In my column last week, I tried to nicely caution Ibrahim Magu, the acting chairman of EFCC, from asserting that 90% of recession is caused by corruption because apart from not providing evidence, the mere fact that these two issues are correlated doesn’t necessarily mean that one is the cause of the other. Unfortunately, he made the same statement while he was being screened. This recession-corruption statement seems to be his most powerful punchline, it needs some reworking. I also talked about the anti-corruption war, the need for the EFCC to operate within the ambits of the law and the need to have a strong anti-corruption strategy which ultimately will involve building and solidifying the anti-corruption agencies.
Coincidentally, on the same day my column was published, the Acting Chairman appeared before the Senate to be screened. The senators also raised similar points I raised in the column. Magu’s performance was pathetic, his ineloquence and inability to properly answer the questions is unforgivable. Unfortunately our dear Magu wasn’t confirmed. One major factor was the Department of State Services (DSS) report which questioned the integrity of Magu to lead the anti-corruption war. This isn’t the first time Magu and the report questioning his integrity, are appearing before the Senate. It is indeed the second time and the Presidency is privy to this report and yet they still sent Magu’s name to the Senate.
I wouldn’t want to discuss the propriety or otherwise of the DSS report or Magu’s claim of denial of fair hearing or whether the Senate acted in bad faith etc. It’s really unnecessary. Rather I am interested in understanding if the Presidency works in unison or in discord, and the effect it has on our national and international image.
Lest we forget, the DSS and the EFCC are both agencies under the Presidency. Apart from being aware of the DSS report, the Presidency has also received Ibrahim Magu’s defence. With this sets of available data, why can’t the Presidency arrive at a conclusion? This inability portrays untidy housekeeping within the presidency and this is a direct attack on the leadership and team spirit of President Buhari. Housekeeping is not intended to rub the different agencies under the Presidency of their independence and make them stooges of the president; it is rather geared at ensuring that all the necessary agencies work as a whole just as the different parts of the human body also work as a whole.
This DSS and EFCC face-off is not an isolated issue. It is a recurring decimal. This seed of disunity is widespread in this current administration. We have also had a Police, DSS and EFCC face- off. Just last Monday, the National Security Adviser, Babagana Munguno announced – after Buhari had flown from Kaduna to Abuja – that helicopters were banned from flying to Abuja from Kaduna and that travellers had to come by rail or road. Two days afterwards the Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika, announced that helicopters are now free to fly in and out of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Abuja.
Two weeks earlier, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora advised Nigerians without compelling reason(s) not to travel to the US based on reports that persons with valid visas had been denied entry into the US. In less than two days Geoffrey Onyeama, Foreign Affairs Minister, swiftly replied, stating that Nigerians were free to travel to the US, adding that no Nigerian had been denied entry into the US. Subtly referring to Abike, he said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the competent agency Nigerians should rely on for issues bothering on external relations.
Last month at the National Assembly, the Minister of Agriculture, Audu Ogbeh blamed the high cost of food and other related items in the country on bribe-taking by policemen, soldiers and Customs officials. He further lamented that despite formal requests to the heads of these institutions, the practise has continued. It’s important to bear in mind that all these institutions are under the Presidency.
There are many more other instances where members of the Buhari administration have given different answers to the state of affairs: the removal of fuel subsidy, budget padding, the outcome of the President’s visit to China and the list continues. All these inconsistencies arouses motives for genuine concern.
I concede that the Presidency is made up of persons of different backgrounds, educational qualifications and even intentions, which necessarily engender different opinions. But they have to be united. Hamilton Alexander, one of the founding fathers of America, while arguing for a single executive, argued that a single executive would provide for energy and efficiency. This energy is generated when the executive is united. With this there will be a well-run government.
It’s unfortunate that their two years together hasn’t cemented a good working relationship. The role of cementing belongs to the leader which in this case is President Buhari. Since his team seems to be in disarray, we are forced to question his leadership and team spirit abilities. Indeed the important question is: Can President Buhari lead? His actions within these two years as the President seem to suggest that he can’t. Even his wife, Aisha, publicly stated last year that the presidency has been hijacked. In other words, Buhari is not in control. Even when he was military head of State, many considered Tunde Idiagbon as the one who wielded and exercised power.
If President Buhari’s appointees show their disunity and publicly without shame or regret, it is better left to the imagination what goes on behind the scene. Invariably, as is the case when two elephants fight, it is we the grasses that suffer. Moreover this show of disunity is not good for the country, while we are already divided on many fronts, this further splits the nation more into irreconcilable factions.
The confusion within the presidency sends the wrong signals to local and international observers. Decisions will be taken slowly (if at all) because it’s uncertain which Federal Government official’s statement will stand and which will be discountenanced.
The conclusion that is been drawn is that President Buhari is running a feeble executive. This implies a feeble execution of the government which is another phrase for a bad government.
President Buhari needs to be in control of things and avert future occurrences of this anomaly.
J.B Nwachukwu
Nwachukwu is a lawyer and a writer
