Much as one would have preferred to just move forward and forget the ugly past of Nigeria’s misrule for eight years by former President Muhammadu Buharis, the shadows of this ugly past keep poking into the present and make the future look dim.
This is the more reason why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s sixteenth President is not a man you envy.
He is not,especially at this time when in spite of his determination to accept his fate as a man who never bargained for what he saw, each passing day seems like a period of new discovery of dark alleys and deep evil secrets in the government of his predecessor who he ironically helped into power.
Like a Yoruba proverb ..Oro ko dun lenu Iya omo ole…mother of a thief has no cheering word except oprobium and ridicule.
For Tinubu, life and governance in the past eight months has been akin to the Yoruba saying of -mess inside the masquerade (Iso inu eku, amu mora ni) meaning-the masquerade has to cope with the putrid smell from his mess….meaning that he has no excuse .
The only option he has, if he is feeling uncomfortable is to remove the mask covering his face and expose himself. But obviously, that is not to be, for political correctness.
He asked for it and got it.
True,Tinubu has told all Nigerians who cared to listen that he asked for the job.
As a result, he has not told Nigerians his inner disappointment and won’t likely tell them because he helped his predecessor to power.
Those Governors and associates like Abdulrazak of Kwara and Senator Gbenga Daniel of Ogun who spilled the beans of grand corruption and sale of ‘Nigeria’s oil before Tinubu took over spoke out of pity for a man they cared for.
But it is very obvious that the man who handed over power to Tinubu never cared for who succeeds him since he sees himself as saintly.
That self assertion will be proven in due course.
Tinubu is a man who discovered the content of a room he had to stay for four years,but had no choice but live with both the good (if any), the bad and the ugly.
Well, that is for Tinubu.
However, much as we feel the uneasiness in the land, we have to begin to ask questions from former President Muhammadu Buhari whose actions in government laid the foundation for today’s problems .
Thank God, our job in making Buhari answer questions is so easy since God who sees the heart has ambushed Buhari from relocating to Niger Republic where his cousin and friend, the deposed President Mohammed Bazoum lives. Since the new junta in Niger has detained their former Leader, Bazoum, Buhari has nowhere to run to .
The only difference is neither Tinubu nor NASS has the nerve and guts to summon the former President to appear before it from his Daura residence.
This makes our job easier.
Former Works Minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola gave us all a clue as to why we have the ugly disclosures in Buhari’s government as regards the actions and inactions of his ministers when he declared that Buhari is a Leader who will give his aides- ministers inclusive, a job and never bother to check on their performance.
In any establishment, public or private, management supervision is crucial and necessary and a bit of human management must have been taught Buhari in some of the trainings he attended, both local and overseas while in military service.
While this is not an excuse to absolve Buhari of misgovernance for eight years, he must be made to come out and say the truth about what he knows about fraud, corruption, Insecurity and all the issues which characterise his government and made both Umaru Yar’adua’s and Goodluck Jonathan’s administrations saintly.
Buhari must be made to appear before the National Assembly hem-since Tinubu will not do it. Why did Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor print so much money, by Ways and Means, to the tune of N30-40 trillion and pump it into an economy with no productivity to back it up?
Buhari must explain why he allowed Emefiele and his cohorts to allow Forex earnings by foreign Airlines mount to $7bn dollars out of which only $5.8bn dollars are verifiable according to Yemi Cardoso,the new CBN Governor.
Since the NASS is empowered to perform oversight functions, it must be courageous enough to forget partisanship ,look at Nigeria and help us get to the root cause of our afflictions as a country.
Late sage Obafemi Awolowo ,once described Nigeria as a country which cries out at symptoms of its problems without tackling headlong the cause of such.
Buhari, architect of today’s economic woes
Let both arms of the legislature rescue Tinubu and by extension Nigeria from the powerful cabal which hijacked Buhari and his government and made the startling revelations coming from Jim Obazee, an investigator hired by Tinubu to look at CBN books, give us a guide to identify the source of our afflictions.
The questioning of Buhari may also help us to know why his ministers and aides embarked on over- invoicing to the tune of between $6-8billion to cater for their needs while Buhari wrung his hands, pretending all was well.
All will not be well while the evil men in Buhari’s government parade the streets of Nigeria with their ill-gotten wealth.
TInubu surely has the unenviable task of cleaning the mess left behind by his predecessor
The NASS action, similar to the Chukwufudi Oputa panel set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, will also help Tinubu to identify some of his party men who are culpable in the financial malfeasance and allow him defeat corruption, which is now the cause of our economic and security afflictions.
It is only by punishing those who stole and compromised Nigeria under Buhari’s watch that the Renewed Hope promised by Tinubu may be realised .
It will serve as evidence that Tinubu’s government too will not allow a similar fate to befall it.
The NASS has to help itself, help Tinubu and help Nigeria if truly its oversight functions will be meaningful.