Yehuda Berg rightly theorised that everything happens for a reason, and there are no mistakes or coincidences. On the other hand, we can never give up, knowing 
that, with the right tools and energy, we can reverse any decree or karma. So, which is it? Let the light decide, or never give up? The answer is, both.
On this note, we continue beaming our searchlight on my projections and predictions before and after PMB was sworn in.
Ozekhome – Sunday Telegraph – July 19, 2015
In my Sunday Telegraph discourse of July 19, 2015, less than two months after PMB came on board, I wrote on what I termed “THE ANTI-CLIMAX” of PMB’s performance: “Barely 50 days into PMB’s administration, Nigerians (read the print and social media, watch TV analysis and columnists’ opinions), are beginning to ask many questions. Were their hopes misplaced? Were they hallucinating? Are they in a state of somnambulism, or having feverish nightmares? Reasons? They cannot see signs of the promised ‘change.’ Nigerians are not the most patient people on earth. They love quick-fix-it attack on issues, with ‘immediate effect and automatic alacrity.’ Nigerians cuddle panache, glamour, colour, razzmatazz, and the fanciful. They even love the drama of actions, even if merely playing to the gallery. They yearn for populist actions, the type of IBB when he rejected the IMF, even though he later forced down their unwilling throats the bitter pill of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). Nigerians are seeing an anti-climax. And they are surprised and deflated. Was this the change they voted for? They are wondering!”
PMB’s many missteps, the faux pas
“When he took the oath of office on May 29, 2015, PMB made one of the most memorable quotes of the century, “I belong to everybody and I belong to no one.” Some placed it in the pantheon of Murtala Mohammed’s great speech, “Africa has come of Age,” delivered on 11th January, 1976, at the OAU extraordinary meeting, warning the West, including America’s Gerald Ford, to keep off the internal affairs of Africa, while castigating the evils of apartheid.
“After this great outing, most Nigerians expected a national broadcast as to the thrust and policy direction of his government. None came. None has come till date. Only haphazard, piecemeal, fire brigade statements on sundry issues, at sundry occasions. No rhythm, no rhyme, no clear message. PMB, are you hearing me, sir?”
Ozekhome – Sunday Telegraph – July 26, 2015
In my Sunday Telegraph weekly column of July 26, 2015, I worried about the “NON-APPOINTMENT OF MINISTERS” by PMB and his slow pace. I asked whether he was “overwhelmed by serious issues of governance.”
I argued: “Section 147 of the 1999 Constitution provides for the appointment of Ministers by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The word “shall,” which enjoins a mandate, is carefully and advisedly used by the makers of the Constitution. There shall be at least one Minister from each of the 36 states of Nigeria, with one from the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.
“…The Ministers are to help the President discharge the duties of his office effectively. It is said that even God himself, as Almighty, Omniscient and Omnipresent as He is, still requires the assistance of Angels and Saints. Not so for PMB. Well over one and a half months after his appointment and well over three months after he became aware he had been elected President of Nigeria when GEJ conceded defeat and congratulated him, PMB is still without Ministers, operating alone, like a lone ranger, in the mould of a military dictator. His slow, nay, sluggish, pace has become worrisome to most Nigerians.”
It was to take yet another three months before PMB finally named ministers. And guess what? They were all known politicians, those who had campaigned with him. No gravitas!
Ozekhome – Sunday Telegraph – August 2, 2015
Still worried stiff about the then apparent directionlessness and cluelessness of the PMB government, I wrote in my Sunday Telegraph column of August2, 2015, as follows: “There is despondency and hopelessness everywhere, with the government exhibiting no real sense of direction, mission or vision. The ship of state appears rudderless and directionless, with his ruling APC party still talking and behaving tough as if it is still in the opposition. It still shadow boxes with imaginary enemies, forgetting it is now in power…”
Corruption
“… Corruption, which has become the 37th state of Nigeria and, indeed, the wealthiest at that, is not climbing down from its imperious monstrous height. Rather, it is waxing stronger and becoming more and more endemic, ravishing the weak fibre of the Nigerian society with reckless abandon and impunity. Corruption now mocks all of us with utmost derision. It dares us. It spits in our faces. What is PMB doing about it?”
Worsening an atmosphere of insecurity
“… Insecurity is becoming more frightening, with Boko Haram, which had been massively degraded and nearly decapitated before PMB’s oath of office on May 29, waxing stronger and stronger, and indeed becoming more daring and defiant. Over 600 people have been mindlessly killed in the last few weeks in the renewed upsurge of violence and attacks. Innocent Nigerians are murdered in cold blood.
“… Kidnapping cases have since increased on a monumental scale, with judges, pastors, Rev. Fathers, Monarchs, women, children and men becoming daily victims in the nefarious activities of these marauders. There is still no major national broadcast to Nigerians as to the direction of PMB’s government regarding his policies on education, infrastructural development, national ethos, anti-corruption war or how to grow the economy and give jobs to the teaming unemployed youths of Nigeria, of whom he had promised N5,000.00 monthly stipends before they get employed.”
What is PMB’s policy direction?
“… There is no single statement about oil subsidy and emergency oil subsidy merchants who are bleeding the Nigerian economy dry and threatening to asphyxiate and vanquish already hapless Nigerians.
The bi-cameral National Assembly is in turmoil with no positive presidential intervention to save Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy, except threats to impose external leadership. Nigeria appears to be wobbly, groggy, fumbling and near prostrate. What is the policy direction of PMB regarding the above issues? I don’t know. I do not know if you know.”
