The cartoon
was published in The Guardian on a Sunday sometime in 2016. It was a depiction
of the tortoise approaching the gate of the Presidential Villa, carrying the
sign, “Slow and steady.”
he cartoon
was published in The Guardian on a Sunday sometime in 2016. It was a
depiction of the tortoise approaching the gate of the Presidential Villa,
carrying the sign, “Slow and steady.”
On that
Sunday, nearly one year after President Muhammadu Buhari was elected and
months, I think, after he announced his ministers, the President had a copy of
that publication on his side table as he spoke with a guest.
Over small
talk, he picked up the newspaper, flipped to the cartoon page and spread it
before the guest. “Whom do you think that is,” he asked, half-smiling.
His guest
looked at the cartoon, and as he was raising his head locked eyes with the
president. Both of them erupted in laughter.
The tortoise
in the cartoon was a caricature of a president who had taken six months to
appoint his cabinet and would take even much longer to fill other vital
positions in government. Up till this week, he regretted that many vacancies
still exist.
Except in
relation to the war against Boko Haram, which appears to have been an
aberration in response time, the tortoise may well be the president’s favorite
mascot for performance. But it’s no longer a laughing matter.
The removal
of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, and
the NIA DG, Ayo Oke, finally happened five months after the report was ready
and over two months after it was submitted to the president.
Did it have
to take that long? Yes, the president traveled on a medical vacation shortly
before the report was due to be submitted. But for a matter that has been
lingering since April – and one that touches on corruption, a major pillar of
the government’s agenda – it shouldn’t take nine weeks after his return to nail
the coffin.
Yet, this
coffin is not even closed. Prosecution for criminal breach of trust should
immediately follow their indictment and removal from office. But if it took six
months to indict and formally remove Lawal and Oke from office, that may well
be the end of the matter, until either or both of them pop up again in another
government office and claim arrears for their layoff.
In a deal
worse than incest, Lawal used a company in which he has an interest, to
cut grass with N220 million from funds meant for displaced survivors of Boko
Haram. It should have made the president mad that such nonsense happened at a
time when he was desperately looking for help from the World Bank to rebuild
the devastated North East region. Or that instead of providing intelligence
that might have saved lives at the war front, Oke, the nation’s top spy, was
busy stashing away money in a private apartment in Lagos, using his wife as
full-time dollar nanny.
Why should
the World Bank – or any other serious-minded group – act with urgency or care
when the government gives the impression that fantastically corrupt officials
in government are welcome to stay until public outrage boils over?
Again, we’re
seeing the same dangerous delay playing out in the case of the disgraced former
Chairman of the Presidential Pension Reform Task Force, Abdulrasheed
Maina. With questions over what President Muhammadu Buhari knew or did not know
swirling, the government ought to follow up on Maina’s speedy removal – an
exceptional moment – by charging him to court.
But from
what the Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, is saying, it appears that the
same forces inside the government that prolonged action on the Lawal-Oke case
are working hard to let Maina enjoy the billions of naira he pocketed from the
sweat of miserable pensioners.
Sadly, the
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami,
who should be helping to put away high-profile crooks appeared to either be
confused or overwhelmed by his job. It was heartbreaking to hear him
enthusiastically justifying his role in Maina’s triumphant return to work,
while millions of the victims of the pension scam are suffering.
It’s not
Malami’s fault. Neither are the hordes of crooks that still appear to be beyond
the reach of the law to blame for the delay in bringing them to justice. The
energy of Buhari’s government has been drained, almost from the start, by nasty
internal brush fires and turf wars. The situation is compounded at the worst of
times by his poor health and at the best of times by his choices and
temperament.
It’s the
turf war that has left Magu as the public officer on the longest probation
doing perhaps the most dangerous job and yet serving without a letter of
appointment for two years, while Maina, a fugitive, has a job reserved for him.
It’s the
turf war that encourages the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, to
add insult to the injury of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe
Kachikwu, and at the height of public disgust over the way the corporation is
being run, the GMD still offers politicians free lunch.
It’s the
turf war that has paralyzed Buhari’s government, often leaving behind a trail
of tardiness.
But even
outside the turf war, it sometimes gets tardier with the choice of a few of the
President’s key staff. His Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, for example, may be
doing a great job for him in some other unknowable departments. But the last
thing that an aging Buhari needs on top of his poor health and natural
insularity, is a key staff who allows the molehills of official work to become
mountains of obstruction before anything gets done.
As the
nation watched the pathetic scenes of Kyari and the Head of Service, Winifred
Oyo-Ita, bickering over Maina in the Villa this week, and plumber after
executive plumber raced in to mend the leaking roof in the presence of a
perplexed Vice President, the rule appears to be: slow and tardy wins the race.
It was
interesting to hear the D-G of Customs and long-time Buhari ally, Hameed Ali,
pile on the Peoples Democratic Party for the woes of the ruling All
Progressives Congress. I think he should have spoken up when former Governor
Rotimi Amaechi and others who crossed over from the PDP with fat checkbooks in
hand were joining the APC.
Since APC
cannot take their money and turn around to complain about their influence, the
best the ruling party can hope for is to manage the mess.
Two and a
half years down the road, the government’s worst enemy is not the PDP or crooks
who are taking advantage of the system. It's tardiness, government by slow
motion, letting things pile up until there’s deafening public outcry. That’s
the point of the mascot of the tortoise in the Guardian on
Sunday cartoon.
That mascot
haunted the president in his first coming 32 years ago, providing an excuse for
his removal in a palace coup. He should know by now that delay is, sometimes,
more dangerous than speed.
Ishiekwene
is the Managing Director/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview and member
of the board of the Global Editors Network
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