• Buhari’s Booby Traps • Insecurity, Poverty, Frail Economy, Huge Debt Pose Challenges • Uncertainties Over Human Rights, Press Freedom
Will Administration Restructure, Appease Separatist Movements?
The drama that played out at the Supreme Court in Abuja at Friday’s hearing of the suit on double registration against the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shetimma, showed part of the unfolding challenges of apathy and indifference that may confront the incoming President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Lawyers, clients, party leaders within the court premises and thousands of supporters many kilometres away were full of expectations that the ongoing processes to inaugurate the new administration would not only be thwarted but another candidate sworn-in after the court ruling.
Yet, the Electoral Act is very clear on the matter. Even so, expectations die hard.
Although the apex court dismissed the Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Atiku Abubakar’s suit on double registration, the opposition is still full of expectations.
THEWILL recalls that the PDP filed its suit on July 28, 2022, to challenge the validity of the Tinubu/Shettima ticket in the 2023 presidential election, which makes it a pre-election matter and therefore in violation of provisions of the Electoral Act.
But the Labour Party Presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has the same suit, filed after the election and therefore fulfills the same provision of the Electoral Act.
Justice Adamu Jauro, who read the judgement, stated that the PDP acted as a meddlesome interloper and a busy body as the matter was an internal affair of the APC and awarded N5 million cost against the PDP.
Section 134 (a) of Electoral Act, 2022 deals with non-qualification of candidates and double registration.
According to the section, the conditions for challenging non-qualification or double nomination of a candidate by a person within the party that nominated the candidate and a person from another political party are clearly spelt out with the words, “pre-election matter” and “post- election matter”.
Only members of political parties can challenge double registration under “Pre-Election matter,” because it is at that time an internal affair of the party that nominated the candidate.
The Supreme Court was therefore correct to throw out Atiku’s suit.
LP’s suit on the matter is yet to be heard, meaning that Shettima’s non-qualification will still be revisited by the Supreme Court, meaning it is not over for VP-elect Shetimma.
Although on that same Thursday, Buhari bestowed the highest national honours of Grand Commander of the Federal Republic, GCFR and Grand Commander of the Order of Niger, GCON, on President-elect Tinubu and his vice, Shettima, respectively, and handed over the instruments of office to Tinubu, awaiting the formal swearing-into office tomorrow, Monday 29, it is unclear whether the darks clouds overhanging the Presidency have abated.
TROUBLE AHEAD
Interestingly, a day before the Supreme Court ruling which cleared the way for Tinubu’s inauguration with Shettima, an edition of a Channels TV programme, Politics Today, had offered some interesting insights into the prevailing political tension in the country since the outcome of the February 25, 2023 General Election. Anchorman Seun Okinbaloye had invited two personalities to the one-hour programme.
The first to appear was the Women’s Leader of the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, Mrs. Betty Edu.
Edu spoke glowingly of how the new administration would improve on the achievements of the outgoing Muhammadu Buhari administration in areas, such as insecurity, “which was drastically improved after all the local government areas that Boko Haram terrorised in Borno State were liberated.”
She, however drew blank and her smiled turned wry when Okinbaloye drew her attention to the insecurity in virtually all four of the seven North-West states of Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Kebbi, noting that rampant kidnapping and general insecurity nationwide had made road travel a nightmare for Nigerians.
After Edu left the studio, a former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Mukhtar Shagari, appeared. When he was asked what he would like to see the incoming government do differently, he sighed, crossed his hands across his mid-riff and looked his host in the eye.
“Wait until the Supreme Court Judgment tomorrow (Friday) on the double registration suit against the Vice President-elect, Kashim Shettima,” he said, but went on to oblige his questionnaire with some suggestions.
The salient picture, as captured by Shagari and Edu, are the two opposing challenges that will trouble the incoming Bola Tinubu Administration. On the one hand, the outgoing government will leave behind some challenging social and economic issues in the areas of insecurity, the economy with mounting debts, poverty, corruption and politics with self-interested politicians and political parties. On the other hand, there are pervasive doubts over the court cases.
BOOBY TRAPS
The last-minute appointments made by President Muhammadu Buhari, less than a week to the inauguration of his successor, Tinubu, has raised some eyebrows.
Last Thursday, President Buhari approved the appointment of Garzali Abubakar as the Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Development Fund as well as the Chairman and members of the Board of the fund.
Those appointed include Aduke Hussain as Chairman, Hussaini Mohammed (North Central Representative), Mohammed Umar (North West Representative), Abdulsalam Ahmed (North East Representative), Stella Uzokwe (South East Representative), Stephen Ikata (South-South Representative) and Olufunlayo Oluwole Faloye (South West Representative).
