Opinions
ASIWAJU: BETWEEN PARTISAN COMPENSATION AND A LEGACY AGENDA By Hashim Suleiman
The only reason why APC had to struggle to win the 2023 election in perhaps a controversial manner is entirely the result of the inability of the APC party to distinguish between how to manage mediocrity and criticality and obviously the former took precedence in the APC administration, and we are here today. You may read further on this from my article of 26th November 2016 titled ‘Between Setting a Stage for Compromise and Maintenance of Integrity’ and which can be read here:https://twitter.com/oneheartnaija/status/802446320833269760?s=46&t=NPC_NSLSH_jYKkXra1o8Bg.
From the foregoing, it is safe to conclude that President Buhari compromised too much for personal and partisan purposes at the detriment of his legacies, performance and integrity. Suffice it to say there is nothing wrong in compensating good gestures or contributions, but it becomes complex and complicated when that will be coming on a backdrop of an electoral victory that comes with baggage of expectations and entitlements.
The 2023 elections have come and gone, and the returning officer as enshrined in our laws has returned Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the President-Elect while all other offices have also been returned by the appropriate returning officers. Those who chose to not agree with the outcomes also have an inalienable democratic right to approach the tribunals to make their cases, in fact I for one encourages such democratic ideals so much because democracy becomes tasteless without them.
However, some of us who had warned severally about the mediocre nature of the members of APC that Buhari had nurtured for the 7 years in power and of which Tinubu had no option but to inherit. The performances of the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies is enough to vindicate the mediocre nature of majority of those that became the crux of the Buhari administration and the APC. Little wonder why there had to be several burst outs by Asiwaju penultimate the Primary Elections and the General Elections alike. There were not any critical strategies formulated by majority of the directorates in the PCC less making more enemies for the party and the then candidate because indeed you must know mediocre are lazy minded and find it difficult to formulate strategic mitigations so their only tool becomes insult and brigandage, for example, have you ever seen Fashola in those kinds of insult mood or chicanery?? Your answer will be as good as mine.
To set the records straight, it was the absence of the much-needed criticality in the APC as orchestrated by Buhari that made the campaigns and electoral victory so difficult for Asiwaju Tinubu and equally why there are still numerous controversies after victory and guess what, they are still not able to manage the post-election controversies optimally because they just don’t have it. The needed criticality is scarce in Nigeria, and one would have to look outside the readily available crowd.
In balance to these opinions, it is also important to emphasize that in a political party, it was important to manage all of the good, the bad and the ugly as deliberated in my 2015 article titled: https://www.abusidiqu.com/the-continuity-and-change-agents-within-the-apc-and-a-need-to-manage-all-by-suleiman-hashim/, but for the sake of the need for legacy and performance in governance, some of the sectors cannot afford to be jettisoned on the alter of partisan compensation and it was very important for these points to be echoed to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in order that the necessary mindset be set for excellence in governance in compliance with the Lagos template that formed the crux of the Asiwaju campaign.
This final paragraph would be of immense interest to Asiwaju, and his success and it is to the effect that those with the described ‘make it easy’ character as described above come from the part of the country that feels most entitled to his presidency, if you allow their mindset and methods to take precedence over excellence then failure is imminent. There are indeed sound minds amongst them too but trust me the management of these individuals and their level of participation would to a large extent determine Asiwaju’s legacies and likely re-election in 2027. The difference between Kwankwaso and Ganduje’s performances and acceptability in Kano and how Kwankwaso came back to sweep kano owing to excessive goodwill capital is a buttress to some of the points I have laid out here.
May Nigeria succeed through Asiwaju
Ramadan Kareem
Hashim Suleiman
ORJI KALU: THE LAST OF HIS PEERS STANDING By Hashim Suleiman
It was a faithful Sunday, 17th October, 2021 when my inlaw Alhaji Sanusi Bala Mai Tuta of Zamfara had invited me for his wedding anniversary and I had to attend with my wife. It was an occasion full of crème de la crème ranging from General Boroh to family members and then lastly came in Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, the Chief Whip of the Nigeria’s senate. He looked fresh and young pumped up with lot of energy and so much cerebral capabilities that were sufficient to attract the attention of all that were present. Appropriate pleasantries were exchanged with unexpected humility for those of us who had never been such close as well as the expression of others alike.
