My dear friend and sister clocked 44 on Sunday. To honour her, a few friends and family members gathered at her Lekki residence to unwind and catch up on old times. After a long week of hard work, being in the midst of intellectuals was one opportunity I did not want to miss. As expected, those present at the gathering were in one Change campaign group or the other during the 2015 presidential elections. Some of them had even fasted on their own to ensure victory for President Muhammadu Buhari. That was the extent to which these APC loyalists went to prevent what they described as a dangerous prolongation of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration.
Seeing each other again after about one year, therefore, naturally threw open the question: “how is Nigeria faring under the soothing breeze of Change?” Of course, I did not start the conversation; I rarely trigger discussions that I may not be able to end. But I was interested in the responses that the question would attract, especially coming from someone I had seen as an unrepentant APC apologist who is also a proud northerner (by marriage).
The first response came from one of our very active sisters, a close friend and colleague of the wife of one of the celebrated ministers in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet. “Moderator, I know you would be shocked to hear me say this. But I must tell you that I am disappointed. I sincerely feel that I should not have taken heated discussions surrounding APC/Peoples Democratic Party candidates and chieftains personal in the run-up to the (2015 presidential) elections. I did not understand what X’s father was saying about the Buhari/ Tinubu/Osinbajo combination until I went to see my friend (a cabinet member’s wife), who shocked me the more,” she stressed.
I would not want to spell out all she disclosed at that memorable gathering because of certain specifics, but it is pertinent to note that her revelations pointed to the fact that the sprinkling of smart people in the Buhari cabinet had been suffering and smiling for a while under a tense political situation that has virtually killed their ideas and exchanged their intelligence for fearinduced non-performance.
But my sister’s comments were not as disturbing as those of two APC loyalists in our midst. After the presidential elections, one of them, a northerner, assumed the role of an alternate INEC chairman. He was releasing the results as they were being counted every second (in the interest of those of us that were not glued to the television) and was also calling, in between, in his ecstatic mood, to stress that history would be made in a matter of minutes. But I was surprised that his own knocks for our dear President and his team were harder than those of others in the room. His argument was to puncture the submission by one of us that the present administration’s anti-corruption war was one Nigerians should thank God for. “I think the problem is that Buhari is focusing totally on the fight against corruption at the expense of the economy. There is no give and take,” the only person in the gathering, who seemed to still have some faith in the Change mantra, had said. But unbelievably, the one-time self-appointed “INEC chairman” pounced on him, saying that there was, really, no fight against corruption.He said, “I like what you just said. But you know what, you’re very wrong. I don’t think there is anything near what you can call a fight against corruption at the moment. All I see is a political party trying to render heavyweights of another useless. I would only call this a sincere anti-corruption struggle if the main actors in the build-up to the Buhari election success, who local and international observers have, one time or the other, linked to big corruption allegations, are probed as well.
“Don’t get me wrong, I would always vote for life imprisonment for those who have established multibillion naira looting cases against them, but the rule is: what is sauce for the goose must be sauce for the gander. On the economy and anticorruption, I would score this administration less than 40 per cent.” It was a blow, coming from the “face of Change himself.” But I agreed with the majority in the room that the causes, not the symptoms of corruption should be treated if we must have a meaningful struggle.
The discussions took me back to an article published in the August 11, 2016 edition of Premium Times, which said that some staunch supporters of President Buhari were “becoming frustrated and rethinking the roles they played in helping the President to power amid increasingly excruciating economic and political crises rocking the nation.”
One of them, Feyi Fawehinmi, with Twitter handle @Doubleeph, well known for his pro-Buhari/APC stance, even went ahead to apologise to his followers for convincing them to vote for Buhari, according to the report, while some others in his ‘camp’ also toed his path. These changing positions only reveal the Nigerian temperament. We are quick to accept, but also quick to reject. And this somewhat general attitude reflects in the one game that binds all enemies in Nigeria together. Once a Team Nigeria starts to “wobble and fumble” in the middle of a football match, Nigerian spectators would shift their support in favour of the opposing team. That Nigerians have been forced to exhibit the same behaviour in the Change setting is rather unfortunate.
I have always said that if after all the noise; the collective struggle for the soothing breeze of change and the firm belief in the President’s integrity as a foundation for a sane environment where hard work pays, Nigerians are worse off under this administration, then we may need another critical look at the prerequisite for a four-year ticket to the Aso Rock Villa.
As bad as the situation seems, however, there could be a change of direction very soon if the President walks the talk of revitalising the economy in spite of the “bad shape” he met it. It may seem too early, but a cabinet reshuffle should be a priority. In these unusual times, the Nigerian economy needs more of sound professionals in relevant fields than career politicians. But they must be given the requisite powers to effect the needed changes. Indicators of growth can head northward in a matter of months if the real problematic doors are closed and the growthoriented ones opened.
For now, I want to join those who still have some faith in this administration to appeal to those who are getting impatient to endure some more. The dividends of change are around the corner. The President, his advisers, and APC chieftains, among other stakeholders, I’m sure, are aware that their ‘honeymoon’ is over and will soon boot out “voodoo economists in the corridors of power.”
