FEATURE ARTICLE

Temple Chima UbochiFriday, October 16, 2015
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THE MINISTERIAL LIST: WHERE ARE THE "SAINTS" PROMISED? (CONCLUSION)

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Continued from Part 2

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators (P. J. O'Rourke)

It has been said that all Government is an evil. It would be more proper to say that the necessity of any Government is a misfortune (James Madison)

This source of corruption, alas, is inherent in the democratic system itself, and it can only be controlled, if at all, by finding ways to encourage legislators to subordinate ambition to principle (James L. Buckley)

If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself (James Madison)

uhari's utterances, from the beginning, deceived us into believing that his nominees will be impeccable, but, lo and behold, most of them, the nominees, have petitions and allegations against them. And the senate didn't care to look into some of the allegations or petitions. We have got the change we wanted indeed!

The second ministerial list of 16 nominees is better than the first one, no doubt, but, it didn't satisfy the deepest desires and yearnings of Nigerians for better persons as ministers. The only difference with this second list is that most of the nominees on it have not held political positions before now, and they are mostly professionals and technocrats. And the advantage, just as Nigerian Tribune pointed out, is that technocrats or professionals, unlike the politicians, are more likely to discharge their duties in governance with little or no distraction from their followers or opponents. A politician is indebted to so many people, including those who helped him or her to get to his or her present position. The need to "settle" these people fuels corruption and laxity, as the politician must get the money, for that, somewhere, somehow.

Nigerians expected the ministerial nominees to be men and women of proven integrity and uncontroversial personalities who are qualified in their own rights to help the president in effectively running the country. Nigerians wanted nominees who have distinguished themselves in other spheres of life, who will then use their great wealth of experience to contribute immensely in moving Nigeria forward. Nigerians didn't get much of what they wanted. To be fair, few of the nominees are men or women who have distinguished themselves in their chosen field of endeavor. The point is that the president should have appointed more of those few, rather than the many crooks who are on the lists. There are few good ones on the second list, but, the overall star nominee is Dr. Okechukwu Enyinna Enelamah, the head of the country's biggest private equity firm. I wonder how Buhari came upon this name, and I commend him for that. Nigerians want more of such persons as appointees, as they can be found all over Nigeria, and such qualified Nigerians are also there all over the world. Okechukwu Enelamah, from Umuahia, Abia State, is M.D., CFA, Chief Executive Officer, Partner, and Founder of African Capital Alliance (ACA), which has raised over $750 million in managed funds since its inception in 1997. He was a former Goldman Sachs banker. A graduate of Harvard Business School, he is also a Medical Doctor. He also has PHD in economics from Harvard University. He headed many banks in South Africa, New York, Boston and Nigeria. He has many companies in South Africa and all over Africa. The father of Enelamah, Late Reverend Enelamah, was very close to Dr. Michael Okpara, the Premier of Eastern Region during the First Republic. He was a close adviser and spiritual adviser to Okpara in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Late Reverend Enelamah was the former Head of Methodist Church in Dioceses in Abia State, in Imo State and all over Igboland in the 1970s and 1980s.

Buhari failed so many Nigerians with his ministerial nominees, first or second list, but, it was the senate that disappointed Nigerians the more by the way it has carried out the screening exercise so far. The senate shirked its duty in the on-going screening of the ministerial nominees. The senate told Nigerians earlier that the nominees, who have held public office before, must produce written evidence of declaration of their assets, but, when the screening commenced, nobody talked about it again. This government says it wants to fight corruption to a standstill, and the best way to start was for the senate to make sure that no nominee with criminal case or who's tainted with corruption is cleared, in line with this administration's avowed zero-tolerance for corruption. But the senate didn't look at any of the nominee's record, as it was only "bow and go" all the way. Even when some senators wanted to ask some of the nominees serious questions about their past, the senate president overruled them, asking the nominees in question to just take a bow and leave the chamber. Nobody should be surprised, because, it is often stated that one who comes into equity must come with clean hands. Just as the Coalition Against Corrupt leaders, CACOL, noted, since Saraki was undergoing trial for alleged corruption, there was no way he could have denied a nominee a chance on the grounds of corruption. "Imagine Bukola Saraki who is being tried for corruption sitting in judgment over people of the same character! He has no moral authority to say that anyone is corrupt or fraudulent because his integrity is under trial. So, he will want to tread softly because what goes around comes around and that is what has just played out. Nigeria's democracy still had a long way to go as some of the senators did not know how to screen nominees"

