Photo credit: wikipedia.
President Muhammadu Buhari
obviously underestimated the putrescence of Nigeria in the realms of corruption
when he was getting set to take the mantle of leadership. You may recall that
at the inception of this administration, it took him a long while before he
finally chose his Ministers. This earned him the name Baba Go-Slow from the on-start. Even at that, because of the
hellish corruption saga in the oil industry of the last administration of Dr. Goodluck
Jonathan, he chose to be the Minister of Petroleum himself, alongside being the
executive president of the country. All these are to prevent the rebirth of
another Mrs. Diezani Allison Madueke, the prototype of alleged corruption. The
ministers Buhari eventually chose were received with mixed reactions from the
Nigerian populace because of their antecedence and level of expertise in
handling their respective ministries. Anyway, the President was yet to see
anything; he did not know that he was very far from implementing successfully the
change-mantra his administration stood for. Some of the political appointees to
man various Ministries, Agencies and Departments formed another twisted access
for the direct sabotage of the government of the All Progressives Congress
party.
One of the problems of
Nigerian politics is that since there is no political ideology of the political
parties, lack of political education among the electorates, mammoth corruption
among electoral officers of the Electoral Management Body, thuggery, looting
and cosmetic decamping among political gladiators, misconstrued concept and
roles of the opposition parties, among other destructive political and social
vices, Nigeria can safely be described as politically sick and grossly
immature.
Lots of outrageous bickering
and scandals have already characterized this administration, all as a fight
back against corruption and a deliberate attempt to frustrate the Buhari
administration and the President himself, and maintain the status quo of an
unrepentantly corrupt nation. Without mincing words, Muhammadu Buhari means
well for Nigeria. The cabals around him are the main political traducers and
the sworn enemies of the country and bad influence on the character and person of
the President. Recently, an allegation
of massive corruption was hammered on the Inspection-General of Police by one of
the serving senators, Isah Misau, who was accused of abscondment from the
Police Force. The Senator responded with damning accusations of massive
corruption and gross irresponsibility in the discharge of his (IGP) duties: a
damning indictment both on the Police Force and the President who appointed the
IGP. The matter is in the court as well as being investigated by the Upper
legislative Chamber of the country. While the case has still lingered in its
tempo of national discourse, another fresh destructive saga emerged ‘from the
blues’. This is the mother of all cases for now.
There was this case of
one Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina who was the Chairman of the defunct Presidential
Task force on Pensions Reform. He was said to have embezzled the sum of N195
Million from the national assignment given to him by the President. He was said
to have been declared wanted by the Nigerian anti-graft Agency, the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since 2013 when he absconded and flew to
avoid arrest. Like the thunderbolt from the blues, Mr. Maina was mysteriously
brought back to the country and reinstated to his former job in the Ministry of
the Interior and then doubly promoted and earned his salaries and all other
entitlements in the Federal Civil Service. This is the mother of all
abracadabra in Nigeria politicking! At present, his posters are reportedly
flying in Bornu State as a potential gubernatorial candidate for the forthcoming
elections in that State.
When the mystery of his
reinstatement and the attendant promotions were ‘suddenly discovered’ by
interested persons within the government of the APC, the ‘secret’ was made
known to the President who immediately fired him out of his job, ordered his
arrest and probe. But before anyone could trace the whereabouts of Maina for
his arrest, the man had escaped possibly from the shores of the country and
presently talking from his hide-out. As at present, the INTERPOL has been placed
on alert for his definite arrest. This development is not only disgusting but a
potent trap to nail the Buhari administration to a steel coffin if not properly
and decisively handled.
The issue is that there
are many giant rats in the government of President Muhammadu Buhari that have secretly
sworn to derail the anti-corruption mantra and his entire government. When the
special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu
raised the alarm that there presidential rats in the villa some months ago,
many did not know that he was speaking metaphorically. This statement was
seconded by the wife of the president, Aisha Buhari when she said that the
cabal in the presidency has hijacked the government of the President. Many
people thought it was a statement made by a mere woman, especially when the
alarm was treated by kid gloves and the coinage of the concept of “…the woman belongs to the other room”. The
unfolding events are testimonies to the declarations of these people that are
close to the seat of power.
Traditionally and
naturally, when a rat bites and even removes a layer of the flesh, it quickly
blows air on it to cushion the effect of the pain, and to make the victim unaware
of its intentions to destroy completely. By the time the victim is becoming
conscious of the gimmicks of the rat, maximum damage has already been inflicted.
It then sneaks out for cover through the many escape routes it had bored
aforetime. There are horrible rats in the presidential villa and in the
administration of President Buhari, for sure. They are more dangerous and destructive
than the dreaded long-mouthed smelling type.
President Buhari needs to
overhaul his entire ruling cabinet and the kitchen cabinet. He needs to
identify the cabals as revealed by his wife and liquidate them by dissolving
and disparaging them. He should look critically into the activities of all the
political appointees heading the MDAs. The president needs potent rat poisons
and other deadly substances to ‘liquidate’ the hypocrites. The government needs
to fortify the judiciary and the anti-graft agencies if he would ever succeed
in his administration. He should decipher wisdom from the points raised by the critics
of his administration and sieve wisdom from their points, especially from the
opposition parties, groups and even individuals and do not brand all of these
as hate speeches altogether.
The sickness of Nigeria
is too much and one cannot even exhaust writing on one of the branches of the
ailments. The members of the present ruling party are the ones sabotaging the
efforts of the president and not the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), being the main
opposition political party in Nigeria. If President Buhari is considering re-contesting
the 2019 general elections, he needs to weed off all the grasses and the hiding
rodents from his own government or these rodents will strangulate his government
and scuttle his political ambition.
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