Incidentally, I usually volunteer to anchor such kinds of programs in an impromptu manner for purposes of making attendees feel alright and the program worthy of attending. Consequently, I rose up to make a toast and after showering encomiums on the celebrants, Alhaji Sanusi Bala Mai Tuta and his dear Wife Hajiya Aisha Sanusi Bala, I faced Distinguished Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and reminded him and the congregation about how he was practically the only man of his league still standing tall in the polity. He is not only standing but doing so with utmost knowledge of the Nigerian polity and appropriate bridges built. He beamed with smiles while I was at it.
In case you do not understand what I mean by ‘The Last Man Standing of His League’, let me remind you that the Distinguished Senator was one of the three pioneer governors of the current republic that ascended to that position at their 30’s in 1999. Senator Orji Kalu was 39, Donald Duke, 38 and Ibrahim Saminu Turaki was 36 at the time. Your guess about who among them is still standing strong today must apparently be as good as mine.
Senator Orji Kalu is not a man that went through all without the appropriate trials and tribulations of life but in all cases he had utilized the necessary democratic channels to come out clean and on top, such feats require to be echoed for purpose of posterity especially considering that our country has this much snag for ‘Pull Him Down’ narratives unnecessarily. Senator Orji Kalu does not deserve such as he has demonstrated absolute desire to conduct himself in line with democratic tenets during his trial and good times. For example, a lot of people around me had in that ‘Pull Him Down’ character attempted to condemn the recent protest and counter protests about the elections by PDP and APC and I had to educate them to understand the fact that protests and opposition are a major ingredient of democracy and the lack of them makes the process tasteless.
In conclusion to my meeting the Distinguished at the event described in paragraph 1 above, a lot of us had to accompany him to the car while he was ready to depart and that final moment turned out the most interesting of the night as he went into mentorship and in-pact full counseling, first about the need to be an appropriate family man by ensuring you take appropriate care of your wife and kids more than any other thing, perhaps that was a message of appreciation to the celebrant but we equally benefited immensely. He equally went head to speak about humility and loyalty through the roles that Professor Jibril Aminu of Adamawa State had played in his life and how much respect and loyalty he still has for the Prof. The striking thing of this part is the depth of his bridges in this country.
Considering all of these, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu has won his re-election into the senate for the second time in a row, the news has become rife in town that the Distinguished is billed to become the Senate President and Chairman of the National Assembly for the 10th Assembly and some of us who are critical enough to study people objectively would say indeed Nigeria will be lucky to have such a very experienced man who would kill two birds with his emergence. First, to give the southeast the needed and clamored inclusion and to also utilize his deep networks and bridges as well as experience to stabilize the government of his very good friend and elder brother whom he took to his mum with so much cheer and enthusiasm. So, yes, why not for the ‘Last of his Peers Standing’ to compliment his elder brother ‘The Last Man Standing’.
Best Wishes to His Excellency, Senator. Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu
God Bless Nigeria
Hashim Suleiman
BUHARI HAS REPAID TINUBU; STOP THE BLACKMAIL By Hashim Suleiman
People who read my articles a lot know I’ve always been a defender of mischief and blackmail which has become a shortcut that Nigerians love to employ owing to their lazy mindsets and crave for cheap gains in order to Pull Down people they assume are their stumbling blocks to those shortcuts they want to take to progress. Remember when they came for Pantami and his past political opinions just because they didn’t like his revolutionary policies in the ICT sector and preferred their shortcuts as usual so they resorted to attempts at cancelling him but I set the records straight that he has a right to his political opinions per time, per available variables, you can read that piece here: https://dailytrust.com/pantami-and-his-citizen-right-to-political-opinion/.
Fast forward to today, these lazy agents are at it again and this time around it’s on the President, Muhammadu Buhari, they want to cancel him for committing to conduct a free and fair election and I wonder what that means, I’ll summarize it to mean that majority of those that Buhari surrounded himself with took him for a fool all along, they noticed he always reasoned with national noise and did what was necessary to douse tensions and they are employing same tactics now to get him to manipulate the system for their lazy self at the detriment of his legacy, that won’t work!
While one will understand Asiwaju to have been a fighter all his life, his current presidential aspiration comes with its own peculiarities, and that was why from before and after the primaries I had warned the APC to take their recruitments of campaigners and promoters very seriously because indeed there was going to be a lot of work to be done to convince Nigerians to vote the party and especially the candidate that emerged and the general public perception on him, that much work has to also be an intellectual one at that, but I guess they didn’t hear. The chicken has today come home to roost and they want to tie the consequences of their lazy intellectualism and lack of strategy on Buhari, we will not allow that, everyone should go out and campaign to the people and sought for their votes.