Nigerians had hoped that the senate would do a thorough job, different from the laxity of past screening of nominees, but, in the end, nothing changed. Nigerians know that our politicians are a bunch of liars, who say one thing and do another, but, they were hoping against all hope that, may be, with the much hyped change mantra of the new government, that things might really change for the better. Nigerians were ready to give the deceitful politicians sitting in the senate chamber a benefit of doubt, but, they failed them again. In the preceding part of this article, I wrote how the leaders of the national assembly met with President Buhari on Wednesday, October 7, 2015, and there I expressed my fear that the senate leaders may have come out of that meeting biased and compromised, but, the promise by the senate, thereafter, that it will not compromise its stance on any nominee having corruption allegation hanging on his or her neck, made some Nigerians to believe that it will not be business as usual of "bow and go" during the screening. But Nigerians have been scratching their heads in bewilderment, asking themselves why the senate has failed them once again, after so many promises? President Buhari arm-twisting the senate is corruption; it's not only stealing of money that's corruption, surreptitiously influencing the outcome of an event or forcing others to compromise on a core principle to achieve one's selfish agenda is also corruption, and that was what President Buhari did here. One wonders how Buhari can fight corruption, when he also engages in corrupt practices. Buhari wants to fight corruption with corruption. Let's see how it will work!

Nigerian politicians never disappointed the pessimists or doubting Thomases who believed they would fail, and they did. The problem is not that Nigerians expected any positive change from the politicians, because, they are incapable of giving or doing anything good, as one can only give what one has. The issue is that the politicians keep on making promises they can't keep. Why not keep quiet, if there's no guarantee that they will fulfill their promises? Buhari promised Nigerians saints as ministers, rather we got some people who are worse than Satan's disciples as ministerial nominees, and it took him more than 4 months to select those crooks. The senate told us that it will do thorough and stringent job in its screening of the nominees, rather what it did was to tell those already screened to bow and go, without grilling them or asking them serious questions about their past or allegations against so many of them. What has all the prior cacophonies achieved now for Nigeria? The Tribune rightly noted that Nigerians were expecting a shocker, so to say during the screening exercise, but, didn't get it. Nigerians "had expected that the ministerial nominees would be thoroughly grilled and, perhaps, that some of them might be rejected, based on their performance. Indeed, millions of Nigerians would have been titillated by the extensive grilling of some nominees. Such approach would have convinced many that the 'change mantra,' which the APC government is mouthing, is real. Also, since the focus of the incumbent administration is on checking corruption and ensuring that no appointee takes advantage of his or her office, many had expected that the Senate would compel nominees to present certificates of their assets declaration before being screened. This would have been in departure from the past". Nigerians had thought that crooks among the nominees would have been dropped, and it was the duty of the senate to fish the crooks out during the screening, if the exercise was thorough, but, they, the obstreperous senators, failed. Nobody asked the nominees about their assets declaration certificate; hopefully that none of the nominees will be hauled to the Code of Conduct Tribunal, 12 years from now, whenever such person falls out of favor with the powers that be. Now would have been the right time to settle any doubt about any nominee's assets declaration, but, that opportunity has been missed!

May be, we over-estimated our politicians at our own peril. We believed the APC rabble rousers, not knowing that they have nothing to offer! We refused to listen to Patience Jonathan, the former first lady, who warned that it's only conductors who can give change. She was right; our politicians, who promised us change, from the president down, are really behaving like touts or conductors. Victor Aguku posted this: "To live in self denial is the worst kind of disease that can afflict any human and most of us have knowingly or unknowingly afflicted ourselves with this disease. I have been following events in Nigeria for a while now especially, the list of ministers nominated by Buhari, the much expected senate screening, the take a bow screening and the general disappointment by most Nigerians. Suddenly, I realise that there is actually nothing wrong with what the senate is doing with the screening. Yes, nothing is wrong with the "take a bow" convivial screening. What is wrong and has always been wrong is with every Nigerian who expected otherwise. There is this common saying that you cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome. Nigerians wanted change or rather pretended that they wanted change when in actual fact most of them, APC members, either acted out of jealousy or have a desperate desire to gain an advantage or to ensure that the other party did not continue to enjoying what they could not enjoy so they began the mantra of change but were being wise by half and living in a fool's paradise encased in the cocoon of self denial