Also appointed was the retiring Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Garba Baba Umar, as a Senior Security Adviser on International Police Cooperation and Counter-terrorism in the office of the Minister of Police Affairs.
Others are Dr. Olushola Odusanya as the Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM).
Other appointments were also made in the top echelon of the aviation industry, including NAMA, NCAA, FAAN, etc. They were announced this week too.
Also, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, also inaugurated the Board of Directors of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), on May 25 headed by Dr Abdulhakeem Mobolaji Abdullateef, Mrs. Yasmine Zabatt Amin Dalhatu, North-West, Mr. Simon Ogie Dada, South-South and Mr. Abimbola Olasure, South-West.
The management team is Managing Director (MD), Bello-Hassan; Mrs Emily Osuji, Executive Director (Corporate Services), Mustapha M. Ibrahim (Executive Director Operations).
The decision to also end fuel subsidies towards the end of his tenure is also seen as a booby trap for the incoming Tinubu administration. . After describing the subsidies as a fraud before he was first elected in 2015 and saying he would discard it, Buhari has not and has instead passed on the effective removal of the controversial fraudulent scheme to Tinubu.
HUGE DEBTS
The recent request for an $800 million World Bank loan by the administration in its twilight days looked like a deliberate act to sustain the template of borrowing that has raised the debts that would be left behind for the incoming administration to $77 trillion according to the Debt Management Office, DMO. Some of the loans were even spent before seeking approval like the N23.7 trillion that caused an uproar in the Senate when President Buhari requested for delayed approval in January and many Senators had to accuse him of violating the constitution.
The aforementioned appointments like the huge debts look like bobby traps for the incoming administration.
“The man who is leaving office is entrenching his people in the bureaucracy in a way that would make changes look like an ethnic cleansing,” a professor of Political Economy at the Lagos State University (LASU), Sylvester Odion, told THEWILL.
“Nigeria is a very complex country. So the new president would need wisdom and adherence to provisions of the Constitution. For example, Section 14 on Federal Character Principle seeks that appointments be made in a way that addresses social justice and ethnic groups do not feel marginalised.”
AREAS BEGGING FOR ATTENTION: ECONOMY, INSECURITY
A Federal Government and World Bank-sponsored study that found out that 153 million Nigerians are “multi-dimensionally poor,” shows that the economic policies of the outgoing administration were counterproductive to the well-being of more than 85 per cent 200 million Nigerians. Corruption, apathy and crime can only thrive in such an economy, posing a huge challenge to the incoming administration. Stakeholders think the government must hit the ground running to address the mounting poverty and associated issues.
In a report made available to THEWILL and meant to set agenda for the incoming administration, Professor Odion, alongside Debo Adeniran and Professor Akarueze, on the platform of the Think-Tank for Democracy, urged President-elect Tinubu to prepare to do battle with the economy, democratic reforms, human rights and foreign policy.
Both Adeniran and Akarueze argue that as a consumer nation whose economy is externally oriented and its link to the international political economy is crude oil export, elite conspiracy will continue to foster mind-boggling oil theft alongside the so-called oil subsidy that has been a rip-off of the national resources to the gross impoverishment of the Nigerian people.
“There seems to be no end to this national robbery. The outgoing president is securing $800 million with the concurrence of a rubber-stamp National Assembly ostensibly to cushion the effect of the eventual removal of the said oil subsidy,” they maintained, adding that the said Oil-subsidy remains a national scam that requires political will to stop.
“The incoming President must repudiate the World Bank loan as it is a parting gift for the out-going administration with a consequent deepening of our debt profile.”
For insecurity, experts have, at every juncture of heightened incidences of kidnapping and terrorism, called for the rejigging of the security architecture, manpower training in intelligence gathering and improved welfare for the security personnel – police and armed forces – in the country. It is expected that the new administration will implement these recommendations and address separatist tendencies in many parts of the country.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND JUSTICE
The Nigerian citizenry must be ready to defend democracy as the past eight years of maladministration under Buhari has showed that government has to be put on its toes for the system to work for the good of all
Taking an informed perspective on the issue, Mr Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who said he is not very optimistic about the incoming Tinubu administration, submitted that the success of the incoming administration rests with what Nigerians should do in their respective capacities to compel the government to respect their rights. Nigeria, he said, has one of the best human rights laws in the world but on paper.
