SABOTAGE RETARDING NIGERIA’S PROGRESS BY PROFESSOR ISHAQ AKINTOLA

2nd August, 2016 PRESS RELEASE: SABOTAGE RETARDING NIGERIA’S PROGRESS The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari has been accused of low performance and delays in the implementation of projects. It has also been blamed for the high level of poverty in the country. Some critics have also insisted that the Buhari administration has not brought about any change at all. The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) rejects these allegations. Buhari’s critics are like bad fire fighters who turn attention to the smoke instead of facing the fire. The more they fight the smoke, the more the fire burns and the worse the destruction. They are hypocrites and parasites, the more they look, the less they see. MURIC cannot stand akimbo and watch Nigeria burn. We must address the real issues. In the first place, this administration has good plans for Nigeria but saboteurs are desperate to sabotage the plans. The main dramatis personae in the camp of Judas is the present leadership of the National Assembly who treacherously seized the mantle of power in the absence of others and without the blessings of party leaders. The fact that corrupt and overambitious members of the ruling party conspired with the leading opposition party to seize the reins of power in the legislative arm confirms our contention that there was a grand conspiracy to sabotage efforts at saving the Nigerian people from economic and political slavery. It is this same clique that has constituted itself into a bottle neck in the National Assembly (NASS). But for the saboteurs, enabling laws for the creation of special courts for looters would have been promulgated. The smooth running of administration has also been made difficult by the attendant strain in the relationship between the executive and the legislature. The long delay in the passage of the 2016 budget as well as the unnecessary buck-passing and the ping-pong which characterized the exercise eloquently attest to our contention. Nigerians must open their eyes wider to recognize the real enemies of the people. We have a president who is universally recognized as a man of unparalleled integrity. But politicians who have skeletons in their cupboards have hijacked the legislature. With the remote control of the NASS in the hands of political caterpillars outside the hallowed house, a diabolical bloc continues to strangulate our land. With hindsight, it has also become very glaring that ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s concession of defeat was done in bad faith. He laid deadly landmines in the path of his successor and clearing these traps has not only been Herculean but also time-consuming. The current militancy in the Niger Delta is not an accident. It was in ‘Plan B’. The saboteurs know that Buhari can get Nigeria out of the woods. Therefore they plan to frustrate his efforts. The idea is to create an economic cul de sac arising from inability to export oil. They expect this to make it impossible to execute projects which Buhari promised Nigerians. They also expect it to worsen the level of poverty. The next stage is to incite hungry Nigerians into an ‘uprising’ against the Buhari administration and force his resignation or impeachment by an already compromised NASS. Nigerians must reject this satanic plan. The jamaaheer(masses) must be on alert. We must resist the temptation to vent our spleen on the present administration. We must evolve a shock absorber system capable of resisting the pangs of hunger and poverty. We must reengineer our societal values and norms and renounce materialism, corruption, greed, avarice and waste. We must say ‘No’ to political charlatans and eschew ethnicity, nepotism and religious bigotry. Contrary to the claim of critics, Nigerians have witnessed lots of change since Buhari took over. For example, corruption is no longer celebrated, hitherto sacred cows now spend months in detention, leakages are being blocked, money-sucking government agencies have become money-spinners, states have been able to identify thousands of ghost workers thereby saving billions of naira, ministers no longer engage in frivolous expenditures and flambouyance, etc. It is only the blind and the mischievious who will pretend not to see all these. In conclusion, MURIC reminds Nigerians that they should blame saboteurs for Nigeria’s present predicament. Buhari deserves encomiums for his steadfastness and high sense of discipline. We call on religious leaders to direct their followers to work for the progress of this country. We charge church clerics and Imams to pray fervently for the success of the Buhari administration, for peace and prosperity.

, Director, Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC)