President Buhari: A Daniel Come To Judgment

“Recover our looted funds”, every Nigerian patriot is telling President Muhammadu Buhari.

“I will do”, Mr. President assures.

“A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel! O wise young judge, how I do honour thee!” Shylock proclaimed in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice of 1596.

This phrase relates to the Biblical character Daniel, who was attributed with having fine powers of judgment. In Daniel 5:14 King James Version) it was stated: “I have even heard of thee, that the spirit of the gods is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom is found in thee.” The first use of the phrase could be traced to The Merchant of Venice quoted above.

President Muhammadu Buhari is taking hard decisions that will change Nigeria as he promised Nigerians. He is making wise judgments about things that have been proven difficult to resolve by the past administrations of Nigeria. I am impressed. I believe Nigerians are impressed. And we say: “Go ahead Mr. President. God and the populace are with you.”

President Buhari has mapped out the one and singular point to reposition Nigerian. He has warned that the days of impunity, lack of accountability, and fiscal recklessness in the management of national resources are over in Nigeria. Speaking at a meeting with state governors in the Presidential Villa, Mr. President also vowed that funds stolen by government officials who abused their offices in the recent past will be recovered and systemic leakages stopped. “There are financial and administrative instructions in every government parastatal and agency. But all these were thrown to the dogs in the past. Honestly, our problems are great, but we will do our best to surmount them. The next three months may be hard, but billions of dollars can be recovered, and we will do our best,” the President told the governors whom he blamed for tolerating the atrocities allegedly committed with the Excess Crude Account since 2011 and promised to tackle the issue decisively.

Mr. President has received extensive admonitions from individuals and organization on the way to success. We can recall that Malam Ahmed Joda’s Transition Committee revealed that the nation nearly collapsed under Jonathan who left behind a deficit of N7 trillion. The committee tasked President Buhari on issues that will bring success to the government. “President Buhari must be decisive on fuel subsidy. He must be careful in choosing his ministers,” they submitted.

During their meeting with Mr. President, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum led by its Chairman Governor Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara state, presented a wish list to the President that included: a) Obedience of extant Supreme Court ruling that all monies go into the Consolidated Federation Account; b) An order from the President that all revenue generating agencies must pay into the Consolidated Federation Account; c) Review of the Revenue Allocation Formula; d) Refund of the monies expended by states on federal projects; e) A special consideration for the three states of the North East under Boko Haram infestation; f) Full details of the amounts that accrued into the Excess Crude Account from 2011, and how the money miraculously shrank without official sharing.

Nothing good comes easy and I have maintained that Nigerians must exercise some levels of patience and restraint and make personal sacrifices for national development. Governor Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai’s believes that Mr. President’s success must be with the collaboration of Nigerians especially those at the leadership positions. The leaders must start by changing their attitude towards governance. There must be frugality in the management of public funds. There must fairness and justice in the treatment of all components of the Nigerian nation. The elite must face the reality on ground and reposition their ways against business as normal.

Majority of Nigerians have agreed that the time for change has come for the nation. El-Rufai and many governors have started in earnest to change their states. “In 2015, Nigerians decided to change the nation’s leadership with the best leader the nation has ever witnessed in the history of Nigeria in the person of President Muhammadu Buhari. That is why God backed the people of Nigeria for the change”, he noted while speaking at a lecture organized by the Supreme Council for Shari’a in Nigeria (SCSN), led by Dr. Ibrahim Ahmad Datti and the secretary general, Mallam Nafiu Baba Ahmad.

The Jama'atu Nasril Islam (JNI) at its annual pre-Ramadan lecture on Sunday on 7^thJune, 2015 in Kaduna, made recommendations for the success of our leaders: “All those in the position of leadership should fear Allah (SWT) and be committed to justice, fairness, transparency and accountability in the discharge of their responsibility; Nigerians need to imbibe the culture of obedience to their leaders, cooperate with them and pray for them to successfully accomplish their duties to the society, amongst others. Mallam Salihu S. Abubakar, Imam of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, discussed “Duties and Responsibilities of the People towards the Leaders from the Islamic Perspective”, while Prof. Tijjani El-Miskeen of University of Maiduguri (Unimaid), dwelled on “Exemplary Leadership as a Multi-polar Responsibility: An Islamic Perspective”.

