Looking For A New FEC

AT the close of this week, we should have clearer pictures of which ministerial nominees are going to join President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) in the much awaited Federal Executive Council, FEC. PMB had assured and pleaded with fellow countrymen to give him ample time to come up with a team that can help translate the change his party promised into concrete deliverables. And citizens waited for four whole months before they were handed half of the list.

A lot has been said of the list. Some think Buhari hasn’t quite hit bull’s eye, given the much-hyped promise on his part, and the overrated expectations out here. Some say Mr. President didn’t need all of that period to come up with such familiar names.
For me, I think it is a fair list for now. By the time the remaining nominees are out, there should be some balancing, in terms of fresher, younger faces; and a more gender friendlier outing. Three women out of 21 nominees, is certainly not enough, and younger people are asking to be represented.

On the whole, there were no surprises. If anything, it appears Buhari is beginning to understand that party politics requires far more tact than he had assumed and postured. The business of party building does not begin and end with winning the 2015 general elections. Apart from the urgent demand for good governance and stamping out of corruption, you still need a wholesome party system to formulate policies and articulate the wider needs of the people. It is not a one-man show. You need to nourish the party so that it will still be useful for the next outing.

That is what I have noticed in the list. The President has appointed men who can help him sustain the rhythm of change. Ministers are the foot soldiers of the party in government, particularly, in states where the opposition is in charge. You need men and women who can take the message down to the grassroots. No serious-minded democratic president will hand the totality of his cabinet to outsiders in the name of technocrats. Buhari has done well to put party members on his prime list.

We can also see the President playing party politics fairly well too. He had expressed the desire not to surrender governance to a few party leaders who can pull deft strings through their nominees in government. That must have been the major reason he took this long, navigating through the henchmen and still remaining faithful to the party. Some of the nominees are persons who exhibit a measure of independence and brilliance, which was why they got into trouble in the first place with their zonal leaders. If Buhari had yielded to the leaders, some of the nominees would have found it difficult getting on board. Babatunde Fashola and Kayode Fayemi, for instance, had been smeared back home. If Buhari had not conducted due diligence, he might have succumbed to such blackmail and abandoned these two outstanding men.

With the Senate rule demanding at least two endorsements by senators from nominees’ home states, some fear Fashola might still run into some trouble. They reckon that he still has to return to base and propitiate the godfather. But I do not think the face-off is so deep-seated. Besides, the Omoluabis in Lagos are too smart to take their family issues to the floor of the Senate. Even when they did it so rancorously to Musiliu Obanikoro of the PDP in the 7th Assembly, they were overruled. Wise counsel must surely prevail, especially, after an opposition governor Ayodele Fayose has charged Ekiti Senators to endorse Fayemi without conditions. Again, party leaders in Lagos should reckon with the fact that Fashola is not going to Abuja to represent only their party. There are millions of Lagosians who have no relationship with any political party, but they love Fashola dearly. Those who want to preserve the All Progressives Congress (APC) for future elections must learn to deal fairly and kindly with the man.

Audu Ogbeh is also very independent minded. He refused to surrender the leadership of the Peoples Democratic (PDP) to the antics of his former party’s national leader, Olusegun Obasanjo. He would rather take a walk, and he left. In his sphere of influence in Benue State, nobody dictates to him. He is a strong party man and very knowledgeable on issues of agriculture. That is one area he will do well for his party as the nation grapples with economic diversification.

Former Anambra governor, Chris Ngige, is also a man of strong will. Some godfathers in Anambra wanted him to surrender the government to service their gluttonous appetite. He proved stubborn and they used force on him. God saved him and now he is a liberated man. In the APC, he also confronted those who tended to overreach themselves in the party’s formative days. He is a strong party man from the Southeast and he answers to no godfathers.

Rotimi Amaechi may have met Buhari’s requirement as a faithful party man and independent minded too. But he has trouble at home that requires sorting out before he moves to Abuja. Senators from his state have rejected him, via a strong petition. The man refused to attend the summons of a judicial panel back home, where he is alleged to have misappropriated huge sums. But for all that, the man would have been good to go. As chairman of the Governors’ Forum, he led state governors to challenge Federal Government’s larger than life attitude in dealing with states. He is not a pushover and has no godfathers. He is the kind of party man that fits PMB’s political worldview. But will he have his day with this Senate? Time will tell.
The President seems to be coming out of his shell, just like was canvassed here not long ago. Democratic leadership is not about cold-shouldering or threatening not to engage. It is about engagement all the way. And the president, from what we have seen, is beginning to realise that the NASS is a worthy institutional partner to engage, despite individual members’ moral deficits. Buhari must have taken some tutorials on how to engage the legislature and he should do more of that in order to move forward.

Going forward, I would have preferred minimal rancour come Tuesday and beyond, so that a new FEC can be constituted shortly. The task of returning the country to a state of seriousness is huge. Persons who are going to oversee key ministries have to be reminded that they are going in for a rescue mission and party politics should be put where it belongs, in the sidelines for now.

Nigeria is not well, and no other sector tells the vivid picture like the security sector. The country is no longer a safe place to live, apart from the insurgency in the Northeast. Many state capitals are no longer safe places to live. Kidnappers and other criminals are on the prowl and those who should provide security are themselves not convinced about the enormity of the task. The leadership of the Police would come and boast of a non-existent capacity and resolve, only to be misled by some riffraff kidnappers. When an IG announces the sacking of checkpoints do not take his word for it. Mr. President’s body language is yet to touch that sector.

The nation’s criminal justice system requires urgent retooling, to enhance quick dispensation and restoration of confidence in the judiciary. Without justice, the country would head quickly for the woods.

Flowing from that is the enthronement of social justice, to reduce the menace of poverty among the larger population. Few people have abnormal access to the country’s resources and that has left a huge gap, where crime and angst is festered.

Government must work to protect all citizens everywhere, if the idea of Nigeria as a country is to be believed. The sort of madness that prevails in the Middle Belt is unacceptable, where villagers are routinely attacked at pre-dawn raids by gun-carrying marauders. Yet, the villagers are not allowed to carry guns to defend themselves; neither do security personnel come to their defence. It is like an orchestrated scenario to systematically disarm and exterminate them, as they are first rendered vulnerable. They cannot own guns, but their attackers roam with guns. That carnage must stop and we trust the new FEC, made of men of character and good conscience to clean the stables for a new Nigeria to emerge, where no tribe assumes flighty superiority over any other. And where no group seeks undue economic advantage over any other.
If there is adequate security and justice, the environment will enable economic growth. And Nigeria will flourish.