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Tag: BUHARI

‘Buhari should choose credible people as ministers’

Remi Bamisile is a veteran journalist. In this interview with DAMISI OJO, she gives reasons why President Mohammadu Buhari could not afford to fail Nigerians. She also speaks on other national issues.

How do you think, President Muhammadu Buhari can run this country successfully without hitches, considering the problems facing it?

I have no doubt in my mind that President Buhari will run this country successfully if Nigerians can cooperate with him. Nigerians are the problem of themselves, nobody want to work, even those they gave work to do, they will never do it and everybody want to become politician so that they can become billionaire overnight, this mentality has ruined this country. If Nigerians can cooperate with the president, he is going to be a wonderful leader. It is a fact that anybody can succeed as a president or as governor or as any leader in this country if the rest of the people are ready to cooperate with such person. I know for sure that President Buhari will perform because I am very sure, he cannot afford to fail because Nigerians are anxiously waiting for positive change.

Monitisation Politics is the order of the day. Is there any way this could be curtailed?

If you speak of politicians, just ask what they know in politics, they don’t know what the duty of a politician is, we only have few people who are real politicians in Nigeria. Many of them don’t know what should be their role, I am priviledged to be in London, that is where I did my Mass communication and Journalism, the politics they practice in other country is not like what we are practising in Nigeria. In advanced countries people go there to serve the people that voted for them, but in Nigeria, most,if not all of them, go there to fill their pockets.

How do you think this menace could be tackled headlong, especially because of the future generation?

This problem can be solved if all politicians are informed of their roles.They should know that performances are now the yardstick to measure them. And again their salaries and other emoluments should be reduced, if the salary can be at par with that of the civil servants,they will sit up.

If their salaries are slashed, would that not hinder their performance?

If they are paying politicians equal salary with the civil servants, they will perform. Are they going there to amass wealth or to serve the electorate? I believe they are elected or appointed to serve the people. Honestly,I am not happy with the way our politicians are doing. They have turned politics to money making venture. These people will come to you seeking for your votes, they can even sit on the floor with you when they need your votes and after voting for them, they will be vehicles, someone that is representing you will pass by you, you will not see his face not to talk of recognizing him or her. Politics is not just take N10,000 and vote for me, no, as a good politician, you suppose to do something in your constituency that will benefit everybody, not what all these people are doing. Some will go and buy cars for the Traditional rulers, how many people are going to be riding with the Kings. If the traditional rulers are going out with the car, how many villagers can he offers a ride. Instead of buying car for traditional rulers, why not provide bore holes, street light or something that will benefit the community as a whole, not that people should run after them to collect tokens. Some will say my in-law is sick, or my wife is being operated, or they have sent my children out of the school, no,politicians must be accountable for what they have done in their respective offices.

President Buhari is yet to appoint his minister. What is your take on this?

It is better for the man, I mean our President to take his time to select people of integrity who will be useful to him and the nation. Who will have the interest of the people and fear of God, not those people that will go there to enrich their pockets, he should not rush things for now because when you rush things, you make mistakes but if you take your time, you will never make mistakes, that is the basic truth. You know people are going round now lobbying him, the man want to take his time so that at the end of the day, his government will be one of the best in this country. Surely, we have some good Presidents before now.

The crisis in the National Assembly, most especially in the Senate is still raging. Don’t you think this can hinder Mr. President from performing to the people expectation?

