Who says Buhari is not smart
Fellow Nigerians, please take this piece as a
rhetorical question that requires no answer.
I’ve always said that an average Nigerian is
an expert in conspiracy theories and there is
never a limit or end to the thesis we conjure
from time to time. Please, flash back to just
some months ago, at the peak of the PDP
gragra, General Muhammadu Buhari was
completely ruled out of the race for reasons
ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. He
was supposed to be suffering from all sorts of
terminal ailments and even described as brain
dead by some uncharitable souls. The
doomsday prophets did not appear to reckon
with the great man’s personality, integrity and
perseverance. They also seemingly dismissed
out of hand, the yearning of most Nigerians
for change from whatb they perceived to be a
corrupt and inept regime. But it would seem a
miracle has occurred so soon and a Lazarus
has been raised from the dead.
Since winning the election, we have moved
from those old tales to new ones. Buhari is
now said to be slow, even slower than the
snail or tortoise because of our penchant for
being in a hurry and rushing to nowhere. The
same accusers would have accused him of
being too dictatorial if he was too fast and
decided to choose his team in a jiffy without
making wide consultations and investigations
about those to be chosen and those to be
discarded. It should have been clear to all
that there would be many deserving and
worthy candidates for the post of cabinet
ministers because Nigeria is indeed a country
blessed with abundant gifted and talented
human resources. Any selection process was
bound to be complicated if not long drawn out
because of this fact and not simply because
of the President Buhari’s quest to find
champions for his anti-corruption crusade
who would not themselves be smeared or
tainted by allegations or whiffs of the noxious
odour of corruption. Besides there was also
the fact that the President had to cater for the
various vested interests and balance those
interests in the overall interest of the nation.
No mean feat when dealing with a rich
coalition and amalgamation of strong political
Parties and personalities.
I have read all manner of comments since
early this week when the initial ministerial list
was publicly disclosed by the Senate
President, Bukola Saraki. Some said President
Buhari had wasted four months to pick his
cabinet since all he done was to come up
with the names of mostly people that had
initially been touted as potential ministers
after the President had been elected. The
usual talebearers therefore saw nothing good
in the selection. They claimed there were no
youths and wrote off the much older
nominees as being too geriatric to govern a
nation that requires all the energy it can
muster. There are cries from women’s groups
that women have been marginalised and
mistreated because only 3 of the 21 nominees
are women.
Those who championed the cause of
technocrats believe that the President has
failed them becasue there are no visible
technocrats amongst those nominated. The
truth is that this is only a partial list and some
of these concerns, even if genuine, may be
subsequently dealt with when the final line-up
is published. Again what I can discern is that
we are too hasty in arriving at unjust
accusations and conclusions. We should
exercise patience and restraint and wait for
the President to put his team together and
explain why he has chosen those people.
Furthermore, some of the nominees were
accused of unbridled corruption by fiat even if
they’ve not been prosecuted, tried or
convicted. The armchair critics lampooned
President Buhari’s anti-corruption stance as
fake or, at the very least, weak and ineffective.
I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if Buhari
unilaterally arrest supposed criminals and
flings them into jail or executes them without
trial. I have followed the raging debates on the
ministerial nominees with keen interest and
my conclusion is that the arguments and
furore demonstrates that we do not really
know what we want most times as a people.
It seems to me that we are myopic in
outloook and can only see the short run, the
smaller pictture.
We seem to lack the vision of a people
committed to a distant future of development
and success in our collective national
endeavours, a commitment to long term goals
and aspirations that sees us cultivate and
develop the present crop of talents so that we
can birth greater giants in the future.
I reached the simple conclusion that many of
the commentators hardly knew or understood
the issues at stake. They are super human
beings who know everything but have
forgotten the man on the hot seat is likely to
know what most of us don’t. He has access
to privileged and confidential information that
would have informed the choices that he
eventually made. I will continue to plead that
we tarry awhile before we begin to write off
this President.
This is an unusual leadership at an unusual
period of our national existence. There is no
gainsaying the fact that there has been great
rot and decay in our polity. Too many of our
worn-out institutions had virtually collapsed
and a reasonable, dedicated and meticulous
leader would need to study the situation a bit
more before arriving at critical decisions such
as those that administer this country with
him.
This is not to say governance should take
eternity to kick-start things but we have to
wait a bit and see the direction this
government is headed. I confess that I have
previously had cause to call on the President
to name his Ministers quickly so that the
business of government can continue in
earnest and the speculations and suspense
engendered by the failure to do so would be
laid to rest.
More importantly the legal and constitutional
implications of not governing with Ministers
was becoming an issue which was an
unnecessary distraction and was
unfortunately detracting from the patently
obvious good work that this adminstration
has been doing and the remarkable progress
made in such a short time. The President
decided to take his time but thankfully we are
now where we are and everything is now a
matter of history.
Now that President Buhari has picked about
half of his men and women, I’m one of those
looking forward to some blistering pace of
action soon. I’m certain it will happen once
the Senate confirms the Ministers and
President Buhari is able to allocate and fill up
key position.
The hues and cries about the Ministerial
appointments are diverse but I’m sure they
would subside once we take time to study the
great individuals saddled with the task of
restoring hope, stamina and dignity to our
nation. As I have said clearly on social media,
I’m reasonably impressed with the list of
Minsters released so far. Most of them are
the people that I have previously suggested
are worthy material for the noble assignment
that the President seeks to entrust them with.
They have already proven themselves in
previous national asignemnts and in some
cases stood firm and supportive of the
President in his leadership of the change that
Nigerians craved for. In essence, the
nominees are distinguished men and women
of substance and intellect. It is my hope and
expectation that in alloting them portfolios
President Buhari will put round pegs in round
holes and not seek to assign them to
positions where they are not best suited.
I’m happy to see such big brands like Audu
Ogbeh a former Minister of yesteryears who
handled both the Communications and Steel
Development portfolios at different times
betwen 1982 and 1983. He became a farmer
afterwards and was a great achiever and
significant success in that field until he
became Chairman of the PDP in 2001. He
suspended his activities but returned to his
first love when he resigned from the Party
chairmanship in 2005. He still has a lot to
contribute because his knowledge of the
Agricultural sector in Nigeria is astonishing.
I was privileged to watch him in action shortly
before the inauguration and I marvelled at the
extent of his knowledge as to what needed to
be done to fix our agricultural sector and
return Nigeria to its enviable status as a
foremost agrarian nation and remove our
dependency on the monoproduct known as
crude oil. There is the quintet of five former
governors led by Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the first
Governor of Abia State from between 1992
and 1993. Other Governors who are the
product of this current Republic are Dr Chris
Ngige of Anambra State, Babatunde Fashola
SAN of Lagos State, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers
State and Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
Dr Ogbonnaya Onu made a first class degree
in Chemical Engineering from the University of
Lagos and is an alumnus of the renowned
University of Claifornia, Berkeley, where he
obtained his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering.
He lectured at the University of Port Harcourt
and is a Fellow of several Enmgineering
Societies in Nigeria. He is passionate about
using technology as a tool for national
development and during his tenure as a
governor established a Technology Village in
his State and introduced free computers into
schools.
Dr Chris Ngige is a medical doctor who rose
to become a Deputy Director in the Federal
Ministry of Health before retiring to join
politics. He distinguished himself as a
medical doctor and as a governor and
naturally had a predilection for medical
projects during his tenure as governor.
Babatunde Fashola SAN, needs no
introduction to Nigerians. A distinguisghed
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he has a cult
following because of the strides and advances
he made whilst he was a two term Governor
of Lagos State. He continued the work of his
illustrious predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, in changing the face of Lagos State
into a cosmopolitan city that would rival any
city in developing countries of the world whilst
at the same time also continuing to increase
the internally generated revenue of the State.
The fire brand known as Rotimi Amaechi also
needs no introduction to Nigerians. He was
one of the prime arrowheads of the change
movement and indeed it was his resolute
courage at the Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum
which was the major platforms for change.
His reform agenda in Rivers State and the
progress made by that State in the areas of
infrastructural development and education
cannot be overemphasised. Last Sunday, his
name went viral on Twitter as Nigerians
poured encomiums and paid special tribute to
his rare courage in the face of raw
intimidation. He remains the catalyst for
change and a quintessential pride of APC who
must be protected from the PDP apparatchik
who may wish to take their pound of flesh
when screening begins next week.
Dr Kayode Fayemi is a graduate of History,
Politics and International Relations from the
Universities of Lagos and Ife respectively. He
holds a Doctroate degree in war studies from
the world acclaimed Kings College of the
University of London. Dr Fayemi is a guru in
foreign relations and international community
and was a successful Governor of Ekiti State
who brought much needed development to
that State with his distinct style of refinement.
Senator Hadi Sirika is a pilot who has a
longstanding passion for aviation. He was a
member of the Senate Committee on aviation
and was known for his forthrightness in
discussions about Nigeria’s almost comatose
aviation sector and what is needed to
resucitate and revamp the sector. A credible
person he has long been a staunch supporter
of President Buhari who he regards as his
mentor.
The three women nominated by President
Buhari namely, Senator Aisha Jummai Al-
Hassan, Amina Mohammed and Kemi
Adeosun are all distinguished women of
integrity in their own right.
Senator Aisha Al-Hassan, a lawyer by
profession, was a former Attorney – General
of Taraba State and eventually retired as Chief
Registrar of the High Court of the Federal
Capital Territory. She became a Senator in
2011 and contested for the post of Governor
of taraba State in 2015 but lost.
Amina Mohammed was until her nomination
the United Nation’s Secretary-General’s
Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development
Planning. She has been involved in the
management of more than US$1 billion debt
relief funds in Nigeria and has had the unique
position of having served 3 Nigerian
Presidents during the current political
dispensation. She has worked in projects
involving reduction in pocverty and gender
and education in both Nigeria and at the
United Nations. She has also been involved in
a multi-disciplinary firm of engineers and
quantity surveyors.
Mrs Kemi Adeosun was previously
commissioner for Finance in Ogun State under
Governor Ibikunle amosun. Indeed she had
been nominated to retain her position until
she was nominated by President Buhari. Mrs
Adeosun is an Accountant who has worked at
senior managerial level in the United Kingdom
and Nigeria. She has been routinely involved
in finance and financial mattrers for more
than a decade.
Space and time won’t allow me to go on but
there is always another chance in the future.
Even at this juncture, President Buhari has
shown the true stuff of a born again democrat
with his deft moves especially his latest
working relationship with the National
Assembly. I’m sure he has more jokers in the
pack!
Today's news
Fellow Nigerians, please take this piece as a
rhetorical question that requires no answer.
I’ve always said that an average Nigerian is
an expert in conspiracy theories and there is
never a limit or end to the thesis we conjure
from time to time. Please, flash back to just
some months ago, at the peak of the PDP
gragra, General Muhammadu Buhari was
completely ruled out of the race for reasons
ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. He
was supposed to be suffering from all sorts of
terminal ailments and even described as brain
dead by some uncharitable souls. The
doomsday prophets did not appear to reckon
with the great man’s personality, integrity and
perseverance. They also seemingly dismissed
out of hand, the yearning of most Nigerians
for change from whatb they perceived to be a
corrupt and inept regime. But it would seem a
miracle has occurred so soon and a Lazarus
has been raised from the dead.
Since winning the election, we have moved
from those old tales to new ones. Buhari is
now said to be slow, even slower than the
snail or tortoise because of our penchant for
being in a hurry and rushing to nowhere. The
same accusers would have accused him of
being too dictatorial if he was too fast and
decided to choose his team in a jiffy without
making wide consultations and investigations
about those to be chosen and those to be
discarded. It should have been clear to all
that there would be many deserving and
worthy candidates for the post of cabinet
ministers because Nigeria is indeed a country
blessed with abundant gifted and talented
human resources. Any selection process was
bound to be complicated if not long drawn out
because of this fact and not simply because
of the President Buhari’s quest to find
champions for his anti-corruption crusade
who would not themselves be smeared or
tainted by allegations or whiffs of the noxious
odour of corruption. Besides there was also
the fact that the President had to cater for the
various vested interests and balance those
interests in the overall interest of the nation.
No mean feat when dealing with a rich
coalition and amalgamation of strong political
Parties and personalities.
I have read all manner of comments since
early this week when the initial ministerial list
was publicly disclosed by the Senate
President, Bukola Saraki. Some said President
Buhari had wasted four months to pick his
cabinet since all he done was to come up
with the names of mostly people that had
initially been touted as potential ministers
after the President had been elected. The
usual talebearers therefore saw nothing good
in the selection. They claimed there were no
youths and wrote off the much older
nominees as being too geriatric to govern a
nation that requires all the energy it can
muster. There are cries from women’s groups
that women have been marginalised and
mistreated because only 3 of the 21 nominees
are women.
