Please bear with me; because I’ll be neither here nor there today. Events are unfolding at the speed of thoughts; and my thoughts are loaded with all of them. From the National Assembly to the Executive Branch, we are all holding our breath.
Even though I am in Nigeria, my eyes and ears were in China all week as President Muhammadu Buhari searched for discarded bags of cement to bring back the $2 billion loan as he got set to plunge the country into another debt.
I’m not sure our children and grandchildren will be happy with this inheritance.
I was alive and well some years back when Olusegun Obasanjo went all over the world asking for debt relief for Nigeria. Imagine such an old man with a respectable diplomatic mien begging the likes of Tony Blair and George Bush to intervene in the debt Nigeria owed the rich nations.
Thank God that at the end, we were granted the relief. I still recall the press conference by then Senator Udoma Udoma, now minister of budget and national planning, who co-led the team on debt relief. He was full of joy that the delegation succeeded.
Although Udoma refused to confirm it, journalists covering the National Assembly (NASS) at that time knew that his inclusion in the team and the leadership role he played was based on the belief that as a school mate to Blair (at Oxford), they would be discussing as old boys; although one was a debtor and the other the creditor.
Ten years after Buhari was in China last week negotiating another loan. I am not against the loan because I have a feeling it would be properly utilised. I’m only concerned about what my friend, a very senior journalist, has described as Nigeria’s deliberate walk into “China’s dangerous colonialism.”
While the loan thing went on in China with all the strangulating conditions, Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, fired a letter to the Chinese government on Thursday, April 14 seeking to stop the loan.
You may describe Fayose as a busy body; however, you cannot but accept the fact that he is the only face of opposition in Nigeria today.
On April 14, Nigerians and indeed the international community mourned the abduction of almost 300 school girls by the Boko Haram terrorists two years ago. It was one of those moments that I wished I possessed the powers to do the mysterious.
As a parent, I can understand the agony of the affected parents. The trauma is unbearable. Some of the girls must have died either naturally or must have been used as suicide bombers by the mindless killers. The mere thought of it is frightening and brings tears to the eyes.
Somehow, it does not sound real: school children abducted and hidden in the forest for two long years in this country? I do not understand. Is it absolutely impossible for the technologically advanced countries to employ their orchestrated advanced technologies to track where these girls are?
For two years, there has been so much talk about other technologically advanced countries helping Nigeria win the war against terror. But practically little or close to nothing is on the ground in this regard. Instead of sorting out the mess, a lot of time has been spent on blame game.
I recall that during the campaign for the Presidency in 2015, the issue of Chibok girls was unashamedly over-politicised to the advantage of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In fact, the party boasted that on assumption of office, the commander-in-chief would literally lead a troop into the mysterious Sambisa forest and have the girls rescued.
We have since discovered that talk is cheap; and political talks are even cheaper. Political promises are hardly remembered after the votes have been counted.
Most times, it is when the reality of governance, occasioned by its unpredictable complexities, hit political promise-makers that their eyes are cleared.
From my heart, I sympathise with the parents of these girls. I can only advise them: Don’t lose hope. Don’t give up. Keep praying. Keep hoping. Keep believing. Live with the belief that God is hearing your personal and corporate supplications. Your secret petitions are amplified in His ears. The sun will shine again.
Before I forget, I received a message from a friend on Wednesday, April 13 reminding me of a historic event that occurred on that day one year ago.
He stated: Today a year ago, former President Goodluck Jonathan made that historic phone call to the then President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, that ended all tensions and stopped what would have been a bloodbath across the country.
He observed that no matter how much certain cynics may try to downplay that lonely act by Jonathan; it was in every sense unprecedented in this part of the world. He said the importance of the call was not merely in its historical significance, but also in the peace it brought to the country.
Lastly, my advice to Buhari is that he signs into law the 2016 Appropriation Bill without further delay. Whatever may be the shortcomings of the bill, there are provisions in the Constitution for the president to employ in terms of redress.
Refusing to sign the bill will further heighten the already inflamed relationship between the legislature and the executive.
As sure as I know, the NASS will override Buhari’s veto if he refuses to sign the bill into law; and that will mark the beginning of more trouble for the war-tested general.