I know President Buhari has the fear of the God and he is a very plain somebody. I did not believe that the crisis will hinder him from performing because Nigerians are praying that whoever wants to send this country backward, God will silence them to allow the man to do a good job. I said earlier that we have good Presidents before him, like General Gowon (retired). I lost my father in 1972 during all Nigerian festival of Arts in Kaduna. My father’s group came first and on their way coming back from Kaduna in 1972, they involved in an accident in December 17, 1972,and my father died. Ondo state was under Western Region then, General Yakubu Gowon gave all the Kaduna disaster’s children Scholarship from primary school up to university level and then, I was in the secondary scho then, I was at Ekamarun Grammar School, Ifon in Ondo state but in 1973 I moved to St. Catherine Girl Grammar School, Owo to finish my school which is girl only, what the man did then, nobody has done it since then. It was 18 persons that lost their lives, five people from my town in Ipele, Ondo state which my father led and 13 from Ibadan, they gave them mass burial at Liberty Stadium. If not for General Gowon, I may not finish my secondary school and if I did not finish, how do you think I will be where I am today. And after my secondary school, I was sent to London and when I met General Gowon during the 40 years of my father’s remembrance, I thanked him for what he did for us. I said please sir, Daddy, people love you, if you want to come back to rule this country, people will vote for you but he said he could not rule this country again, but he will supporting this country with prayers. Whenever, he calls me, I always kneel down on the phone, I know that Buhari will perform better. Not that Iam praising him because he is the incumbent President, others have done their best. Jonathan was not the only one that ran his administration; you will see that, after tracing fraudulent people in his government, the man, Jonathan may be spared of embezzlement. It is those people that surrounded him.

And it is not possible for him alone to run a government. Baba Obasanjo try his best, he is a good President too, if not, he would not have administered this country for three times .But I am only appealing to Nigerians, they should allow General Buhari to transform this country.

Coming to Ondo state, a lot of politicians are coming out now to contest for governorship. What is your own view on this?

The advice I have for them is to go and pray to Almighty God and they should go and think if they are really coming to serve the people, of the state, if yes, God will answer their prayers. Not that they should be going up and down saying that they want to become governor of the state without any genuine mission, Psalms 75 v 6, 7 says, promotion did not come east or west or from the south, but from Almighty God. It is God that elevate people. On the election, they should go and think and let the people know what they have for us, by birth. Iam from Ondo state by marriage, I am from Ekiti state. We want to know what they have in stock for us before the poor people will go and line up in the scorchy sun.

Do you believe in the efficacy of prayers for our leaders in government?

Yes,religious leaders should be praying for this country. Because prayer is the key to all success and those people that are destroying the country, the hardened criminals with their bad minds, if our religious leaders are praying, God will touch their hearts. Look at Saul now Paul, he was going to Damascus to persecute some people, but the Almighty God, on his way going, touched his heart and he became a wonderful preacher. Religious leaders have herculean task to support our country and its leaders with prayers.

What advice do you have for Nigerians?

My advice to Nigerians is that we should go and find something doing. Education is for knowledge, being a graduate does not prevent you from becoming an artisan. If you are a graduate and you learn how to become a bricklayer, after building any house, the finishing touches will be wonderful. I have never seen any country like Nigeria that said their citizens are government workers, Being a graduate does not prevent you from becoming artisan but in Nigeria everybody wants to be civil servants. You can become rich if you are an artisan. Look at it now, the richest person in the world is not a civil servant even in Nigeria, they are not civil servant and as a business person or as an artisan what you can spend and gain within a week, none of your colleagues in the ministry can do it within six months once you are faithful in whatever you are doing, you will definitely succeed. Faithfulness is the key to success.

September 22, 2015
Buhari urged to evolve world-class transportation

President Muhammadu Buhari has been urged to evolve a world-class transport system to position Nigeria as a hub in West and Central Africa.

Speaking with The Nation at the weekend, the Chairman, Haulage and Logistics, Mr Adebola Adeyemo, said the Federal Government should establish a safe, efficient, affordable and seamless intermodal transport system in line with global best practices.

He canvassed an enabling environment for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to thrive.

The system, he said, should connect all state capitals, seaports, airports and river ports with railway lines to complement the road infrastructure across the country.

The sector, he said, remains a key sector of the economy, adding that its enormous potential deserves continuous harnessing to meet the expectations of the government and the people.

