By Lateef Adegbite
With the situation of the country over the last six years under President Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Army General, of the ruling All Progressive Government, Afe Babalola, a legal, luminary, fears that it would be waste of time and resources to hold the 2023, general elections.
The legal luminary, who could not hide his feelings had said that for the Professor Mahmood Yakubu, led nondependent National Electoral Commission, INEC, ‘’to conduct the 2023, elections, as being planned under the current 199 Constitution , as midwifed by the military would only produce ‘’the faulty leadership and system currently being experienced in the country’’.
He lamented that ‘’money bags have hijacked the lever of power in the country, noting that if the if the 2023, general elections should hold under the present Constitution, what the country will be getting is ‘’recycling Leadership will continue the old ways of seeing politics as a money spinner and business venture’’.
Perhaps, this may have informed why he has thrown his weight for the establishment of an interim government after the expiration of the Katstina state born Nigerian President second term in office that would ‘’.consists of all former Presidents, Vice Presidents, governors and some elected Lawmakers’’ Describing the interim government as a stop gap measure to stop the nation from sinking, he disclosed that it would give the people the opportunity ‘’to discuss a new constitution’’ that would be devoid of the short comings of the 1999 Constitution. He believes that the new Constitution that would be fashioned out by the interim government will bring a new order whereby the elected Lawmakers will work on part-time’’. To save the country’s meagre resources.
The Ekiti state born Lawyer major worry was that the country has already become bankrupt, citing the exchange rates of the naira to the dollar, pounds sterling and other international currencies used in trading. He noted that the naira which was N199 to $1 in 2015, when Former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over to the retired Army General, is now over N570 to the dollar which had forced the country’s inflation rate to hit 15.92% as at March, 2022, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS.
He lamented that the economic situation of the country have been made worse by the Buhari Administration as the external debt which was $10.7 billion in 2015, has hit the roof top of over $38 billion as at 2022. This may not have stopped the government from borrowing. Hear him: The government is still borrowing more and spending more.
It is not surprising why he has thrown his weight behind the formation of an interim government in 2023 istead of planning for another election that would the country nowhere.
Senator Hope Uzodinma, Buhari political ally and governor of Imo state, would not agree with the legal Luminary for the setting of an interim government after the expiration of the Buhari Administration, stressing that ‘’it is tantamount to a call to anachy’’.The Imo state governor had questioned the process of selecting such an interim government suggested by the Lawyer. He may have forced to speak out after a recent meeting with the Nigerian President at the Presidential Villa, fueling speculations making the rounds that the duo may have discussed it in their closed door meeting before the governor came out to speak.
While Ekiti stat born Legal Luminary is not happy that the economic situation of the country has gone from bad to worse over the last six years, Senator Douye Diri, governor of Bayelsa, home state of former President Jonathan, on Tuesday , April 19, 2022, had lamed that ‘’the security challenges in the country have worsened than it was in 2015.The Bayesa state governor had said that ‘’the spate of killings by bandits and terrorists in different parts of the country is a set – back for Nigeria where lives could be taken at will’’.
He noted that Kaduna, governed by Nasiru E-Rufai, a former minister of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, during Jonathan Administration and other states in the north are sick security-wise which has affected other parts of the country. He alluded to the fact that ‘’Nigeria under the current Buhari Administration is very close to Thomas Hobbes state of nature, in his book, the Leviathan, where ‘’life is described as nasty, brutish and short’’.
Only recently, Musa Agah Avia, a member of the House of Representatives, representing Bassa Federal Constituency, in the north central state of Plateau, escaped by the whiskers an ambush by bandits in the tate. The Lawmaker was said to have been ambushed along twin hill in Miango chiefdom of Iriegwe, in the Bassa Local government Area, which had remained a hot bed for Bandits and trigger hungry herdsmen in the state.
Senator Bala Mohammed, one of the Opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Presidential aspirants for the 2023, general elections, and governor of the north eat state of Bauchi, had repeatedly said that Buhari, may have failed to keep to his promise of tackling the high level of insecurity in the country because he ‘’lacks the support of the people’’. This may have informed why he has volunteered to work with the Federal government to secure the country, stressing that ‘’it is our collective responsibility’’. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, had made a similar remarks in the past that it is our collective responsibility to tackle the security challenges facing the country as the government cannot do it alone.
While Buhari, had continued to receive bashing from Nigerians over his inability to reposition the Nigeria, YemiOsinbajo, the Vice President, Rotimi Amaechi, a former governor of Rivers state and minister of Transportation, believed to be the anointed Candidate of Buhari, to take over from him, in 2023 and Chris Ngige, a former governor of Anambara state and minister of Labour and Employment, who could not broker peace between the Academic Union of Nigerian Universities, ASUU and government for tertiary students at the Federal Universities, speaks volume of the power struggle in the APC an`d no agenda to fix the country. The question on the lips of most people is if the APC Presidential aspirants serving in the Buhari have such good ideas to solve the economic and security problems facing the country, what stops them from giving such ideas to the retired Army General to implement now and save the country from this mess.
