Of Appointments & The 100 Days Electoral Rhetoric
Of
Appointments & The 100 Days Electoral Rhetoric by M.B.O Owolowo
Some people wondered why I chose to be mum on certain matters affecting our polity lately, particularly the latest appointments by President Buhari and the purported 100 days promise to the electorate. I have discovered there are two categories of people; people that speak because they have to say something, and those that speak because they have something to say! I am sure you have already figured out which category I belong because I now have something to say on these issues! Personally, I had initially considered the brouhaha on these particular issues as what the Yorubas would call 'Ariwo Oja', that's “Market Noise” for those who don't know the meaning of the phrase.
I will employ the same quote I used to start one of my articles (Certifying a Distraction: http://saharareporters.com/2015/01/23/certifying-distraction-mbo-owolowo), during the pre-election certificate saga:
"You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks."
- Winston Churchill
On the issue of appointments and the federal character, for want of a better phrase, it was simply 'premature ejaculation' on the part of the President's critics, because the President hasn't even made up to 10% of expected appointments, neither is there a fully constituted federal cabinet. In view of Nigeria's history and aberrant socio-economic manifestations, and our ethno-religious complexities, some of the concerns are understandable to an extent, however, it's still early days!
Unlike some Buhari supporters, I will not even bother going into the juxtaposition of the lopsidedness of appointments during the tenure of Jonathan, because Jonathan was an anomaly that should never have happened; a lingering disaster which Nigeria is still suffering the consequences.
On the issue of the 100 days electoral promises, some people have criticised the President and stated the electorate have been hoodwinked. Some impish nigglers even went as far as questioning President Buhari's integrity: his most precious attribute, all because his media aides, and political party (APC) disassociated the President from the supposed 100 days covenant that was widely circulated before the elections.
Since the official disassociation, there has been unprecedented opprobrium, and sophisticated vilification combined with systematic invective aimed at the President, his aides, his political party and supporters.
Now, video evidence has emerged revealing the President had actually disassociated himself from the 100 days electoral promises even before the elections.
During the President's Chatham House lecture, 'Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria's Transition', on February 26th 2015, which I attended, the President's response to the 100 days question during the interactive session was equivocal enough for those who can decipher and discern – the 100 days electoral promises didn't emanate from him.
President Buhari has often been accused of being honest to a fault, and now his honesty has exculpated him in this regard. Honesty is indeed the best policy!
Please watch the video from 34.00 minutes to 37.00 minutes to hear what the President actually said regarding the '100 days' palaver.
Chatham House Lecture Link:
http://www.chathamhouse.org/event/prospects-democratic-consolidation-africa-nigerias-transition#
For those who can't watch the video, I have tried my best to transcribe the relevant part of the video below.
Excerpt:
“The second one (question): high expectations and what to do within the first 100 days. Yes, I respect that question because quietly I was thinking about these high expectations. Those who are following the trail of our campaigns can see how people are turning out, some becoming emotional and crying. I am really getting scared, if I get there they will expect miracles within the next week or months. That would be very dicey handling that one, and I think we have to have a deliberate campaign to temper high expectations with some reasonableness on the part of those who are expecting miracles to happen.”
“But these calls for first 100 days, some of it is fraudulent and I don’t want to participate in any fraud in any form. Nigerians know that we are in trouble as a people and as a country.”
“When we get there we will quickly get correct intelligence of what is on the ground and inform Nigerians and just learn what I have just read. We will make sure the misappropriation, misapplication of public resources will not be allowed. You would be surprised by how much savings we will realize. That saving will be ploughed back into development and this is what I can promise. But I would remove that 100 days mystery some politicians have created”
Now that we have seen the evidence and it is clear the president had termed some of the 100 days electoral promises as “fraudulent”, and a “mystery”, will all those who wrongfully chastised the President be magnanimous enough to apologise accordingly, or be humble enough to admit they erred in this regard? After all, to err is human!
There have been significant improvements in electricity supply, the ongoing reformations in the petroleum sector and the sudden improvement of our armed forces against insurgents, amongst many other achievements. I am certain there will be more achievements under the Buhari administration.
However, we must appreciate change takes time and we must give President Buhari time to fix the culminating rot inherited from his incapacitated predecessor. If you must criticise, do so constructively, with the betterment of Nigeria being the primary motivation, and not just being a disgruntled critic sinisterly hoping the Buhari presidency fails! The misguided critics must realise nobody is immune from the dire consequences of such systemic failures.
Even though criticism is good, there must be a basis of criticism, you don't just criticise for the sake of it!
- M.B.O
2015©
Some people wondered why I chose to be mum on certain matters affecting our polity lately, particularly the latest appointments by President Buhari and the purported 100 days promise to the electorate. I have discovered there are two categories of people; people that speak because they have to say something, and those that speak because they have something to say! I am sure you have already figured out which category I belong because I now have something to say on these issues! Personally, I had initially considered the brouhaha on these particular issues as what the Yorubas would call 'Ariwo Oja', that's “Market Noise” for those who don't know the meaning of the phrase.
I will employ the same quote I used to start one of my articles (Certifying a Distraction: http://saharareporters.com/2015/01/23/certifying-distraction-mbo-owolowo), during the pre-election certificate saga:
"You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks."
- Winston Churchill
On the issue of appointments and the federal character, for want of a better phrase, it was simply 'premature ejaculation' on the part of the President's critics, because the President hasn't even made up to 10% of expected appointments, neither is there a fully constituted federal cabinet. In view of Nigeria's history and aberrant socio-economic manifestations, and our ethno-religious complexities, some of the concerns are understandable to an extent, however, it's still early days!
Unlike some Buhari supporters, I will not even bother going into the juxtaposition of the lopsidedness of appointments during the tenure of Jonathan, because Jonathan was an anomaly that should never have happened; a lingering disaster which Nigeria is still suffering the consequences.
On the issue of the 100 days electoral promises, some people have criticised the President and stated the electorate have been hoodwinked. Some impish nigglers even went as far as questioning President Buhari's integrity: his most precious attribute, all because his media aides, and political party (APC) disassociated the President from the supposed 100 days covenant that was widely circulated before the elections.
Since the official disassociation, there has been unprecedented opprobrium, and sophisticated vilification combined with systematic invective aimed at the President, his aides, his political party and supporters.
Now, video evidence has emerged revealing the President had actually disassociated himself from the 100 days electoral promises even before the elections.
During the President's Chatham House lecture, 'Prospects for Democratic Consolidation in Africa: Nigeria's Transition', on February 26th 2015, which I attended, the President's response to the 100 days question during the interactive session was equivocal enough for those who can decipher and discern – the 100 days electoral promises didn't emanate from him.
President Buhari has often been accused of being honest to a fault, and now his honesty has exculpated him in this regard. Honesty is indeed the best policy!
Please watch the video from 34.00 minutes to 37.00 minutes to hear what the President actually said regarding the '100 days' palaver.
Chatham House Lecture Link:
http://www.chathamhouse.org/event/prospects-democratic-consolidation-africa-nigerias-transition#
For those who can't watch the video, I have tried my best to transcribe the relevant part of the video below.
Excerpt:
“The second one (question): high expectations and what to do within the first 100 days. Yes, I respect that question because quietly I was thinking about these high expectations. Those who are following the trail of our campaigns can see how people are turning out, some becoming emotional and crying. I am really getting scared, if I get there they will expect miracles within the next week or months. That would be very dicey handling that one, and I think we have to have a deliberate campaign to temper high expectations with some reasonableness on the part of those who are expecting miracles to happen.”
“But these calls for first 100 days, some of it is fraudulent and I don’t want to participate in any fraud in any form. Nigerians know that we are in trouble as a people and as a country.”
“When we get there we will quickly get correct intelligence of what is on the ground and inform Nigerians and just learn what I have just read. We will make sure the misappropriation, misapplication of public resources will not be allowed. You would be surprised by how much savings we will realize. That saving will be ploughed back into development and this is what I can promise. But I would remove that 100 days mystery some politicians have created”
Now that we have seen the evidence and it is clear the president had termed some of the 100 days electoral promises as “fraudulent”, and a “mystery”, will all those who wrongfully chastised the President be magnanimous enough to apologise accordingly, or be humble enough to admit they erred in this regard? After all, to err is human!
There have been significant improvements in electricity supply, the ongoing reformations in the petroleum sector and the sudden improvement of our armed forces against insurgents, amongst many other achievements. I am certain there will be more achievements under the Buhari administration.
However, we must appreciate change takes time and we must give President Buhari time to fix the culminating rot inherited from his incapacitated predecessor. If you must criticise, do so constructively, with the betterment of Nigeria being the primary motivation, and not just being a disgruntled critic sinisterly hoping the Buhari presidency fails! The misguided critics must realise nobody is immune from the dire consequences of such systemic failures.
Even though criticism is good, there must be a basis of criticism, you don't just criticise for the sake of it!
- M.B.O
2015©
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