“In the next few months, the Federal Government needs to carry out a number of reform measures that will enhance more operational efficiency at the various ports. For instance, the 48-hour cargo clearance must be achieved in the Lagos Ports where more than 60 per cent of our port activities take place.

“The government also needs to make efforts towards ensuring the development of deep seaports in the country. This is the ultimate solution to the port congestion in Lagos, as the cargo handling capacity is beyond their designed capacity.

“Although the Federal Government has approved the development of the Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos, expected to handle bigger vessels, and create employment. But the promoters of the port must be supported to bring the project to fruition.

He urged local and foreign investors to key into the government’s programmes by investing in the sector.

The potential of the sector, Adeyemo said, is enormous, calling for a synergy between the government and private investors to promote the sector and boost the economy.

September 22, 2015
Buhari and the burden of democracy

No doubt, President Muhammadu Buhari has had a challenging learning curve, since he was sworn in as president, over a 100 days ago, on May 29;particularly whenever he speaks to the press. As a former military dictator, PMB is indeed finding it difficult, to appreciate some of the incandescent nuances of democracy. But in fairness to the President, while some of his words has given his opponents something to sneer at, he has so far, acted within the confines of his executive powers. His recent statement, on France24 channel, that,”the Ministers are there, I think, to make a lot of noise”; falls within such challenge. Brutally frank, PMB is yet to appreciate that as a politician, certain things are better left unsaid.

With that statement, Nigerians now have an insight, as to why the President has been taking as much time as he can, before naming his ministers.PMB, obviously considers the Ministers, as possessing strong nuisance value. While many Nigerians, disappointed by the poor performance of previous governments, despite the huge number of Ministers, with impressive credentials, may sympathise with the President; our constitutional democracy, grantsintrinsic responsibilities, to the council of Ministers. So, while PMB and hisvice president, may have worn the presidency, they are under compulsion, to appoint ministers, to complement the President’s executive powers.

So, PMB was not right, when in that interview, while accepting that he will name his ministersbefore the end of September, as earlier promised, however said, “I think the question of Ministers is political”. Indeed, the question of ministers, is constitutional. While Section 5 of the 1999 constitution, which provides that the executive powers of the federation, “shall be vested in the President and may, subject as aforesaid and to the provisions of any law made by the National Assembly, be, exercised by him either directly or through the vice president and ministers of the government of the federation or officers in the public service of the federation”, (emphasis mine) may appear tenuous, there are other unambiguous provisions, in the constitution, that compelsthe president to constitute a cabinet.

Speaking generally, the President has discretion, in determining thecomposition and nature of his executive council; but he must constitute one, assection 147(1) provides: “There shall be such offices of Ministers of Government as may be established by the President” (emphasis mine). The section further provides in sub-section (3) that “Any appointment of ministers, under subsection (2) of this section by the President, shall be in conformity with the provisions of section 14(3) of this constitution: provided that in giving effect to the provisions aforesaid the President shall appoint at least one minister from each state, who shall be an indigene of such state”.

Another constitutional provision that compels the President to inaugurate the body of ministers, is section 148(2), which provides that, “The President shall hold regular meetings with the vice president and all ministers of government of the federation for the purposes of: (a) determining the general direction of domestic and foreign policies of the government of the federation;(b) co-ordinating the activities of the President, the vice president and the ministers of the government of the federation in the discharge of their executive responsibilities; and (c) advising the president generally in the discharge of his executive functions other than those functions with respect to which he is required by this constitution to seek the advice or act on the recommendation of any other person or body”.

Again section 150(1) of the constitution provides: “There shall be an Attorney Generalof the federation who shall be the Chief Law officer of the federation and a minister of the government”. Another compelling provision for a federal executive council is section 144(1)(a), albeit an ominous one, for an incapacitated president, which provides: “The president or vice president shall cease to hold office, if – by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all members of the executive council of the federation it is declared that the president or vice president is incapable of discharging the functions of this office”; subject however to a medical examination, as provided in the constitution.

