Senate President would finally send the mythical olive branch. Instead, with the aid of an elaborate alibi, including planning foreign trips and deploying his foot-soldiers and men Friday, he has appeared to intensify the war. If the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) could haul his wife, Toyin, in for interrogation on money laundering charges, why, the Senate could also haul in the EFCC boss himself, Ibrahim Lamorde. It is good old balance of terror. It does not matter whether the process of hauling in Mr Lamorde agreed with Senate rules. All that mattered is that the feet of the EFCC boss must be held to the fire, even if it causes or exacerbates divisions in the Senate and aggravates bitterness and divisions among party members and leaders.

Since he enacted that spectacular coup in the Senate in June, Dr Saraki has been given the cold shoulder by the president and party leaders. That isolation is expected to worsen in the coming weeks. Indeed, the isolation will intensify into full-blown animosity if Dr Saraki spurns peace. There are signs of a thaw, however, a thaw that some fear could end in a disgraceful compromise. The Senate President has not denied he is seeking a rapprochement with party leaders, but he seeks peace on his own terms. His opponents, the Senator Ahmed Lawan group, insist Dr Saraki must show remorse and be willing to respect and accommodate party wishes. That suggestion galls the Senate President. However, his emissary, Senator Ali Ndume, has embarked on a shuttle diplomacy to reconcile Dr Saraki and party leaders, including the president. The effort may end futilely.

A wise Senate President Saraki, after securing the top legislative prize through unethical means, would have bent over backwards to accommodate the party and adopt its list of principal officers. He probably however believed that doing so would make him vulnerable. But without accommodating the party on a substantial level, he could become even more vulnerable. In fact, if the war becomes drawn-out, there is a higher probability that Dr Saraki’s position would become more untenable, as the turmoil in the chamber would convince more frustrated members desirous of peace and reluctant to remain at daggers drawn with the presidency to jump ship and abandon him.

Time is on the side of the APC leadership. They should not be desperate to reach accommodation with Dr Saraki. The misunderstanding between the Senate President and his party is not just one of personality or a normal struggle for positions. It is a misunderstanding anchored on the salient principles of party politics, party ideology and party ethos. The APC will be in greater danger if, as seems obvious, they are unable to influence President Muhammadu Buhari into more open, expansive and broadminded leadership, nor tragically even compel obedience and respect from Dr Saraki and other iconoclastic legislative leaders.

Ref: http://thenationonlineng.net/sarakis-long-lonely-walk/

Governors as rascals by Obi Nwakanma

By Obi Nwakanma

The president of Nigeria has always come under intense public scrutiny. His actions, or inactions, often translate into any sense of failures, or the general sense of accomplishment attached to Nigeria.

If the Eagles win an international competition, then the president is doing well. If there is a fire in the Alaba international Market, the president is summoned to intervene, sometimes by wide public outcry. No one considers that the Alaba International Market falls under the municipal oversight of the Ojo local government in Lagos, which should, under normal circumstances, provide the fire and emergency services; market security, and enforce safety codes.

These duties of the local or municipal government, are sometimes taken over by the states, and so functions and responsibilities of the tiers of government blur so much that the average citizen has no idea where the recourse to public services lie. To whom should we go to demand proper public education for our children? Who should carry away our garbage? Who fixes the gutters or the streets lights? Who collects property tax, and to what end?

These questions lie at the heart, or let us simply say, reflect the deformity of our federal system, and has been at the heart of our schizophrenic constitution, which seems to have been conceived and written by people with bi-polar disorder.

In any case, in most instances, Nigerians think that the power of the president of Nigeria is absolute. Recently, some people have even started to call on president Buhari to “probe” the activities of their state governors. It is true that the President of the republic has enormous powers, but under a democratic dispensation, his powers does not include interrogating, probing, or sanctioning the governor of a state. In actual fact, the President has the same powers as the governor of a state except that the state is a smaller territory within the federation.

The Federal constitution which established the powers of the federal government equally established the powers of the state government, to the extent of endowing each state with a unicameral legislature. It is incumbent on these legislatures to probe and sanction the executive excess of the governors. What has often not been clear to many Nigerians, who are generally ignorant about the functions of the state, is that each tier of government under the federal system is independent and has laws. But while the president is often the subject of intense scrutiny, very often, the other tiers seem to be mere appendages to power.

There is a backdrop to this: the military governments unified legislative and executive functions, and basically established a command structure of state that reflected the military hierarchy, in which the states were in fact governed as appendages of the central government. States depend mostly on “federal allocations.” Nigerians continue to look at the center as the absolute source of national power and political action.

They overlook the significant agency of the states and their governors, and in focusing utmost attention on the presidency miss the point of the responsibility of governance at the 2nd tier. Indeed, since 1999, many of the states have had ineffective legislatures. They have mostly been rubber stamp Assemblies. In a democracy, the most powerful arm of government is the legislature. But in Nigeria, it has remained dormant because we tend generally to imagine power as a person. We also tend to elect, especially at the state levels, people of doubtful quality and pedigree to the Assemblies.

This certainly is the case in Imo state. For instance, we have not recreated the powerful House of Assembly of the 2nd republic under the Atuloma Speakership, and a House Majority under the whip of Nze HSK Osuji, and the Minority whip, the then young, fiery lawyer, Mike Ahamba, whose contributions and debates were given equal airing in the “Assembly Reports” of both the Imo State Broadcasting Service (IBS) and the Statesman– a quality regional paper of those years owned by the Imo state government.

Perhaps it is the absence of really powerful local media oversight in these places, but the effect is that since 1999, many of the governors elected from these states have been rascals – more so in Imo –where it seems public opinion has never counted for much. For instance, a man who was once held for armed robbery made a serious bid for power – to be governor of Imo. The current governor, Mr. Anayo Okorocha, has very little pedigree. You may hear him now and then claim that he had two private jets before becoming governor of Imo State. Okorocha was not a trust fund kid.

