OPINION: Edu, Sadiya, Halima, Bello, et al

The ruling elite controls us. Our collective capacity for short memory recall is second to none in the world. So, it is usually easy for our rulers to appoint important government posts or announce annoying policies and then sit back. We, Nigerians, will be furious and threaten to fire guns and brimstone if these appointments or policies are not reviewed or reversed. Our rulers would be happy to keep quiet knowing that ‘nothing big’ or nothing will happen. After a few days, maximum one week, we will move on and matters that have been related to appointments and/or policies will disappear from the media headlines.

Nearly every federal administration since 1999 has used this strategy to undermine society and address citizen discomfort. However, the extant regime of the All Progressives Congress (APC) political party has elevated this practice to an art form. Whenever a government backtracks on a chosen option, this is usually done to create the impression that they are a government that is listening. No, no. It has not been the case since 2015 when its candidate and Nigerian plight, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, served as president. A total failure that borders on what no ruler should do in a country that is in dire need of rescue from political and economic chaos and paralysis, treating the presidency as a trophy and not a call to serve. When Buhari failed in three consecutive attempts to be elected president of Nigeria, he publicly bemoaned his fate but later stated that Nigeria and the Nigerian people would be the ones to suffer the most. He has told us that he is offering himself as president because he is the Messiah that Nigeria has been waiting for. Some shallow-minded Nigerians, including pseudo-intellectuals, believed him and his chorus that if given the opportunity to assume the highest office, he would turn the country around. Buhari got this opportunity in 2015 and actually managed to change the state of the country – for the worse. Through his incompetence and ‘non-governance’ he took Nigeria backwards by 30 years or a generation.

Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong under the Buhari administration. Politics is bastardized. Kindness is strangely discarded in appointments to sensitive and insensitive offices. Members of his tribe control almost all levels of government. Religion was such an important consideration in recruitment that for nearly eight years of his doomed reign, national security meetings could easily be conducted in Hausa and participants had to be at home. Buhari predicted that this bigger disaster would impact the economy. He borrowed funds from foreign financial institutions, giving the impression that lending was outdated and that international funds would soon run out. Buhari’s Nigeria struggled to obtain foreign loans in a manner similar to the seizure and division of Africa by European countries in Germany in 1885. However, the regime was dissatisfied with the amount of foreign loans that burdened Nigeria. The country turned domestic and began borrowing from the domestic money market through the issuance of government bonds and other debt instruments. Still not satisfied. Then they resorted to printing Naira backed by nothing until he raised a staggering N30 trillion through the Ways and Means of the central bank. You would be very wrong if you thought it all ended there. Buhari’s so-called disaster then continued by auctioning millions of barrels of Nigerian crude oil while the oil had not yet been extracted from underground. He collected advance payments and squandered them. When this happened, APC national leader and now Buhari’s successor, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu cheered him on, saying that Buhari was the next best thing to happen to Nigeria after sliced ​​bread.

Buhari introduced or at least made worse the situation of rulers who felt no obligation to explain anything to the Nigerian people. As president, he once spent 103 days abroad on a medical tour without telling Nigerians what he was suffering from or how much money was taken from the coffers to cover his medical bills. It must be acknowledged that impunity started with Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, our president who was ill and ultimately died while in office in 2010.

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In this column last week we said that Tinubu insulted Nigerians. He’s not alone. Government agencies under Tinubu’s administration quickly learned how not to take Nigerians seriously. They learn that a problem, no matter how serious, can go away if you ignore it long enough. And there are many similar things that have been forced to disappear from our memories. One of the serious issues regarding alleged defamation is the case of Betta Chimaobim Edu, the minister of humanitarian affairs who was temporarily dismissed. When Minister Edu was removed from office last January, the presidential spokesperson said it was in line with Tinubu’s commitment to uphold the highest standards of integrity, transparency and accountability in the management of the Nigerian commonwealth. Of course Nigerians know that the Presidency is lying. Despite this, he was referred to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Edu reported to the anti-graft agency who questioned him and released him on bail before sunset the same day. Bail terms were not disclosed at the time. They are still not published. The EFCC is still investigating allegations of misconduct that at least relate to the payment of government money amounting to hundreds of millions of Naira into individuals’ personal bank accounts in contravention of regulations. It’s now been six months and counting and Edu’s story is starting to fade from our memories.

Ms Halima Shehu is the national coordinator and CEO of the National Social Investment Program Agency, which is part of the corruption-prone Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. Ms Shehu whose agency oversees the government’s conditional cash transfer program had few days earlier been suspended by Minister Edu over allegations of destroying billions of Naira in public funds. The last time Shehu’s case was heard was six months ago when the EFCC said it was still investigating his alleged crimes. Edu and Shehu walk freely and may travel in and out of Nigeria. Likewise, there is no tolerance for corruption carried out by the Tinubu regime. Still ‘nothing major’.

But before Edu there was Sadiya Umar-Farouk, who was also minister for humanitarian affairs under Buhari. Sure enough, the pastor who pioneered the secret financial ministry. He is being probed by the regime over allegations that N37.1 billion was laundered through his ministry. The status of this case, like others, is uncertain. It would be recalled that the renowned ministry also allegedly released N500,000,000 million to feed school students confined at home in 2020 during COVID -19.

Lastly, there are allegations of N82 billion fraud against Alhaji Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state for eight years until last January. It’s a ding dong affair. He was once cornered like a rat when EFCC agents surrounded his house in Abuja. But his surrogate allegedly used his cover of immunity to get him out of the trap. Bello has remained in hiding since then and he is negotiating the terms of his appearance in court to answer the charges leveled against him. That is the situation in our country where suspects determine the terms and place of their interrogation and arraignment in court. The same EFCC that begged and met Bello’s demands would easily raid student dormitories and stag night parties to arrest young people for alleged internet fraud while their military and police counterparts broke down doors and windows to arrest innocent journalists and keep their families traumatized. The crime of journalists is that they carry out their duties to hold the government accountable to the people. State security agents are increasingly becoming freelance torturers of hapless and defenseless Nigerians. This failed and failed regime has effectively revived Buhari’s military-era Draconian Decree 4 with the implementation of the Cybersecurity Act. Fortunately, history records that tyranny in Nigeria was short-lived.

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