Reminiscing on My Exit From President Buhari's Highway

In hindsight, the APC patchwork was with the best of intention and for the best interest of the country. Sadly though, it was hijacked at dawn by forces who were not part of the struggle that brought candidate Buhari into Aso Rock as the First Lady alluded to on several occasions. So, her recent accusation of two unnamed individuals as being responsible for the slow pace of work done by her husband's administration in the past four years is consistent with her history of no hold barred criticisms of Aso Villa.

I openly campaigned against President Jonathan, believing that as one coming from the Ivory Tower, he has what it takes to cast brand new performance benchmarks that would completely divorce him and his administration from the past. He turned out to be a willing participant in the same old discredited culture, begging for a pragmatic approach.

I supported the Progressive ticket even though I had my doubt about candidate Buhari ethnic and religion biases. My expectation was that given the foresight of Chief Odigie Oyegun, the enigma of Asuwaju Tinubu, and the millennium mindset of Fashola, El'Rufai, and Dr. Fayemi (all surrounding the highly reputed disciplinarian President Buhari), Nigeria is on its way to a radical revolutionary change. I was wrong. 

After about six months of waiting, the new President released his ministerial list; going through the list, I knew that the progressive component of the patchwork has evaporated. In anger, I went to my laptop and vent my anger, describing the new dispensation as a stolen mandate. See "If Not Sonola Olumhense, Who? If Not Now When?" 

The First Lady echoed my concerns about a year later, labeling the hijackers as the cabal. And she did it again about a few days ago.

"If Not Sonala Olumhense, Who? And, If Not Now, When?" October 07, 2015

Culled from hamiltonatlarge.blogspot.com

The Ministerial list is out. And the general consensus remains unequivocally and provocatively the same: “all too familiar.” So, where are the progressive analysts and the policy savvy Fabio, Nasiru Oseni, Olumhense, Adesanmi, Onumah, the scholarly Ndibe, and the erudite Musawa in the picture? We know their records. We know what they stand for. And we are quite familiar with their visions of Nigeria. For the record, the so-called tested Nigerians, including those with the Military background, slept on their rights and responsibilities, when land speculators, hoodlum, and hooligans took over Abuja. It was the youngish El'Rufai who literally, and yes, miraculously, discovered the original master-plan of the FCT and thought it fit to repackage the new Capital City in the image and likeness of its creators. And the rest is now history.

This piece is not a citation of Mr. Olumhense's CV or a rendition of his literary and diplomatic accomplishments over the years. He has the best of both worlds, no doubt. This is simply a highlight, a reference to his unmatched involvement in the historic struggle that culminates in the rejection of President Jonathan at the poll – a struggle, the fulfillment of which Mr. Olumhense and his fellow social crusaders are now being systematically sidelined. I will come back to that later.

Indeed, the process is still evolving, but time is of the essence. 

As a True Progressive, it is not my culture to discredit those on the list - they are eminently qualified. But suffice it to say that I am older than Mr. Arne Duncan, the pragmatic outgoing U.S. Education Secretary, who transformed the American educational system for President Obama. And he was never at any point in his career a Governor or a Senator. 

When President Obama came into office, he was openly counseled to hire the former New York City Secretary of Education, who, without any doubt, did a good job in New York City. But President Obama was a man of the future - new millennium focused. He settled for the more modern Arne Duncan, and both gentlemen never looked back.

A Ministerial list must mirror the purpose and essence of the new dispensation, this time, of the All Progressive Congress. Of a bold new start, to impact changes and improved on a set of values. It is about inculcating fresh thinking within the framework of emerging trends (innovation and forward-looking). It is about vision - creating a new body of work (ideas), and developing a new benchmark for performance evaluation, taking governance and organizational behavior - our behavior - out of the routine, the pedestrian and the culture of business as usual.

So, what are we talking about! That we are not astute, resourceful, brash, tested, innovative and patriotic? That we are not good enough? 

If the emerging faces – old usual faces who have been at the scene of power in the last twenty years - deserve another chance, how would you explain our present state of stagnation: spiraling infrastructural decline; unwholesome income gap between the leaders and the governed; death traps all over our major highways; a sport authority that closes its door to the Odegbamis and the Onyalis, populating its Front Office with glorified sport enthusiasts incapable of producing medal winning team/athlete at international sporting events; corruption-fighting agency that specializes in making more headline news quizzing fraudulent Nigerians than in actually securing conviction and forfeiture

And a Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) that has been dormant for years, sleeping on its rights and responsibilities, feeding fat on taxpayers money, only to realize the enormity of its mandate, when a rebel Senator went rogue and successfully challenged the authority of his own political party; where kidnappers, culture of ritualism, pregnancy for hire and child factory entrepreneurs never cease to outsmart our law enforcement agencies; and a national armed forces populated by dully enlisted officers who are having difficulties balancing the content of their oath of office with the dictate of their religious faith, thus, transforming a ragtag, ill-equipped, ill-fed, barely literate religious sect into a highly mobile, sophisticated and daring fighting machines, killing and maiming all over the North-East with dramatic alacrity. Tell me something! Is that a good record?

In a few days, they will be screening Ministers without portfolios. They are excited. And everyone is excited. It's been a long wait. But, how would you, Mr. Senator, be able to ask the right questions, when you have no clue of the designated Ministry of the potential Minister undergoing screening? That it's been done that way in the past doesn't make it acceptable today.

