Is Sheriff also among the prophets?
It has become fashionable for Nigerians to attribute whatever they do to God, even the mundane things. Even when a man is caught pant down with another man’s wife, he says he is under divine instruction to do so. When former president Olusegun Obasanjo had even concluded plans to seek re-election in 2003, he still Nigerians that he was consulting with God. At various times, politicians, who in the eyes of some Nigerians are the greatest sinners, talk about God as if they dine and wine with the Supreme Being all the time.
Ali Modu Sheriff, a factional leader of the torn umbrella party, People’s Democratic Party (PDP), took a joke to an intolerable height the other day when he said he was waiting on God’s leading for his next move- whether or not to gun for the Presidency in 2019. Here is a man who had sealed all plans to contest the number one post in the country.
But when did Sheriff begin to listen to God’s leading? There is absolutely nothing wrong with nursing an ambition but everything is wrong when people begin to drag the name of God into dirty politics. No one says that the former Borno State governor does not have what it takes to aspire to the first office in the land, after all, Aristophanes, a Greek playwright, said: “You have all the characteristics of a popular politician, a horrible voice, bad breeding and vulgar manner.”
But let Sheriff not take the name of God in vain.
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Mega theft, mega bail
The law does not condemn anyone on the basis of suspicion, despite media trial and public condemnation. This is why the Federal Government decided to drag to court Andrew Yakubu, a former group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in whose house in Kaduna a humongous amount of money was discovered and recovered by the operatives of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Yakubu was said to have converted his abandoned building into a safe which he considered more honourable than using a farm land or septic tank or even soak away as many of his ilk. For the sake of his fundamental human rights, the court where he was arraigned last Tuesday granted him bail to the tune of N300million and two sureties in like sum. The man was being detained at Kuje Prison before the bail bond was read out to him. Well, it is expected that N300million would not stress Yakubu. If a man could keep N7.8billion in one house, chances are that there is possibly one or two other houses yet undiscovered. This is because as smart as Yakubu is, he does not appear as a man that would put all his eggs in one basket. So, he must have spread his wealth in case of any eventuality. We have seen some criminals in the country that dropped more than N300million bail bond and walked into freedom. Yakubu will surely drop the chicken change. Talk of a country full of demons!
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What a government!
Consistently, the Muhammadu Buhari administration and the APC-controlled government have been increasingly unpopular. The current administration is doing many things wrongly; yet, it does not care whatever anybody says. It is an administration that is divided against itself. The faulty step that was put out since inception is yet to be corrected; if anything, many more wrong steps are being taken. The bitter war between the Executive and the Legislature is escalating. The latest faceoff between the Senate and the Comptroller-General of the Customs, Hameed Ibrahim Ali is being aggravated by Aso Rock. Recall that Ali, had appeared before the Senate recently over the new Custom duty on old vehicles and was walked out by senators for his refusal to appear in full Customs regalia as demanded by the upper legislative chamber. Another date was given to him to repeat the visit. But a day to Wednesday he was to appear, the Attorney-General and minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, decided to ambush and gag the senate. He wrote to them, saying that Ali would not appear before them because someone had gone to court to challenge the process. He upbraided the senators for daring to compel Ali to wear uniform. From the tone of his letter, it appears there’s more to the issue than meets the eye. What the presidency has done amounts to ridiculing an institution as lofty as the Senate which has the constitutional powers to even sack the chief occupant of the Villa if the push comes to shove. It creates a wrong impression that an individual is above the law of the land. If the Senate has the right to screen and confirm president’s appointees, who says the Senate has no right to demand that an appointee performs his or her duties in accordance with the dictates of the laws of the land. All these point to the simple fact that the ruling party, APC, is fatally wounded and may not go into 2019 general election as a united entity. I think by now discerning minds in the party must have seen the handwriting on the wall, a few of them that cry aloud know that as kingdoms rise and wane, APC is seriously crumbling and redemption may be either difficult or impossible. Observers are watching.
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Nigeria returns to slow mode
Those who made a bone of the vibrancy that was brought to governance at the federal level when Professor Yemi Osinbajo presided as an acting president must be real enemies of this country. Needless to list the blessings of that short era, but now that Baba is back, it appears that the wax is not potent enough to keep the candle flame aglow. While we rejoice over the recovery of Mr. President and his safe return, we would appreciate a vibrant government presided by his good self. But if it becomes necessary for him to delegate duties so that the people will begin to see and feel activities by government, so let him do and hesitate no longer as delay is dangerous. Sitting still in Aso Rock will definitely not take us to anywhere. There is nothing wrong if the President will allow Osinbajo play the role the late Tunde Idiagbon played in his first coming as a military head of state, even when age and good health were on his (the president) side. Those who advise the President to the contrary and shield him from the reality on ground do not mean well for Nigeria. The country is bigger than any single individual no matter how highly placed. And those who have sworn to an oath to serve the people should not take them for granted and must therefore, render the necessary service, even if it may cost them their pride. We want to feel government, please.
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Troubled minds
Nigerians last Sunday evening were shocked by the news of a young man who committed suicide by plunging into the Lagoon in Lagos. He was said to have left the church service that afternoon and decided to end his life tragically. Many people wondered what must have driven him into that perdition. Those who knew him said he was a troubled mind and that they were not surprised at the ugly development. There are many troubled minds walking the streets of Nigeria. Apart from those who have health issues, many others are at various stages of insanity, occasioned by many years of deprivation by successive governments in the country. Ours is a country where government has since abdicated its responsibility, which has pushed citizens to the brink. Here is a country where the greater part of annual budgets end up in private accounts, leaving the majority of the people wallowing in abject poverty. Governments in Nigeria have over the years created an army of troubled minds and psychiatric patients, who, unfortunately, are oblivious of their plight. As to why the young man took his own life hours after returning from the church service, it is not strange. People go to church for different reasons- some to profit from sermons, some others go for the sake of socialisation. Talk of the ‘parable of the sower’, wherein different seeds fell on various types of soils. There are many people who go to worship centres with troubled mind. They had made up their mind on what to do with their lives irrespective of what sermon anyone could preach to them. Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples of Christ, left the venue of the last supper, to conspire with the enemies of his master. In fact, he even ate from the same plate with the master. The question is why was it that Judas could not have a change of mind even after he was forewarned about the consequences of his impending action? The answer is that he was a troubled mind. He had crossed the Rubicon and no amount of sermon could change his decision. But the lesson to learn from the sad episode of last Sunday is that there are many walking corpses on Nigerian roads and “mad men and women” are all over the place. They are the creation of a failed system. And no one knows who may have concluded arrangements to kill self, even as you read this.