He was neither an Anyaehie nor Akwiwu or some known quantity of the old money from that region of Imo, none of whom owned private jets in any case. As the late Ikemba Nnewi used to say, the likes of Okorocha, who taught in a second rate, unaccredited commercial school in the city of Jos while some of us were already university undergraduates in the 1980s, must somehow have suddenly found and planted a money-bearing tree behind his house, to be able to afford private jets long before being governor of Imo. Either that, or he has some shady past of which it is the duty of the EFCC to investigate. But certainly, and what is rather clear is that as governor of Imo state, Rochas Okorocha, great ally these days of the anti-corruption president, has questions to answer about his tenure in Imo.

For the past four years of his administration, Mr. Okorocha has illegally appropriated the funds of the Local governments of Imo State, with the connivance of the leadership of the Imo State House of Assembly under Uwajumogu, and defrauded the populace into thinking that he is providing the children with “free education” – something already paid for by the federal government. And you’d wonder how in the hell this is possible, given that Imo has high literacy.

He has commissioned some rather poorly constructed roads, over-inflated the contracts, and some of those who have questioned some of these questionable contracts and expenditure of his government have disappeared; the likes of Emenike Ihekweaba.

To top it all, the administration has been owing public sector workers and pensioners a backlog of their salaries and pensions. Last week, Imo workers finally rose in protest. They blockaded the Imo House of Assembly and the State government house, demanding that their monies be paid, and the ridiculous policy or move to commercialize parastatals by the Okorocha government be reversed, and be not given legislative backing. It would seem that the days of impunity may finally be coming to an end in places like Imo state, and that serious attention will now be paid to those who govern at the two other important tiers of government, where we have paid very little attention.

The EFCC has commenced probing the former governor of River state, Rotimi Amechi. It must also begin the probe of the Imo administration under Okorocha. Let me therefore be clear: governors and local government chairmen have also wasted, stolen, and misappropriated billions of public funds in the last fifteen years.

The elected members of the Assemblies of these states must be held accountable by the public, as the workers in Imo state have been reported to do last week. Legislators who collude with the executive administrations to deny workers their wages, and illegally seize local government funds that should have been used for grassroots development, must be recalled by their constituents. Unless the people insist, and hold elected leadership hostage and accountable, the only dividend they will reap from democracy will be chaos and tyranny. And every rascal who becomes governor will claim a free rein, and will become, as most seem to have become, infected by the God-complex.

Ref: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/08/governors-as-rascals/

Power is not the change, change is the power by HANNATU MUSAWA

It is that time of the democracy cycle again folks when politicians gather in a conclave of sorts and scurry like zombies at a buffet of raw human meat in order to grab themselves a government position and ensure their placing in the new administration. As the inauguration draws nearer, it is becoming harder and harder to escape the sense that the sheer desperation, egocentricity and idiosyncrasies of those who are so hungry for a government position, is presently at scorching fever pitch.

Watching the unpleasant clamor for government positions is comical, fascinating and disturbing. Listening to the clatter and the tussles between the different interests, watching the games and the intrigues that are being set is, to say the least, nauseating and bewildering. Observing politicians scraping the bottom of the desperation barrel

The Muhammadu Buhari odyssey by HANNATU MUSAWA

Muhammadu Buhari’s most vivid childhood memory, which he still recalls hitherto was falling off a horse (a strawberry roan) on his way to the village well. He still recalls the fright he felt lying down between the feet of the enormous animal. He could see the horse’s big belly heaving and the five-stripes on its forelegs flashing before his eyes. At that instance, he thought to himself that the beast could kick or trample him to death. Still in pains, he hurriedly stood up, dusted his clothes, remounted the horse and continued his journey to the well

In Homer’s Greek poetic masterpiece, The Odyssey, the hero, Odysseus, was, by and large, depicted as a man of outstanding endurance, courage, wisdom, eloquence, loyalty, honour, magnanimity and skill. From his heroic feat during the Trojan War to his wandering travails, which lasted for 10 years as he struggled to return home after the Trojan War and reassert his place

Buhari’s appointments: The nays have it by Yahaya Mohammed

President Muhammadu Buhari

When they say PMB will “balance” his appointments in future, it means we were right to argue for the balancing in the first place and those who shouted us down were wrong.

What it then means is that we are not Buhari haters because we saw an error and pointed it out rather than keeping quite and waiting for damage.

Those who love Buhari more are those who will tell him his errors not cheerleaders who will play to the gallery and ordain Buhari to the level of sainthood, then turn around to dump him if the ship wrecks, they have done it before and they will do it again.

Buhari is a wise man to have agreed to balance, had president Jonathan not closed his eyes and ears to the barrage of criticisms that trailed his cluelessness and only opened them to cheerleaders like Dokubo and co, he would not have packed his own sh***t with his bare hands! It pays to listen, and it pays more to listen to those who point out your errors.

Labeling people does not in any way help Buhari, but rather allowing every one vent his view albeit adverse will serve him and the nation more good..

So, to the cheerleaders, let the wailing wailers wail, and who knows from their wailing you might get a sonorous tune to cheer.

Gyara Kayan ka baya zama sauke muraba.

Ref: http://www.today.ng/blog/083010994-buharis-appointments-the-nays-have-it/

Belonging to everybody and to nobody. How quaint! by IDOWU AKINLOTAN

Buhari - Awoniyi

The most memorable part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s inaugural address was his assertion that he belonged to everybody and belonged to nobody. It was interpreted that he had sent signals he would not be held hostage by any religious, ethnic or political interest. Given his antecedents and hurtful opposition campaigns during the last polls that alleged religious and ethnic biases against him, the memorable statement signposted some relief to many Nigerians. President Buhari had indeed changed, they chorused. He himself encouraged and wore the change toga extravagantly.

Not many southerners will, however, accept that President Buhari has changed, or that he belongs to everybody and to nobody. In fact, the Southeast in particular has alleged that the president belongs unquestioningly to the North. Judging from their coverage of the president’s new appointments, the press also seems persuaded that his assertion of detachment from vested interests must be taken with a pinch of salt. After exhausting the security and presidency positions available, it must have become apparent where the president belongs. But don’t take the critics’ words for it.