The managers of the APC campaign have succeeded in spreading a narrative that suggests to the society that the only way they can win is for Buhari to manipulate the system forgetting that them and Buhari were beneficiaries of free and fair conduct by Goodluck Jonathan, so many people have argued that the most significant contribution of Tinubu to Buhari in 2015 was at the primary elections in lagos in 2014 but the victory at the main elections was an amalgamation of forces ranging from Tinubu to Amaechi, Saraki, Atiku, Kwankwaso, Nyako and a host of others.
If the above narrative is what it is, then it’s very safe to say that Buhari has fully repaid Tinubu by first allowing him to nominate the Vice President and several others in cabinet and other appointments. Furthermore, he ensured the conduct of a free and fair primaries where Tinubu emerged. They are bandying a video of Abeokuta rally in 2014 where Tinubu campaigned for Buhari, but Buhari was also in Jos, Yola, Yobe, Bauchi, Nassarawa, Sokoto and Imo states to campaign for Asiwaju and he made equal or more speeches and the question to ask then is why the blackmail??
There are other contestants in this race, Buhari will not declare a war and throw them under a bus just because he needs to satisfy an imaginary payback that has been orchestrated by lazy campaigners who do not have what it takes to justify the humongous monies they have taken From Tinubu. They should go and sought for goodwill and people buy in just like Buhari is doing to the candidate but assuming that Buhari should jettison his legacy and rig the system on heir behalf as their definition of a payback is a further indication that their love for him was never genuine but for their personal gains and aggrandizement as is with lazy minds.
We support Buhari to finish strong!
May God bless Nigeria
Hashim Suleiman oneheartnaija@yahoo.Com
KPEROGI’S VEILED CAMPAIGN FOR TINUBU By Hashim Suleiman
I’ll start on this by referring you an an earlier piece I had written on 17 April, 2021 about Kperogi when he attempted to hoodwink his readers and Professor Pantami that he was the latter’s friend but still went ahead to disparage him by spewing lies and supposed private matters on the Professor, the piece can be read here: https://swiftreporters.com/kperogi-the-fake-friend/. At that point, I had just switched from being his ardent fan to seeing him for who he really is, a propaganda merchant who thrives on the docility of Nigerians to cash out. Kperogi had to acknowledge that article as it bursted his little games on 24 April, 2021 in his column tagged ‘On my friendship with Pantami’ and which can be read here: https://www.farooqkperogi.com/2021/04/on-my-friendship-with-pantami.html.
I read Kperogi piece of today 11th February, 2023 where he attempted to as usual disparage Buhari’s naira policy and linked it as a ploy to stop a BAT and I found the analogy in it very ludicrous to say the least. I wonder why Kperogi has developed a permanent feeling and understanding that Nigerians are extremely daft and so he could spew anything at them albeit hypocritically after cashing out his little coins behind the scene. Kperogi is a supporter of Tinubu but just like so many Nigerians who share his type of double character, he is finding it difficult to come clean about it, so he is using mind games this time around to blame Buhari and his policy as the reason why Tinubu would fail even though according to him, he doesn’t want it but he would prefer that the failure of Tinubu occurs through ballots and not through sabotage.
However, what Kperogi and the likes who don’t have the audacity and criticality to formulate critical campaign strategies to market Tinubu don’t understand is that the suffering of Nigerians which had largely made them to make up a mind did not start with the naira scarcity and it’s attendant suffering which in my opinion is over bloated by the likes of Kperogi and other propaganda merchants to unfairly blackmail Buhari into succumbing to perhaps use state resources to install Asiwaju as president and that won’t happen because in reality Nigeria has long moved away from such. You have to have some level of popularity to rig elections in any society and rather than campaign enough to get the masses support for Asiwaju, Kperogi and the likes believe the victory must only be gotten through blackmail.
While on my way back from office yesterday, I critically examined the menial marketers like ‘suya’ sellers and the rest, and I saw a normal activity going on as I used to know it and I wondered in my mind where the excessive suffering that was been hyped was? It has also been established and I know that those people in the remote villages that Kperogi attempted to refer to do not need more than one to five thousand Naira to transact and while in the beginning things got a little rough, POS merchants have since gotten cash for them and things are normalizing, so I’m sure that the whole propaganda about suffering is being spewed by some political elements who perhaps see free and fair contest as a threat to their victory and such narrative has to stop quickly because in recent past it was same kind of narrative that made Jonathan loose elections, Nigerians desist such fearful narrative.