Those who championed the cause of
technocrats believe that the President has
failed them becasue there are no visible
technocrats amongst those nominated. The
truth is that this is only a partial list and some
of these concerns, even if genuine, may be
subsequently dealt with when the final line-up
is published. Again what I can discern is that
we are too hasty in arriving at unjust
accusations and conclusions. We should
exercise patience and restraint and wait for
the President to put his team together and
explain why he has chosen those people.
Furthermore, some of the nominees were
accused of unbridled corruption by fiat even if
they’ve not been prosecuted, tried or
convicted. The armchair critics lampooned
President Buhari’s anti-corruption stance as
fake or, at the very least, weak and ineffective.
I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if Buhari
unilaterally arrest supposed criminals and
flings them into jail or executes them without
trial. I have followed the raging debates on the
ministerial nominees with keen interest and
my conclusion is that the arguments and
furore demonstrates that we do not really
know what we want most times as a people.
It seems to me that we are myopic in
outloook and can only see the short run, the
smaller pictture.
We seem to lack the vision of a people
committed to a distant future of development
and success in our collective national
endeavours, a commitment to long term goals
and aspirations that sees us cultivate and
develop the present crop of talents so that we
can birth greater giants in the future.
I reached the simple conclusion that many of
the commentators hardly knew or understood
the issues at stake. They are super human
beings who know everything but have
forgotten the man on the hot seat is likely to
know what most of us don’t. He has access
to privileged and confidential information that
would have informed the choices that he
eventually made. I will continue to plead that
we tarry awhile before we begin to write off
this President.
This is an unusual leadership at an unusual
period of our national existence. There is no
gainsaying the fact that there has been great
rot and decay in our polity. Too many of our
worn-out institutions had virtually collapsed
and a reasonable, dedicated and meticulous
leader would need to study the situation a bit
more before arriving at critical decisions such
as those that administer this country with
him.
This is not to say governance should take
eternity to kick-start things but we have to
wait a bit and see the direction this
government is headed. I confess that I have
previously had cause to call on the President
to name his Ministers quickly so that the
business of government can continue in
earnest and the speculations and suspense
engendered by the failure to do so would be
laid to rest.
More importantly the legal and constitutional
implications of not governing with Ministers
was becoming an issue which was an
unnecessary distraction and was
unfortunately detracting from the patently
obvious good work that this adminstration
has been doing and the remarkable progress
made in such a short time. The President
decided to take his time but thankfully we are
now where we are and everything is now a
matter of history.
Now that President Buhari has picked about
half of his men and women, I’m one of those
looking forward to some blistering pace of
action soon. I’m certain it will happen once
the Senate confirms the Ministers and
President Buhari is able to allocate and fill up
key position.
The hues and cries about the Ministerial
appointments are diverse but I’m sure they
would subside once we take time to study the
great individuals saddled with the task of
restoring hope, stamina and dignity to our
nation. As I have said clearly on social media,
I’m reasonably impressed with the list of
Minsters released so far. Most of them are
the people that I have previously suggested
are worthy material for the noble assignment
that the President seeks to entrust them with.
They have already proven themselves in
previous national asignemnts and in some
cases stood firm and supportive of the
President in his leadership of the change that
Nigerians craved for. In essence, the
nominees are distinguished men and women
of substance and intellect. It is my hope and
expectation that in alloting them portfolios
President Buhari will put round pegs in round
holes and not seek to assign them to
positions where they are not best suited.
I’m happy to see such big brands like Audu
Ogbeh a former Minister of yesteryears who
handled both the Communications and Steel
Development portfolios at different times
betwen 1982 and 1983. He became a farmer
afterwards and was a great achiever and
significant success in that field until he
became Chairman of the PDP in 2001. He
suspended his activities but returned to his
first love when he resigned from the Party
chairmanship in 2005. He still has a lot to
contribute because his knowledge of the
Agricultural sector in Nigeria is astonishing.
