POLITICS can be funny game; more so the Nigerian
version of it! Senate President Bukola Saraki, the
hunted, has suddenly become the hunter with loaded guns who, if he so desires, can treat President Muhammadu Buhari’s ministers-designate as fair game! A game of musical chairs – that is what politics is here; someone whose fate hangs in the balance, and who is fighting tooth-and-nail to escape corruption charges will now sit over the fate of others, able to make or mar their ambition. Not only that, he can put spanners in Buhari’s works; he can also hold the entire country to ransom. A man who, a while ago, ran from pillar to post begging for
audience with Mr. President but was given cold
shoulders was seen last Thursday rubbing shoulders with the same leader, both of them grinning from ear to ear, throwing banters and engaging in tete-a-tete.

It is a game of pendulum; it swings here and there
and when it swings your way, it is better you seize the opportunity with both hands. There are no
assurances that Saraki’s present good fortunes will
last; once Ministers are appointed or turned down –
depending on how much of the opportunity of the
present forced thaw in relations Saraki is able to
make – it could be back to square one again. It is,
however, interesting to see how politicians deceive
one another; nay, the unsuspecting public. Photo-ops are awfully deceitful; stark reality is often concealed in the politicians’ flowing and immaculate
“babanrigas”.

The situation out there is still as confusing as ever
concerning who made and who did not make the
ministerial list. Some names are out in the public
domain but sources presidential as well as
senatorial, so to say, are slamming disclaimers on
the leak. But I trust the media – if they do not get it
right 100%, they will make very close to it.
Spokespersons of both the Presidency and the Senate President have asked us to wait till Tuesday when, hopefully, the list sent to the Senate by the president will be officially unveiled. Why not? We wait! What is certain, for now, is that, finally, President Muhammadu Buhari has begun to unveil the names of his Ministers – pardon me, noise-makers! This is in fulfilment of his pledge to do so in September, which he now has barely managed to meet. The whole list is not ready even yet; according to the president, another list (or lists, as the case may be?) will be forwarded to the Senate in “due course”. No one knows what that due course is. What is obvious is that this president wants to take his time; he wants to give himself the liberty to work at his own pace; and he hates to be stampeded. He probably wants to do a perfect job; if there is anything like that. Having sent a list containing some names to the Senate, he must have heaves a sigh of relieve; he now expects us to get off his back even as he expects attention to now shift to the Senate – and sure it will.

The fact, however, that Mr President deemed it fit to
bend over backward to meet the self-imposed
deadline of September ending is good for our
bourgeoning democracy. It means impunity may be
receding and treating one’s word as one’s bond may
have begun to recommend itself to our leaders. The
reasons why Buhari could not wait for the whole list
to be ready before pushing it forward are not far to
fetch. First is the one earlier mentioned: The
president gave a deadline and felt compelled to meet it; otherwise, he will not be seen as a man of his word. That will soil his reputation! When Buhari set the September deadline, many described it as too long a wait; extending the wait again would have
been viewed with suspicion by many. Candidate
Buhari had thought the job of assembling a team
would not be this hard; he had, therefore, promised
initially to get his team ready earlier than now.

When he got into the saddle, however, he found that it would take a longer period if he was to get the right team. This delay played into the hands of critics who feasted on it, describing the president as too slow. “Baba go-slow” became an alias that such critics, chief of who are the opposition PDP, tried to stick on Buhari. Mr President and his party, APC, on the other hand, countered that cleaning the Augean stable and assembling a team of incorruptible leaders did not come easy.

Another reason why Buhari is trying to move a little
bit faster on his ministerial list is that ordinary
Nigerians are complaining that the absence of
ministers has truly slowed down governance.
Nigerians do not seem to share the president’s
condescending view of ministers as mere noise-
makers; they are of the view that ministers make
things happen in government and in that their
absence, there had been a regrettable lull in
government activities. In fact, real stagnation in
government activities are the right words to use.
Nothing appears to be moving. Money appears to
have disappeared from circulation. No contracts or
jobs are being awarded. No one seems to know what is happening. The civil servants who have been the head of the MDAs appear to be too scared or limited by statute to take any action that can make things move. Thus, economic activities have been virtually paralysed. The belief of the people is that the absence of substantive ministers is responsible for this. So, any further delay in the appointment of
ministers will certainly pit Buhari against the people.