Furthermore, Kperogi alluded to the fact that Asiwaju always used billion vans to win his way through elections, assuming without conceding that was true as coming from him, is Kperogi then telling us that he supports a corruption of the electoral system? If anything, is ensuring a free and fair contest by Buhari not worthy of commendation? I can bet you Nigerians especially those from
Northern Nigeria have accepted this policy not because there are not minor and temporary discomfort about it but because they see it from the prism of Buhari doing what he ought to have done a long time ago which was to annihilate corruption and its practices, so it appears the people were ready to bear this brunt in as much as it guarantees free and fair contest.
Speaking about a payback by Buhari after Tinubu had supported him, I have maintained in different fora that the agreement for the reciprocation was a party matter and that had been settled at the primary elections because indeed all stakeholders allowed Tinubu to emerge even though they had other preferences which is normal with every human. However, general elections are a totally different games because there are other contestants and it is a democratic regime we are in where numbers of votes garnered matters most, so Kperogi and co should rather concentrate on fetching votes for Tinubu rather than blackmailing Buhari to hand over powder to Tinubu already baked.
Kperogi supports Tinubu,I knew this penultimate the primary elections, when he kept dropping hammers on Osinbajo, a contract he collected to disparage Osinbajo in the eyes of the northerners so as to pave way for Asiwaju and that worked but the current one won’t work because the ordinary people from the north have bought into it to a large extent maybe not so much from the beginning of it but much more now. Rather than all these intellectual shortcuts, I have advised the APC and it’s campaign to make appropriate recruitments to formulate strategies and such recruitments can be out of the ‘big names’ and the usuals, there are millions of smart boys and girls out there who can beat Kperogi and the likes to their cheap and opportunistic games, Daniel Bwala is one of such examples!
May the best man win for Nigeria’s increased progress, Amen!
Hashim Suleiman
ATIKU: BEST MAN FOR THE JOB By Chief Anthony Ekene Onwuka
On February 25, 2023 Nigerians enfeebled by economic woes of almost eight years would return to the polls to perform the civic responsibility of electing a president that would preside over the affairs of our great Nation for another four years at the first instance. Routine as this periodic exercise is, 2023 election has peculiarities that must be thoroughly examined in the interest of the Nigerian Nation and its citizens.
It is why it is important that Nigerians use a fine comb to ferret the political spectrum and isolate who best fits this rescue mission of reversing Nigeria from the threshold which it is already mired. Of the panoply of candidates, a particular individual stands out, fit as a fiddle, fecund in wisdom, robust in current global economic trends, tactful and well heeled in diplomatic engagements, passionate about the Nation, possesses the political will to take Nigeria to its rightful place of pride and has the broad-mindedness to rebuild a Nigeria that would be home to all Nigerians. Without any iota of doubt or fear of equivocation, that man is His Excellency, Atiku Abubakar.
H.E Atiku Abubakar is a distinguished Nigerian of distinction. He cut his teeth in politics in the early nineties after a meritorious service with the Nigeria Customs and Excise. Abubakar looked at serving Nigeria from a political platform as the next port of call. Imbued with the uncanny attribute of towing a path of success, he joined forces with General Shehu Musa Yar’dua who was to become his mentor and himself a close confidant of the retired military general who had grown phenomenally into an outstanding political collosus reverberating across the length and breath of the Nation.
Atiku Abubakar’s political journey has been both altruistic and instructive. He sought for the presidential ticket of the Social Democratic Party with MKO Abiola and others but conceded to Abiola at the behest of his boss and benefactor, Yar’dua. By that action, he demonstrated that he was a man who preferred a common objective that ambition that orchestrates self beyond public good. Atiku further corroborated this selfless disposition when he took a gamble by abdicating the seat of governor of Adamawa State which he had already won overwhelmingly and accepting the position of running mate to General Olusegun Obasanjo. Even though that relationship ran into fiasco in its twilight in circumstances traceable to the overbearing nature of Obasanjo, Atiku proved to all and sundry that he is not only a true democrat, he is also a politician who has grit and is always willing to be on the side of the people.
Atiku’s ambition to be president of Nigeria is equivalent to the case of a good doctor who has diagnosed an ailment and is anxious to commence a regime of medical administration to cure the said ailment. The former vice president understands the problem of the country and is best position to proffer the solution. The country has a chance to reverse the downward slide that has beset this Nation and only the deft hands of Atiku Abubakar has the magic wand at this moment to change the fortunes of the country.
Those who may wish to disagree with this assertion should a cursory look at all the contestants. I bet they would not only see the leadership potentials in Atiku, they would see a strong virile man with vigour who is already set for the job. They would see a highly sociable Nigerian who is detribalised and flaunts unwaveringly a Pan Nigeria banner of hope that would build the country again into one homogeneous society of common heritage.