In the face of these provision, the constitution of the body of ministers or executive council, is a constitutional imperative, and not merely a political decision. PMB is however politically correct, when in that interview, he posited that “People from different constituencies want to see their people directly in government, and see what they can get out of it”. That is the purport of section 14(3) which provides that “The composition of the Government of the federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that government or any of its agencies”.

In his first 100 days plus, it is generally believed that PMB’S presidency has been able to restrain the haemorrhaging of our common patrimony. That is an achievement. But as the President learns the intricate and divergent pull of democracy, I commend to him, the words of Justice Louis D. Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court, in Whitney v California, to wit: “In government the deliberative forces shouldprevail over the arbitrary; that freedom to think as you will and to speak as you think are means indispensable to the discovery and spread of the political truth, that without free speech and assembly, discussion would be futile….”

September 22, 2015
Buhari to host ECOWAS summit on Burkina Faso

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Tuesday host an Extraordinary Summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Authority of Heads of State and Government in Abuja.

A statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, Garba Shehu, said the main item on the agenda of the summit is the current political situation in Burkina Faso.

September 21, 2015
Buhari, help this man

Not many Nigerians know Professor Theo Vincent. If I did not thrill to the bounty of the written word, I probably would not know him or care. When I first met him, I actually did not care. I admired him, but for a different reason.

I did not meet him in flesh and blood. As I write, I have not. I met him in the form of a book on poetry when I was a teenager in high school and preparing for my school certificate exam.

Poetry was beautiful tyranny in my eyes. Words came together in an opaque assault. I was expected to hollow out every poem, but I was hollow at the end of every exercise. Vincent’s book, A Selection of African Poetry, defogged the material. He compiled African poems with K.E. Senanu. At Government College, Ughelli, we called the book Senanu and Vincent.

I forgot about the man, as many do their teachers when they have moved ahead in life. But a year after, I was glued to the NTA on a Sunday afternoon, and I saw a man clutching a book, and he spoke with an accent of rare sonority. I knew he was Nigerian, if his accent betrayed his foreign exposure and education. His voice had a low, rhythmic tenor. His lips moved with a slight tremor as though praying for the listener to lend an ear. But it was not a beggary tone. It buried a vitality of intelligence and confidence in the humility of its rendition. Now celebratory, now melancholic, it tore the book apart. I lent an ear, then my mind, then my heart. It became a regular for me every Sunday afternoon after church.

When my father, Moses, observed my surrender to our pint-sized television set with this fellow, he asked everyone at home to grant me my 10 or 15 minutes with Theo Vincent. I remembered his chin hid inside a voluminous goatee. His eyes were sober behind a pair of glasses, and he held whatever book he reviewed with a sort of subdued flourish.

Even though I passed my school certificate and GCE in literature at an elite grade – I had an A1 in GCE – Professor Vincent’s Sunday classes tore than my vanity. I knew from him that literature was an open-ended survey of words, and it was not about words but society. It was no mystery but a power of enquiry. It provided a platform to interrogate society’s failings and potential and to celebrate our humanity. It was the nexus of words and myth, the playground villains and heroes.

He gave me the first true introduction to literature. I gained admission to Ife a year after and had great teachers in my literature classes I took as electives. The teachers helped my flame to a ruddy colour, but Vincent lit the spark.

He has been a subliminal figure in my consciousness. When my friend, Professor Hope Eghagha of the English Department at the University of Lagos, spoke fondly of him, my heart quietly zipped back to his feast on television.

I followed his career with aloof gratitude and was happy he became vice chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt.

Somehow news about him fizzed away, and in my subconscious I thought he was in retirement until I saw a report in The Punch about him. The writer Chux Ohai titled it with an alliterative flair: Battered, Blind and Broke.

