BABA GO SLOW

Are you feeling the Buhari magic already?

About a month after the present administration of President Muhammadu Buhari came into office, impatient Nigerians have started castigating the government. Their grouse is what many consider the slow ‘movement’ of the administration. The president has been accused of not appointing key officials such as ministers, Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and many others, to help run the administration. Trust our very creative people, different names and even funny imagery have appeared on the social media to deride the seemingly slow pace of the administration. There was a particular photoshop that had the face of the president superimposed on a snail, crawling along in its usual slow gait. Snails are not animals in a hurry.
The foreign media have also not spared the president. Bloomberg in an article entitled; ‘Buhari goes from Nigeria’s change champion to ‘Baba Go Slow’, examined the performance of the administration vis-a-vis the expectation of Nigerians on the economic front, the fight against insurgency, among others, and said the expectations have not been met, adding that these have their attendant implications.
Presidential spokesman and my former boss in The Sun, Mr Femi Adesina, while reacting to the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), on the same matter, said the president was taking his time because the country was in a bad state. To quote him, “the Buhari administration is naturally contemplative because there was absolutely no rhyme or reason to the way PDP ran the country, particularly in the immediate past dispensation. That is why the Augean Stable is being cleaned now, and it requires scrupulous and painstaking planning”.
On a personal level, I think those criticizing the administration are right on some of the issues raised especially with appointment of key officials, but I want to say that the Buhari magic has started to manifest.
In the last few days, did we take cognizance of the number of people who have been quizzed by the anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)? Some of these people are those considered untouchables before now or which the previous administration, by commission or omission, refused to move against. Former Imo state governor, Ikedi Ohakim was arraigned on corruption charges by EFCC. Also arraigned was former governor of Adamawa state, Murtala Nyako and his son, Abdul-Aziz, a Senator representing Adamawa central in the National Assembly.
Also, at the time of writing this article, the EFCC was planning to arraign former Jigawa state governor, Sule Lamido and two of his sons for financial misappropriation. The case had been on for a while, before the present administration came on board, but the political will to follow up was not there. Though the ex-governors could walk free at the end of the day, the present effort has shown clearly the direction this administration is going and the wise ones, in government ministries, agencies and parastatals, are already taking a cue from this.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE