Fellow Nigerians, let me begin by welcoming our dear leader,
President Muhammadu Buhari, back home from his medical vacation in
London. We have every cause to be thankful to Allah, the Merciful. The
Yoruba have a very apt adage for what happened to President Buhari: we
should be grateful to the death that wanted to kill us but chose to blow
off our cap only. President Buhari is a very lucky man. Indeed, he is a
cat with nine lives. From the pictures, we saw of him while he attended
to his ubiquitous visitors, it must have been a close shave. I’m happy
Baba was given another chance by the Almighty. Not everyone gets that
fortunate.
As I wrote before Baba came back, many Nigerians were
beginning to give up on his government. They believe this ruling party,
APC, has virtually derailed. That they have failed to deliver on the
phantasmagorical promises made when we all conspired and collaborated to
sack the government of President Goodluck Jonathan. But surprisingly,
things began to look better during the short span the Vice President,
Professor Yemi Osinbajo acted as President. The synergy between him and
the team appeared very cordial and proactive. His biggest achievement in
Baba’s absence was the effort he put into uniting Nigeria and
Nigerians. Everything he did looked too good to be true. Knowing a bit
about how things work in the corridors of power, I was troubled about
the possibility of a few powerful people misreading and misjudging
Professor Osinbajo’s innocent moves and great intentions. It is to the
Vice-President’s credit that he did not let those kinds of people
detract from the good work he was doing probably because he knew he had
the full backing of President for the steps he was taking. After all,
as the Vice-President has pointedly remarked he was in constant
consultation and dialogue with the President even though Baba had told
him not to bother and carry on as he was doing.
I saw in Professor
Osinbajo a man determined to rescue this government from the terrible
jinx that befuddled its predecessors. I saw a perfect gentleman who
wanted to hold fort for his boss by ensuring that things did not fall
apart before his return. I did not see a man scheming to take the
position of his boss for whatever reason. It was apparent that
Professor Osinbajo’s only desire was for the nation to progress and for
his boss to meet a better country and continue from there upon his
return. This is the type of deputy we all pray for in life. This is the
kind of assistant every leader would wish for, and be proud of any day.
Therefore a few of us wrote to support and encourage the Vice President
but some persons misconstrued our motives. That is no longer news. It
was the same way we were pummelled in the past for speaking truth to
power. But we must continue to do so because this is our government.
Baba
needs to take his time to feel the pulse of the nation. I plead, in the
name of Allah, that he listens carefully to the wailers, as his people
have labelled those who have been advising government and grumbling
aloud about the seeming inertia of this government. He can afford to
ignore the messengers but should never discard the loud messages. They
can’t all be wrong even if we read right or wrong motives to their
action. The truth is that we all want Baba and his team to succeed
because his success is the success of the nation. I find it difficult to
understand why people cannot appreciate that simple fact. It is not
everyone that would be forced out of power and can return triumphantly
after 30 years. It is one of those miracles we only read or dream about
but never witness. This more so, after four attempts of presidential
campaigns.
I was particularly moved by the letter from the Kaduna
State Governor, Mallam Nasir El Rufai. Here is a well-known protégé of
President Buhari. Here is a man projected as a possible successor in
case President Buhari decides not to seek a second term. I shuddered as I
read and raced through his 30-page missive to our President, I couldn’t
believe anyone that close to Buhari could fire those salvos. In that
massive letter, I read the bitter truth even if many would read sinister
undertones to it. Governor El Rufai really poured out his heart as
candidly as decorum permits. Baba should in fact thank him for this. It
takes love to openly criticise, even chastise, what is yours. It was an
admission of acute frustration in the system that has long experienced
systemic failure. Baba should find time to read and digest that letter.
I’m sure he would know how to sift the grain from the chaff.
Undoubtedly, El Rufai is one of the brightest stars we have in Nigeria
despite the many controversies around him. When he speaks, we should not
discountenance his wise counsel. I’m reasonably convinced that he means
well for the President and our troublesome country.
Many things
are being said behind Baba that he would never get to hear or read due
to the hypocritical nature of human beings. Only the bold ones would
dare speak up and damn the consequence. But anyone who loves Nigeria and
the President would stand up at this difficult time to be counted
amongst the brave. Baba should maintain the tempo he met on ground when
he landed last week. He should encourage Osinbajo to carry on with a
system that was already bearing fruits, by delegating more tasks to him.
His health challenges, for now, would not permit him to operate
optimally and he should not even overstretch his luck. It is too
dangerous to overwork when one is just returning from such an intensive
medical check-up. I pray Baba and his team, including the Vice
President, are already working at that same speed and tempo that we have
become accustomed to in his absence and that some of us are just
paranoid for nothing.
Nigeria
was in a big mess when President Buhari took over the reins of power
and in nearly two years, we’ve not even scratched the surface of dealing
with the sorry state of affairs that he inherited. Yet, the battle for
2019 elections has already started in earnest. This government has so
much work to do in less than two years if the APC is to retain power at
the Federal level and this can only be done if all hands are on deck.
Let us pray for President Buhari and praise the letter writers for their uncommon courage in this season of anomie.
A TOAST TO GOVERNOR AMBODE
I
know this would come as a surprise to the Governor of Lagos State,
Akinwunmi Ambode, but that is the whole idea. If a man is doing well,
the least we can do is to support and encourage him.
I wish to
confess today that Ambode has surpassed my expectations in under two
years. I remember getting an invitation to meet with him sometime in
2014. A call came through to me in Ghana from his close aide, Idowu
Ajanaku. The caller was very confident that the next Governor of Lagos
State would like to meet me at my earliest convenience to solicit my
support. I had wondered what support ordinary me could render when the
man was amply surrounded and motivated by political juggernauts,
especially the irrepressible Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. All the same, I
accepted the invitation, if only out of curiosity and left everything to
fly to Lagos.
I met Mr Ambode somewhere on Glover Road, Ikoyi. We
had never met nor spoken before then. He came across to me like a very
simple and humble personality. He divulged his plans and I felt honoured
that he consulted me at all. He spoke eloquently about his plans for
Lagos. I knew he was going to have to fight a major battle to become the
Governor of Africa’s most powerful state government but he had God and
the human backing of the former Governor of Lagos, Tinubu. I believe
only God can bequeath or take power and so knew he had a good chance.
Ambode radiated pure confidence and at the end of our meeting, he saw me
off to my car and I wished him well.
He fought a gallant battle
to get his party’s ticket. Between Senator Tokunbo Afikuyomi, a
political wizard, and I, we did everything we could to support him. I
was particularly willing and ready to back him up heavily on social
media. I couldn’t get over his simple mien and this made his matter
compelling for me. Besides, Asiwaju Tinubu, had mentored a few of us
while we were in exile in London after the June 12 imbroglio and this
was payback time. The general elections came and Ambode won and we were
all happy and jubilant.
Since then, I visited him once on a
courtesy visit, in company of my best friend, Prince Adedamola Aderemi,
and we met the same Ambode I had met before he became Governor, humble
and simple. Like the first time, he saw us off to our car, and we
chatted freely. On another occasion, I saw him on the Third Mainland
Bridge and sent him a text and he called immediately to exchange
greetings. But what has impressed me the most is not his interpersonal
relationships but the manner he has simplified governance. In less than
two years, he has improved drastically on the great Lagos the then
Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola handed over to him. Fashola himself had
laboured hard to emulate the giant strides of Tinubu in Lagos.
I’m
very proud that the three Governors of Lagos since the return of
democracy in 1999 have all done a lot to make Lagos such an enviable
city and a success story. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is obviously
determined to surpass the humongous achievements of his predecessors,
including the great veteran journalist, Papa Alhaji Lateef Jakande, and
the legendary military Governor, Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson.
Prince
Adedamola Aderemi and I were stunned when we drove recently through
Epe, from Ijebu-Ode, where we had gone for the 40-day funeral
festivities of Bimbo Ashiru’s mum. The transformation we encountered was
truly massive and impressive, more so, because we had passed that same
route a few months earlier. Within the Lagos Metropolis itself one can
see the stellar work that Ambode is doing but our experience in Epe made
us realise that the Governor is touching all parts of the state and not
just the showpiece capital.
Ambode’s operational smoothness,
typified by the novel but simple way in which he has changed the traffic
situation on the Lekki-Epe Expressway by removing roundabouts and
replacing them with intersections and flyovers, shows the lack of
clutter in his mind and a willingness to innovate and be creative.
Lagos
used to be badly polluted but Ambode is working at the speed of light
to clean up the environment urgently. Cleanliness is said to be next to
Godliness. The Cleaner Lagos Initiative is a bold and ambitious project
that seeks to rid Lagos forever of its traditional filth. The plan is to
expand the scope of LAWMA and enforce the regulation of the waste
management process to the highest international standards. This will
also create jobs for thousands of residents.
The vision of Ambode
is very impressive and he has started driving a social infrastructure
revolution in Lagos. His style is recommended to his colleagues who must
think outside the box to improve on their states. While I agree that
Lagos is a rich state, Ambode must be commended for spending the
resources of Lagos judiciously and positively.
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