I was privileged to watch him in action shortly
before the inauguration and I marvelled at the
extent of his knowledge as to what needed to
be done to fix our agricultural sector and
return Nigeria to its enviable status as a
foremost agrarian nation and remove our
dependency on the monoproduct known as
crude oil. There is the quintet of five former
governors led by Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the first
Governor of Abia State from between 1992
and 1993. Other Governors who are the
product of this current Republic are Dr Chris
Ngige of Anambra State, Babatunde Fashola
SAN of Lagos State, Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers
State and Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti State.
Dr Ogbonnaya Onu made a first class degree
in Chemical Engineering from the University of
Lagos and is an alumnus of the renowned
University of Claifornia, Berkeley, where he
obtained his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering.
He lectured at the University of Port Harcourt
and is a Fellow of several Enmgineering
Societies in Nigeria. He is passionate about
using technology as a tool for national
development and during his tenure as a
governor established a Technology Village in
his State and introduced free computers into
schools.
Dr Chris Ngige is a medical doctor who rose
to become a Deputy Director in the Federal
Ministry of Health before retiring to join
politics. He distinguished himself as a
medical doctor and as a governor and
naturally had a predilection for medical
projects during his tenure as governor.
Babatunde Fashola SAN, needs no
introduction to Nigerians. A distinguisghed
Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he has a cult
following because of the strides and advances
he made whilst he was a two term Governor
of Lagos State. He continued the work of his
illustrious predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed
Tinubu, in changing the face of Lagos State
into a cosmopolitan city that would rival any
city in developing countries of the world whilst
at the same time also continuing to increase
the internally generated revenue of the State.
The fire brand known as Rotimi Amaechi also
needs no introduction to Nigerians. He was
one of the prime arrowheads of the change
movement and indeed it was his resolute
courage at the Nigeria’s Governor’s Forum
which was the major platforms for change.
His reform agenda in Rivers State and the
progress made by that State in the areas of
infrastructural development and education
cannot be overemphasised. Last Sunday, his
name went viral on Twitter as Nigerians
poured encomiums and paid special tribute to
his rare courage in the face of raw
intimidation. He remains the catalyst for
change and a quintessential pride of APC who
must be protected from the PDP apparatchik
who may wish to take their pound of flesh
when screening begins next week.
Dr Kayode Fayemi is a graduate of History,
Politics and International Relations from the
Universities of Lagos and Ife respectively. He
holds a Doctroate degree in war studies from
the world acclaimed Kings College of the
University of London. Dr Fayemi is a guru in
foreign relations and international community
and was a successful Governor of Ekiti State
who brought much needed development to
that State with his distinct style of refinement.
Senator Hadi Sirika is a pilot who has a
longstanding passion for aviation. He was a
member of the Senate Committee on aviation
and was known for his forthrightness in
discussions about Nigeria’s almost comatose
aviation sector and what is needed to
resucitate and revamp the sector. A credible
person he has long been a staunch supporter
of President Buhari who he regards as his
mentor.
The three women nominated by President
Buhari namely, Senator Aisha Jummai Al-
Hassan, Amina Mohammed and Kemi
Adeosun are all distinguished women of
integrity in their own right.
Senator Aisha Al-Hassan, a lawyer by
profession, was a former Attorney – General
of Taraba State and eventually retired as Chief
Registrar of the High Court of the Federal
Capital Territory. She became a Senator in
2011 and contested for the post of Governor
of taraba State in 2015 but lost.
Amina Mohammed was until her nomination
the United Nation’s Secretary-General’s
Special Adviser on Post-2015 Development
Planning. She has been involved in the
management of more than US$1 billion debt
relief funds in Nigeria and has had the unique
position of having served 3 Nigerian
Presidents during the current political
dispensation. She has worked in projects
involving reduction in pocverty and gender
and education in both Nigeria and at the
United Nations. She has also been involved in
a multi-disciplinary firm of engineers and
quantity surveyors.
Mrs Kemi Adeosun was previously
commissioner for Finance in Ogun State under
Governor Ibikunle amosun. Indeed she had
been nominated to retain her position until
she was nominated by President Buhari. Mrs
Adeosun is an Accountant who has worked at
senior managerial level in the United Kingdom
and Nigeria. She has been routinely involved
in finance and financial mattrers for more
than a decade.
Space and time won’t allow me to go on but
there is always another chance in the future.
Even at this juncture, President Buhari has
shown the true stuff of a born again democrat
with his deft moves especially his latest
working relationship with the National
Assembly. I’m sure he has more jokers in the
pack!
Today's news
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