The people will be right to then believe that Buhari
and APC either are not ready to govern or have been overwhelmed by the enormity of the problems
confronting them.

Then there is the question of the internal crisis
whacking the ruling party. At one level is the open
rebellion of the APC members of the National
Assembly, the Senate especially, against their party.
Had Buhari not met the September deadline, many
would have said that fear of a likely negative
reception at the Senate was responsible for the
pussy-footing. There rumour is also widespread
about the alleged unease of APC leaders about some of the ministerial nominees, who are said to be non-party members and, therefore, not “party workers” deserving of the invitation to “come and eat”. That could be the reason why some names keep appearing and disappearing in the rumour mill. Even now that all the names could not be submitted in one final batch, it is said to be as a result of discordant tunes coming from the party. Then, there is the APC “rebels” in the Senate to contend with and their PDP colleagues standing stoutly with them. Last week’s vote of confidence in the Senate leadership, in which over 80 senators out of a total of 109 voted in support, is evidence enough that if they so desire, they can fling Buhari’s list out of the window. Saraki himself gave a hint when he said in a speech at Independence Day celebration that it would no longer be business as usual. Possibly, there might be no “take a bow” and leave this time around. Another senator hiked the stakes when he said the same painstaking measures taken by the president to prepare the list will also be taken by the senators in considering it for approval.

Buhari had said no corrupt person will be appointed into his cabinet. This is one pledge that the people will be interested to see how far the president is able to fulfil when his list of ministers becomes public knowledge. Will he be able to walk the talk?

According to reports, the ministerial list had been
long in coming because of painstaking efforts to sift
the grains from the chaff and ensure that only those
above board, like Caesar’s wife, scale the hurdle.
After all the efforts and time expended on the
process, it would be a travesty if the list still falls far
short of expectations in this regard. I carefully said
“far short” because producing saints in the prevailing environment is herculean. The Senate demonstrated this in unmistakeable terms in their vote of confidence. Considered carefully, many of them only put themselves in Saraki’s shoes and concluded that they were not better than him. We must appreciate their honesty rather than pillory them. It was only an open admittance that even they cannot stand the scrutiny that Saraki was being subjected to. How many on Buhari’s list can stand the same scrutiny and how will senators treat such fellows? Certainly not with kid gloves, except APC sorts itself out in the upper legislative chamber before screening commences. I foresee a hard time for some nominees, especially anyone with corruption charges against his name.

I suspect that political bickering, vendetta, and, finally, horse-trading will take the centre-stage when the Senate sits on the ministerial list. It may have even begun as we speak! Some will have a tough time scaling through screening because of who their godfathers are. In some instances, competence will not be taken into consideration during the coming screening exercise.

As matters stand, the Senate can be said to be an
opposition Senate. The situation that played out
during the Goodluck Jonathan administration when
the House of Representatives with majority PDP
members effectively functioned in opposition to the
PDP government may repeat itself in the Senate. I
suspect that this will affect the screening of the
ministers-designate. I will not be surprised if some of those being recommended fail to get the nod of the Senate. It is likely that some will be subjected to
gruelling screening and, in the end, will be rejected.
I suspect that Buhari will have a very tough time with this Senate. Ministers may be cleared in trickles by this Senate. So it may be too early or premature to congratulate anyone who made the Buhari list. Until a minister-designate clears the Senate hurdle, it is not yet Uhuru.

Is this good for our renascent democracy? I know
many will say yes and for good reasons.
constitutional democracy rotates on the axis of
separation of powers between the three arms of
government i.e. the executive, legislature, and
judiciary. The liberties, freedoms, and fraternities
that democracy promises thrive where there are
checks and balances. The other side of the coin,
however, is that political shenanigans that sacrifice
merit on the altar of partisan and or selfish
considerations will ultimately lead to the collapse of
the system and set the nation back again. As the
Senate convenes to consider Buhari’s ministerial list, the nation waits with bated breath to see wither
democracy in the days, months and years ahead.

tribuneonlineng.com/buhari-caught-sarakis-lair

How do you want people to read this with no paragraph. Please edit your post.

Saraki we know.

The link sef....

@OP you need a lesson or two
on how to copy and paste, how to
insert links... etc....

Buhari the dullard.


Saraki the thief

apc the liars

i hate them all

whatever rocks their boat,
i no send if dey wreck!!!