Only President Buhari’s speechwriters know why he appropriated the phrase. It was not original to him, and his inaugural address did not indicate that he borrowed it. He can, however, be forgiven, for the phrase was used in December 2003 by Sunday B. Awoniyi who was chairman and guest lecturer at a book launch on Muhammadu Buhari in Kaduna about 12 years ago. Chief Awoniyi was a Kogi-born politician and bureaucrat who was close to the late Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, and was in 1975 permanent secretary at the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Broad Street, Lagos, when the then Col. Buhari was federal commissioner.

In the lecture, Chief Awoniyi contextually situated the paradoxes of his origin and politics, especially insinuations that he was at various times a Babangida man, a Buhari man, an Atiku man, or an anti-government man, and then declared: “It is a no-win situation. I want to say it loud and clear that I, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, am nobody’s man. I am everybody’s man. I am a Yoruba man and proud to be one. I am a Christian and glad to be one. I am from Okunland in the old Kabba Province of Northern Nigeria, now a state called Kogi State. That makes me a northerner…”

Chief Awoniyi could in the context he used the phrase claim he was everybody’s man. It is, however, not certain whether in the context he used it or as far as his actions so far are concerned, President Buhari can claim to be nobody’s man.

Ref: http://thenationonlineng.net/belonging-to-everybody-and-to-nobody-how-quaint/

Who gets Kogi APC ticket?

No fewer than 28 aspirants are warming up for Kogi State All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries scheduled for Lokoja, the state capital, tomorrow. Group Political Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the contenders and pretenders and their chances at the shadow poll. 

Kogi State is a unique state. Ethnicity plays a big role in deciding who takes the driver’s seat.  That is why politicians from Central and West senatorial districts are championing the agitation for power shift. The clamour underscores their  protest against perceived exclusion from political control. But, Kogi East, which accounts for 54 per cent of the state’s population, has described the claim as frivolous. According to the stakeholders from the zone, the claim is devoid of rationality and tantamount to twisting the truth to win emotional support for their cause.

Ahead of the primaries, many Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftains have defected to the APC. Their defection followed the defeat of the PDP during the last parliamentary elections. Many stakeholders have also alleged that the governor, Captain Idris Wada, has performed poorly. But, the governor has refuted the claim, saying that he has lived up to expectation.

No fewer than 28 aspirants are struggling for the ticket. They purchased nomination forms, following the release of the election time table for by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Thus, it is a crowded race for the Lugard House. According to observers, the APC primaries will decide the future of the party and the second term ambition of Governor Wada.

The aspirants include Prince Abubakar Audu, Senator Nurudeen Abatemi-Usman, Alhaji Sueiman Baba Ali, Dr. Tim Diche, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, Hon. Clarence Olafemi, and George Olumoroti, an engineer. Others are Alhaji Ado Gamji, Babatunde Irukera, Chief Lanre Ipinmisho, Mallam Yakuku Mohammed, Senator Alex Kadiri, Aliyu Jiya, Senator Nicholas Ugbane, Gen. Salihu Atawodi, and Mr. Rotimi Obadofin.

Audu

He is the first elected governor of the state. He ruled the state twice, but under different constitutions. Audu ruled between 1992 and 1993 on the platform of the National Republican Convention (NRC) and between 1999 and 2003 as a chieftain of the defunct All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). According to the 1999 Constitution, he is entitled to a second term.   Audu worked assiduously for the development of the state. But, in the last 12 years, the state, which is blessed with natural endowment and human capital, has been a shadow of itself.  When the former governor picked his nomination form, he promised to restore the pride of the state by putting in place first class infrastructure and attract more investments. Many people believe that he is competent. During his first term, he facilitated the take off of the Obajana Cement factory.

Audu is Kogi APC leader. He worked hard to deliver the state to President Buhari in the last election. According to his supporters, his frustration with the state of affairs motivated him to enter the race. His performances in office between1999-2003 remained his biggest selling point, Last week, many stakeholders from 21 local governments endorsed him in Lokoja.

Another key factor that may work in favour of the Igala prince is the failure of aspirants from the west and central districts to produce a consensus candidate.

The APC leadership may have tacitly endorsed him. Last week, a top chieftain said:”no coach changes a winning captain in the middle of a match.” His dynamism and experience in politics and business, his formidable structure and  followership are great assets.

Abatemi-Usman

He hails from a reputable political family, his father having served as the deputy governor of Kwara State in the Second Republic. Between 2011 and 2015, he represented Kogi Central on the platform of the PDP. Abatemi-Usman is sociable, amiable and easy-going. But, he is not perceived as a formidable candidate.  Many believed that he won the senatorial election in 2011 as a compromise candidate, following a major disagreement that threatened to tear the party apart in the zone. One major setback for the former legislator is that he recently defected to the APC. There is no evidence that he has the backing of his district. During the week, the district endorsed Gamji, an oil magnet and philanthropist, as a consensus candidate. Abatemi-Usman cried foul, saying that the move was not popular. His supporters, who are agitating for power shift, however, believe that he has a chance.

Baba Ali

Baba Ali was a commissioner in the defunct Audu administration. Many were surprised when he picked the nomination form because they thought that he was working for his former boss. A party chieftain said his approach and divided loyalty may have struck a wrong chord in the among the political leaders. But, his supporters believe otherwise. According to them, he has the right under the constitution to run.

A party source said that party leaders would have supported Ali for parliamentary ambition, if he had indicated his interest. That, to them, would have groomed him for the number one seat. The feeling is that he may not be able to withstand the arsenal of his uncle, Audu, at the primaries. Besides, foes have made efforts to blackmail him by boxing him into an identity crisis. Ali has not done much to effectively dispel the rumour that his father is from Bida, Niger State, and only his mother hails from Kogi. In 1999, some people protested against his nomination for a position in the State Executive Council, based on his identity. Another factor that may work against him is lack of financial muscle and limited political experience.

But, party members said that he is a likeable personality and hardworking politician who has shunned avarice. Politically, he is very promising. A source said that he may step down for Audu.