All Nigerians must hence be driven by a moral duty to join cause to bring this great country of our dream back. Our forebears loved this country and served her with love and faith. Atiku in all his actions has demonstrated that love and faith. This is the time to work with Atiku to bring back this beautiful dream. We have no doubt in our minds that with him, Nigeria would be pulled back from the brinks.Together we can make Nigeria work again!!
I have the honor to be,
Chf. Anthony Ekene Onwuka, LLB Hons, MSc.
SA,Special Duties to H.E Atiku Abubaker,GCON
Former Vice president of Nigeria 1999-2007
PDP Presidential candidate 2023.
SAHARA REPORTERS AND PANTAMI’S RIGHT TO A MILLION SELF SPONSORED VACATIONSBy Hashim Suleiman
We should have known by now there are lots of opportunists in every sector of our country with some in the media utilizing the docility and vulnerability of Nigerians of churn out information that usually pitches citizens against their leaders to the extent that the narrative has now become more of a leader having to wear rags and torn clothes around before he is seen to have integrity.
I and my wife were in Marrakech, Morocco recently and we searched for Nigerian food or place to change Naira to Moroccan Dirhams and we could not find any, this is contrary to Dubai where to you will find so much of such and I told her it was a result of Nigerian’s very poor mindset regarding vacations because I’m not sure there could be anywhere in the world that could beat Marrakech as a wonderful vacation destination, little wonder why you have Europeans trooping in and out in droves with so many of them opting to splash millions of euros to buy off houses in the Medina city centers of Morocco.
I made the above illustration to buttress how much Nigerians do not value vacations and to them every vacation has to be a show of opulence and wealth when in truth with as low as one million Naira, one could enjoy a vacation with family in as close a place as Accra or Mombasa as long as you’re conversant with how to plan vacations. I keep telling people that my salary is more than enough for me to embark on a vacation as long as I plan it well, its not rocket science, vacations are essential for one’s sanity.
Coming down to the crux where Sahara Reporters had resorted to their usual cheap propaganda on the lifestyle and person of Prof Isa Ali Pantami, one would have chosen to ignore the not very trendy news, but it’s essential to set out the real narrative for posterity sake. They had accused the Prof of numerous travels against President Buhari’s directive without sharing with us the details of each travel regarding on whether they were all official or some personal of which I am sure Pantami’s earnings are more than enough to embark on some if necessary to him.
Furthermore, the publisher of the story may not have had enough depth in terms of universal knowledge to know that in Islamic polygamy, there was a need for fairness amongst family. For instance, if I make an official journey with wife A,B or C, it was only incumbent on me to schedule others on some other trips which could again be official or personal depending on the circumstances and personal leadership plans on how to run the home. Let the publisher of that story calm down and understand it is alright to grab vacations with personal funds, he can even approach me for coaching on how to utilize his own earnings to enjoy some beautiful vacation.
They also attempted to paint Prof Pantami with affiliation to candidate Atiku, but that too is not new because some section of the society have also painted same brush on Buhari to the extent that Garba Shehu had to comment on it. Other than Buhari, so many other cabinet members of Buhari’s administration are rumored to be sympathetic to Atiku but one can only consider that to be ‘tea seller joint conversation’.
What the publisher did not however speak of or never spoke about was the fact that Prof Pantami had last week visited the site of the construction of the National Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center which was awarded in 2020 at a contract sum never awarded for such a gigantic project in Nigeria as well as beating a year ahead of its scheduled completion. If this is not unprecedented in the likes of leadership character we want in Nigeria, what could ever be? There is no time to highlight the economic contribution of that project and many others in his sector to the general economy of the country nor speak about the short and long term contributions the center will make to the development of ICT skills in Nigeria. History will certainly be kind to Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
If we don’t kill hypocrisy and slander in our country, it has the tendency of killing us because we are trying so hard to insist everyone in our nation must be bad regardless of how much they give in to the society in the midst of their allowable imperfections.
God bless Nigeria.
Hashim Suleiman
2023 AND THE USUAL DELUSION OF INCUMBENCY By Hashim Suleiman
It is said that those who forget history are bound to repeat same mistakes and when you look around you’ll see these tendencies around some players of the 2023 elections especially those of the ruling APC party and such goes to tell you a lot about why our nation has found it difficult to make a headway regarding imbibing major attitudinal changes that can guarantee meaningful development.
