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| President Buhari |
Today marks ninety (90) days in office of President
Muhammadu Buhari as the sixth civilian president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The Buhari administration was elected in March 2015, though controversially and
divisively, under a constitutional democracy guided by the 1999 Constitution.
Following this, the leadership of International Society for Civil Liberties
& the Rule of Law (Intersociety) has carried out a comprehensive assessment
of the President’s ninety (90) days in office so as to predict the country’s
future in the next four years under Buhari’s Presidency.
The assessment cuts across critical areas like electoral process
that brought him into office, office appointments and issue of the country’s
pluralistic composition or regional spread, economy, employment, trade and
investment, business growth, power sector, aviation, provision of key public
infrastructures like roads and railways; security, health, food security,
social security, budget performance and fiscal management, anti corruption,
debt borrowing and provision and delivery of social services. Our major concern
is not about achievements recorded in these areas under the Buhari
administration that has spent only three months in office, but to locate the
presence or absence of foundational governance or policy directions (if any)
towards them. In other words, the
President’s personality disposition and his administrative conducts and
composition are the fundamental yardsticks that will determine his performance
success or failure in office. In the theory of house construction, for
instance, its design and foundation fundamentally determine its durability or
otherwise. The critical findings following our in-depth assessment clearly
indicate that “the Buhari’s government is a government grossly lacking
direction and solid democratic foundation, and as such, the country is on its
way back to the cave”.
General Assessment: There is an immortal proverb in Igbo
land that says “one who does not visit his friends or neighbors will never know
when his house chattels or curtains and pieces of furniture get worn out and
require replacement”. That is to say that the best way to know the level of
governance decadence in Nigeria over the years is to compare the country with
other countries that Nigeria was far better than in the 60s and 70s. Using this
parameter, it is totally unarguable that Nigeria is chronically at crossroads
with respect to governance misdirection, bastardization and backwardness.
Therefore, the best way to rate President Muhammadu Buhari
administration now is not in the area of infrastructural governance
achievement, which is nonexistent; but governance foundation. In the first
place, President Buhari was erroneously elected through the handiwork of the
country’s captains of corruption and ethno-religious zealotry. For instance, former Governor of Kano State,
Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso recently revealed that millions of abandoned and
impoverished children in the North called “almajaris” (dominated by under-age
voters) were used in producing Buhari as President in March 2015.
This is in addition to electronic voters’ cards manipulation
and forceful exclusion of millions of registered voters and others of voting
age from the Southeast, South-south, Southwest and Christian minorities of the
North from electoral process including voters’ registration, voters’ card
transfer, non issuance of permanent voters’ cards and deliberate failure of
electronic card readers in the Southern and minority Christian strongholds
during the presidential poll. Over 2 million registered voters were denied
permanent voters’ cards and excluded from voting in Lagos State alone.
So, non-sentimentally speaking, President Muhammadu Buhari
ought not to have been elected. This is
because, judging from collective worries by most Nigerians with respect to the
age-long governance decadence pervading the country, Nigerians do not need a
“gerontocrat” or a primordialist to derive its governance ship. Rather, the
country direly needs a thinker, a statesman and a visionary to be able to catch
up with its peers of 60s and 70s like China, India, South Korea, Indonesia,
Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and even Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Oman and
Brazil.
It is on indisputable record, for instance, that the UAE
once borrowed about N2.5 Billion loan from Nigeria in the 70s. Nigerians are
tired of being politically enslaved and impoverished by their conscienceless
public office holders. As expected and feared by attentive Nigerian public,
President Buhari administration has since 29th May 2015 been running from
pillar to pole in its governance without a direction. Because the President
fundamentally lacks the attributes of a statesman, he has embarked on politics
of exclusion and segregation as can clearly be seen in his policies, utterances
and appointments made so far. President Buhari’s presidency is a clear
attribute of primordialist presidency and political leadership, which wound and
inflict, challenge and question peoples’ ethnic identity through socially and
culturally incoherent policies and actions.