Frittering away Nigeria’s goodwill
“… PMB, in my humble opinion, is busy frittering away the groundswell of goodwill and affection Nigerians bestowed on him on March 28. Ex-President GEJ did it and paid dearly for it. Although he was sworn in on May 29, the truth is that he became aware he was the elected President of Nigeria since April 4, nearly 100 days ago, when GEJ called to concede defeat and congratulate him. Till now, he has not even appointed a Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), the clearing house and heart beat of any government, Chief of Staff, Principal Secretary, etc. Government business has literally ground to a halt, with no money in circulation. All ministries are virtually dead, with Permanent Secretaries afraid to take major decisions or sign any contract.”
Nigeria, we hail thee
“… Nigeria appears to be in a state of suspended animation, dancing in uncomfortable limbo, like a yoyo, virtually on auto-pilot. PMB, sir, don’t allow the usual bootlickers, grovellers and fawners deceive you by telling you that you are doing very well. It’s a complete lie. You have so far performed dismally, with no spark to ignite national passion and enthusiasm. No endearing leadership traits have so far been exhibited, to key Nigerians into line.
Be informed that Nigerians are very interesting and impatient people, easy to govern, difficult to satisfy, and impossible to tyranise, intimidate or browbeat.”
Ozekhome – Sunday Telegraph – July 12, 2015
Still worried about the different bedfellows that came together under the canopy of APC’s wind of change and the likely implosion, I wrote in Sunday Telegraph of July 12, 2015, as follows: “It is clearly a case of two captains in a boat. It will rock and capsize. That the APC has lost its moral compass and regimentalising leadership influence on its representatives played out with more force on Thursday, 26th July, 2015, when both the Senate and the House engaged themselves in a scandalous show of shame over leadership positions, not about re-engineering comatose Nigeria. In the House, the Chambers was turned into an uproarious maelstrom, with screams, insults, abuses, explectives, curses, pushing, shoving, pugilism, and even an attempt to seize the carefully quarantined golden mace. A cordon had to be thrown around Speaker Yakubu Dogara, whose only “crime” is that he emerged popularly (as Speaker), from amongst his peers, in accordance with S.50 of the 1999 Constitution.
“… The entire brouhaha was again caused by the vain attempt of APC to externally impose leaders on both Houses in the name of party supremacy. In a letter written by its Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, on the 23rd of June, 2015, the APC (which for years had mocked the PDP for lacking internal democracy), directed Speaker Dogara to appoint Femi Gbajabiamila (SW), (defeated earlier for speakership by Dogara), as House Leader; Alhasan Ado Doguwa (NW) as Deputy House Leader; Pally Iriase (SS), as Deputy Chief Whip; and Mohammed Monguno (NE), who had been defeated for the position of Deputy Speaker by Yusuf Suleiman Lasun of South West, and of the Dogara persuasion) as Deputy Chief Whip. All hell was let loose when the ‘Pro-Party Supremacists’ battled with the ‘Legislative Supremacists’ for the heart and soul of the House.
“… At the Senate, more maturity prevailed, with the political sagacity of Bukola Saraki, who exhibited imperious Machiavellian traits to hold firmly to legislative supremacy. He navigated ingeniously, like Mungo Park, Lander Brothers, Clapperton and Vasco Dagama, through shark-infested ocean of turbulence and chaos, to manage the volcanic eruption.
“The APC letter announcing its own set of imposed candidates, Lawan (NE), George Akume (NC), Olusola Adeyeye (SW) and Abu Ibrahim (NW), as Senate Leader, Deputy Senate Leader, Chief Whip and Deputy Chief Whip, respectively, was kept by Saraki under lock and key. Those expecting him to enthrone his bitterest enemies into pre-eminent positions, which they could use later to torpedo him, do not understand much about the acquisition and use of power. Do you arm your enemy? I laugh at their political naivety and puerility.
“… What did the ‘Like Minds’ do? They simply asserted their legislative independence, free from the asphyxiating and overbearing party supremacist grip, by following Senate Rules, which allow zonal caucuses of the states to throw up their own leaders. This done, the following leaders emerged: Ali Ndume (North East) who had been defeated by 57-20 votes by Ike Ekweremadu to emerge Senate Deputy President (Senate Leader); Bala Na’Allah (North West) (Deputy Majority Leader); and Senator Francis Alimikhena (Edo, and South South, indeed the only APC Senator from South South and South East), as Deputy Chief Whip. The post of Chief Whip earlier marked for Sola Adeyeye (South West), was kept in abeyance, as his name was not put forward by the pro-party protagonists.
“… Thus, for the second time in as many weeks, the APC suffered internal rebellion by its own legislators, a pointer to the inchoateness (like clay waiting to be moulded into any shape) of the fledgling party. Will APC survive these internal schisms and crises? Only time and the conduct of the party will tell.
“…The APC had probably not reckoned with the fact that PMB was dead serious when he reeled out the quotable quote of ‘I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody,’ an apt cliché that made him to distance himself from the murky politics of who assumed leadership of both Houses. There is no need for the present recriminations, or lachrymal effusion, embarked upon by APC leadership like spoilt and overpampered brats.
“…My final take on this is that the election of Saraki and Dogara and other principal officers by the Senate and House was constitutional, legal, moral, democratic and serves as an invigorating elixir to deepen, strengthen and widen the democratic space. It also oils the wheels of our nascent democratic experimentation.”
Thought for the week
“…Things don’t just happen in this world of arising and passing away. We don’t live in some kind of crazy, accidental universe. Things happen according to certain laws, laws of nature. Laws such as the law of karma, which teaches us that as a certain seed gets planted, so will that fruit be.” (Sharon Salzberg).