PMB’s “Northern Agenda”: If I Was President Of Nigeria, I Would… – Naij.com Columnist

Editor’s note: Ini Akpan Morgan, Naij.com constant guest columnist, shares his view on the current issues raised about the President Buhari’s “northern agenda” based on his continuous unbalanced federal appointments.

The current news on the Nigerian print and electronic media focuses on an entrenched opinion that President Buhari is nursing a “northern agenda”. His seemingly continuous “unbalanced political appointments” are seen to be pointing to the fact. Although I aware of that, in any human relationship there is something deeper than the “facts” about it; it is called “faith”. While facts are based on the evidence observed, faith is built upon the knowledge acquired.

Facebook resolutions

I once exchanged the Facebook comments with a contact, who I believe is still “hanging over” from the Goodluck Jonathan’s electoral loss in the last presidential election. At that period he openly based his arguments on the “South South sentiments” surrounding the “Jonathan argument”. Like I have mentioned earlier, I am persuaded that 12 million Nigerians, who saw and experienced the impunity and abuses in the hands of the last administration and still want to vote for the re-election of Jonathan, may never see anything good in the Buhari’s presidency. I can bet on that, because to some of them, “business has turned sour”. It is no longer “business as usual”.

Expressing his persuasion in President Buhari’s inability to help Nigeria out of the present socioeconomic trench, my contact stated that Nigeria would never get things right unless all former political and economic leaders were pushed out of the political relevance and importance. I am aware that when these “former men” were of our age, as he put it, they did not have the competent political competitors of varying ages, as it is in the present-day Nigeria. The British imperialists practically granted the overseas scholarships to the majority of them, but now we pay dearly to go to school. If we the youths accept that the future is ours, and we must initiate a turnaround, we ought therefore wrest the power from the older men, who we must now see as our competitors. This is better than to pretend that we have “some divine rights” that should push them over the wall for us. I would have left my friend to his opinion, but he pushed the issue further by accusing me of being politically naive and short-sighted. Thus, I decided to respond to his erroneous view concerning my political consideration with regard to good government, as many may seem to also agree with.

One Nigeria till we die

I am convinced that we cannot and should not continue relying on the things that divide us as a nation, but should focus on those that unite us. For the prosperity of Nigeria as a system and Nigerians as the people who galvanise the system, we must, like Americans, Iranians, Jews and Chinese, loose the shackles of our stale parochialism and bury our tribal, religious and geographical sentiments in faraway graves when it takes to the issues relating to the federation.

There must be order in any political system for things to go well. This is our country, and no one should have everything when others barely make ends meet, if we want to see ourselves as one people. Unless we young people break the vicious circle of our separatist thinking, we would never wrest the leadership from the “overripe” men and women we keep complaining about. Unity must become a national idea before we can live it in reality. Everything we do should be about the good of Nigeria and Nigerians. We must develop positive values to show the world who we truly are.

“Well said, my friend! I wish you all the best in your aspiration to become President of Nigeria. It is the longing of every politically aware Nigerian to occupy the highest office in the country. I believe when Death sits on the Nigerian “throne” and put on Nigerians to come and take over the leadership, then will I seize my opportunity to be President of Nigeria. I am looking forward to that. You see?” I made it clear to my companion that until every Nigerian, whether young or old, is ready to die for the country, Nigeria will never attain good government. In my view, President Buhari is showing that the war he has committed himself to fight and win has made him an “endangered species” in Nigeria.

I agree that actions speak louder than words, but words are commitments in themselves: they bring and nurse our hopes; and it is hope that generates the cause for us to live on. So Femi Falana should take panadol for his headache caused by President Buhari’s talkativeness. Buhari is, by his acts so far, not a “good news” to some people, who expect sharing of the money first of all. We all know the lawyers usually milk the cow when it is in contest – it is the Nigerian tradition. That could likely be Chief Falana’s grouse in relation to comparing of Buhari’s and Jonathan’s corruption fighting methods. Jonathan was on the speedway, while Buhari is, let us say, upon the pedestrian way: the two are incomparable.

A template of good government

Now to what I believe in – I like sharing my beliefs. Anytime I touch upon the Nigerian politics, it is essentially not about what I think, but what I believe in. In ancient times, at the very height of the Jewish nationalism, the system of government included kings, priests and prophets. While the kings represented the executive arm of government, the priests handled the legislative and judicial arms, having created the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish lawmaking and judicial body. The prophets, though they were not part of the government, but they acted as the messengers of God that constituted Israel as a country.

I am, therefore, convinced that for any nation to enjoy political justice and economic stewardship, there must be a god-fearing relationship between God, the people and their leaders. Let me quickly trace my road map for good government.

The letters left for us in the Christian “Scriptures of old” were written on account of the kings’ reign and the prophets’ warnings and admonitions. No priest had the right to write down their own administrative persuasions, though they ordered the religious system upon which the entire Jewish economy rested. Only the prophets left a syllabus of the God’s lessons of good government, and these are my own examples today. Now I usually cry out for political justice and economic stewardship in Nigeria following the prophets of old.