Diche

He is an economist and a risk manager. He is a former local government chairman. Diche failed in his bid to represent his constituency in the House of Representatives before dumping the PDP.  According to sources, he relies on the goodwill of his former colleagues. However, this is debatable. Many former council chairmen who left the PDP for the APC appear to be working for Audu. If Diche fails to get the ticket, it will not draw the curtain on his political career. He may be a candidate for the future.

Bello

Bello is a graduate of Accounting from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the Chairman of Kogi Youth Arise Forum. He has a huge financial war chest and connection with big party wigs. But, to his surprise, the party leaders refused to endorse him. Instead, the leaders, led by ,Senator Ohiare picked Sanusi as a consensus candidate. Bello’s popularity is restricted to his district. he needs to extend his tentacles to other zones.  only central senatorial districts. A source said that he may dump the APC for the Accord, if he fails to get the ticket. But, his supporters said the rumour is baseless.

Olafemi

Olafemi, fondly called Obembe by admirers, is one of the popular politicians from Okun. In the House of Assembly, he was a star legislator. He was the Minority Leader, and later,  the Speaker. He was also the Acting Governor. He is a respected gladiator from Kogi West. Olafemi is very close to the PDP chieftain, Jibrin Isah Echocho, who is running for governor. Many PDP chieftains have penciled down his name as the running mate before he dumped the party.  Therefore, he has more political enemies in the PDP. They believe he has destroyed their plan to pull the rug off the governor’s feet.

Olafemi faces some odds at the primary election, despite his popularity. He hails from Mopa Moro, a small local government. He is very popular at home. Yet, he failed to emerge as the consensus candidate of the marginalised Okun. Other aspirants do not see him as the  arrowhead of the minority Yoruba, which is always fighting for relevance. However, he may emerge as the APC running mate.

 Olumoroti

Olumoroti is a mechanical engineering graduate of Yaba College of Technology. He holds a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Calabar. He has many things going for him. He has the experience, energy and money. He is young and promising. The Kabba-born politician worked with Exxon/Mobil in Lagos. He is without any dent.

Gamji

He is a new comer into the political arena. Two weeks ago, he picked his nomination form. But, to the surprise of other aspirants, he emerged as the consensus candidate of the Central District. His rivals are bitter. Thus, they have resorted to blackmail. His endorsement has implications. If he fails to get the ticket, the leaders may tip him for running mate.

Irukera

He is a prince from Egbe. The son of the Elegbe of Egbeland, Yagba West Local Council, entered the race few weeks ago. His posters are attractive. But, no major stakeholder is associated with his aspiration. He told reporters in Lokoja that power should shift to foster equity and justice. He described himself as the man whom the cap fits. But, he has a bright prospect in politics. Many youths see him as a man of the future.

Ref: http://thenationonlineng.net/who-gets-kogi-apc-ticket/

Towards Attaining The Promised Change Suggestion For Mr President by Umar Ardo

Umar Ardo

As the outcome of the last presidential election gives Nigeria a giant stride into the comity of emerging democracies, and with President Buhari already striving hard to put the country on the global stage in human development and economic growth, more and more Nigerians will increasingly be looking up to the regime for solutions to the challenges of a rapidly changing world. It is a duty on the leadership, therefore, to meet and satisfy this legitimate expectation in a shared vision of a new Nigeria that will both grasp the extraordinary opportunities and face the huge challenges that lie ahead of her as a nation. To this end, the devoted activities of the president both on the domestic and international scenes since his inauguration have raised high hopes in Nigerians on his regime. These hopes are further re-enforced by the goodwill the President’s persona stimulated at home and abroad.
Against these hopes, however, is the reality of considerable challenges facing the President. In addition to insecurity, severe economic depression, unemployment, corruption, power shortage, energy and fuel queues, pipelines vandalisation and economic sabotage, insufficient and decayed infrastructure, weak financial base, low foreign reserves, huge debt status, poor international image, a dominantly illiterate and ignorant citizenry, among many others, they also, more importantly, include decadent elite groups determined to maintain the unjust status quo. The quick overcoming of these challenges is critical if the president is to make manifest the change he promised Nigerians.
It is a fact that things have deteriorated in Nigeria over the years, and in a rather rapid manner. Adversely affected in the process are our cherished traditional values of upholding truth and honesty, of hard work, respect for elders, and of being our own brothers’ keepers. Ethics had similarly crashed, as the issues of rightness and wrongness of our conducts and national ideals became distorted. Within this social metamorphosis, politics also altered its course, occasioned by bad leadership, as new political classes and power blocs have emerged with little or no regard for moral principles and traditional values. Increasingly, people’s attitudes and conducts are being conditioned less by ethics than by self-interest, and what is morally wrong has since become politically right.
Consequently, the country became bugged by a selfish and venal political class whose major strategy of remaining buoyant is to undermine laudable policies, actions and intentions of any peoples’ oriented regime; employing region, religion, ethnicity, and other primordial sentiments as readily available tools. The result is that a great number of Nigerians have long been manipulated to distrust sincere efforts by any purposeful leadership to change the prevailing unfair social order and evolve a new one in which the interests of the country become uppermost, and consequently hardly committed to supporting such leadership’s noble endeavours. This trend, unfortunately, will continue until the reforming regime initiates appropriate policies and actions to push through its intentions. Since I believe President Buhari truly intends to reform the system, then he must take the initiative so that by the end of his tenure Nigerians would be able to list more dissimilarities with the past than similarities in the affairs of the country. It is only then they will attest that indeed change has come to Nigeria, and that they are living in a new and better epoch.
Central to this initiative is imbedded in President Buhari’s integrity and character, which, if applied to his leadership style, can induce in Nigeria the appropriate qualitative change in the re-organisation of their productive forces for economic self-reliance and veritable political renaissance. His policy thrusts can create the opportunity for Nigerians to think anew, to decide how best to restructure their polity, economy and education, and to engineer social changes that would lead to a truly egalitarian, democratic and free society for a better and greater tomorrow.
What his government needs do to attain this goal is initiate a detailed National Orientation Programme. Given that the main aspect of our national malaise is attitudinal, for any social change to succeed it must necessarily contain a clear plan for re-orienting people’s attitudes. For without a clearly envisioned attitudinal change deriving from a fundamental re-appraisal of the Nigerian condition, any attempt to transform the country will predictably inevitably lose its bearings and fail in its mission.
Hence the urgent need for a vibrant National Orientation Agency, devoid of partisan politics, taking center stage and working hard to favourably engender people’s interest and support in the policies and visions of government. For example, the president has identified insecurity, unemployment and corruption as his major priority areas. Evidently, the resolution of these will enhance Nigeria’s material development; but to succeed, government needs a complementary in-built human-factor mechanism aimed both at orienting public attitude towards the understanding, accepting and owning of government’s policy thrusts, and conforming to the cultural environment of Nigeria within which the policies are applied. Yes, a safe, secure and peaceful atmosphere is indispensable for the attainment of any development, but as most of our security problems are a product of negative national socio-economic circumstances, it is imperative to adopt a two pronged multi-spectrum strategy in addressing these multifaceted security challenges. While the military prong is on-going, an aggressive tackling of the root causes of crime and security challenges such as unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, intolerance, extremism, injustice, real and perceived neglect and marginalization must be pursued. Yes, the government wants to rid Nigeria of corruption by prosecuting corrupt practices, but government needs to prevent people from being corrupt in the first place and make them patriotic so they can desist from looting and offshoring public funds.
All these entail enlightening the people on the evils of these vices to our national life, and clearly formulating a systematic and guided approach to the campaign for the implanting of the right attitude in them. In other words, government must orient the people on its reform policies, thereby carrying them along. Once this is done, then the people’s attitude towards life, society, the country and towards government will positively change, and their support for the leadership and its intentions will be assured. This then, in my view, is the critical defining issue in the success or otherwise of the intended change efforts of this administration.
Through the instrumentality of the National Orientation Agency, with its National, Zonal, State and Local Government structures, government should initiate and roll out a Comprehensive Ethical Reform Agenda (CERA) to orient the people towards the attainment of such envisioned higher national ideals. Given the urgency of the situation, and in order to reach out and achieve maximum effect, the agency should shoulder the principal tasks of initiating and directing the type of programmes, messages and signals capable of influencing public opinion consistent with the set objective of creating honesty and patriotism, and favourably garnering support for government policies. Also, for synchronisation and guidance, the agency may serve as the key organ through which government reform programme is launched and implemented. The primary goal here is to ensure the broadest appeal and national support for government policies and for the ultimate triumph of the Buhari regime in its effort to create a better Nigeria for us and for generations unborn. To attain this, the President should strengthen the institutional capacity of the National Orientation Agency and infuse into it core personnel with the necessary intellectual rigour and passionate commitment essential for the successful birth of the New Nigeria of Mr. President’s vision.
Accomplishing this feat, therefore, is as much important for the country as it is for the legacy of the president. It will mean that the president has succeeded in healing the land by bringing about the much desired but seemingly elusive dream of moving Nigeria into a modern nation-state capable of restoring the Pride and Dignity of Africa and Africans. President Buhari will thus go down in history as a most dominant figure in the life of the nation