I had always spoken about my experiences in 2014 when I and my colleague who formed a non partisan advocacy group which was attempting to run a campaign for 30% affirmation for youth from all strata of government including political parties and private sector because we felt the youth had immense skills that could be tapped for excellence. The most interesting of the meetings was the one we held with a high ranking member of the then ruling party, the PDP penultimate 2015 elections and to our dismay, after all our well laid out presentations and how such could help their strategy, the man blatantly told us they were the incumbent and would win the elections even if all Nigerians were not going to vote for them, we wondered what that meant especially that we had done our maths and knew they had issues, he shared phantom analysis and said they were relying on some big name politicians from the northern Nigeria whom we knew had little or no political goodwill to bring to the table, the rest about their fate in that election is now history, they failed woefully.
Fast forward to the 2019 elections when same character was employed by the ruling APC and it was a morning of the scheduled presidential elections that they recognized the incumbency thought was an illusion and they suddenly had to postpone the elections by a week and leveraged on Buhari’s sentimental popularity as well as struggled to patch some little areas to struggle to pull out an arguable victory by over 2 million votes. That again passed and everything returned to normal.
We are now approaching the 2023 elections and again all I can see from the APC folks is same approach of sharing ‘beer parlor’ analysis anchored on incumbency to assume that victory is already theirs while I see a totally different scenario realistically. For example, the APC guys, majority of which are totally new entrants into the political game owing to Buhari’s magnanimity in rewarding friends, families and their allies believe that all of Buhari’s vote Bank which they also will not be able to see has been depleted belongs to Tinubu, how? Is it not same people we speak with on a daily? The fact is majority of the voters of the country have chosen to conceal their intents owing to the governments high handedness on those who choose to express opinions other than those favorable to them in their tenure. Such makes it difficult for anyone to truly understand where the people will swing to but a little reminder about their situation in 2014 and now will easily sway them into not voting for APC but you’ll wonder why the APC members will not see this and will refuse any explanations about it.
They will always also tell you about what has now become more of a cliché that Peter Obi would deplete Atiku’s votes and here again I see a people far detached from reality and politics. I was in lagos earlier last month and to my amazement, my Yoruba friend had told me that there were more Obidients in lagos than any other city of Nigeria and they cut across all the ethnicities, I tried to explain this to some of my APC friends but they’ll debunk it and it always reminds me of my 2014 experience with the PDP as highlighted in paragraph 2 above. I would also take my time to explain to them how so many of the critical stakeholders of the South East like Jim Nwobodo, Emeka Ihedioha, Osita Chidoka, Adolphos Wabara etc are Atiku supporters and whatever Peter Obi does he cannot deny PDP atleast 40% of the south East votes which are sufficient for them while South South will come in the bag for PDP because in history, they had never aligned with the South East, whether it was for Biafra or the 1979 elections when they voted for Shagari ahead of Nnamdi Azikiwe or Awolowo, but again the APC folks will not agree to these and it will become worrisome how a serious people who crave victory detest conversations around history and data.
The APC and her supporters are clearly on a false footing regarding their permutations and high confidence which are anchored on big name politicians especially from the north most of which have lost touch with their people, majority of their conversations and expectations are what we term in local parlance ‘garage talk’ and it’s all orchestrated by their thought that incumbency and not critical strategy is enough but we should remind them that Nigeria’s democracy has long evolved and the earlier they recognize and align the better for them, otherwise, a shocker awaits them as will always with people who refuse to learn, unlearn and relearn like they are up to at the moment.
May the best man win for the benefit of country.
Hashim Suleiman
A MISTAKE IN 2023 WILL RUIN ANY HOPE LEFT OF NIGERIA AS A NATION By Hashim Suleiman
At 39 years of age, I have been privileged to have obtained 16 years working experience non stop and these years are spread around all the geopolitical zones of the country and those who know me know I’m open minded enough to mingle deep into people I come across with a view of integrating and enriching my life living strategies and skills. This makes me loaded enough to understand the demography of Nigeria as well as a fair understanding of the likely outcomes of events related to national development. In these years, I equally made mistakes owing to certain misconceptions and the outcomes of it have added to my experiences.
The key tool to ensure such development of a country in a democracy is politics and the understanding and/or lack of determines the stability that would create a room to develop or not. However, the participation in politics has over the years been tainted by economic insecurities and greed to the point where people appear to have not learnt any mistakes regarding the choices they’ve made but I also understand that the opinion of the majority of voters are decided by the elites who control them by way of economy, belief and tribe and the question will now be whether these elites have seen the writing on the wall regarding the likely outcomes of 2023 or not?.