Speaking as a guest at a recent colloquium on Entrenching Democracy in Nigeria, the Bola Tinubu Government, attended by THEWILL, he said Nigeria has very comprehensive human rights laws that are more modern than what obtains in America and the United Kingdom. But the extent to which the citizens are aware of these laws so that the laws can be enforced, is another question.
“So our job is already cut out for us as a people. What we need to do is to demand for our rights. We must know our rights and fight for them. So that the President who knows the rule of law, who is committed to democracy and rule of law will be forced to act accordingly.
“We have the fundamental rights that are entrenched in Chapter 4 of the Constitution. We have always had the Bill of Rights since 1960. It was in Chapter 3 of the 1979 Constitution: Right to life; right to dignity; right to liberty; right or property; freedom of association; freedom of association; freedom of religion and so on,” Falana said.
MEDIA
There is anxiety in the media circle that the incoming administration may not improve on the poor media relation of the outgoing administration. As one of the very few professional organisations given a constitutional role to hold the government accountable to the people, the media is still operating in shackles, especially with the non-compliance with the Freedom of Information Act, FOI, by government agencies.
Tinubu appeared to have copied the same path toed by President Buhari during electioneering. Like Buhari, he was selective in his media relations and appearances. He refused to appear for debates with other candidates, his media aides engaged in media war with media outfits they considered opposed to their principals and openly stated that the media was hostile to Tinubu.
As president, Buhari ran an administration that virtually kept the media at arms -length. Under the administration, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC, would be remembered for imposing arbitrary monetary fines on radio and televisions stations for infringing broadcasting codes until a court ruled against it on the ground that it cannot be an accuser and judge in its case without giving the accused right of appeal. Also in bad taste was the government 7- month ban of Twitter on the flimsy excuse that the president’s view was deleted and his account suspended for views expressed against the Southeast people considered offensive by the micro- blogging outfit.
At a point, the National Assembly under the guidance of the Ministry of Information, wanted to regulate the media through the review of law governing the Nigeria Press Organisation, the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC and online media but was resisted by the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, the Nigeria Guild of Editors and Newspapers Proprietors Organisation, NPAN.
A democracy in which free flow of information and knowledge is impeded and government appointees and elected officers are not held accountable would abridge the institutions and participation of the people. The incoming administration must therefore discard the anti-media stand of the outgoing administration.
Reacting to this development, President of the Nigeria Guild of Editors, Mr Mustapha Isah, told THEWILL that the media must be allowed a fair space to carry out their constitutional role. He said for a start, the incoming government must implement the FOI Act in words and deeds because the media is the barometer of the people without which governance may be impracticable.
“They must be ready to answer our questions in record time and not for appointees to be issuing press statements or else they will face the consequences. Government will come and go as the Buhari administration is going and the media remains,” Isah said.
TINUBU PROMISES BETTER DAYS
In his address on the day of his investiture with the GCFR, Tinubu promised to make Nigeria work for everybody.
He said, “The people have put their trust in us. You have done your part Mr. President. Now, that great duty descends on me. I understand the meaning of the honor given to me today and of the task that awaits.
“I must run this race and must do it well. On security, the economy, agriculture, jobs, education, health and power and in all other sectors, we must make headway. The people deserve no less. In this, I shall disappoint neither them nor you, Mr. President,” he assured.
The President-elect recognised that though Nigeria’s path may not always be smooth, he expressed faith in the country’s purpose and collective ability to overcome challenges.
“Our way shall not always be smooth. Yet, we are imbued with faith in our purpose and a firm belief in our collective ability to overcome the challenges that confront us,” he maintained.
Speaking on Friday, at the Public Lecture and Jumat Prayer held at the National Mosque in Abuja, as part of the 2023 Presidential Inauguration programme of events, Tinubu also highlighted the urgent need to end the multiple foreign currency exchange rates.
Represented at the event by the Vice President-elect, Shettima, Tinubu appealed to Nigerians to stand with the government as it would be working to deconstruct the maze of challenges facing the nation, warning that the take-off point might be rough.
His words: “Tinubu is a fair-minded person. He will do justice to Nigerians, irrespective of affiliation with political parties, religious and tribal background. We are united by our common heritage of poverty and insecurity among others. This is the time for all of us to coalesce into a single force.
“Ours is a great nation, waiting to unleash its great potential to the world. China was once called a sleeping giant, but today, China has woken up. Nigeria needs to wake up. We are calling on all of you to pray for us for God’s guidance. I want to assure you that Tinubu will hit the ground.’’
Amos Esele is the Acting Editor of THEWILL Newspaper. He has over two decades of experience on the job.
