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Thursday, March 28, 2024

How Others View The Present Government (Part 2) – By Chief Mike Ozekhome

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ENCORE

 

This is the second and concluding part of the series on “How Others View the Present Government.” We continue with the views of Nigerians on PMB’s government.

 

  1. SOME INTERESTING POSTINGS ON EDO FOCUS GROUP

 

“On PMB. At what point should the anti corruption war start or has it started? When should we expect crash of dollar to Naira?. When should we expect oil subsidy payment to stop? Remember we were told it was a scam. When should we expect the process of the payment of 5000 Naira to unemployed Nigerians youths to start? I can go on and on. The followers form a critical component of societies” stakeholders and must continue to hold leaders accountable to their promises if the needed transformation and change must be actualized”.

 

  1. GEN PATRICK O

“Hon Osaro Ibizugbe, I find your comments on Efosa Kayode Iyasere’s post  very interesting for it makes sense. However I don’t quite share your opinion that “the country is in haste”, “noise making” and that “people are so much in foolish hurry to see the situation of things in Nigeria change abruptly like rock science”. The reason people feel the way you described is because of what the politicians promised   during their campaigns. They raise the expectations of the people to high heavens because they need their votes. They are like counting their chicks before their eggs are hatch. Many voted for PMB because they trusted that he will accomplish and deliver on every promise he made based on his performances when he ruled this country as a Military dictator. Many did not realise that we are now in a democratic dispensation where he cannot just conceive an idea and decide on it unilaterally without consulting or with minimum consultation. Now in every decision he makes, he must consider the Constitution, his political party, legal implications etc. When he could not come up with his cabinet in 3 months people began to lose patience. Some of us defended him because we believed he did not want to make mistakes by appointing any person that might dent his drive for corruption free executive, considering his zero tolerance for corruption; so people were expecting many unknown faces and names and perhaps those that were known to be far away from corruption. When he eventually named his cabinet many were disappointed as most of them were the politicians that have been in circulation in various governments over the years, some for over 30 years. Moreover many of them are seen as those whose garments have corruption stain all over. Many including yours sincerely believe that the list of the cabinet as finally released should not have taken such a long time as most of them are politicians that could have been picked easily from the political shelf like you pick toiletries from the shelf in a shop. It probably took such a long time because of political horse trading, ethnic/state balancing and several other considerations. Another thing to note is that politicians politicize virtually everything even up to security issues. The present ruling party as opposition, criticized the previous administration on the way the fight against the BH insurgents was being handled especially when PGEJ sought the cooperation of our neighbours in the fight against BH. That same strategy (which I believe is right) is now being employed by the current administration. Generally people are not feeling a better life as they anticipated arising from the campaign promises, so people are becoming increasingly frustrated. This is normal with human beings. So in effect I believe that it is unfair to blame the people whose expectations and hope are not coming up in accordance with the campaign promises. The lesson here is that politicians should not make the people believe that they can fix every problem as if they are GOD. All campaign promises must be as realistic as possible. Don’t castigate opposition government when you are not fully abreast with the issues of a problem because you are not wearing the shoes’ yet so you don’t know where it pinches. Be honest with the people, it is only then that they will understand your difficulties later. Thanks and good morning”.

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  1. OPEN LETTER TO PESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI:

 

FROM AN AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER

 

“President Muhammadu Buhari

Aso Rock, Abuja

Nigeria

 

Dear President Buhari:

 

When you visited the United States Institute of Peace last July, you pledged that you would be “fair, just and scrupulously follow due process and the rule of law, as enshrined in [the Nigerian] constitution” in prosecuting corruption.

 

Such loftiness is laudable. As the Bible instructs in Amos 5:24: “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

 

But to be just, the law must be evenhanded. It cannot, in the manner of Russian President Vladimir Putin, be something that is given to punish your enemies and withheld to favor your friends. If so, the law becomes an instrument of injustice bearing earmarks of the wicked rather than the good.

 

In the United States, you declared a policy of “zero tolerance” against corruption. You solicited weapons and other assistance from the United States government based on that avowal. But were you sincere?

 

During your election campaign, you promised widespread amnesty, not zero tolerance. You elaborated: “Whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music.”

 

After you were inaugurated, however, you disowned your statement and declared you would prosecute past ministers or other officials for corruption or fraud. And then again you immediately hedged. You were reminded of your dubious past by former Major General and President Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, who succeeded your military dictatorship. He released this statement:

 

“On General Buhari, it is not in IBB’s tradition to take up issues with his colleague former President. But for the purpose of record, we are conversant with General Buhari’s so-called holier-than-thou attitude. He is a one-time Minister of Petroleum and we have good records of his tenure as minister. Secondly, he presided over the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, which records we also have.

 

“We challenge him to come out with clean hands in those two portfolios he headed. Or we will help him to expose his records of performance during those periods. Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. General Buhari should be properly guided.”

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You then swiftly backed off your zero tolerance policy because you would have been its first casualty.

 

You opportunistically announced that zero tolerance would be narrowed to the predecessor administration of Goodluck Jonathan because to probe further would be “a waste of time.” That conclusion seems preposterous.

 

In 2012, the World Bank’s ex-vice president for Africa, Oby Ezekwesili, estimated that a stupendous $400 billion in Nigerian oil revenues had been stolen or misspent since independence in 1960. The lion’s share of that corruption spans far beyond the Jonathan administration.

 

Your zero tolerance policy seems to come with a squint to avoid seeing culpability in your political friends.

 

A few examples are but the tip of the iceberg.

 

A Rivers State judicial commission of inquiry found that N53 billion disappeared from the Rivers State Reserve Fund under former governor Rotimi Amaechi.

 

Former Lagos governor and head of your campaign finance team Babatunde Fashola was accused of squandering N78 million of government money to upgrade his personal website.

 

The EFCC has ignored these corruption allegations, and you have given both promotions: the Ministry of Transport to Mr. Amaechi, and the Ministry of Power, Works, and Housing to Mr. Fashola.

 

In contrast, you have played judge, jury, and prosecutor in the newspapers to convict former PDP Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke of corruption. Is this evenhanded justice?

 

United States Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson taught: “There is no more effective practical guaranty against arbitrary and unreasonable government than to require that the principles of law which officials would impose upon a minority must be imposed generally. Conversely, nothing opens the door to arbitrary action so effectively as to allow those officials to pick and choose only a few to whom they will apply legislation and thus to escape the political retribution that might be visited upon them if larger numbers were affected.”

 

To investigate or prosecute based on political affiliation or opinion also violates Articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is unworthy of a great nation like Nigeria.

 

Make the hallmark of your administration justice, not retribution, and you may live for the ages.

 

I am a United States citizen and lawyer. I have no political standing in Nigeria.

 

Some might argue that my speaking about the administration of justice in Nigeria bespeaks impertinence.

 

But you chose to visit the United States to solicit weapons and other assistance from my government–a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

 

The United States government represents me. What the United States government does reflects on me. I thus have an interest in addressing the actions of foreign governments that receive United States government aid.

 

Sunshine is said to be the best of disinfectants.

Sincerely,

 

Bruce Fein

Fein & DelValle PLLC

300 New Jersey Avenue, N.W., Suite 900

Washington, D.C. 20001”‎.

 

CONCLUDED.

 

LAST LINE

 

Are you all reading and digesting this Sunday sermon on the mount of the Nigerian Project, by Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN, OFR?

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