Still On The Matter Of Buhari’s ‘Saints’ By Francis Ewherido on October 18, 2015 3:09 am

Buhari

AS at the time of writing, 18 of the 36 ministerial
nominees had been approved by the Nigerian
Senate.
For me, that was relieving, considering the
grandstanding by Senator Dino Melaye on the
stringent criteria the nominees must meet and the
gale of criticisms that trailed the announcement
of the first 21 names of nominees submitted by
President Muhammadu Buhari, especially from
the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.
Beyond playing a vibrant opposition, many PDP
sympathizers and Jonathanians are apparently
still in their trenches. They are determined to
“pay Buhari back for what he, his party and
supporters did to former President Goodluck
Jonathan while he was in power.”
Of the ministerial list, many said President Buhari
simply recycled the same old people, while for
some; the nominees will constitute a cabinet of
gerontocrats. Others said there are too many
politicians and not enough professionals and
technocrats. Some critics said some of the
nominees are corrupt and not the ‘saints’ that
Buhari promised.
Well, let us start from the sainthood, or lack of it,
of the nominees. Who is a saint? In my opinion,
the saint we should be looking for is “somebody
who does ordinary things in an extraordinary
way.” A saint is not somebody without sin or
faults. If it were so, “heaven” would be empty
because if our guilt were to be marked, how
many Nigerians would survive? What we need
are strong structures and institutions to prevent
and fight corruption, not vilifying of the
nominees.
The other charge is that the nominees are too old.
There was even a story trending in the social
media on how Dr. Olusola Saraki screened Audi
Ogbeh for a ministerial position in Shehu
Shagari’s government in 1982; now his son, Dr
Bukola Saraki has screened the same Ogbeh for a
ministerial position 33 years later! What is wrong
with that? Ogbeh is just 68 years. I asked one of
my friends whether the issue is Ogbeh’s age or
the content of his character and brain. Ogbeh has
been a farmer for over 30 years, what is wrong if
he is given the agriculture portfolio, for instance,
and he brings his enormous experience to bear
on it? Agriculture is one under-taped area this
government wants to use to diversify our mono
economy. Younger people should be cautious how
they criticize older people because that is the
destination of all mortals, unless you wish to die
young.
I took time to look at the ages at which former
Nigerian heads of government (minus Olusegun
Obasanjo and Buhari on their second spell in
office) and the premiers of the three former
regions got into office. The average age is 46
years. These are the men who have shaped
Nigeria into what it is today. They were young
men, so were majority of their ministers and top
government officials. Do not also forget that all of
them, except Ironsi and Gowon, held other
government positions at younger ages before they
became heads of governments. Also note that
many of the state governors since 1999 assumed
the position in their 30s and 40s. Those
complaining about old men ruining Nigeria
should tell us what their offence is that the
younger generation is not guilty of. The age at
which people get into government is not the
problem in this country; the content of their
character and our operating environment are.
To those who said there are too many politicians
and too few technocrats and professionals, I went
through the list and saw names of at least 25
professionals/technocrats, nine of them lawyers.
Or is that because some of them are politicians or
past governors, they are no longer professionals
or technocrats? Did you watch the former Lagos
State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, for the
over one hour he spent on the floor of the
senate? I am already salivating. Sometimes when
you bring in these technocrats as state nominees,
it creates problems because there are party men
who have been working for the party and some
of these party men are technocrats in politics,
unless it is a crime for a technocrat/professional
to go into politics.
“So why did it take Buhari four months to send
nominees to the senate, if he was going to recycle
the same old faces?” Simple, you do not know the
contents of a book by its cover until you read it.
Even though Buhari knew some of these people,
they had to go through security screening to
know them more; he needed to know whether
their “sins” were venial (minor) or mortal
(grave), and those whose “sins” cannot be
forgiven (sin against the Holy Spirit,
metaphorically speaking). The important thing
though is that the list is out and the Senate is
already working on it and has cleared some of
them. The real work now begins and ministers-
designate will have it at the back of their minds
that “a new sheriff is in town” and the music has
changed.
I told my friends on Facebook recently that what
was most important in government is the head. If
the head of the fish is good, the rest of the fish
will be good. As long as Buhari remains credible,
his government will be credible. If any part
becomes cancerous, he should cut it off before the
cancer affects other parts of the body. That was
one tragic error the former president made; he
retained ministers and government officials
rocked by scandals.
Generally I feel our new ministers should be
given the benefit of the doubt; they will perform.
But then, I am talking first as a nationalist and
secondly as somebody with APC affiliation.