Ordinarily, the subject of this opinion should not
be in a sane clime. For so many reasons,
the commonwealth of a nation has been hijacked by some privileged few. Though few
but powerful in and outside of power most times. Nigeria is a nation ruled by selfish interests.
Government policies are formed based on
the views and interest of a minister. Most government decisions are either to
witch hunt political enemies or make the rich become richer. So a set of jobless men and women gather under
the pretence of activism to secure the attention of a minus, who occupies very
key government position, to steal the nation dry. We are a great people without conscience that
works. Our policies inconsistencies have
done more harm than good to us a people. The bases of our entrenched corruption, among
other things, are outlined above.
As a people we either continue some of these evils
above or make up our minds to depart from them. But I think changing a
government that has increased our speed into corruption confirms we are ready
for a change. If truly we are positioned
or set for positive changes, then we must be ready to assess where we are,
where we missed the line as a nation and set the new rules going forward. While I speak not for the Nigeria presidency,
but I believe these among other things are the intention for asking questions
or wanting to seek that all stolen monies are returned to the national purse
while the culprits face the music in court.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s handlers also know this
is not a military regime; hence all convictions must follow the law. The Vice President,
Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, is a lawyer as well as a professor of law. He should know
nothing, including crimes convictions, is made on the pages of newspapers or
opinions emanating from beer parlors. Hence
the fears of the National Peace Committee members are addressed from that
angle. What is of particular interest to discerning minds is the pressure these
men and women, ranging from the speech and interviews of its spokesman, Bishop
Matthew Kukah are mounting on the president. Among these committee members is
Pastor Ayo Orijasafor, CAN president. Please can he answer where he was when
this government was sworn in? Where were him and some of his “elections pastors”
when President Buhari was labeled all kinds of names? I think that was
corruption though. A church leader or any leader for that matter should stay
apolitical. Taking sides as a leader can
be detrimental.
President Muhammadu Buhari rose into power based on
integrity, anti – corruption and change crusade. It should be stated that for
any nation that hope to foster development, none of these key indicators can be
under played. We are where we are today
because none of these values was valued. Our politicians, no matter the
political parties, only play to the gallery when it comes to corruption. When
consequences’ of actions are not determined, offenders have safe ride home with
the common wealth. In Nigeria, such has been our condition.
Distilling my view to the ongoing talks about the
National Peace Committee’s visit as led by General Abusalam Abubakar to
President Muhammadu Buhari, I think for any nation that yearns for development
peaceful co existence is a non negotiable. While I agreed with them that doing probes may
limit the speed of government, but we must admit that the speed of a driver
does not necessarily mean the car is headed somewhere meaningful but the proper
navigations of the driver towards the right path.
If our common wealth has been transferred to
personal and private purses, should a government who promised us change look
the other way? More disappointing is the views of one time revered Bishop
Matthew Kukah. I usually think Bishop belongs to the colony of saints not until
his recent outburst on channels TV as monitored by Punch newspapers. Hear him. “I think we didn’t all expect that we would have to wait till
September to have ministers and I think that unless we want to be hypocritical,
many of us have openly said that if this was the fourth time that President
Buhari wanted to be President, and successfully became President, the truth of
the matter is that you would have identified many Nigerians across the board
who are fit to do the job but again it is his prerogative to decide how to
govern. But I am saying that given what we heard the APC said, given the claims
that the APC made, the level of their preparedness, the level of their decision
to change, well, we need that change clearly spelt out.
That change
cannot definitely just be a change of actors. It ought to be a change that we
can visible see, a government that is fully prepared. The elections were
concluded and there was a period of time in-between. Finally, all I am saying
is that we need a bit of action; otherwise, Nigerians will expend their
energies on the wrong things. We still have a lot of battles to fight and I
think we will really need to focus on a lot of the problems that this country
faces and to figure out by way of conversation and policy direction, where are
we heading? Boko Haram may stop tomorrow but I can tell you that will just be
the beginning of the most complex and complicated problem of trying to fix this
country. How all these problems are going to be solved require a lot of thinking.
As for how this country will move forward, President Jonathan was eloquently
clear in saying that he was not afraid of probe but we are saying that if you
are going to a forest to catch a monkey, you don’t go blowing a whistle or
beating a drum. And I don’t think that we should be preoccupied with how this
probe is going to be undertaken. There are no charges against President
Jonathan or anybody for that matter. And please let me make it very clear,
anybody is free to approach the committee with any ideas, including former
President Jonathan or President Buhari”.
A peace committee spending a full hour with GEJ and
his board of Trustee members before going to see the president smells a rat. A
supposed national peace committee has now changed terms of reference to begging
tools for corrupt officers? I think our Bishop and his committee should watch
it.
Bishop
Kukah should be told that previous governments had thronged the path he is
suggesting without any benefit to us as a people but those privileged few among
whom he belongs. The speed of a decision does not make it right or wrong rather
the thoughtfulness of it. Is Nigeria collapsing for not having ministers yet? Is
power supply not becoming relatively stable despite no minister appointed? I
used to think Bishop Kukah knows better than this. Our bulk of corruption lies
in the haste of government appointments without merit. You may want to ask Is President Muhammadu
Buhari going to appoint angles from heaven as ministers? May be not but allow
the man take quality decisions on such matters will pay us as a nation
collectively, not the cabals. More so when it was these same set of cabals that
frustrated all attempts by the immediate president, Goodluck Jonathan, from
doing anything tangible in 6 years. They hoodwinked him terribly.
More
importantly, we the voters must take our destinies into our hands to resist any
attempt to foster bad leadership on us by anyone, any political party and
cabals. The train of progress moving fast should crush anyone whether APC or
PDP members found of corruption. This deadly enemy of progress, corruption,
knows no party line. It has crippled our educational system, rendered our
health sector comatose, destroyed our economy and seem to have paralyzed our
future. Every true Nigerian must throw heavy weight behind any leader taking us
to the dream land, even it means sacrificing those who looted our commonwealth.
On
corruption free nation I stand!!!
Sunday
Osanyintuyi | @SundayOs
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