A Government Divided Against Itself
The hostility between the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu and the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, is the latest in a series of embarrassing in-house fighting within the All Progressiv
Governments worldwide crave hidding information from the public they govern. Not even the advent of the freedom of information regime has changed this fundamentally. It is therefore a welcome development when memos or details of happenings in government are leaked to the public. Although, those who choose to leak such memos have their own agenda other than the need for the public to know, citizens are always excited by such leakages.
It is in this sense that journalists, bloggers and the entire citizenry welcomed the memo to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr Ibe Kachikwu accusing the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, of insurbodiation among others.
While leaking government’s memo to the public thrill the citizens, government officials on the other hands don’t like it because the contents of leaked memos are usually a source of embarrassment to those in government.
Obviously, the Kachikwu memo is an embarrassment to President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. What the government does not want the people to know has been released to them effortlessly.
Curiously, this is becoming a recurrent decimal in this administration. Perhaps, something is wrong with the channel of communication with the president. There are many memos sent to the president which he did not get to read. Somewhere along the line, the memo got stuck somewhere. Except it is leaked as is the case with the Kachikwu memo, the president may never see such memo.
One thing that is clear is that the communication between the president and members of his cabinet is not serving him well. It is also not serving the country right. He either overhauls the system now or waits to be embarrassed the more in the future. Had he received the Kachikwu memo and acted on it promptly, his government would have been saved the humiliation. The opposition Peoples Democratic Party has latched on to it and is now accusing the APC government of corruption.
Closely related to the above is the issue of lack of co-ordination within the government. Perhaps, because it is difficult to reach the president, those in government often express their frustration in the public to the consternation of the president.
Professor Itse Sagay’s Endless Tirades If he is not taking on the National Assembly he will be casting aspersions on the leadership of the ruling party. Even the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami has not been spared of his attacks. Worst still, it appears the president enjoys all these and has refused to call him to order.
Among others, he had accused the APC-controlled National Assembly of undermining the anti-corruption war.
In May, while reacting to Senate President Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara’s claims that the anti-corruption was ineffective, Sagay accused the lawmakers of failing to rid the country of corruption.
He said they refused to pass key anti-graft bills and failed to confirm Ibrahim Magu as Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman.
He said: “In fact, the National Assembly has constituted itself into an opposition to the anti-corruption struggle. It has mounted a war against the anti-corruption struggle. It has decided to obstruct it at every stage.
“For example, the bill for a special criminal court is not moving. And we saw the way they tried to stop Magu from being chairman of EFCC just because they found out he was effective, determined and incorruptible.
“So they really want to weaken it, destroy it and bring it to the level it was when Jonathan was in power. So, they’re enemies of the anticorruption struggle, there’s no question about that.”
Last month, Sagay claimed that a Nigerian Senator gets N29 million in monthly pay in a speech he delivered at the Nigerian Society of International Law public lecture in Lagos
He said: “From the information I have gathered, a Nigerian Senator earns about N29 million a month and over N3 billion a year,” the professor said.
“Basic salary N2,484,245.50; hardship allowance, 1,242, 122.70; constituency allowance N4, 968, 509.00; furniture allowance N7, 452, 736.50; newspaper allowance N1, 242, 122.70.
“Wardrobe allowance N621,061.37; recess allowance N248, 424.55; accommodation 4,968,509.00; utilities N828,081.83; domestic staff N1,863,184.12; entertainment N828,081.83; personal assistant N621,061.37; vehicle maintenance allowance N1,863,184.12; leave allowance N248,424.55; severance gratuity N7, 425,736.50; and motor vehicle allowance N9, 936,982.00.”
The claims did not go down well with the Senators who thought they had had enough from the Senator. They fired back accusing him of making hate speech. They also described him as a “senile, jaded, rustic and outdated Professor of Law” who may be “under influence of substance.”
Still in September, Sagay took on the president’s political party, APC. In what some described as the most scathing criticism by a high-ranking member of the APC government, Sagay had in a press interview described the leadership of the party as the most unprincipled group of people who were encouraging and accepting rogues into its fold. As rightly interpreted by the party, that included the president himself.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, APC said there was no way Sagay could call out the leadership of the party as “weak” and “unprincipled” without indicting the president.
It said: “In his sheer arrogance, he forgets that it is impossible for him to call out the leadership of the party as ‘weak’ and ‘unprincipled’ without indicting the president, who is the leader of the party and has the fundamental responsibility to build the party.
“If Sagay had any iota of respect for the man who dug him back from inevitable oblivion and put him in a position in which he now feels superior to everyone, he would channel his opinions and advice to the president on how to make the party stronger and more principled.”
In the interview, Sagay described the leadership of the APC as “the most unprincipled group of people” who are “encouraging and accepting rogues” into the party.
He said: “When I say ‘rogues’, I don’t mean stealing. In literature, when you say someone is a rogue elephant, it means people who are running riot and destroying the party.”
Before then, Sagay had attacked Malami of not leading the fight against corruption properly. After the Code of Conduct Tribunal had dismissed the case against Saraki, Sagay descended on the justice minister.
To say that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, SAN frowns at the statement is an understatement. In fact, he is highly disappointed that such accusation and statement could be made by those who ought to know better.
“The Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is saddened and flummoxed at the attempt to cast aspersion on his integrity, dedication and commitment to the war against corruption which undoubtedly is one of the major cornerstones of the present administration.
“There is no gainsaying that the incumbent Attorney General of the Federation has shown and demonstrated so much passion, drive, will and enthusiasm in prosecution of transgressors of the law ever seen in the annals of this country. He doubted the commitment of the justice minister to the anti-corruption war.
The minister quickly responded thus: “The truth of the matter is that the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation is totally, fully and completely committed, dedicated and supports the war against corruption in all its form and ramification.”
“Towards this end, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, since his assumption of office, has initiated numerous reforms and programmes to drive the war against corruption, including the recently launched National Anti-Corruption Strategy, 2017.
“And to those in a hurry to condemn due to the temporary setbacks recorded lately, they should tarry awhile because a legal process is deemed not concluded until it terminates at the Supreme Court which is the highest court of arbitration in Nigeria.”
Malami Vs EFCC
The recurrent disagreement between the justice minister and the Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu has also been another source of
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, APC said there was no way Sagay could call out the leadership of the party as “weak” and “unprincipled” without indicting the president