So a strident section of the nation is incensed that a terror-sympathiser has made it not once but twice into the cabinet of General Muhammadu Buhari. Once in government against his strongest of views and wishes, Mr Isa Ali Pantami was given positions that allow him to take charge of the development and the deployment of technology in the 21st century.
That means that given his strong religious views, he currently has unfettered access to information that could have been used to advance the insurgency if he so desired. On top of that, he still has access to all our telecommunication data, from banking and other financial information to our physical and biometric data. Some would jump and shout—no wonder Nigeria has made no headway in its so-called fight against terror or reduce fraud and redeem national integrity. But those are the smallest of our concerns as a nation.
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We are thankful that our president, against the best wishes of woke hecklers and their paid antagonists, returned in peace and restored health. For his mental health, the president would be shielded from reports of the harvests of death that is the hallmark of his regime either from insecurity or as harvests of a dilapidated health care system.
Either way, Buhari, it bears reminding, does not give a damn! People with integrity resign but Buhari sacks no one. It is obvious that Pantami would not contemplate resignation, so sheathe your swords, you social media warriors. Get ready for the launching of a book in honour of Pantami. A post awaits the author.
It is evident that Nigeria and Nigerians have forgotten that they lost their rights to be governed conscientiously. Nigerians who vote on region and religion over values and national interest should not expect to have leaders blind to ethno-religious or nepotistic leaning. Those who conspired to rig elections from party primaries to the general polls have lost their rights to demand the fruits of democracy. These include beneficiaries of stomach infrastructure and their offspring.
A party that charges more than the maximum wage as nomination fee has lost its rights to demand efficiency or bark at a winner’s corruption and crooked tendencies. An electorate that supports men and women of questionable character as their representatives after collecting money, rice and condiments have lost their rights to recall or direct them to work in the public interest. You can’t eat your cake and still have it.
Now that we have laid the foundation for how a character like Pantami rose to the position of minister of the federal republic without first recanting his extremist views, let us equally remember that having laid the foundation for our own misfortunes, we should not expect anything good to come out of it. You can’t build a straight structure out of a faulty foundation.
We have had cause in the past to question what exactly our security agencies do when they do embark on their so-called security clearance. We have concluded that they do nothing, except perhaps take their share of the sleaze cake and close their eyes. In spite of our so-called security clearance, we have elected crooks as governors, thieves as local government chairmen, and scam artists as representatives and ministers.
What became of those who asked Nasir el-Rufai huge sums of money to clear him as a minister? Or the bribe money Obasanjo dropped for Ghali Na’Abba? What has happened to Abdullahi Umar Ganduje after video evidence emerged of him stuffing the people’s money into his private pockets other than being re-presented as a candidate and winning elections by a landslide victory? Bode George is still a patron of some political parties and Femi Fani Kayode’s sins have been forgiven since he returned to the nest of vipers he once swore never to go near. Oshiomole’s promise fulfilled.
We could pretend all we want, but it was not lost on us when a senator of the federal republic and retired AIG expressed shock that the criminals he once indicted had found their way into law-making chambers with him. We have observed like suspects hiding behind one finger as an ex-governor was extradited from Dubai to serve a prison term in England. He returned home a hero.
We are witnessing the strident campaign for the release of Joshua Dariye, a convicted felon on compassionate grounds as protesters languish in jail. While it is common knowledge that Nigeria is the sleaze headquarters of Africa, we are the generation that demands compassion for the Barrabases among us while demanding the crucifixion of our saints.
If we run a democracy, there is enough not just to call for Pantami’s resignation but the resignation of this misanthropic regime. But if you start such a hashtag in the morning and survive indefinite detention or police brutality, a million supporters would emerge before noon with placards supporting the status quo on regional and religious grounds. If these people represented the best among us, we would have demanded that the Senate and security agencies that cleared Pantami be disbanded. Unfortunately, we have sold our rights for a mesh of tuwo, bread and even gari and peanuts.
Indeed as some intensify their calls for Pantami’s resignation, there were those asking him to run for President. On his own part, Pantami has blamed his al-Qaeda and Boko Haram sympathy on youthful exuberance even though some of his controversial comments were made in 2007 when officially he was 35. In Nigerian politics, 65-year-olds have been elected as youth leaders.
We should thank the heavens that Pantami in his own words has matured in disposition to accept a position in government. The unreformed Pantami would not have touched governance with the longest spoon. Today, he suckles on the nectar of officialdom.
These, dear citizens are indeed the essence of maturity. When indeed Pantami decides to run for president may it be well with Nigeria!
For now, let us welcome back Imperial Majesty, Muhammadu Buhari, from his well-deserved medical leave and expect to hear nothing about this storm in a teacup. Let us with gladsome minds thank Malam Danladi Umar of the Code of Conduct Tribunal who went to a mall in his private capacity and displayed indecorous and uncivilised conduct. He earned himself an unenviable mention in the book of official infamy at our expense.
Let us also remember Adejare Bello, Nigeria’s Ambassador-designate to Mexico who allegedly booked a mention in that book when he slapped Adeniyi Akinromade, a journalist he accused of driving one way. The journalist said he was only being a good citizen who tried to clear a traffic logjam when he was assaulted for not giving His Slapping Excellency preferential passage. With such a man as our envoy in Mexico, banditos have nothing on our citizens. There’ll be no qualms for any Nigerian who gets a whack for not prostrating for his Excellency at the embassy. Bello the assaulter of journalists is in good league with the failed Generals who have been rewarded with ambassadorial positions after clearing senate screenings. Nothing do you Pantami!