Ref: http://www.leadership.ng/columns/449705/towards-attaining-the-promised-change-suggestion-for-mr-president

From N2.8 billion to N3.5 trillion by Emmanuel Yawe

Fela Anikulapo Kuti

 Emmanuel Yawe

royawe@yahoo.com | 08024565402

On that bright day in April 1980, the body of a Nigerian Senator was lying in state inside the Senate Building in Lagos. Speaker after speaker, across the political divide stood up to give testimony of how hard the man worked for the unity and progress of Nigeria. President Shehu Shagari, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Namdi Azikiwe in a rare demonstration of unity spoke in honour of the dead man. His name was Joseph Sarwuan Tarka.

Outside the Senate building, another drama was playing out. A man held a giant black board on which he called on President Shehu Shagari to probe a stolen 2.8 billion Naira. The protester was not an ordinary

The looters have come home to roost by Emmanuel Yawe

 Emmanuel Yawe

royawe@yahoo.com 08024565402

“President Jonathan’s party, the PDP is another source of worry. Even if Jonathan were a man of high moral standards, the PDP would drown him. It is a gathering of avaricious and greedy men and women..

They do not have an ideology in that party. There are certain agreements and minimum standards even among wild beasts in the bush. In the PDP, nothing is morally repulsive. The only thing they agree on in the PDP is that Nigeria is a war booty to be looted.”

Those were my words in this column, published first on May 30, 2011 and reproduced on May 24, 2015. Captioned ‘Can we trust

Character and leadership The Buhari example by Umar Ardo Ph.D

All through history, the most essential ingredient for leadership has always been character. Although other ingredients such as empathy, toughness, knowledge and intelligence are frequently mentioned, these traits are all too often really subordinate aspects of character. Encarta English Dictionary defines character as a set of behavioural qualities that make a person distinctively attractive. Such qualities are listed as honesty, sincerity, humility, forthrightness and integrity. These are essential aspects of character, which Dwight Eisenhower, the 30th president of the USA, described as “the supreme quality for leadership”, without which no man is fit to lead others. Because leaders hold not just the lives of the people but even determine the destiny of society, it is supremely important that people trust those who lead them. And trust is earned through character.

As we all sometimes in our affairs experience, it is always frustrating and disappointing if people betrayed the trust we put in them; it is even worse if these people are elected public figures who cook up phantom political expediencies as justification for their personal character flaws.

A fundamental flaw of character is dishonesty. This can come in several forms. For example, a person who cheats, or who cuts corners in executing an affair with the intention of depriving someone else of their rightful claim to something so that the executioner will have all or more than his fair share of it can rightly be adjudged as dishonest. A person who is given public trust or holds a public office and leverages on that office to increase his personal benefit against public interest, or gain undue advantage over others, can also be categorized as dishonest. In other words, the person is corrupt; for corruption is also defined as a deliberate alteration of a rule with ultimate negative effect to the system. Dishonesty can also come in a form of deceit – that is a person who portrays to another person or people what is actually not in his mind with the intention to get something which otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten if he told the truth or kept quiet about it. Such a person too can be listed as dishonest. In other words, a dishonest person cheats, manipulates, deceives and/or lies; whatever the person does is aimed or meant to deceive, defraud, or trick people with the intention to serve a selfish end.

