What if Buhari does not give a damn?

I just cannot help that overwhelming sense of jaw-breaking farcical comedy each time I try to make sense out of the wailing over the public declaration of assets by President Mohammadu Buhari and his deputy, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. It is not just about the comedic seriousness that the characters concerned attach to their unscrupulous mission to denigrate what should ordinarily be seen as a lofty gesture. It is more about the ludicrous imputations being employed by the leaders of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to rubbish what its leading lights failed to do in 16 harrowing years with the exception of late President Umaru Yar’Adua. For a party whose leadership ceaselessly harangued Buhari and Osinbajo to walk the talk by making public their declared assets with the Code of Conduct Bureau, it is truly disturbing that these same persons would be leading the herd of noisemakers over what they now term as the deceptive flimsiness of the action. How pathetic!
In its usual jaundiced parochialism, the PDP was quick to dismiss the Buhari/Osinbajo asset declaration as the “release of a flimsy list of belongings” bereft of any shade of credibility, integrity and sincerity of purpose. The party’s cheerleader and spokesperson, Olisa Metuh, as usual, made indecorous snide remarks about the multiplication of the President’s herd of cows from 150 to 250 and cash in the bank from one million naira to N30 million in a space of eight months. He, without offering any scintilla of fact, made innuendoes about hidden assets and actual cost of the buildings owned by the two leaders. He ranted: “We ask, is the resort to a mere list, instead of true copies of the declaration not a ploy to give the Presidency a window for denial in consonance with their widely observed inclination for flip-flopping, backtracking and brazen denials of their statements and actions? Mr. President, this is a mere list of belongings and not public declaration of assets in fulfilment of your covenant with Nigerians.”
For Metuh, gloating while making senseless arguments is a virtue. The other person that would have performed excellently well in that position is Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State who would apparently not sit idle and allow anyone to outdo him in public display of mouth diarrhoea. It is for that reason that Fayose has come out to confess knowing one or two things about where the two leaders hid their real assets. I just pray he would save us the needless suspense and spill the beans if he has any. However, we are not oblivious of the fact that this surely would not be the first time some yam heads in the PDP would be playing to the gallery in a puerile attempt to hoodwink the public. It is not even going to be the last as long as we continue to play the politics of hate and deception.
Be that as it may, it is important to remind Metuh and Fayose that the public declaration of assets by Buhari and Osinbajo has a significant implication for their conduct in and out of office. Peripheral window-dressing as it may seem to those who have refused to see beyond their whimsical sniggering, it poses a moral burden not just on the shoulders of Buhari but also on the activities of whosoever they chose to work with them. At least, it signposts a departure from the mindless looting of the past when culprits simply followed the body language and harsh words of a leader that couldn’t give a damn about his men’s voracious appetite for illegal acquisition of wealth. Or how long ago was it that former President Goodluck Jonathan announced to a stultified populace that it was against his principle to publicly declare his asset and that he cared less what we take away from that stance? Four years or more? No. It was less than three years back during his third Presidential Media Chat in Aso Rock.
Listen to Jonathan’s long-winding, tasteless excuse while seeking to justify the lack of transparency in his governance style: “The issue of public asset declaration is a matter of personal principle. That is the way I see it, and I don’t give a damn about it, even if you criticise me from heaven. When I was the Vice President, that matter came up, and I told the former President (late Musa Yar’Adua) let’s not start something that would make us play into the hands of people and create an anomalous situation in the country. The law is clear. A public officer should declare his assets and, if there are issues, then the relevant agencies would have a basis to assess whether you have amassed wealth or not. When it is said that people should declare their assets in public, it is not only the President or the Vice President, it includes everybody, including ministers.
“When I was a governor in Bayelsa state for about a year before becoming vice president, I was investigated thoroughly. I have nothing to hide. But, because I was under somebody and it was becoming an issue, because of the media, and because my boss had declared, it was said that the vice President must. I declared, not because I wanted to. Initially I said they can talk about it from morning to night, I will not. I said it is a matter of principle. It is not proper. If one amends the law to say that only the President and the Vice should declare assets publicly, fine. But, presently everybody who is holding political office is expected to do, and I say it is not right. Those who made the law knew why they put the law that way. I could be investigated when I leave office. You don’t need to declare assets publicly; otherwise you are playing to the gallery. You don’t need to publicly declare assets. That’s a matter of principle. If I have to declare publicly, it means every political office holder will have to declare publicly. And it is not the right thing to do. That is my belief. It is not the President’s declaration of assets that would change the economy. There are challenges security, power and revolutionising agriculture. These are areas we should be interested in. Whether Mr. Jonathan publicly declares his assets or not is not the issue.”
With the benefit of hindsight, may I ask if the gibberish above sits well with Metuh and that roaring yob in Ekiti? When a President does not give a damn about allegations of sickening corruption around him or how his personal staff, hangars on and praise singers callously rape the public till, why should he expect a public rating that places him above the rot? If he refused to set the templates that would guard the conduct of his men by bending backwards to “list his belongings” to assuage the fear of the public no matter how simplistic, how would he summon the courage to halt the raw stealing right under his nose? Jonathan did not give a damn and that was the signal his aides latched on to embark on the maddening streak of financial malfeasance that was perpetrated at that period. Needless to say that the task before the Buhari administration is to untangle the mess and bring culprits to justice.
We are on the path of reconstruction today because Buhari truly gives a damn about how he is perceived as a leader. He gives a damn about what the people he leads say about him. The onus lies with those who accuse them of under-declaration of assets to come up with proof instead of glorifying the putrid rot of the immediate past. Those who hide under the protection of the law to justify their shameless action should, at least, know when not to display their ignorance in the public space. If Buhari had kowtowed the ignoble recalcitrance of the Jonathan era and if he had decided not to give a damn even if criticised to the high heavens, we would not have been privy to stories on the recoveries of billions of Naira from those who once held us by the balls and dared us to scream ‘daylight murder.’ Damn!
Posted By: Yomi Odunugaon: September 12, 2015In: Yomi OdunugaNo Comments