When recession hits the
economy it leads to inflation. When it hits INEC it leads to 'inconclusive
elections'. When it hits APC they turn Graduate to Conductors. When it
hits Davido he stops singing 'emi omo baba olowo' and starts singing 'gba be
oshi'. When it hits P-Square they stop singing 'chop my money' and start
singing 'bank alert'. When it hits Nollywood stars they stop flashing cleavage
and bum and start flashing you with calls.
When
it hits E-Money, he stops spraying dollar with spraying machine and starts spraying
Naira by hand. When it hits UAC they start
making gala with sausage only at the end and none in the middle. When it hits
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo he forgets mathematics and blames Jonathan for
looting $15 billions arms fund though less than $10 billion was budgeted for
defense under Jonathan But
when it hits President Buhari he stops promising change and starts blaming
Goodluck Jonathan!-
The incurable
Responsibility Dodgers Syndrome afflicting the current administration has
reached alarming proportions such that they have turned the weekly meetings of
the federal executive council into blame Jonathan sessions.
Rightly, agents of the
government of the day have earned the unflattering sobriquet Responsibility
Dodgers because the big guns in this government, despite their manifest
unpreparedness for office and obvious cluelessness, have continued to blame
past administrations, especially that of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for their own
failure.
It is even most
disappointing that a clergyman like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a Professor
of law, who incidentally is also the head of the administration’s economic team
would join the fray.
The latest outburst from
Professor Osinbajo was made in a paper he presented at an event in the United
States last Monday, where he claimed that the Jonathan administration was never
committed to defeating Boko Haram.
Really? Let me remind our
revered Vice President of a statement made by his boss when the then President
Goodluck Jonathan unleashed the firepower of the Nigerian Army on Boko Haram.
Since the Vice President
has finally confessed that it was a national leader of the All Progressive
Congress who was a former governor that nominated him to his present post,
permit me to quote from a newspaper in which they same national leader has interest
to buttress my argument.
On the 2nd of June, 2013,
The Nation Newspaper in a headline titled 'Buhari Faults Clampdown on Boko
Haram Members' said "Former Head of State and Presidential candidate of
the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Major General Muhammadu Buhari has
faulted the federal government’s clampdown on Boko Haram Islamic
insurgents.He accused the government of killing and destroying their houses
while the Niger Delta militants were given special treatment by the government.
Buhari who spoke on Sunday on a Liberty Radio
programme, Guest of the Week monitored in Kaduna also admitted that the road to
the registration of the All Progressive Congress (APC) was rough, pointing out
that the promoters of the party were well prepared for any hitch that may
arise.
Buhari who first spoke in
Hausa before the English version accused politicians from the Niger Delta
region of starting the current in security in the country by recruiting and
arming youths of the region in their desperate attempt to retain power as
governors.
The former Nigerian leader
said that unlike the special treatment given to the Niger Delta militants by
the federal government, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their
houses demolished by government."
From the above, a few
things become clear:
a. There was a 'clampdown'
on Boko Haram under Jonathan.
b. It requires 'commitment'
to unleash a clampdown.
c. It was precisely Vice
President Osinbajo's boss, President Buhari who was against the clampdown.
So now I ask, who was
really never committed to defeating Boko Haram?
The three facts established
by the newspaper owned by the very man who nominated Professor Osinbajo to his
present position has exposed him as either a liar or a poor student of
history.
Given that the Vice
President earned a professorship, I am not inclined to believe that he is a
poor student of history which leaves only one other conclusion.
Let us recall that at one
point, while addressing pastors and leaders at a retreat of the Fountain of Life
Church in Lagos, Osinbajo had also claimed that the Governments of Jonathan and
that of late President Umaru Yar’Adua didn’t build a single road in ten years!
On the issue of recession
and how to get out of it, the Vice President has continued to dither. In one
breathe, he had blamed the downturn on the past administration, and in another,
he found it convenient to put the blame on pipeline vandalism. And this is
despite the fact that the administration, through the Chairman of All
Progressive Congress (APC) Governor’s Forum, has assumed responsibility for
plunging the economy into recession.