JNI in a statement called upon Muslims to fervently pray for the restoration of peace, stability and security in Nigeria, and also imploredstate governments and well-to-do individuals to extend benevolent gestures, such as alms giving and supports to the millions of IDPs spread across the country, most especially those in the North East. This is the most appropriate time they need such assistance.The organization urgedleaders at all levels to fear Allah (SWT) in discharging their responsibilities, so as to attract Allah's ease against the present economic challenge facing the country.

In their own push for justice and fairness in Nigeria, Muslim youths organized a 3-Day capacity building/leadership training programme in Warri, Delta state where scholars and professionals did not only take participants through the ingredients required to be productive, efficient and self-reliant in life but also on issues relating to nation building and development. The youths in a communiqué signed by national vice president II and chairman, Southern zone of National Council of Muslim Youth Organizations (NACOMYO), Alhaji Mustapha Balogun and national assistant secretary general and general secretary, Southern zone, Abdul-Mojeed Momoh, noted that Muslims should continue to pray for continued peace, stability and progress of Nigeria, while appealing to Nigerians to exercise patience with the new government also to cooperate with it in the onerous task of governance.

NACOMYO observed the long time marginalization of Southern Muslims especially from South-East and South-South geopolitical zones in political appointment and urged the present government at all levels to avoid such imbalance. The group advised that the rights of every group are accorded and protected. They prayed that Allah (SWT) should guide, protect and grant the government at all levels the desirable wisdom to deliver on their campaign promises as such fulfillment will fast-track grassroots development.

The South East Muslim Youth Congress (SEMYOC), a socio-religious and political group for Muslim youths of the South East, recently expressed elation that its prayers for Nigeria and Mr. President were answered by God. “Like so many patriots across the landscape of Nigeria, members of SEMYOC individually and collectively participated physically in mobilizing the voters for the victory of Nigeria and the posterity. We also went into spiritual appeal to the Almighty Allah for the success of President Muhammadu Buhari. And now that God has given Nigeria the most desired and long awaited President, we have continued to pray for him to do justice and to be fair to all Nigerians, including the Muslim minority of the South East”, the group declared in a statement.

Chief Chekwas Okorie, the founder and National Chairman of the United Progressive Party, (UPP) and the founder of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), advised that for Buhari to succeed he should step on toes including those who sponsored his campaign.

Some of the decisions so far taken by the Muhammadu Buhari’s government are favourable to the economic growth of the country. These include relocation of force headquarters to finish the Boko Haram in Maiduguri, absolute resolve to recover looted funds from past leaders, delay in constitution of cabinet to guard against making wrong choices, frustration of power-intoxicated politicians lobbying for appointments, returning the constitutional powers of the police for internal security, plans to return smiles to the faces of civil servants in many states across the nation, amongst others. Many more critical and fruitful decisions are underway. The embargo on the importation of textile materials and furniture has been lifted.

The Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS), Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko said in Lagos at the official launching of the implementation of Economic Community of West Africa States, (ECOWAS), Common External Tariff, (CET), that Nigerians can now import textile materials subject to payment of right duty. Dikko said that the items were removed from the prohibition list in line with the laws guiding the CET regime. “Textile, furniture and others have become dutiable as both commodities have been removed from the Import Prohibition Lists and it is going to be implemented”.

With all these, I repeat that today in Nigeria, the difference in governance is manifest. Without ministers, without political appointees and within three weeks of President Buhari’s leadership, the country is changing positively. This is the more reason why our President must be very careful not to yield to business as normal in Nigeria’s governance.

Muhammad Ajah is a writer, author, advocate of humanity and good governance based in Abuja E-mail: [email protected]