The key among the problems of the nation at this period is disunity but those who are comfortable in their corners are blinded to see any problems with this and we should remind them. The insecurities happening all over the country are a result of decayed morals and disunity and nothing more. When so much hatred has been disseminated into people to the extent that it has become a habit, what do you expect the offsprings of such individuals to be, also full of hate and such hate has led to mutual suspicion over the time and finally to killings and unrest. No part of the country is isolated from this problem and having the potentials of graduating from inter communal to inter country if not managed well because at the moment, no one is talking about it except some of the candidates and it resonates with me.
Some people mistake infrastructural development as the real development but it is too much love for luxury and enjoyment that makes them see it like that. A country like Gambia does not have as much infrastructure as Nigeria but the Europeans consider it as their best destination for vacation as against a lagos or Calabar that have same beaches but lack security, sanity and serenity. So they get enough FOREX to carry out their economic activities while we’re here and broke of it. This should amplify the need for peace and unity.
We are now faced with elections around the corner and the arguments appear as some have forgotten or don’t know about these very serious issues and are about making same mistakes, now lemme break down what a mistake would do to eroding any hope left of a country called Nigeria, I would have added United country but the reality is Nigeria is not United as this moment, the cracks and red flags are too glaring for anyone to see.
Anyone who votes you based on some creed or personal expectations will naturally develop a sense of entitlement and once such expectation do not start to come in the first three months of administration, agitations start and ego will not let the president who was insincere enough to use divisions to win to agree to correct those perceived injustices and trouble starts, this is in addition to the so many that are currently on the ground and then your guess about the state of the nation will be as good as mine- CHAOS.
Therefore, more than ever before, Nigeria only needs competence, experience and a nationalist who genuinely believes in the oneness and indivisibility of Nigeria and such person who comes with this has to also come with clean hands from day one and not any form of skewed tendencies and whether the voters understand this or not remains to be seeing in the coming days but the word of caution must be sounded!!!
May God bless our dear and beloved country Nigeria, some of us have a passion for her wellbeing!!
Hashim Suleiman
THE CONTINUOUS APPRECIATION OF NITDA’S MANDATE FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT By Hashim Suleiman
Let me take us back to the creation of NAFDAC in 1992 and then their headquarters was in lagos till about 1995 to 1996 when Abacha ordered the relocation of MDAs from lagos to Abuja then the headquarters moved to the Area 2 part of Garki in Abuja and subsequently the national headquarters ended up perhaps to their permanent Head office at Wuse Zone 7. In all these period, Nigerians barely knew what NAFDAC stood for until President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Dr Dora Akunyili the Director in 2001, the rest about how NAFDAC had since become entrenched in the Nigeria’s system is a story for another day.
Let me again refer you to an excerpt in the popular Oronsaye report which had the mandate of advising the government on how to reduce the number of MDA’s for better management and cost saving wherein there was an advise for the NITDA to merged into a department in the ministry. When I heard about this long ago, I wondered that the Agency which in my opinion is the most critical that the government can leverage upon to get to solve majority of its problems ranging from security and economic management had not gotten a professional to head it and harness its potentials.
However, such wonder was short lived with the appointment of Prof Isa Ali Pantami the Director General in 2016 who came and revolutionized the place and called the governments attention to the fact that it was actually one of the most important Agency of government that could guarantee endless benefits to government in terms of efficient management of its activities. One of the first policy he brought in was the centralization of ICT projects clearance by the Agency and that ensured that government was not wasting money on unrealistic ICT projects as well as those that were duplicates of another. That policy was successful in saving Nigerias government billions of wastages because now there was placing of square holes in square pegs.
Pantami was easily able to achieve that because he was a professional and he head hunted a critical ally in Kashifu Inuwa who served him well to further harness the ingenuity in the existing staffs of the agency as well as so many fine guys that they assembled. In our country today, part of the selling points of the top presidential candidates was the fact that they head hunted and developed people who contributed immensely to the development of the country in several sectors. Indeed Prof Pantami by imbibing these very important virtues for succeeding was more than ready to revolutionize that sector and he did.
Once he set out the policies, it was very easy before Nigerians and the presidency herself began to notice the advantages of the mandates of NITDA and how they could leverage it for national development. The Annual e-Nigeria event was expanded to involve more private sector participation as well as the public sector participation because the President attended all the versions that the new DG Pantami had organized personally. The Vice Presidents office involved NITDA more in advisory in areas of MSME development through the creation of ICT Hubs around the nation as well as the social investment programmes.
