EDITORIAL
Collective Responsibility of Saving Nigeria
Jan. 29, 2011
The opposition
parties in Nigeria appear to have more credible candidates that have the
capability to save the nation from its woes, but their chances of emerging and
making any credible showing through the political process is very slim. There is no doubt that Nuhu Ribadu,
the Presidential Candidate for Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and Muhammadu
Buhari the Presidential candidate for the Congress for Progressive Change, CPC, have
what it takes including the determination to do a great job for the country. We are all witnesses to their demonstration
of remarkable
abilities in the past.
For Nuhu
Ribadu, he has demonstrated his capability and readiness to take on the
challenges of not only corruption which is the most evidently damaging of the
woes, but also demonstrated his ability to put together an effective team in all
facets of that operation, towards achieving a very tasking job. In his capacity as the
anti-corruption Tsar reporting directly to the President, which lasted about
four years from 2003 - 2007, his team had to interact effectively with other
facets of law enforcement and the nation’s courts which as we all know usually
perform below expectations.
Ribadu
prevailed upon all the challenges such institutions have always posed to everyone
else before him, i.e. those in the past who genuinely sought to arrest the
destructive and counterproductive practices that have practically chained the
nation down. During Ribadu’s tenure as EFCC Chair, arrests one after another,
were followed by convictions one after another.
He for the first time demonstrated, probably a first in Africa, that you
can go after the rich and the powerful incumbents whom you have evidence of
corruption against and prevail, including against his own boss at the time. He
did that and survived it for four years.
Some obviously critisize Ribadu as having no broad, longer lasting experience
and powerbase that Muhammadu Buhari has. And that being a Muslim
Northerner by heritage but having been raised in the Southern part of the
country appear to create a disconnect with his brothers and sisters up North;
and that it will pretty much make his first appearance in politics rocky and
tumultous. They see him basically as a Northerner by birth only, but with
a mentality ascribed to the region (Western Nigeria) that he was raised in.
While this might carry some hindrances and negative impact, it may however
provide a chance to bring him into the fold, even if not in the highest office
in the land, but in a very high position none the less so he may become the
catalyst for bringing the Western and Northern part together probably for the
first time in Nigerian Political History.
As for Retired
General Muhammad Buhari, the CPC Presidential candidate, whose military
tenure lasted between December 31, 1983 and August 27, 1985, his rewarding
program was cut short by a combined action of
corrupt military and civilian operatives who forcefully brought down the
government mainly because of the sustained heat he generated against the corrupt
within public service on the one hand, and the vultures and leeches of the corporate private
sector on the other. Some sources went as far as saying that the final blow that
brought down his government may not be unconnected with an ongoing investigation
of corruption within defence contract circles in Nigeria that Buhari was
unwilling to halt, where his immediate successor, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida was
among those implicated.
General Buhari demonstrated an undeterred determination to rid the country of two
very serious challenges of (a) financial corruption that incorporates
embezzlement, squander, etc. that have become a menace among government
officials and those in high positions of power (b) and the disorderliness (made
worse by nepotism and demands of undue burden before service) that has plagued
the common citizen, which has frustrated smooth running of institutions. He was also criticized intensely for
his hard stance against armed robbers, and fraudsters to whom the sentence was
death by firing squad. No one though
has ever criticized the thoroughness of the investigations and the trial process
before such robbers were publicly put to death as deterrent.
Less than a
year after his coming into power as a military Head of State, people became
highly secure in their homes and businesses; the commodities in the market that
have hitherto defied the law of gravity (always rising higher) saw a drastic
natural decline; people were waiting their turns at hospitals, banks, etc.
regardless of their “noble” or “official” status; the untouchable government
officials convicted or charged with offenses were being jailed etc. Added to that was his ability to plan
and begin executing a very ambitious economic plan that saw the nation put on a
track to rid itself of its foreign debt, and rely on its internal natural
resources.
His second
significant engagement with the nation as a civilian after retirement, i.e.
during the General Abacha military regime, was when the General appointed him to
Chair the Petroleum Trust Fund inaugurated
March 21, 1995.
The fund was sourced from a price hike on petroleum at the pump, plus some
proceeds from the excess crude funds, placed in a
trust to develop and rehabilitate failing infrastructures and services. Here
again, Buhari demonstrated a remarkable record after years of continuing
decline.
Dilapidated elementary
school buildings that were taken over by roaming domestic animals while children take
lesson under trees, were soon restored.
And the hospitals that had been abandoned because of lack of amenities,
medicines, and staff become buoyant once again.
Roads were rehabilitated, with toll gates constructed on major highways to chip
into the first of its type cooperation between government and private sector in
infrastructural development, as life begun to return to all of the
nation’s institutions.
These two
candidates, therefore, have shown remarkable track records, and have expressed their
willingness to serve the country once again.
It appears that bringing them into the mainstream and if possible also to the
same table to profit from both of their strength may give the country the well
deserved attention we have all been waiting for.
We must not allow them to fail in their bid to find their way back into
the mainstream. Sometimes we pray
and God answers it, but we underate the obvious answers He places before us. We are lucky they have expressed
their willingness, and blessed to have them among us; so it is up to us to find
ways of alleviating our problems. It is a common and binding responsibility that
everyone must commit to, in order to save himself, community, state and country
and the future of everyone else including the children. The burden SHOULD NOT be laid on
Buhari and Ribadu individually, OR the behemoth PDP that is turning into a party
of “know thyself only.”
(c) The Optimist Voice. All Rights Reserved.
