President
Mohammadu Buhari has on Wednesday night, during his first Presidential Media
Chat since assumption of office on May 29, 2015 provided a roadmap on his
administration through several questions put across to him.
Prominent
among the issues addressed by the President was his anti-corruption drive which
prominently formed the basis for his preference to lead the country despite the
plethora of eligible full-bloodied civilians all over the nation.
Colossally,
he stated that he takes responsibility of his ministers adding that anyone
among them proved substantially to be corrupt will not only be shown the back
door but unfailingly will face the wrath of law. He overtly explained that the
ex-NSA’s prosecution was based on discoveries on treasury looting and therefore
neither political nor personalized.
On the Chibok
girls, Buhari also gave insight stating that the hunt is not yet over until the
missing girls are found, though admitted that he cannot certifiably establish
that the innocent girls are still alive since no person from the dreaded camp
has come forward with a contrary position. In the same vein, the President
remarkably touched on the proposed payment of stipends to vulnerable Nigerians
adding that strict criteria would be put in place to ensure that the fund is
judiciously spent on the target population accordingly.
On the
state of the economy which he admitted may not be too healthy at the moment,
President Buhari specifically put the record straight by stating that his
administration has taken adequate measures in on that and therefore enjoined Nigerians
to be patient assuring that there will be cause for celebration by the end of
the first quarter of 2016.
Indeed, I
equally think the President was accurate. The basis of my convergence is that
until the budget is approved for implementation for a new administration, the
government is technically inactive. On the other hand, it wouldn’t follow where
the same government is in office.
This I
supposed contributed majorly to the unusual delay in the constitution of the
Federal Executive Council by the President knowing that until the budget is
passed in the coming year, the newly-inaugurated ministers’ respective
blueprints would remain mere proposals, hence early inauguration would create
more deficit on the public fund since once inaugurated, all allowances and
entitlements as statutorily provided for such offices would be running at the
detriment of the economy.
Incontrovertibly,
to maintain these offices including their respective aides cost a lot of money.
The major disadvantage of democracy is that it is too expensive to run and if
wisdom is not adequately applied as adopted by the President, avoidable losses
would regularly occur.
However,
on the fate of the Pro-Biafran activist, Nnamdi Kanu who is currently in the
custody of the Directorate of State Services, DSS, I think and solemnly advice the
Federal Government should be lenient to handle the matter as one of the
political tumults that would usually occur in any multi-ethnic society like
Nigeria. Specifically, this is where I think there is error.
According
to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “advice is like snow the softer it falls, the
longer it dwells upon, and the deeper it sinks into the mind.” The unrelenting
position of the government leading to filing of fresh charges against Kanu,
though rationally a security measure should not go beyond that to thwart
further crises in the polity.
Kanu has
been in detention over treasonable felonies following his agitation for a
sovereign Biafran state through his IPOB. He was earlier discharged by the
Federal High Court, but held on fresh charges.
No doubt, under
the Criminal Code, Laws of the Federation, his actions could reasonably demand
for the charges slammed on him by the federal government. However, it could at
the same time dangerously amount to further marginalization of the south-east
geopolitical zone putting into consideration that similar actions had taken
place in the past in other geopolitical zones.
It should
be recalled that during the previous administration of Dr.Goodluck Jonathan,
the Oduah People’s Congress, OPC took to the highways in the south-west
particularly along the busy Ikorodu road destroying properties in support of
Jonathan’s re-election, but went scot-free. Similar incidents had also severally
occurred in the North through Arewa Youths and others groups in the
geopolitical zone, as well as in the Niger-Delta regions. In all these
mentioned, there were resolved as political issues and all charges against them
withdrawn.
In other
words, the federal government should also consider the present uproar as a
political issue by releasing and dropping all charges against all the
Pro-Biafran agitators in detention in the spirit of fairness and equity,
however when convinced that the freedom would not be at the expense of the breach
of the public peace. Importantly, he should be released to the prominent
leaders of the south-east geopolitical zone including Chief Emeka Anyaoku, Dr.
Alex Ekwueme, Prof Ben Nwabueze and some of the state governors. Government
will at the same time unveil its plans towards redressing some of the
injustices and imbalances in the polity that could be held as reasons to embark
on such a dangerous move. That, no doubt, would bring to his cognizance that a
sensitive issue as secession deserves a concerted thoughtfulness and
consultation with all the stakeholders.
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