President Muhammadu Buhari owes himself a lot for sticking out his neck and campaigning; he owes his supporters a lot for helping him reach the presidency he had sought for and failed for many years. He probably owes his conscience something, if he has one. And if he cares about it he might owe history and posterity something big. Beyond these, his debt is zero
Oh, sorry, he owes the bank from which he borrowed the cash to purchase the APC nomination form principal and interest.
As for the Igbo he owes then not a single farthing (a quarter of a penny/kobo). Since people like Mr. Ngige and Rotimi Amaechi can be counted as his supporters he owes them something as his supporters but not as Igbo men. I am willing to modify my statement by saying that he may owe good governance to the Igbo and no more. Good governance is mostly in the eyes of the beholder and he should be allowed to go about it the best way he wants.
To achieve his form of good governance he can appoint any of his supporters to any position high or low without reference to his opponents for his opponents may not want him to succeed. He should be advised to be mindful of his new found friends for some of them could be fair weather friends and who could abscond come winter. And move to Florida, the sun shine state.
Fact: Majority of Igbo did not support him
Fact: Majority of Igbo supported his rival, Jonathan
Fact: After victory and up till now majority of Igbo do not like his manner of government.
Given all the above he should stick to self-preservation which is the first law of nature. I do not expect or qualify to be appointed the Dog Catcher in PMB’s administration. Although I did not vote against him since I did not have a vote; I publicly declared that if I had one I would cast it for GEJ. I have not backed away from that statement and do not think I will ever do so. Those Igbo like me took a gamble and lost and should not expect to reap where we did not sow.
But we do have a job in PMB’s government. We should OPPOSE, OPPOSE and OPPOSE. We should formulate alternative policies; challenge every utterance we find objectionable; prepare to take over should PMB stumble and fall and if he does not fall be ready, come 2019, to force him out at the pooling booths. We could infiltrate his administration to make him fall as if from within; make mockery of policies that are ill-defined; make him to execute the policies we want; etc.
That is what the Igbo ought to be doing. We had our reason why we did not want him in the first place.
We should not worry if he appoints Mr. Bolaji Aluko the petroleum minister, or Mr. Amaechi the secretary of foreign affairs, or Mr. Gumel the education czar. These are the men who worked for his election and deserve a piece of the pie and these fellows would stand by him in difficult times and help him be the best president he can be.
I see nothing with PMB starting his corruption probe with his enemies (too strong) his non-supporters for this could have been the reason for opposing him in the first place. If it suits him he could relegate the investigation of Mr. Tinubu, the Asiwaju of Yoruba land, to 2018 or early 2019. They were buddy-buddies when the going was tough.
All these make sense to me. Those who did not work should not reap.
What I said about the Igbo above applies to the Yoruba, Hausa Fulani, Itsekiri, Ikwere, Efik, Nupe and all the 300 hundred, or so tribes, in Nigeria. Those non-supporters in each tribe do not qualify and should not expect any “manner” from Buhari’s Heaven. GEJ got 14 million votes to PMB’s 16 million. Those 14 million people should get the faith reserved for the Igbo for in a sense they are Igbo.
PMB’s main challenge is how to restrict his benevolences to just his supporters. If he builds a hospital should he restrict admissions to just his supporters? How will he separate the wheat from the chaff?
PMB is a smart chap and would figure it out.
Written by Benjamin Obiajulu Aduba.
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