When this flaw ultimately becomes open and known to the other person, or to the society, then that person loses his integrity and becomes a person of lowly character. Automatically, his behaviour becomes morally repugnant and liable to make him lose respect of others. He will also be viewed as an unjust person, and concomitantly loses the trust of the other person or the society. This distinctively becomes even worse if that person is in a position of leadership.

It is against this backdrop that Nigerians seem to appreciate the strength of character of Mohammad Buhari to have made them elect him over and above other candidates, first at the primary and then at the general elections levels, as their president. The enthusiasm for change became so discernible as to convince men of good standing that Nigerians are no longer willing to accept men of lowly character to superintend over their public institutions.

To validate Buhari’s strength of character, let’s take his integrity for comparison with his peers in the Nigeria’s leadership cycle. It is an indisputable fact that most of his known peers, some even lower to him in rank and position, are stupendously wealthy or died stupendously wealthy in the real sense of the phrase. But President Buhari is nationally acknowledged to be poor, relative to his peers. Interestingly, his peers who are of public service background went into the public service and milked the system dry. They made their stupendous wealth by leveraging on their respective public offices (i.e. trading on official influence) and investing the proceeds, thereby guaranteeing them undue advantage and control over certain sectors of the national economy and living a stupendously wealthy life thereafter. None of them went into public service wealthy; all of them went in as poor men from very poor backgrounds but came out as stupendously wealthy men.

In contrast to them all, Buhari went into public service poor and came out relatively poor. Amazingly, Buhari held more strategic and lucrative public positions capable of turning him, if he so desired like others, a stupendously wealthy or even wealthier man than each and every one of them. He was governor of Northeastern state for almost a year; Minister of Petroleum and Chairman of NNPC Board for three and half years; Head of State and Commander -in-Chief for almost two years; and he was Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund, (PTF) for three years. All these were public offices that could turn a man into a multi billionaire overnight for life, but President Buhari went into them and came out of them without leveraging on them to amass wealth for himself or for members of his immediate family. This is a clear proof that he had given honest leadership in the offices he held. He has proven that he can be trusted with public office; a fundamental solution to the current crisis of leadership in Nigeria. And, as the universal dictum goes, honesty is the best policy. Nigerians, faced with the dear challenge of nation-building, realized that they will be better off with a bit of honesty, in accessing their potential leaders, in fielding them up into public offices and in them rendering trustworthy leadership. Hence on March 28, they refused to be misguided by sentiments, emotions or selfish interests, or by rains of naira and dollars, and went headlong to elect Buhari based on his strength of character in the belief that he will bring positive change to their lives.

With his election, Nigerians have revived interest in personal character as the basis for leadership for achieving rapid development. They must have been convinced that the world today see more clearly the essential role of personal forces in shaping destinies of nations and societies. They must have realized that modern social science has proven Frederick Taylor wrong that the impersonal forces of matter, rather than the personal forces of individuals, are the key determinants of shaping and directing societal progress. Indeed, the country’s latest experience in the Obasanjo’s and Jonathan’s Economic Teams lay bare the false assumption that the assemblage of persons with superb knowledge of ‘systems analysis and quantitative abstractions’, would turn around the socio-economic fortune of the country solely on spun quantitative models. The result, as being seen today, is a colossal disaster; both our economy and our politics have been worst off for it. Persons of high knowledge no doubt have their place in leadership and development designs, but they are no substitute for persons of high character.This must have informed why Nigerians elected Buhari, a person of high character (even with an alleged ‘forged certificate’)into position of leadership as president.

Yes, Nigerians had before elected Shehu Shagari on account of character, against Ibrahim Waziri, Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikwe who were wealthy men by the standard of their day as landed property owners. Nigerians also elected Obasanjo on account of integrity against Olu Falaye. But both are nothing compared to the 28th March election of Buhari. All too sudden, in 2015, nothing seemed to matter in Nigeria but one man. To many, Buhari is like a light in the darkness; and over the past three months of his sole stewardship, the darkness is beginning to lift. He managed to both convey a clear direction of where he wants to take the nation and a steely resolve of how to get there. He has projected strength and vigour despite his age. In all these, his integrity and solid character are his power, and so far he is wielding both skillfully. By his clarity of goal, his sincerity of purpose and dedication to duty he transformed the national mood even before he left Eagle Square, the venue of his inauguration ceremony. Whether or not he will ultimately meet the high expectations of Nigerians by the end of his term, time will tell.

Umar Ardo, Ph.D., is a public affairs commentator

Ref: http://www.peoplesdailyng.com/character-and-leadership-the-buhari-example/

Time for referendum on NASS by Tunde Fagbenle

Tunde Fagbenle

A referendum on the form and nature of the National Assembly is imperative and urgent if we are to be taken seriously as a country truly ready for CHANGE. And I am ready to join hands with other well-meaning patriots to campaign for such a plebiscite in order to force the constitutional change needed on this needlessly large assembly that constitutes a monstrous drain on the economy.

As it stands presently, there are two chambers in the “house of horrors”; the lower is the House of Representatives, the upper is the Senate. Between them we have 469 (360 Reps. and 109 Senators) or so, men and women of different shades and hues, some bright as day, some others dull as a moonless night. But they are elected to represent us from their various constituencies.

Drunk by our oil into believing we are as good as America, we have modelled our Constitution (and so the Legislature) after the US, forgetting the historical process and the hundreds of years it has taken America to get to its present stage, and forgetting, more importantly, that all of our oil money is literally “chicken feed” to any state in America, nay, even to some corporations! But we are Nigeria, why should we crawl if we can run?

It is no longer news that Nigerian lawmakers at both chambers are the highest paid legislators in the world, a situation the renowned law scholar, Professor Itse Sagay, once described as a cruel anomaly and a breach of trust. Even more angered by the anomaly was the then CBN Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (now HRH, Emir of Kano), who decried the disproportionate amount of money gulped by the National Assembly vis-à-vis the federal budget, which in percentage terms have variously been put between 17 per cent and 25 per cent! That’s insane.