I have read the piece a few times, but I could not understand why such a man, who has given so much to the society, should be allowed to pass his hoary years not only in penury but in neglect. According to the report, he is blind, and lives in one of the dingy neighbourhoods in Lagos where area boys, pimps, loafers and other never-do-wells thrive in dirt and darkness.

There are speculations why the man cannot afford to live in a comfortable environment, or even get proper care with his eyes now locked in perpetual night. The Universities of Lagos and Port Harcourt issued statements that they have done well by him according to the law. They have paid all his entitlements. What that means is that he is left to his sightless devices.

The universities are saying it is not about compassion. It is about the law. It reminds me of Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, who asked with aghast illumination when he was cornered, “Is that the law?” In his case, he wanted to use the law to take a pound of flesh. He lost many pounds of honour to the bargain. The universities are losing pounds of goodwill to this bargain. Whatever led to the man’s state, even if it is due to personal indiscretions, he should not be left in that state of increasing immiseration. We should not allow him regret his many years like Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of the Salesman who died with neither substance nor love after sacrificing his vital years to the service of his employer.

He was a stellar professor, and also a vice chancellor. The fact that he is so poor shows that he did not take advantage of his lofty position for unlawful self-enrichment. He was an activist of the word, and played a great role in installing Nigeria’s top literary accolade, The NLNG Prize for Literature. As some people say, a man like him ordinarily should be bedecked with the Nigerian Merit Award.

Men like Vincent indict our society. They have given service. They have served with their minds and might. We look back coldly.

He did not leave the university environment in a scandal. He is not like the character in Philip Roth’s novel, The Human Stain, where a professor quits a United States university over a racial slur or disregard for other ethnicities. Or J.M. Coetzee’s novel, Disgrace, where a professor quits for taking advantage of a female student in his bedroom.

The least this man deserves is a decent home and a regular living allowance. I appeal to the President to step into his case, or any Nigerian with the means to do so, especially men in high positions in government. I recall that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and former Governor Babatunde Fashola came to the rescue of Nigeria’s best soccer hero Haruna Ilerika. Tinubu also built a home for Fatai Rolling Dollar.

Icons stand for the best in us. We should do well to serve them when they are no longer in a position to serve us.

September 21, 2015
Buhari congratulates Team Nigeria

President Muhammad Buhari has expressed appreciation at the performance of Team Nigeria at the All Africa Games (AAG) which just ended in Brazzaville, Congo.

He urged the Nigerian athletes, who came second on the overall medals table to make Nigeria proud by constantly improving on their performance.

In a press statement in Abuja released on Sunday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President said he was impressed with the performance of Team Nigeria at the continental event, and that he was not in doubt about their zeal and determination to make Nigeria great.

It also expressed the President’s deep joy that several of the teams did Nigeria proud and singled out for special commendation, the basketball team, D’Tigers Basketball Team which earned the nation a gold medal for the first time in 50 years, and by which feat, the country got an automatic ticket to the Rio Olympic Games in 2016.

President Buhari noted that the performance of Team Nigeria at the Congo games has yet again brought the massive potentials of Nigerian sports men and women to excel in their chosen areas against all odds.

He implored the country’s athletes to do all they can to ensure that Nigeria regains its number one position in Africa and the world at large.

The statement disclosed that a presidential delegation had attended the closing ceremony and conveyed the President’s congratulations to Team Nigeria and its officials.

Promising the team a fitting ceremony, President Buhari assured Nigeria’s sports men and women that his administration would accord priority to sports, in addition to boosting the morale of the players and enhancing training for future challenges.

He reminded the sports men and women not to rest on their oars because the challenges grow bigger and more complex each day.

September 21, 2015
Presidency: Leave Buhari out of Saraki’s trial

The Presidency on Sunday declared that attempts to link the ongoing trial of the Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki to the Presidency are unacceptable.

It also said that those claiming that the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) were acting on external instigation were uninformed.