The President has no clearly and constitutionally defined
governance foundation and direction and it is a settled maxim in the world of
science that something can never be generated from nothing. Till date, Buhari
is constitution-phobia and military decree-friendly. This is clearly evident in
most, if not all his appointments and policy decisions made so far. Most of
them are unknown to the 1999 Constitution, which totally governs the country’s
constitutional democracy. The Buhari administration is also popularly believed
to have laid its foundation on “government of media propaganda, for confusion of
Nigerian masses, and by false governance alarmists”. Truly speaking, President
Buhari is a direct opposite of a statesman, who builds, binds and facilitates
peaceful co-existence leading to social harmony and integration, which in turn,
lead to national economic prosperity and greatness.
For instance, he has made a total of 29 important office
appointments since 30th May 2015 and as at today (29th August 2015), not even one of them is from the Southeast
zone; thereby grossly violating Section 14 (3) of the 1999 Constitution
(regional or geopolitical spread). The important constitutional Section
provides as follows: “the composition of the Government of the Federation or
any of its agencies and 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 also to 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”.
Also, Section 171 (5) of the Constitution further provides as follows:
“in exercising his powers of appointment under this section (Section 169
creating the Civil Service of the Federation), the President shall have regard
to the Federal Character and the need to promote national unity”.
Lopsided Presidential Appointments:
Below is the list of 29 top presidential appointments made
by the Buhari administration between 30th May and 28th August 2015. 1. Aide de
Camp to President: Lt. Col Abubakar Lawal, (Kano State, North-West).2. Special
Adviser, Media and Publicity to the President: Femi Adesina, (Osun State,
South-West).
3. Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity to the
President: Garba Shehu, (Kano State, North-West). 4. State Chief of
Protocol/Special Assistant (Presidential Matters): Lawal Abdullahi Kazaure,
(Jigawa State, North-West). 5. National Security Adviser: Babagana Monguno
(Borno State, North-East). 6. Chief of Air Staff: Sadique Abubakar, (Bauchi
State, North-East). 7. Commandant General of the Nigerian Security & Civil
Defense Corps (NSCDC): Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu (Niger State, North-Central).
Others are: 8.Chief
of Defence Intelligence: Monday Riku Morgan (Benue State, North-Central).
9. Director General, State Security Services, SSS: Lawal
Daura, (Katsina State, North-West). 10. Acting Chairperson, Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC):
Amina Zakari, (Jigawa State, North-West). 11. Managing Director,
Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA: Habibu Abdulahi (Kano State, North-West).
12. Special Adviser, Niger Delta Amnesty Office: Paul Boroh,
(Bayelsa State, South-South). 13. Acting Director General, Nigerian Maritime
Administration, Safety and Security Agency, NIMASA: Baba Haruna Jauro (Yobe
State, North-East).14.Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian
Communications Commission: Umaru Dambatta
(Kano State, North-West).
15. Executive
Chairman, Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS: Babatunde Fowler, (Lagos State,
South-West).16. Director General, Budget Office of the Federation: Aliyu Gusau,
(Zamfara State, North-West).
17. Secretary to the Government of the Federation: Engr.
Babachir David Lawal (Adamawa State, Northeast). 18. Chief of Staff to the
President: Alhaji Abba Kyari (Borno State, Northeast).19. Controller General of
the Nigerian Customs Service: Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd.) (Nassarawa State,
North-Central). 20. Controller General,
Nigerian Immigration Service: Mr. Kure Martin Abeshi (Nassarawa State,
North-Central). 21. SSA to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate):
Senator Ita S.J. Enang (Akwa Ibom State, South-south). 22. Group Managing Director of NNPC: Emmanuel
Kachikwu (Delta State, South-south). 23. Accountant General of the Federation:
Ahmed Idris (Kano State, North-West). 24. Chief of Defense Staff: Aboyomi
Olonishakin (Ekiti State, Southwest). 25. Chief of Army Staff: Tukur Buratai
(Borno State, Northeast).26. Chief of Naval Staff: Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (Cross
River State, South-south). 27. Head of Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR):
Mordacai Ledan (Kaduna State, Northwest). 28. SSA to the President on National
Assembly Matters (House of Reps): Hon. Suleiman A. Kawu (Kano State,
Northwest). 29. Director General of the Assets Management Corporation of
Nigeria (AMCON): Ahmed Lawan Kuru (Northwest). (Credit: Linda Ikeji Blog August
2015 (edited).
