By Onyenwe Princely
Tel: 080-368-565-26; Email: princelynews@gmail.com
In the past administrations, we have heard of corruption, mutiny by the superior military officers for example the change of government in Pakistan in 1958, the then head of army, field Marshal Ayub Khan, led his officers and men in a bloodless takeover of government. Also in 1952, Gen. Neguib agreed with the young officers to remove king Faruk of Egypt led by Col. Nasser to take over the government of the country. Gen. Buhari’s first taste of presidency in the military regime was, toppled of his government by IBB. The point I am trying to make is that the process of government in Nigeria has changed from military to democracy and from mutiny to impeachment, expecting the best way forward in a democratic setting to be the obedience to the rule of law and immediate application of change to correction of leadership. Most informed Nigerians therefore, except those, representing entrenched privilege has reason to desire a change of government. “Our major problem has been and still is that of proper political leadership”
Nigeria’s political process as well as our political structure has yielded the number and seriousness of political disappointments suffered by the nation since independence and hopefully to be corrected by the new government having President Buhari at the centre point and governors at respective states, expecting effective reinforcement to the wobbling & battered 1999 constitution, CONFAB agreement and prompt service delivery. It is expected, of All Progressive Congress administration at all levels of government to jettison corrupt leaders and probe ailing members without prejudice to maintain lasting legacies as the presidency has be gone the process of ending Boko Haram insurgency.
His duty now if we are to survive as a nation is to create the right conditions for the growth of the right types of leadership, credible and capable of better investments, to stabilize and sanitize the polity, maximum security, quality healthcare, financial empowerment and proper management of national assets.
It could be recalled that, May 29, 2015 is characterized, as democracy day, and it is typically a day to remember in our political atmosphere. The day All Progressive Congress Party (APC) took over leadership from People Democratic Party (PDP). It was a ceremonious event that brought in President Buhari as the President after Jonathan conceded defeat from the just concluded election ushering the emergence of APC to power at the centre of government.
Afterward, imposition of submissions against the political will of the people must be discarded and to discourage the over-heat of polity and election malpractice witnessed during the polls, forward looking, technocrats and compassionate leaders shall be elected into offices. Political appointments shall be based on proficiency, compassion and readiness to deliver. If politicians could know that manipulations will not earn him or her any good but a possibility of going to jail, there will be good governance in Nigeria. This process will bring out the best leaders and produce equitable formula for distribution to instate development and political decency in all the states of the federation.
All Progressive Congress (APC) is a coined name that emerged from the fusion of political parties. Hence, a baptismal name of a political party a new name in the old sheep cloth. It is pertinent to note that the foundational structures and the buildup of APC are the same Nigerian politicians’ nurtured with same flesh and blood. The probability of behaving like Nigerians is certain. It could be traced to the facts that the cause of the failure of Nigeria as a political entity is that the politicians played too much politics, often ignoring national interest in their quest for power, mundanes, personal or regional overdoing. The imbalance in the size of the geo-political zones disallowed the possibility of taking turns at the control of power at the centre.
Consequently, this embarrassing situation has truncated the expected dividends of good governance. It has also frustrated the progressives among the politicians and thrown democracy to jeopardy and irrational applications of unbridled policies. The effects over the melancholy of Nigerian electorates have remained persistent since no word on quality leadership has been applied to a logically conclusion. Gen Buhari is not known as a magician that could easily change the government over-might rather an elected president expected to foster desirable changes despite all odds.
A time such as this in which we find ourselves unhappily engaged in cleaning the bloody mess occasioned by errors of past government perhaps the most opportune for us to begin to cast our thoughts into the future in search of improvements to strengthen the foundation of Nigeria.
Onyenwe Princely writes from Owerri Imo State Nigeria.