A statement by Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President said that there is no place in law that the Bureau and the tribunal should take instructions from any quarters.

As an independent institution equal to any superior court of record, he pointed out that the tribunal is set up by the constitution to determine the issue of default,false declaration or forgery in assets declaration.

The statement reads: “This therefore is purely a judicial process and has nothing to do with the presidency.

“If anyone has an axe to grind with what they are doing, they should do it in a judicial manner by challenging those actions in a proper court of law.
“Let them hire a good team of lawyers to prove their innocence. Government has no desire to persecute anybody,” he added.

He said that the President has vowed to respect the rule of law and is doing that by staying out of the matter.

According to Shehu, the President has said times without number that the war against corruption has no sacred cows.

“Even if the President wants to help, there is no way he can do anything. Is he going to ask the judge to stop the trial?

“It is purely a judicial process, the type of which are routinely dealt with by the CCB and the CCT. There are many cases like this that are going on.

“The President has sworn to an oath to protect the constitution and will not violate that oath,” he stated.

September 20, 2015
Buhari presidency more exciting than first thought

Senate President Bukola Saraki will be the first person to tell anyone who accuses the Buhari presidency of dullness of making a terrible mistake. He should know. Since Dr Saraki’s enthronement in early June as Senate President, or more accurately, since his seizure of the Senate throne, he has not had a day of respite. He is unlikely to have a minute of respite anytime soon. The Nigerian presidency is a very strong one indeed. And while everyone, including his party members and feared federal agencies, is busy reading the president’s body language and second-guessing him, Dr Saraki has chosen to construct a contrasting and countervailing body language of his own, hoping presumptuously that the president would read it and probably subordinate his own beneath the Senate President’s. There is no other way to explain the stalemate in the Senate or make sense of the cold-shoulder the president has given him.

Except Dr Saraki himself, perhaps no one else knows what emboldens the Senate President to chart what he whimsically and idealistically describes as legislative independence. Might the president’s “I belong to everybody and belong to nobody” inauguration euphoria be responsible for Dr Saraki’s chutzpah? Or, having fought many battles and won handily, including familial ones, the Senate President has begun to feel invincible and ecstatic. Whatever the reasons, Dr Saraki is standing pat and daring all-comers. He will fight in the hills of the EFCC; and he will brawl in the plains and fields of the Code of Conduct Tribunal. He will neither retreat nor surrender. Nor, apocalyptically, will the president. There is in fact no disputing the fact that on the Senate front, President Buhari will keep the country electrified and entertained.

Furthermore, while the president refuses to shirk any battle, keeping both the country and his enemies riveted on his sanguinary pastimes, he is himself providing more excitement than his languid frame and dour look seem capable of giving at face value. He may be quiet, reserved and distant, yet his sometimes forlorn look belies the searing comicalness and pugnacious vivaciousness lying behind the uncompromising facade. “Back in Nigeria,” he told his bemused US audience during his July visit, “they already call me Baba-go-slow.” He is, it seems, capable of the most withering self-deprecating humour, indeed more enthralling than former president Olusegun Obasanjo’s unending bucolic and sometimes prurient exclamations. During electioneering, his running mate’s surname was a surprising tongue-twister to him; but after inauguration, even calling the name of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), got inextricably intertwined with his former party, the Congress of Progressive Change (CPC).

As the country reveled in his magnificent juxtapositions, out streamed his interminable gaffes. He would discriminate between those who voted him massively and those who were niggardly with their votes, he intoned, with no one sure whether he meant it the way he spoke it — brutally and maliciously frank. Reflecting his considerable unease with scheming politicians, he disclosed in France last week that he was reluctant to form his cabinet, for ministers were after all superfluous and zestful makers of noise. He probably meant it. To many Nigerians, it was a Freudian slip; but to him, it was an obscenely honest statement that perfectly mirrored his worldview. When he summons his first Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, how would he look the superfluous noisemakers in the face? With the same sang-froid disposition that has characterised his neo-democratic experience? Or with the icy, expressionless stare those who voted for him seem to approve of?