How can any Nigerian want change in the political spheres of Nigeria, yet voted for exactly the same people they wanted to change by deceiving themselves with the reasoning that those people they voted for are different from the people they wanted to change simply because they changed their name. How can Nigerians want change yet voted for a political party whose founder and alter ego is a convicted drug lord and a certified state treasury looter. How can Nigerians want change yet they voted for a man who never minced any words to speak his mind and tell the whole world where his sympathy lies, in the Boko Haram terrorism. Well, Nigerians wanted change and change they have got. Nigerians wanted change from true democracy to despotic, godfather, sole proprietorship political control democracy. Nigerians wanted change from genuine security and safety implementation mechanism to a security and safety mechanism operated by terrorists. Nigerians wanted change from honest, humble and competent leadership to a leadership of lies, terror, intimidation and propaganda. Nigerians wanted change and that change they have got".

Another point is that I have gone through the state of origin of each nominee; I didn't see the nominee from Enugu State. If I made a mistake, then correct me. There's no ministerial nominee for Enugu State, and the constitution says that each state should be represented. What's the reason for this? Unless another batch of nominees is on the way, which I doubt, then something's wrong here. Ministerial appointment is statutory, meaning that each state should be represented. If Enugu State has no nominee, then, Buhari has brazenly defied the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Section 14(3) of it says: "The Composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the Federal Character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity and command national loyalty, thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few states or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups in that Government or any of its agencies".

In Part 1 of this article, I wrote that "Buhari shouldn't forget the South-East zone, and the compensation he promised it for not getting any appointments so far. Although we are still waiting for the second batch of nominees, but, I want to remind Buhari that he promised that some south-eastern states might get more than one ministerial slot, as a compensation for shortchanging the zone so far".

But, instead of succoring the south-east zone, Buhari has shortchanged the zone once again, by failing to give Enugu State a ministerial nominee. That's the problem; Buhari promises and fails. He needs to explain to south-easterners why he has shortchanged them again!

Another qualm I have with Buhari's ministerial lists is that he has no plan to form a national government. Although he nominated few people who has no party affiliation, but, it didn't go deep enough. Buhari should have included some opposition politicians as nominees, as he and his party alone can't salvage this country. Buhari should have been a bridge builder, and should have chosen honest people from every part of the country, from other political parties and wherever they're found, in the public or private sector, to assist him lead this country, because, that's the only way he can move the country forward.

In each of the two ministerial lists, there's the good, and there's the bad, only that the bad outnumbered the good 5 to 1. Those who thought that Buhari's election will give Nigeria a new lease of life or usher in a breath of fresh air after 16 years of PDP are yet to recover from the shock, as they were dazed when the names of some of the nominees were read, for the first time, in the senate chamber, by the senate president.

I missed Femi Falana's name on the second list. The biggest losers are people such as Tam David-West, Soyinka, Soludo, Ezekwesili, Utomi, and Festus Odimegwu who bashed President Goodluck Jonathan during the campaign period, looking for appointment. They, just like Jonathan, are still without job, as Buhari has failed to compensate them for the tantrum they threw at Goodluck Jonathan, unless he accommodates them in his future appointments. But who's sure of that?

To sign off: The point is that Saraki and the other senate leaders made a deal with Buhari; that's why despite all the noisemaking that they, senators, will be thorough and stringent in their screening of the ministerial nominees, they have adopted the "bow and go" style also used by the 7th Senate, the preceding senate, in clearing some of the nominees so far. Never trust a Nigerian politician; they are the same, saying one thing and doing another to hoodwink gullible Nigerians. Watch and see how all the noise about fighting corruption by Buhari will also fizzle out like the noise of the senators as regards to the screening exercise, and will also be tantamount to nothing in the end. The senators have disappointed Nigeria.

TIT BITS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-OU1ZRzU2U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygTV45X1yGI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxLzoEVM2ls&list=RDGxLzoEVM2ls#t=43

THE THANX IS ALL YOURS!!!

Continued from Part 2

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