It is no longer news that Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has signed the N7.44 trillion2017 appropriation bill into law. For a nation that is currently experiencing tough economic challenges, the signing of the budget should, no doubt, be cheering news. It is expected that swift implementation of the budget would improve the economy, reduce unemployment and improve infrastructure across the country.
Meanwhile, it is important to reflect on a particular issue that one feels was an unnecessary distraction in the whole 2017 budget signing narrative. Nigerians were still heaving a sigh of relief that the 2017 appropriation bill has, at last, been singned into law, only for Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, to bring in a rather pointless angle to the subject.
According to reports, Garba Shehu in a statement confirmed that his principal had asked Osinbajo to assent to the budget. The statement reads: “Following the receipt of a full brief on the 2017 Appropriation Bill as passed by the National Assembly, and to buttress the unity at the highest level of government, President Muhammadu Buhari has indicated that it is in the interest of the nation’s economy for the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, to sign the Appropriation Bill into law”.
Now, the question is: of what essence is this information and what actually is the intention or intentions of Garba in issuing the statement? Though Garba sneakily pretended to be deploying his statement to highlight “the unity at the highest level of government”, he, no doubt, has other intents.
And, perhaps, part of these other aims might be to present the Acting President as a lame duck who cannot perform such a routine task as signing a budget except he takes order from the President. Really, things happen at the corridors of power! Several political maneuverings that neither add value to governance nor improve the well being of the people take place at the power corridor all for the sake of relevance and self preservation.
Till date, President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated his resolve to stick to constitutional provisions with regards to transmitting power to his deputy whenever there is a need for such. But then, it should not be surprising if some of the President’s aides are not too comfortable with this. So, it wouldn’t be odd if they engage in acts that might sometimes undermine the Acting President’s sphere of influence, albeit surreptitiously.
Garba’s ostensibly harmless statement falls perfectly into this picture. Part of what Garba wanted to achieve through the statement is to divert attention from the main issue, which in this case is the signing of the budget by the Acting President. Without a doubt, it is expected that the Acting President communicates from time to time on salient national issues with the President. It would be quite unusual if such doesn’t take place. Therefore, we don’t need a Garba to tell us that the President sent a letter which he personally signed to the Acting President on the budget issue. It is unnecessary and irrelevant.
Garba and his likes, at the corridors of power, must come to term with the reality of the moment. The ordinary Nigerians are fed up with unnecessary politicking and cheap power play that lead to nowhere. In all sincerity, what is there to celebrate in the signing of a budget in the middle of the year? This is June for Christ sake! Rather than apologize on behalf of his principal that things have gotten this far, all Garba wanted was to see how he could score a needless political point for his principal in the midst of the entire saga.
By issuing the statement, what exactly does Garba expects from Nigerians? Applaud the President for being so ‘magnanimous? Throw up a thanksgiving service to express our gratitude to God for giving us such a thoughtful President?
Garba and others like him should leave President Buhari alone. What the President truly needs at this point is the prayer of every Nigerian as well as sufficient time to recuperate so he could have the stamina he requires to get back to work. The hawks and the so called ‘cabals’ at the corridors of power should let the President and the country be. Trying to set up the President against Osinbajo wouldn’t do anyone much good at this point in time.
This is not the time for undue meddlesomeness in crucial national matters. There are too many burning national issues that are begging for attention. We have an ailing economy to contend with. Insecurity is still an issue. Infrastructure across the country needs to be improved upon. Unemployment, inflation, unstable power, and ethnic/tribal crisis among others are still quite rife. At the end of the day, it is the ability of the current administration to creatively address some of these issues that would surely endear it to the hearts of Nigerians. Not some pointless nosy statements!
Tayo Ogunbiyi
Ogunbiyi wrote in from Ikeja, Lagos
