Just before President Muhammadu Buhari returned from London, the visit by his media team exposed the bare-faced lies of some moribund Peoples Democratic Party megaphone members who are dancing naked.
The visit exposed the malfeasance of the opposition that ruled Nigeria for 16 years. President Buhari’s ill health is nothing but the monumental heap of corruption that he met when he assumed duty. Those things had inflicted uncalculated shock on him, because when he took office what was in that office called Presidential office was startling to say the list. Former president, Goodluck Jonathan, saw the monumental heap of maladministration which happened during his tenure.
Look at the Power Sector alone where over N11 trillion was spent and yet nothing came out of it until now we are seeing the glimpses of power supply. That is part of what gave Buhari ill health. Look at the findings in the Ministry of Petroleum where a woman accumulated wealth of over three nations joined together. Are we talking of local debts in trillions? What about road infrastructural decay? Today the entire Apapa in Lagos is being closed down for one year for full reconstruction of infrastructural decay there. The road network is in shambles up to Tincan Island ports. The entire national road infrastructure is in a very deplorable situation. That is why the proponents of restructuring of Nigeria are always mounting pressure.
But of course if everything was handed over to Buhari neat, he wouldn’t have been ill. When people are talking about change in a most derogatory manner I laugh at them because the true meaning of change is nothing but creating a very congenial atmosphere in the state administration. What did Buhari inherit from his predecessors; capital nothing. Where are the following national institutions: Nigerian Airways, Nigerian National Shipping Line (where are the 282 missing vessels?).
The National Electric Power Authority was fraudulently privatized with all the infrastructural therein, today what benefits has the nation derived from such privatization? Today all the national structural patrimonies of this nation namely, the old National Assembly Complex at Tafawa Balewa Square, National Stadium. Tafawa Balewa Square, National Arts Theatre, Federal Secretariat, Nigerian Telecommunication (NITEL). All have gone into oblivion. They were either sold off or completely abandoned to decay. The NITEL House which is one of the tallest buildings in the continent as I learnt has been sold. All NITEL facilities nation wide are comatose. The NITEL Building was built during the era of Brigadier David Mark (former Senate President) when he was the Minister of Communication. That octopus ministry had been completely destroyed by the past administration. If Chief Olu Akinfosile (late) who was the first Minister of Communication comes back to life he would be shocked at what has happened to the Ministry he established.
Look at FESTAC Town in Lagos, which housed the second republic legislators, has become a glorified slum. The area has been taken over by giant kidnappers and other allied terrible robbers. Those decays were created before the last administration came in. Today they are gathering momentum again ostensibly for their purported takeover of governance in 2019; that will never come to them. They are all day dreamers. Those iniquities are capable of inflicting very serious injury on whoever inherits them as it is happening to Buhari.
This is a tip of the ice berg in the record of the monumental failure of this nation. Are we talking of the time when oil was being sold at $100 per barrel? Look at the outcome of the mismanagement of the proceeds. Go to Banana Island, private estates adorn the whole place and Abuja. Billions of cash have been stashed away in different parts of the country.
The issue of Boko Haram was treated with levity. Billions of dollars allocated to fight Boko Haram was shared among the military chiefs and the other political chieftains before Buhari came in. People are now asking question if Boko Haram has been defeated without minding the position of the issue before President Buhari came in to rout them.
Recently a close friend of mine called and sent me a picture taken at the dreaded Sambisa Forest now turned into a tourist area. Of all these, some people up till today scandalously rejoice over Buhari’s ill-health caused by mindless past administrations. At the PDP’s recent jamboree called non-elective convention, the members jeered at the APC, saying that our party cannot organize ourselves or hold a national executive committee meeting or electing Board of Trustees; at least you know that Chief Tony Momoh, the veteran journalist is the chairman of APC Board of Trustees; otherwise if there was not a National Executive Committee how come the 12 APC governorship aspirants in Anambra State were cleared. So what I say in effect is that those monetary loopholes through which PDP milked this nation to a standstill have been blocked. It is no more business as usual as we saw during the time of PDP. I don’t want to discuss the characters of those who are disseminating false information on the health of our amiable President. Such people existed during the era of the revered first President of Nigeria, the Rt Hon. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (The Owelle of Onitsha). At that time the same death rumour was carried on Zik, several of them even went into electronic media houses to announce Zik’s purported death, some even were appointed secretaries and chairmen of burial sub-committee. As God would have it then one of my good friends, who was sent by Owelle’s first son, Chuma Azikiwe, got to Onuiyi Haven Nsukka to ascertain the authenticity of the news and met the great sage (Zik) and one of the former military governors of the old Anambra State who was there with some of his commissioners with Zik. Zik full of life ushered them in when he came out from his library. When my friend gave Zik a publication of his purported death published by one of the South West tabloids, Zik after reading through the whole thing laughed hilariously and exclaimed “I shall attend the funeral ceremony of those people” and that exclamation came to pass.
► Chief Modestus Umenzekwe, an APC chieftain wrote from Lagos via [email protected]