Any discerning mind seeking
to appraise the Vice President by what he says, about the past administrations,
cannot but come to the conclusion that Osinbajo simply does not realize the
weight of the responsibility that rests on the seat he occupies.
I have no doubt in my mind
that accountability requires that a man in his position, whose word bears the
full stamp of the administration, should always aspire not only to speak the
truth, but to say it with candour and dignity.
In the first place, he has
continued to raise wide and baseless allegations of an embezzled $15 billion
security equipment fund, without any shred of evidence. Again, I state that
this is the kind of loose and trite talk that a Vice President should never be
associated with.
It is self evident that the
entire five year defence budget under the former President did not have a
security equipment component that was anywhere near that figure. Also, when he
insists that the military were poorly equipped, he is simply being economical
with the truth. This is because, despite his distant disposition in office, we
expect that he should atleast know, that the entire military arsenal currently
being deployed in the prosecution of the war against Boko Haram, are still the
ones ordered or purchased by the past administrations, as the Buhari
Administration is yet to replenish the nation’s armoury.
Funny enough, as I was
writing this piece, Vanguard Newspaper published a video of the hero of our
time, Lieutenant Colonel Abu Ali fighting Boko Haram with the headline 'Video:
Footage shows artillery weapons bought by Jonathan, used by Late Col. Abu-led
troops against Boko Haram'! APC's lies are catching up with them!
I leave Nigerians to
determine the wisdom in the Vice President’s claim that Boko Haram occupied 20
of the 27 Local Government Areas in Borno State at the time his Government came
on board, when the fact remains that the election that produced both the APC
presidency and Borno State Governor, held in all the local government areas in
the state.
I have to painfully admit
that, going by his insensitive and offhand comments, Osinbajo has not impressed
Nigerians either as a Senior Advocate, pastor or Vice President. We believe
that as a senior lawyer, he understands that his garb of silk conveys on him
the responsibility of speaking factually and evidentially. We are also
convinced that as a Vice President, his office requires that he speaks with
decorum and respect at all times. Above all, as a minister of the gospel,
apparently schooled in the forbearing ways of the Saviour, his utterances
should only seek to heal, and not revile. Unfortunately, Osinbajo has failed
woefully on all these counts.
I urge Vice President
Osinbajo to rummage the archives to bring himself up to speed on how Chief Alex
Ekwueme, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and Arch. Namadi Sambo,
all reputable former Vice Presidents, functioned during their time, to make
themselves effective in office. For instance, Osinbajo should be reminded that
during Jonathan’s short time as Vice President, he left a good track record as
the head of the nation’s economic management team. Beyond providing a sterling
leadership for the well-placed economic direction of the Yar’Adua
administration, Jonathan was also the face of the amnesty negotiations that
brought about the peace in the Niger Delta. He did not achieve that through
pointless drivel empty sound-bites.
We have to point out that
while the economy bleeds, this Vice president as the head of the economic
management team of the present administration, who ordinarily should be
marshalling out policy initiatives, remains aloof and marooned. Let us not
forget that he was the head of the economic team when padding was introduced in
our budgeting lexicon. The 2016 budget which he supervised and sent to the
Senate with all grime and warts, has gone down as the most scandalous and worst
ever to be prepared in this country. Ditto for the $29.9 billion loan request
which has just been thrown out by the Senate, as a result of the opaque and
vague nature of the proposal.
It appears the shame
of plummeting naira value, galloping inflation, mounting job losses and
collapsing economy, increasing hunger as well as worsening unemployment
numbers, are not enough to rouse the Vice President to action. Otherwise,
Osinbajo, did not have to wait for the World Bank, the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) and the National Assembly to remind his Government that a humongous
loan bid without a comprehensive economic blueprint, simply cannot fly.
But did he need to be
reminded that a depressed economy, or any economy at all, can never recover or
flourish when placed on auto pilot, like Osinbajo and his team have done?
The earlier Osinbajo
realizes that a good Vice President avoids the distractions of tactless
activism, the better for him. What is required of him is to strategically apply
himself to the job of helping his principal and the administration to succeed,
especially in these trying times.
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