Professor Sagay put the average salary and allowances per annum of a senator at N240m and about N204m for the House of Reps. counterpart. Not bad for a day’s job if one considers that the last Senate spent a whole year bickering and squabbling, enjoying the humongous perks doing next to nothing about mounting bills that are their primary function to formulate and pass into law, only for them to do it all as “a day’s job” with the scandalous passing into law 46 bills in less than 10 minutes! Unbelievable? Well, it did happen on Wednesday, 2 June 2015 under Mr. David Mark as Senate President.

So, perhaps, that’s all there is to it, a day’s job. But we must not let that cruel aberration lead us into thinking we have no use for the National Assembly or a legislative body, far from it. They are an important, vastly important, leg of the governance tripod in a democracy. They are to make the law by which we are to be governed, and more importantly, they serve as the crucial check and oversight to what could easily become banditry of the executive.

But the question is, at our stage of democratic governance and economic development what form and structure must this vital arm of democracy take? What makes the most sense for us at this point? Must we end up hanging by the balls on the democracy tree (excuse the pun) while trying to ape America’s monkey? Yet, if we must know, even in America today only nine out of 50 states have a full-time state legislature.

So, why on earth, other than being unthinking, do all our 36 states have full-time state legislators gulping a big chunk of the state’s meagre revenue? What are they legislating all year-round?

And at the US Federal level (called Congress), America’s “Founding Fathers envisioned that being a member of Congress would be a part-time job. Pennsylvania’s state constitution even had a provision calling for members of the Legislature to ‘have some profession, calling, trade, or farm, whereby he may honestly subsist,’” according to thehill.com. And “for almost 200 years, being in Congress meant holding down another job.”

I believe the time has come when well-meaning Nigerians must come together to reinvent the country. And the place to start is reforming and reformulating the Legislature. For sure, it won’t happen if we leave it to the National Assembly. They are full-time and, for many, their livelihoods depend on it. We cannot expect them to vote themselves out of job and be the first to make that giant sacrifice needed if Nigeria were to survive. Necessarily, we Nigerians, as President Buhari has extolled, must ourselves make the move to save the country from this slope to ruin.

Doubtlessly, the other arms of government, the Executive and the Judiciary would equally and urgently need complete overhaul and drastic restructuring. For now, President Buhari appears prepared to take the bull by the horns and trim down the Executive overweight of the past.

But the president cannot do it all alone. A referendum is necessary to force the hand of the present National Assembly to changing the Constitution to make membership of the Legislature part-time, and with it the cascading of a whole lot of money-guzzling structures. The noise around reduction in salaries and allowances is meaningless and a red herring meant to assuage our badly offended sensibilities.

And that’s saying it the way it is!

President Buhari and our looted patrimony

There’s a Yoruba saying, yiyoekun, t’ojoko, meaning, the stealth of a leopard is not of cowardice. President Buhari just because he has chosen not to play to the gallery by pandering to Nigerians’ desire for a quick-fixer, a Rambo that would as soon as elected start shooting wildly at anything on sight, began to get called Baba Go-slow.

Two things. One, Nigerians old enough remember General Buhari’s first coming as a military head of state, and how immediately on grabbing power he and his partner-in-arms, General Tunde Idiagbon, started hounding all politicians and some businessmen into detention and sentencing many to jail terms of many life times. They expect an encore. But Buhari also remembers that and what befell him. Two, Nigerians hurt badly. Stories of looted monies in astronomical proportions stink to high heavens. They hear of billions of naira and sometimes even of dollars, and their minds boggle. Yet they are hungry and see the looters parading themselves as the wise ones, Lords for whom there is no tomorrow, their private jets mere toys of competition in “my jet is bigger than yours” game.

But some of us knew that the leopard’s stealth is not of cowardice but of cunning to ensnare the game. Now the president has blown the whistle, just when he got the assurance of America’s support in hunting down the looters and their loot.

According to President Buhari, it’s a whole 150 billion dollars of it. Doubting Thomas may say that figure is impossible. Well, wasn’t that how it was said that General Abacha couldn’t have looted $5b or more until the monies came tumbling down in tranches?

$150b? What could that do? For a start, coming to N34.5 trillion, it is more than the Federal budget in any one year almost ten times over! With such sums, we would by now have railway networks with modern gauge running the length and breadth of Nigeria; our intractable energy problem would be consigned to the past thus enabling the upsurge and survival of industries; our schools, colleges and hospitals would be equipped and raised to world standards. But some bast..ds wouldn’t let it be.

The good thing is that the sort of money we are talking about cannot be hidden under a bushel; it can’t be quickly withdrawn in cash and flown into thin air. The mere process of withdrawing just $50m of it at a go will cause a ripple if not uproar in the banks they are held.

“The fact that I now seek Obama’s assistance in locating and returning $150 billion in funds stolen in the past decade and held in foreign bank accounts on behalf of former, corrupt officials is testament to how badly Nigeria has been run,” says President Buhari. And he has enumerated the stages of his approach: “First, instil rules and good governance; second, install officials who are experienced and capable of managing state agencies and ministries; and third, seek to recover funds stolen under previous regimes so that this money can be invested in Nigeria for the benefit of all our citizens.”

For this, the President seeks our understanding and patience. I give him mine! And that’s saying it the way it is.

Ref: http://www.punchng.com/columnists/tunde-fagbenle-saying-it-the-way-it-is/time-for-referendum-on-nass/

Understanding Buhari in 100 days by Garba Shehu

THE ENORMOUSLY popular talk show,Berekete on WazobiaFM radio, Abuja station told the incredible, yet true story of the hardworking and respected school teacher somewhere in Plateau state who hanged himself.

He hadn’t been paid salary for seven straight months. He came home to find that no one had eaten and two of the children had medical prescriptions for which there was no money.

He sneaked out without talking to anyone.

After a long while, news came home that he had strangely been caught with a stolen goat.

On his day in court, the teacher confessed to the offense. The reason he stole, he told the local judge, was that he hadn’t been paid for seven months and when he got home to see what he saw, he just couldn’t stand it.

