They’ll never change

They are at it again. They will never change. Remember them? Some of them were part of the cartel at that time; they and their predecessors brought us to this sorry state. They’re the people we call state governors. The other time during the Goodluck Jonathan administration, they stampeded the Bayelsa-born president into sharing the Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), which was meant to be saved for the rainy day. At that time, critics and commentators screamed foul and urged the undertakers to use their brain wisely, their response (like the Jews to Pilate) was let “His blood be on us and on our children!” They got the money; squandered everything in their usual Prodigal Son-like manner. Today, that action is haunting the entire country. It is rather sad that we have refused to learn anything from our past mistakes. Again, all the money realised in the past from the privatization exercises carried out in this country, where is it? We can’t boast of good roads, constant power; everything is in a shambles. Ordinarily, privatization is the way to go, any day; but that is in places where the system is allowed to work well. We have returned again to a point where the state governors, who have learnt the ways of their predecessors, are voting for the sale of national assets. If you talk of sale of some of the aircraft on the Presidential fleet and the moribund refineries, they should be sold even if it is for one kobo, but not the country’s multi-billion dollar shares in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited (NLNG).  You know the hazard of it all? After the sale, the money will not be used for what it was meant for and the asset is gone forever, and we return to square one, biting our fingers. Once bitten twice shy.

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Like him or hate him, Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State is scoring the bull’s eye on many fronts. The news the other day was well received that a court in Ekiti has sentenced to two years imprisonment a herdsman for willful and unlawful damage of cash crops. Since the Fulani herdsmen’s terrorism across the country became a national issue and of serious embarrassment, neither the Federal Government nor any state government has been courageous enough to bring the herdsmen to justice. Even the Benue and Enugu states where several people had been mercilessly murdered by these mindless itinerant cattle rearers, the state governments have done nothing beyond castrated verbal threats. Fayose’s Ekiti has really proven how to exercise the real responsibility of any government. A Chief Magistrate’s Court in Ado Ekiti has sentenced one Ali Haruna, 18, to two years imprisonment for taking his cows for grazing in a farmland in Ado Ekiti and destroying crops. If you were not aware of that judgment, here’s a piece of it: The Magistrate, Idowu Ayenimo, found the accused guilty of a two-count charge of willful and unlawful damage of farm crops at Ago Aduloju in Ado Ekiti. The court indicated that Haruna was arraigned on January 22, 2016. The four prosecution witnesses testified that the convict was caught in the midnight grazing his cows in the farm belonging to Abdullahi Yaho and Bello Mohammed. The cash crops said to have been destroyed by the cows in the farm included cassava, maize, okro and pepper, all valued at N3million.

Imagine what could have happened if Haruna had caused the death of anybody in Ekiti State!

A crises-ridden House of Representatives last week resumed from its long recess to continue with its Ostrich-style response to an economy in coma. President Muhammadu Buhari had endlessly waited for the resumption to begin to administer the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the ailing economy. Immediately the lawmakers ended their holidays, the President rushed to present the highly criticized emergency power bill to the National Assembly. Now, trying to play their usual Ostrich in a time-buying tactic, the Reps decided that he, Buhari, must address a joint session of the National Assembly to tell them what plans he has to move the economy out of recession. This move, to me appears unnecessary; unnecessary because had the President any solution to the challenged economy he would have applied such, at least, to redeem his image that is nearly hitting the rocks. Or do they think that Mr. President is comfortable reading and listening to all manner of things people are writing and saying about his government being clueless? The President, as it seems now, is waiting for them to grant him the emergency powers he is seeking before he takes any further step. It appears that Nigeria is really at the crossroads.

Last week, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) showed a serious sign of mending its fences. The two factions of Ali Modu Sheriff and Ahmed Makarfi, for the first time in many months, agreed to bury the hatchets and work together in the interest of the party. This is a positive development, even though many critics still believe that the umbrella association needs more than reconciliation to win the Presidency in 2019. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State rightly described the reconciliation as a step in the right direction, observing also that the long period of the crisis had taken a toll on the party. It was his belief that the reconciliation as it were, had also provided PDP with new opportunities to become stronger. Well, critics say that PDP can be stronger as a party, but not so strong as to win the presidency so soon. The PDP ruled the country for straight 16 years and left Nigeria and the people terribly bruised. Some analysts believe that the way forward should be a fusion of some “good people” in PDP, APC and some other parties as neither the PDP nor the APC is qualified enough, as it were, to win a presidential in the foreseeable future having been tried and found wanting.

Shortly after his election as President and before his inauguration on May 29, 2015, the G-7 group of nations told Muhammadu Buhari to bring his wish list. Group of Seven (G7) an international organisation was officially established in 1985 to facilitate economic cooperation among the world’s largest industrial nations.  Members are Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, and the United States. Buhari did not waste time, he turned in a long list of wishes top of which included solicitation of help over the Boko Haram insurgency and the need for the repatriation of stolen wealth of Nigeria still being held up in those countries. Apart from doing so, he also paid separate visits to most member states. In all of his journeys, the President has continued to sing the same song he started to sing nearly two years now. It is amazing that the promised help has not been realised in the measure it was expected, otherwise, Buhari would not have singled out the United States of America and United Kingdom to plead for the release of the stolen funds. If at this time the President, despite the effusion of good will and avalanche of promises from both countries, is still reminding them to render that support, it then means that the “we will support you” verbalisation is not really achieving the desired aim. Or what exactly is hindering US and UK cooperation in this regard? Buhari needs to restrategise rather than continuous shout of bring ‘back our money’ as if foreigners came here and stole the money. It is self-inflicted pain.