There
is saying that rarely does a country go a hundred years without a revolution or
deep change of government. Thus, one needs to congratulate Nigerians for the
2015 common sense revolution. It was well merited and as expected toiled for, accomplishment.
The erstwhile successive governments have pushed Nigerians to the axiomatic wall
and just as my people say, when a goat is hunted to a close-fitting and restricted wall, it usually
stop running and turn back. Nigerians were pushed to the wall in form of unhindered
unemployment growth rate, insecurity, poverty, corruption, and impunity of the
government executives and agencies. Therefore, the common sense revolutionary
process was certain to materialize but it at the end of the day, it came in
form APC and Buhari victory in 2015 election.
The triumph
of the then President-elect Muhammadu Buhari lead Nigerians to had a dream
about a dream about a new Nigeria and an open NASS. Nigerians had a dream of a
country that has a dynamic economy that is not only diverse, but equally meets
basic needs of citizens. A country that is reasonably attractive to foreign
investors, keeps employment high, provides substantial average real wages, has
minimal public debt, and a high-tech sector.
 |
| President Muhammadu Buhari |
My countrymen
and women had a dream of a country that understands that the foundation of the
existence of the many modern day countries is their military; a strong military
that is distinct from militarism, a country that takes responsibility for its
own land and the people on it, so that the citizens have a feeling of
solidarity and interdependence. Nigerians aspire for a country and a government
that placed an unlimited value on all life, where no cost is spared to bring
her people to safety and rescue them without any delay during national
emergences. A country where no effort is spared to ensure that lives are
preserved and extended. Our youths had a dream of a country that understands
the concept of freedom, which means liberty to choose and to be who you want to
be, a country where there is absence of obstacles to the realization of
desires.
Our
civil servants dream of a country where there is strong desire to ensure
fairness and equality, a country that ensure that the rights of everyone are
protected and show a commitment to justice and meritocracy. A country that
understands that the presence of justice in a society brings about a sense of
security in its citizenry, promoting what is right and deterring what is wrong.
A country where properties, resources and the environment would be looked after
for the enjoyment of future generations.
Nigerians
clamored for change, they got change, and things have to change. Change has
actually come and it will never be about being something rather about doing
something for the masses that now have power to hire and fire through the PVC
and card readers. The fact that President Muhammad Buhari said 'I belong to
everybody and I belong to nobody' had brought hope of good governance to many Nigerians
who had always believe that one of the major problems of the country is
favoritism and nepotism.
Another
great thing was that Nigerians would not have to listen to Madam Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
again . She claimed that she almost had hypertension while running the economy of
Nigeria down. Thus, Nigerians saw it as a great relief that they narrowly
escape having stroke under her watch. According to Liaquat Ahamed (The Lords of
Finance: 1929, the great depression, and the bankers who broke the world)
during the few months that followed the end of the First World War, Germany
experienced the single greatest destruction of monetary value in human history.
Basic necessities were priced in billions. The country was awash with currency
notes, carried around in bags, in wheelbarrows, in laundry baskets and hampers,
even in baby carriages. Having to calculate and recalculate prices in billions
and trillions made any sort of reasonable commercial calculations almost
impossible.
German
physicians even diagnosed a strange malady that swept the country, which they
named ‘’cipher stroke’’. Those afflicted were apparently normal in every
respect except, according to the New York Times, ‘’for a desire to write
endless rows of cipher and engage in computations more involved than the most
difficult problem in logarithms.’’ Perfect sensible people would say they were
ten billion years old or had forty trillion children. Just as the Germans, Nigerians
almost had cipher stroke under the watch of Madam Ngozi as the coordinating
Minister of the economy of the country. We heard of lot of Zeros in the news
and came across many in National dailies. However, we survived her reign as the
'Prime Minister'. It was really traumatizing, your faithfully, almost had a lot
of challenges calculating Naira with lot of Zeros for months on my return from
studies abroad.
Some
Nigerians have rejected the idea of the President and the Vice president not declaring
their assest publicly immediately. Some have eulogized late President Umaru Yar'Adua, while few other took on the role of
opposition that must disparage actions of the incumbents. Some Nigerians had
made Umaru Yar Adua is the benchmark but what they were unaware of or
deliberately ignored is that he went Public after 30 days in office. Though
swore-in as President on 29, May 2007, Yar'Adua only went public with his
assets declaration on 28 June 2007, after about 30 days in office. Just like #PMB,
he made pre-election promise that he would, and he did almost a month in
office. The disclosure was intended to set an example for other Nigerian
politicians and discourage corruption. To Nigerians who had turn opposition overnight,
remember when an inquisitive and naughty journalist posed a question, which
reads something like this to your hero:
“Why
have you not publicly declared your asset as was done by the Late President
Musa Yar’Adua in 2007”? Well it is on record that he replied that: “It is
personal and I don’t give a damn about that. The law is clear about it and so
making it public is no issue and I will not play into the hands of the people.
I have nothing to hide. I declared under the President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua
because he did it, but it is not proper. I could be investigated when I leave
office. You do not need to publicly declare it and it is a matter of principle.
It is not the president declaring asset that will change the country.”
Nevertheless,
when one is dealing with a man of his word and high level of integrity, whose
VP his an highly cerebral Prof of Law, then one should expect them to act
according to due procedures. Moreover, such procedure firstly is to fill Assets
Declaration Form provided by Code of Conduct Bureau. Secondly CCB carry out
examination at the point of submitting the Assets Declaration Form, which is followed
by individual or conference verification where and when documents are cited for
authentication. Fourthly, then, when there is a need for field investigation,
an officer goes to the field to see the houses, the landed properties etc and finally
then one might go public with the information. This process takes time, thus, it
is responsible to wait until their assets have been verified before going
PUBLIC. Why Nigerians were still discussing it, President Muhammadu Buhari has reaffirmed
is commitment to that pledge.
President
Muhammadu Buhari made a strong and blunt statement against Boko Haraam in his
inaugural speech as President, promised to move the Command and Control Centre
of war against BH to Maiduguri on that same day, Friday. He had a meeting
behind close door with National Security Adviser on Monday. Tuesday witnessed
another close door meeting with Service chiefs where #PMB insisted on
relocation of Command and Control Centre. He visited Niger and Chad within the
first week in office to discuss security. As a Nigerian, one will understand
#PMB is a serious President, #BH is in for the final showdown. I say watch for
the #thebattleofsambisa
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