Little wonder why the president immediately appointed Prof Pantami a minister to oversee the entire sector on his return in 2019 and Pantami too on his own wisdom had to lobby to ensure the appointment of his protégé to take over the Agency which was the most critical of the whole Agencies under the ministry in terms of advancing his already planned digital transformation. The synergy worked as expected with Kashifu Inuwa and Nigeria is happy ever after with the ICT sector contributing the highest to the GDP in the last three consecutive years.
Just recently when ASUU attempted to hoodwink the Federal Government into accepting another payment platform for their salaries, the government quickly called its now chief ICT adviser, the NITDA through the Honorable Minister to vet the application and advise on its propriety for deployment. It was at this point I knew that NITDA’S roles have finally been identified by the government and have equally been appreciated. Afterwards, just this Friday on the 12th August 2022, the Honorable Minister implemented the approval of the president by setting up a committee to vet other transactional platforms of the government ranging from IPPIS, GIFMIS and the rest with NITDA serving as the secretary of such committee.
You can trust that with their antecedents, such work was going to be carried out critically and the government would get to find out areas that needed to be amended for national development, they would also be able to align the needs of all strata of the society to the various applications in order to avoid silo applications for different strata. Money saving benefits also ensue in such endeavors.
Wishing NITDA all the best!
God bless Nigeria!
Hashim Suleiman
THE HEALING PROSPECTS OF ASIWAJU AND ATIKU’S TICKETS By Hashim Suleiman
Jimi Agbaje, the PDP gubernatorial candidate in lagos state for the 2019 elections had been rumored to want to join the APC in the past weeks and a television station had to invite him to speak on that which he categorically denied and insisted he remained a member of the PDP. In the midst of the interview, the anchor had sought to know his opinion about the Muslim/Muslim ticket of Asiwaju Tinubu and he perfectly described the fact that the APC had murdered religion while the PDP had murdered ethnicity considering that an Atiku had emerged against the agitation of power return to the south after Buhari. Indeed his opinion was classy and it got me thinking a lot, follow me on my thoughts please.
Apparently, both tickets as described by Jimi above appear like firsts even though they are not necessarily happening for the first time albeit the others failed because they were not properly managed by all stakeholders. The same religion ticket had first happened with Abiola in 1993 but could not see the light of the day apparently due to some elite disagreement and who knows maybe religious disharmony was part of their consideration at that time? It appears so though. And as for the jettisoning of zoning, GEJ was the first in the democracy when he completed Yar’Adua’s tenure and insisted on running again against the zoning agreement of his party, I feel that was the beginning of the end of GEJ seeking second tenure in 2015 and the rest is history today.
However, it was important to point out the huge potentials of both tickets of Asiwaju and Atiku because if they were to sail through and managed well, either of them stands to bring Nigeria together like never before. I insist that anyone that comes by has to be managed very well from day one of it was to sail through. For example, for Atiku, there has to be zero possibility for nepotism, there has to be inclusion from inception, the president would have to been seen to involve much of Ifeanyi Okowa in decision making in order that his creed will see reason to renew their faith in Nigeria and cease the hostilities, including so many more that could lead to development under peace and harmony. As for the Asiwaju ticket, it is going to be more difficult to manage because there has to be avoidance of events that could create negative perceptions as regards faith, for example, you would have to avoid too much visits to the president or the Vice by Islamic clerics because I know they like that, appointments must be balanced with a view to probably having more Christians than Muslims, if possible the advertisement of prayer at mosques by both leaders could be left private, the ticket stands to attract more sycophants and managing them could be most difficult thing ever.
These and more too numerous to mention are tips on how these likely occurrences could be managed for the benefit of the nation. Both tickets have tendency to heal the many fault lines that had hitherto stood on the way for peaceful living so much that our diversity could be tapped for progressive tendencies. While the Atiku ticket would have less to do considering that both the north and the south have been represented on it but for the switch of it considering the completion of a northern Buhari eight year tenure, they’ll have less work to do to consolidate. The Asiwaju ticket would have more work to do considering the sensitivity of religion, it is as sensitive as just ready to catch fire on a spark of matches, so the meticulousness required to manage it is something you would not want to ignore for a minute.
Like I had posited in my earlier article titled; Atiku and Asiwaju’s economic managements as the only good still left of Nigeria’s economy’ and which can be read here: https://grassroots.ng/2022/07/05/atiku-and-asiwajus-economic-management-as-the-only-good-still-left-of-nigerias-economy/, I highlighted that whichever way it went, Nigeria stood to be better off for it atleast as regards unity but with a caveat like I have tried to explain in today’s article.
May the best man win for the benefit of our dear country, Nigeria.
Hashim Suleiman
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