The judge allowed him to go home on bail on self-recognition given, as he said, the good impression the entire village had of the otherwise respected teacher.

All were shocked to find his body dangling from tree the morning after. He couldn’t live with the shame.

In the recommendations and notes the Ahmed Joda transition committee presented to him as President -EIect, Muhammadu Buhari was informed that a section of the Fedaral government as well as 27 states hadn’t paid salaries, in some case for up to a year.

The Joda committee advised that this was a national emergency and should be treated as such.

It is on account of this that one of theactivities- please note the choice of this word:activities, not achievements- of President Muahammadu Buhari in these past three months is the settlement of unpaid salaries. This is going on right now.

Like the proverbial blinking of the eye, Saturday September 5th will mark the 100th day of the Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC government which took office on May 29th after the new party became the first in opposition to unseat an incumbent government in an election adjudged by everyone as free and fair.

There are many out there who say that the performance of a president and his government in terms success or failure cannot be judged in 100 days and I agree with them.

But history will be written anyway. In the coming week or two, a rash of commentaries and analyses to commemorate the event will be made.

I myself don’t deny that 100 days is long enough to know and understand the man who is the head of a government.

Buhari arrived power with strong support from young men and women and this country’s poor. The new government was not favored at election by the monied power-brokers although that did not stop the President from taking measures such as improving security that are good for business and investment.

This government is business-friendly but not one that is for crony capitalism.

The new government inherited enormous problems created by the tainted PDP administration, largely caused by the lack of governance,corruption and lawlessness. This was mostly evident in the last two years of the Jonathan Goodluck administration. As the President continues to point out,the drift is most evident in the oil sector.

I believe that there is enough on the ground in those 100 days to understand President Buhari, his government and what it stands for.

I will cite a few of these.

Before I do that, I will make a little confession.
In the course of electioneering, the presidential campaign had so many centers of public communication which, for whatever reason were on the loose.

There is a certain document tagged “One Hundred Things Buhari Will Do in 100 Days” and the other, “My Covenant With Nigerians.” Both pamphlets bore the authorized party logo but as the Director of Media and Communications in that campaign, I did not fund or authorize any of those. I can equally bet my last Kobo that Candidate Buhari did not see or authorize those publications.

As a consequence of these publications, expectations have been raised unreasonably, that as President, Muhammadu Buhari will wave his hand and all the problems that the country faces- insecurity, corruption, unemployment, poor infrastructure would go away.

But that notwithstanding, President Buhari has given the job his best shot and the whole country is saying that we never had it so good. He has re-instituted the values of hard work and administrative efficiency. The President says times without number that this country needs to fix governance and that he won’t tolerate laziness.

Some of the other activities I wish to enumerate also include the fact of his taking relations with the country’s immediate neighbors to new heights. By their open admissions, this country’s neighbors did not have someone they could talk to on the deteriorating security situation in the Lake Chad Basin area in Aso Rock.

Buhari embarked on his foreign policy on Day Four of his administration.

When he met Barack Obama, the U.S president told the Nigerian leader that he was getting it right and that it is only when Nigeria gets it right that Africa will get it right.

The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon who came calling this week said that our president is “courageous, focused and firm.”

Relations with the “G 7″ group of industrialized countries have since been “reset” and the dividends of this have begun to flow inwards.

In the area of economic management, Nigerians are already seeing things happen that they thought were not possible in so short a time.

He didn’t put a Kobo to finance the power sector. Yet, reading his body language alone and knowing that there are things you cannot do and get away with under Buhari, electricity supply all over the countries has risen to unprecedented heights.

Actually, some cities are on the verge of calling 24-hour, round the clock power supply. The country generates more power than can internally be taken by the deplorable distribution system we have on the ground, which points to the next challenge that the country faces.

Framework for the management of the country’s finances has been put in place. The wobbly Naira is being stabilized and inflation is headed towards a single digit.President Buhari is keeping a close eye on the government treasury.

Agriculture is getting its own shot in the arm.
Rice importation has been curtailed and seven governors whose states are priming a massive local production of the commodity have had a strategy meeting with the President on the next steps that are coming. Americans say their intervention in our agriculture will come next year.

Boko Haram, which had more or less been allowed to fester for about five years is about being ended but what is even more interesting is that intelligence coming from the fired-up armed forces who now work in synergy with each other is raising hope that the Chibok girls may, repeat may be found in good numbers in a geographic location of interest somewhere in the North-East.

President Buhari is being praised at home and abroad for his ongoing fight against corruption. He said from the beginning that his government will not tolerate this vice.

Borrowing the words of India Narendra Modi’s, he said himself that “I won’t steal and I’ll not allow others to do it.” President Buhari has walked his talk since he come to office.

Himself and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo have not only given up half of their salary, they have cut a good number of funding lines to their official homes and offices.

President Buhari also takes the environment seriously. He blames the lack of security in the Lake Chad region on the recession, almost drying up of the lake. He has undertaken to clean up the Ogoniland.

In this country, appointments and removal from office are done usually in accordance with a spoils system.

A new government sacks officials on the basis only that it did not appoint them, by the predecessor-adminstration.

President Buhari has shown that his government is different. He wants to look at each case on its own merit and it is clear by now that he is not ready to surrender the country to burnt out politicians. Technocrats will have a big place in his administration.
He has appointed no ministers yet, but the government is running smoothly.

In this period of three months, government certainly deserves a pat on the back for improved power, reform in the energy sector, foreign relations fight against corruption and insurgency and the fact of Nigerians being at peace, not only among themselves but with their neighbors and the rest of the world.

In think in summary, I would like to end this piece by saying that President Muhammadu Buhari will turn out to be a leader in the tradition of Lee Kuan-Yu and India’s current reform-minded Prime Minister Modi with strong and clear emphasis on detail and execution. He may however differ with them by not micro-managing things.

GARBA SHEHU
SSA MEDIA AND PUBLICITY TO THE PRESIDENT.

Ref: http://thenationonlineng.net/understanding-buhari-in-100-days-garba-shehu/