Matching Performance With Expectations:

Age has nothing to do with it. It is a different world and a different mindset. Therefore, given the greater expectations, an Obasanjo and his offshoots are certainly no measure of virtues. Unless of course, we have forgotten so soon what the standard was during Papa Awo in the old Western Region. Yes, the men and women of that administration were Nigerians.

Give us EFCC, and Nigerians will stop stealing overnight. We will convert Sambisa Forest to better use - Guantanamo Bay. Give us the Ministry of Communication; Nigerians will stop carrying two phones within a year. Give us the Ministry of Solid Mineral, and we will put about a million Nigerians back to work in record time. And give me the Environmental Protection Agency, I promise; there will be a dramatic change - positive change - in what is going on right now in the Niger Delta.

I take to writing this essay, because I know we are better than those who have been at the scene for the past twenty years. And I made these declarations, believing that we have what it takes to do better managing the same people and the same resources than the so-called tested leaders. I have seen them in the decision-making process - taking decisions we would not have taken. And I have seen them in action - doing things we would not have done. 

For instance, more than two years after the completion of Aigboje Imoukhuede's Committee investigation into the scam that rocked the NNPC and the Petroleum Products and Pricing Regulatory Authority (PPPRA), EFCC is still groping in the dark, not knowing how to take advantage of the groundbreaking report and recover for Nigeria the Subsidy Funds stolen by bogus Petroleum Marketers.

Performance is about managerial acumen, creative mindset, and the willingness to fight for regulatory compliance. The Telecoms industry makes the most profitable business in Nigeria than anywhere else in the developing world, yet they don't have enough funds set aside for R and D. And sadly, the average Nigerians carry at least two phones. In a similar vein, DISCOs continued to bill where they did not deliver, yet no one in any of the industries is running for cover or contending with the fear of his license being revoked!

So, who is fooling who? Take Professor Bolaji Akinyemi out of the picture; can you name a Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs of international repute, or of ordinary repute, in the last Twenty years? Seriously, can you name one?

That is a challenge before President Buhari and his recruiting team. The emerging Minister of Foreign Affairs must have the aura and power-presence of Chief Patrick Dele Cole, the intellectual acumen of Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, and the suave and gravitas of Mr. Joseph Garba, of blessed memory.

From all indications, the following Nigerians, namely, Professor Azinge, Mrs. Dupe Atoki, and Mr. Donald Duke, in my humble opinion, have what it takes to make us proud, stand tall once again at international forums.

It is about vision and the ability to genuinely articulate the problems and proffer common sense solutions as appropriate. It is about brain power. If you don't have it, you cannot articulate it. Mr. Sonala Olumhense has it. Barrister Nasiru Sonny Useni has it. These guys are heavily gifted. Their passion for what they do is beyond the ordinary. Read them, listen to them. You will experience governance made easy.

There are thousands of other Nigerians with similar attributes who, unfortunately, may never taste power at the federal level, because their likes are either, (1), feared and resented, or (2), they don't have God Father within the corridors of power to push their CV. Give me the two gentlemen, and I will turn this country around for good in a year.

So, what is "wrong" with Mr. Sonala Olumhense?

If I may reminisce for a moment: On the assumption of office, I thought, President Jonathan, being someone from the academics, would readily call on Professor Festus Iyayi (now deceased) to join hands with him to resuscitate our derelict educational system. He never did. And Festus died at Lokoja on his way to meeting with some members of ASUU in Kaduna - fighting for the soul and survival of Nigerian Universities.

When President Buhari came to power, I was looking forward to reading a scoop about Mr. Sonala Olumhense being secretly recruited by the President as one of his senior strategists with a view to developing a vibrant framework for public sector renewal. I was wrong. Chances are that President Buhari doesn’t know who Mr. Sonala Olumhense is.

Here is a man who never stop explaining and defending his decision to endorse Presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari since 2011, when most of the characters the President now trust to work with him did not show any interest in his candidacy or consider him electable. I do not ask for Sonala’s inclusion on the Buhari’s team, on the basis of Mr. Olumhense’s endorsement of the President via his weekly column. Sonala is a total package, internationally and domestically defined. So, I am not going to wait until the final list is released before expressing my reservation. What is evolving is a stolen mandate. 

Mr. Olumhense is more than just a “Press Boy”, a writer or a columnist. He is a policy wonk – an idea lab of immense magnitude. Intellectually, he symbolizes the struggle of the past few years. And he was the struggle. He defined everything that was wrong with the past administration and provides a contextual base for global rejection. HE IS THE CONSCIENCE OF THE NATION. I am yet to see another of him in his generation with so much grasp of our institutional decay and the way forward. He deserves to be the David Gergen of our Aso Villa.

Finally, if it is true that Mr. President is only comfortable working with the people he is said to be comfortable with – as the excuse goes these days over the lopsided appointments he has made so far – who is it then within the inner team that would be willing or audacious enough to tell him what he doesn’t want to hear? If President Buhari has forgotten what we’ve been through in the hands of our political leaders and their agents in the past twenty years, we the people have not forgotten and we will not forget. This is a progressive mandate; we will resist any attempt to transform it into something else. The purpose, the goal and the essence of the mandate must be mirrored after what Papa Awo and Mallam Aminu Kano stood for. That is the benchmark. Enjoy the honeymoon as it last, Mr. President. I have spoken.

Mr. Alex Aidaghese

Benin City, Nigeria.
October 07, 2015 

0708 695 1511

alexaidaghese@gmail.com