Despite himself, the reed thin President Buhari will provide capital mirth for Nigerians. He is tinkering with the economy and seems to be recording success without an economic blueprint; and he has midwifed inexplicable fortitude and quietude in the polity, again without a political blueprint. For all anyone cares, he may soon mediate a new social ethos without paying attention to its building blocks. What is, however, evident is that he is giving the country things, to the delight and entertainment of every patriot, and to the frustration of the nitpicking Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The country is in for four years of Buhari drama: let the playwrights ink their pens, the caricaturists sharpen their pencils, and the satirists their wit.

September 20, 2015
Buhari’s unflattering view of ministers

Soon, President Muhammadu Buhari’s minders and aides will begin to despair. In May, Nigeria was glad to be rid of the gaffes and malapropisms of the irresolute former president Goodluck Jonathan and his assertive and obtruding wife, Dame Patience. In their stead came the ramrod, resolute and unflappable President Buhari and his polished but somewhat anonymous wife, Hajia Aisha. While there has been a change of personnel at the seat of power, very fascinating for the remarkable juxtapositions of characters and personages that accompanied it, some other things have remained unchangeable, such as the gaffes of course. President Buhari is turning out to be as gaffe-prone as his predecessor, in fact in ways that seem even more alarmingly memorable.

During his last two-day visit to France, the president spoke to France 24 Television, where, like his United States visit, he made glib references to his ideas and leadership philosophy. Asked about his cabinet, he spoke of his personal reluctance to constitute it. This was not new. He had shown back home that he thought ministers to be a superfluous addition to government, and only considered taking them on for constitutional reasons. “The ministers are there to make a lot of noise; for the politicians to make a lot of noise,” he growled. “But the work is being done by the technocrats. They are there to provide the continuity, dig into the records and then guide us, [those of us] who are just coming in.” Those who wondered why he had delayed in constituting his cabinet, and who were persuaded by the argument that he was taking his time because he wished to avoid making a mistake, now know better. “I think this question of ministers is political, ” he said warily. “People from different constituencies want to see their people directly in government, and see what they can get out of it.” In other words, his opinion of ministers is that apart from being needless, well, they are another name for graft.

The president was, however, not done. “As for the cabinet,” he said testily, “I said we will have one by the end of the month, and time flies. The end of the month is coming too quickly for my liking. I will send the names to the National Assembly.” It is clear the country and the constitution are forcing President Buhari to constitute a cabinet. He had given a September date to put one together; he would have preferred a later date, he seemed to say. Perhaps, if he had the courage to ask, the country could give him an extension. What is even clearer is that the president can’t seem to define and understand what a cabinet stands for. He prefers civil servants, especially the permanent secretaries, whom he regards as experienced technocrats. He is spending inordinate and careful amount of time in assembling his ministers, yet, he can’t seem to understand that they are the people to avail him different perspectives, unlike the obedient civil servants, and proffer great social and economic philosophies to help his government transcend the limiting attributes of his constricted past and hesitant present.

When he visited the US in July, he had advised US-based Nigerians eager to return home to stay put in their places of sojourn if they had something better doing. Then he suggested he was unlikely to treat all Nigerians equally on account of the fact that they did not vote for him equally in the last polls. Before one year is over, the country should expect more gaffes from the president. Dr Jonathan’s aides were unable to put a lid on his boyish optimism and utopian ideas; President Buhari’s aides have their work cut out for them in explaining and harmonising the president’s disparate and jarring thoughts. As president, Dr Jonathan couldn’t seem to identify any similarity between stealing and corruption, even as he engaged in colourful comparisons of presidential mannerisms, refusing in one comical instance to be likened to Nebuchadnezzar or Pharaoh, perhaps Pharaoh Ramses. He also accused and insulted the Lagos elite, mocked the body language of opposition leaders, and snarled insensitively at ethnic and religious tendentiousness. But as an untested politician who loved to prattle once goaded, Dr Jonathan was unsurprisingly at home with gaffes. President Buhari is on the other hand laconic, and his political and moral systems indiscernible. But this has not discouraged him from offering his publics dainty gaffes of his own, some of them as potent as Dr Jonathan’s.

