In a manner that was sufficiently self-indicting and far from being evocative of any civilized democratic values, some former ministers who served under erstwhile President Jonathan rose in angry protest over what they said was an “unduly partisan, ill-intentioned and bad faith vilification” of the Jonathan administration by the Buhari government. “We, the ministers who served under the President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan administration, have watched with increasing alarm and concern the concerted effort by the Buhari administration and members of the APC to condemn, ridicule and undermine the efforts of that administration, in addition to impugning the integrity of its individual members,” noted a statement issued on their behalf by former National Planning Minister, Abubakar Suleiman. In a combative riposte, the Presidency berated the ministers for constituting themselves into a “trade union” which it mockingly named the “Association of Ex-Jonathan Ministers.” The shouting match made Nigeria look like a big nation entrusted to small men. This is an embarrassment not only to Nigeria, but to democracy as a form of government. It is a shame that should never be brought upon Nigerians again.
Whereas it has been said that all is fair in war and politics, it must be stated in no ambiguous terms that the public trading of brickbats was clearly in bad taste. Acting like area boys and quarreling like market women was absolutely indecorous and stripped their messages of any significance. This is a national shame that not only stands condemned; it constitutes an assault on the psyche of Nigerians and must stop. It sullies the image of those in leadership positions in Nigeria and casts aspersion on the image of the country before the international community. There is need for decorum and all Nigerians, especially those in positions of authority, should refrain from mindlessly heating up the polity.
Urging the Buhari administration not to transform the anti-graft war into a political witch-hunt, the ministers insisted that Jonathan’s record of achievements remain unbeatable: “we are proud to have served Nigeria and we boldly affirm that we did so diligently and to the best of our abilities.…The effort that has been made to portray each and every member of the Jonathan administration as corrupt and irresponsible, in an orchestrated and vicious trial by media, has created a lynch mentality that discredits our honest contributions to the growth and development of our beloved nation…we are constrained to speak up in defence of the legacy of the Jonathan administration, and shall do so again, for as long as those who are determined to rubbish that legacy, are unrelenting in their usual deployment of blackmail, persecution, and similar tactics.”
Pray, how can former ministers be so willfully unscrupulous and vainglorious as to spew such provocative comments that offend the sensibilities of the Nigerian people, all in the name of defending their legacy? Honestly, the ugly conduct of the former ministers emblemizes how not to build a good Nigeria.They should respect their ages and former offices and stop crying like babies. But the impudent and supercilious reaction of the presidency was to say the least, disappointing. In a statement by Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the Presidency accused the ex-ministers of trying to distract the president from urgent tasks of governance, especially the war on corruption. The presidency was needlessly voluble in its reaction, that was ornate with veiled threats and harmful grandiloquence where golden silence at least, would have been deafening.
Beyond the specifics of avuncular admonition and verbal castigation, it is obvious that these ministers have collective amnesia and suffer from a huge honor and integrity deficit with no sense of shame. As former ministers, they have access to the corridors of power. The fact that they chose to reach the president through a public statement reduces the propriety of their method. This is unbecoming of people who think seriously about bettering the lot of their country. By their perfunctory action, they cheapened their own integrity. Little surprise the presidency found the statement self-serving, hypocritical and disrespectful of the president. But the presidential riposte was provocative, callous and too patronizing to be associated with the exalted office of the president. In the event, they have done disservice to the President on whose behalf they were acting. Nigerians deserves better.
It is important to remind the Jonathan ministers that the elections are over; power has been delivered by the electorate to the APC. Nigerians voted out a PDP that was more of a ruling than a governing political party that was insensitive to the yearnings of the people, and was incompetent, yet arrogant to the point of being disdainful. Whilst the PDP’s catastrophic defeat signposts the leadership quotient of the Jonathan administration, it is a matter for regret, indeed shame that the same ministers who abused the stupendous perks of their offices to the point of obscenity should now be trying to rewrite history.
But contrary to general expectations, the APC has demonstrated a worrisome proclivity to pick fights at the slightest provocation and criticism by the PDP; giving cause to worry about both its temperament and capacity to deliver on the party’s central electoral promise of “change.” The APC cannot be said to have hit the ground running. Even a routine exercise as the election of the principal officers of the National Assembly where the APC holds a strong majority was so untidy as to cast doubts on the cohesion of the party. Let it be recalled that the APC promised a change from all that was wrong with the PDP. Regrettably, the APC has been acting as if it sought to gain power first and then plan what to do with it; as if it was as unprepared for its own electoral success as the PDP was unprepared for its defeat. This is not the “change” Nigerians voted for and this is not the “change” they will tolerate.
It is disheartening that the new administration is wasting time on distractions that would not by any means improve the well-being of Nigerians and which could cast it in the mold of a regime without priorities. Engaging the former ministers in a public shouting match betrays the administration’s failure to understand the national issues on which they should be expending their energy. As he seeks to make Nigeria great again, Buhari and his party must do things differently. The point is taken that one way or the other, President Buhari has a clear idea of a certain Nigeria in his head; and in the context of the complexity of Nigeria’s national problems; the new administration must not be imbued with the mentality that “this is our turn”. Buhari is the leader of Nigeria, and must therefore, recognize and impute the diversity of Nigeria into his government. The APC must not just rule; it must govern Nigeria for the greatest good of the greatest number of her citizens. The Association of Ex-Jonathan ministers is a phenomenon Nigeria can do without.