Of the 29 presidential appointments above, the North took 22
slots and the South seven, and as it concerns the geopolitical
allocation/spread, mandatorily provided in Section 14 (3) of the 1999
Constitution, Northwest zone alone took twelve slots, followed by the Northeast
with six, North-Central four, South-south four, Southwest three and the
Southeast was left with zero slot or appointment. In the present composition of
the Federal Government of Nigeria under the Buhari administration, judicially,
presidentially and legislatively speaking, the North controls 80%, if not more.
For instance, the following
key public offices of the Federation are presently in the hands of the
North: President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Senate President, Speaker
of the House of Representatives, Chief Justice of the Federation, President of
the Court of Appeal, Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, Chief of Staff to the President, Chief of Army
Staff, Chief of Air Staff, Comptroller General of Customs, Director-General of
State Security Services (SSS), National Security Advisor, Director General of
NIMASA, Chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC),
Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service, Accountant-General of
the Federation, Commandant General of
the Nigerian Security & Civil Defense Corps, Chief Security Officer
to the President, ADC to the President,
Principal Secretary to the President, Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media & Publicity, Chairman of the EFCC, Head of Service of
the Federation, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Director
General of the Nigerian Broadcasting
Commission (NBC), Director General of the Assets Management Corporation of
Nigeria (AMCON), Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA)
and Chairman of National Agency for
Drugs & Control (NAFDAC). (Credit: Femi Fani Kayode Blog August 2015
(edited).
It is therefore immoral, despicable, condemnable, shameful and
unconstitutional for the Presidential Spokesman, Mr. Femi Adesina to defend and
justify the grossly lopsided and constitutionally impeachable appointments made
so far by his boss. The 1999 Constitution does not give the President power to
take recourse to sectional or constitutional appointive spread according to his
whims and caprices or at his own convenient time. Rather, the Constitution
commanded and still commands President Muhammadu Buhari, as he presently is, to
adhere strictly to the federal character at all times including in his
presidential policies, actions and conducts.
Besides, waiting to “balance the constitutional imbalances”
during his long awaited ministerial appointments is totally deceitful and a
smokescreen approach. This is because the President has totally achieved his
“nothernization and sectional governance policy aims and objectives”, powered
by politics of exclusion and segregation.
As matter of fact, the President has cornered for his region all
powerful, sensitive and juicy appointments. What are left in the form of
“ministers” are “fish eaters” and not “fishermen”.
The ministerial appointments have their own seperate
Constitutional requirements and must not be used to further confuse and mislead
Nigerians. In the plain language and command of Section 147 (3) of the 1999
Constitution, “any appointment of minister under subsection 2 of this Section
by the President shall be in conformity with the provisions of Section 14 (3)
of this Constitution. Section 147 (4) further commands: “provided that in
giving effect to the provisions aforesaid, the President shall appoint at least
one minister from each State, who shall be an indigene of such State”.
Signed:
Emeka Umeagbalasi (B.Sc., Criminology & Security Studies)
Board Chairman, International Society for Civil Liberties & the
Rule of Law
+2348174090052 (office)
emekaumeagbalasi@yahoo.co.uk, info@intersociety-ng.org
Uzochukwu, Oguejiofor-Nwonu, Esq., LLB, BL, Head, Campaign &
Publicity Department
Chiugo Onwuatuegwu, Esq., LLB, BL, Head, Democracy & Good
Governance Program
Obianuju Igboeli, Esq., LLB, BL, Head, Civil Liberties & Rule of
Law Program
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