President Buhari, it is clear, can be trusted with the nation’s money. He remains honest and possesses both integrity far better than his predecessor’s and a more reassuring ability to manage public funds. What is not so clear is whether as modern people and progressives Nigerians can also trust him with their lives; or, in view of his fairly antiquated opinions of government and society, trust him with their future.

September 20, 2015
Buhari and August 27, 1985 (thirty years after)
Arson has been used to cover up fraudulent acts in public institutions. I am referring to the fire incidents that gutted the P&T buildings in Lagos, the Anambra State Broadcasting Corporation, the Republic Building at Marina, the Federal Ministry of Education, the Federal Capital Development Authority Accounts at Abuja and the NET Building. Most of these fire incidents occurred at a time when Nigerians were being apprehensive of the frequency of fraud scandals and the government incapacity to deal with them. Corruption has become so pervasive and intractable that a whole ministry has been created to stem it. Fellow Nigerians, this indeed is the moment of truth. My colleagues and I – the Supreme Military Council, must be frank enough to acknowledge the fact that at the moment, an accurate picture of the financial position is yet to be determined. We have no doubt that the situation is bad enough. In spite of all this, every effort will be made to ensure that the difficult and degrading conditions under which we are living are eliminated. Let no one however be deceived that workers who have not received their salaries in the past eight or so months will receive such salaries within today or tomorrow or that hospitals which have been without drugs for months will be provided with enough immediately.We are determined that with the help of God we shall do our best to settle genuine payments to which government is committed, including backlog of workers’ salaries after scrutiny. We are confident and we assure you that even in the face of the global recession, and the seemingly gloomy financial future, given prudent management of Nigeria’s existing financial resources and our determination to substantially reduce and eventually nail down rises in budgetary deficits and weak balance of payments position.The Federal Military Government will reappraise policies with a view to paying greater attention to the following areas:
- The economy will be given a new impetus and better sense of direction.
- Corrupt officials and their agents will be brought to book.
- In view of the drought that affected most parts of the country, the federal government will, with the available resources, import food stuffs to supplement the shortfalls suffered in the last harvest.
Our foreign policy will be both dynamic and realistic. Africa will of course continue to be the centre piece of our foreign policy. The morale and combat readiness of the armed forces will be given high priority. Officers and men with high personal and professional integrity will have nothing to fear.

The Chief Justice of Nigeria and all other holders of judiciary appointments within the federation can continue in their appointments and the judiciary shall continue to function under existing laws subject to such exceptions as may e decreed from time to time by the Federal Military Government. All holders of appointments in the civil service, the police and the National Security Organisation shall continue to exercise their functions in the normal way subject to changes that may be introduced by the Federal Military Government. All those chairmen and members of statutory corporations, parastatals and other executive departments are hereby relieved of their appointments with immediate effect.

The Federal Military Government will maintain and strengthen existing diplomatic relations with other states and with international organisations and institutions such as the Organisation of African Unity, the United Nations and its organs, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, ECOWAS and the Commonwealth etc. The Federal Military Government will honour and respect all treaties and obligations entered into by the previous government and we hope that such nations and bodies will reciprocate this gesture by respecting our country’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

Fellow Nigerians, finally, we have dutifully intervened to save this nation from imminent collapse. We therefore expect all Nigerians, including those who participated directly or indirectly in bringing the nation to this present predicament, to cooperate with us. This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together.
- Randle is a former President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region. He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle Professional Services.
Email:jkrandleintuk@gmail.com
September 20, 2015