Unity is a choice to make

Those who support the sectional biases would incite their brothers from their villages, tribes, religions, cultures, cults, societies, clubs, etc. to create class separation. Almost every Nigerian is guilty of this, however, some endeavour to change this entrenched inertia and create the sense of one Nigeria. President Buhari is tasked with developing a governance template that is very different from the one used in the past 16 years. Our problem is biological – it is called adaptation, it is a comfort zone. We can choose to see all the appointees of President Buhari as Nigerians, and no one will raise an eyebrow. This should be our pressing craving, it is our choice to make.

The executives, legislators and judges in Israel had no other persuasions than to rule the people without objectives. The records are there for us to see. It was the prophets that called the kings to accountability, while the priests collaborated with the kings to a point that during the administration of King Manasseh, both the king and priest plotted against Prophet Isaiah and sawed him in two upon the altar in the temple, just to shut him up.

The priests, who represented God to the people, left no legacy for us. Unfortunately, our present leaders, especially the heads of churches, follow the trend of leaving nothing except their names and acting in consonance with the heads of governments, because they are not persuaded of anything godly. The priests concentrated on ensuring the Jewish religious philosophy was entrenched rather in liturgical observations and ecumenical rituals, than in justice, service and fair play, especially in terms of redistribution of wealth. They became the privileged, correlating with the highest in the political and economic strata, and forgetting that the offerings they started with came from the very poor people who helped to build schools that their children could not attend. As the president of Nigeria, I would ensure wealth redistribution is made every five years.

Jonathan and his “achivements”

The prophets cried out that religion before God is about political justice, sacred relationship and effective economy. It is this background that I am coming from – that the Church in Nigeria has failed. I strongly believe in the Buhari’s presidency, and I see with the eyes of a Nigerian who means only good for the country. For me, it does not matter where one comes from. I would rather look how Buhari and his team will improve my family’s living standards. If this is done, believe me, it will not matter where they come from. A couple of days ago I read how the people of Otuoke, Bayelsa state, were crying for the lack of potable water in the area where Goodluck Jonathan had been the deputy governor and then the governor for eight years. He had also served as the vice president, the chairman of the National Economic Council, and the president and commander-in-chief for another eight years, yet he could not give his people potable water. However, he accepted a huge church from Gitto Construction Company to use during his burial ceremony, and a helipad form Niger Delta Development Commission. What would have happened if Jonathan had constructed a coastal highway and rail line between Nigeria and the Atlantic Ocean…what would have happened? So it does not matter where an appointee is from, it is about whether he is prepared to serve selflessly.

It was very possible for the former president to instruct the responsible agencies to provide each house in Otueke with a borehole, and the whole town with a small power generating turbine serviced and powered by the Federal University and the local companies in line with the corporate social responsibility, backed by the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, would now have had water to drink and power to boost the economic development. How did the “brotherhood” of Jonathan and his presidency helped the Otueke people? Was it about putting the Nigerian money in their pockets? Today “Boyloaf” calls him a wicked man. Abeg make we grow up jooo! All I know is that those President Buhari has appointed are all Nigerians, and the majority of them are those he is empowered by law to appoint without confirmation. I would not quickly rule out the possibility that his party, the APC, and its leaders did make their own inputs to the appointments, because it could not be a unipersonal decision. His vice president would not say he had not been aware of the appointments before they were announced. The game plan is only unfolding.

President Buhari’s warfare

With the war President Buhari has chosen to fight, I think his security is more important than the areas of his “yet-to-be-seen” failures. I therefore would wish that he rather lives encircling himself with the people he can trust, and brings us to El Dorado, than contributes to the baseless allegations against himself. Yes, he can fail, but it would not be strange if he does; we never had it better. The fact that Buhari came with a good hope and loves talking about it does not mean I should rule out his chances to succeed because of the people he chooses to work with. It is nonsense that the close staff should follow the zonal principle.

The logical political robbery that obviously took place was the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives that should have come to the South. President Buhari watched while this robbery lasted, and I hold him responsible for the present struggles in the National Assembly. The Constitution provides for the offices that should be zoned, and when it comes to those, the president does not have any option other than to abide by the law. We want good government and economic growth, to hell if those who can ensure it for Nigerians are all northerners! Part of the change we Nigerians have been yearning for is attitudinal. Let us stop expecting fast and quick changes, they do not last. The President Buhari’s short-term plan is to get set, and he has the political rights to use the mandate he won to the best of his administrative judgment as the one who is accountable to Nigerians. Let us give him some benefits.

Ini A. Morgan for Naij.com

Ini A. Morgan is a Port Harcourt-based architect, writer and public affairs analyst. He is married with children.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Naij.com. 

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