The National Coordinator of Nigeria Advance Movement, Dr. Sylvanus Ikeotuonye declared yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration’s apparent incapacity was caused by ethnic jingoism..
Ikeotuonye who stated this in a personally signed statement , a copy of which was made available to newsmen, declared further that going by realities on ground, the self inflicted glaring incapacity bedeviling the Buhari administration ,will continue till 2019.
According him, the Buhari administration which took off on a sole capacity of enormous goodwill from Nigerians in May 2015, bundled it within its first six months in office with ethnic –driven appointments and thereby robbing itself of needed capacity.
The statement reads in part: “The presidency under Muhammadu Buhari took off on the 29th day of May 2015 with enormous goodwill from Nigerians got incapacitated after seven clear months of skewed appointments with all the imp unities and grandstanding of concentrating power in the hands of few close associates and distant relations with attendant negative transformation of a supposedly man of integrity to an ethnic jingoist.
“For a government, whose basis for seeking power is that it wants to sanitize the society, equity, fairness and good conscience could have served as guiding principles, instead imperial megalomania and high handedness took centre stage. Without respect for the sensibilities of the ethnic nationalities that make up Nigerian, Mr. President incapacitated himself with the very first but critical set of appointments he made.
“How could an imperial President like Buhari admit failure and seek redemption and to whom? Even if Mr. President Makes a u-turn now, can he undo the damages so far unleashed on democracy, its institutions and the rule of law? Creating monsters in the name of appointments cannot only be embarrassingly counterproductive but democratically erroneous.
“Appointments without clear mandate, set term goals and timeline for their realization sound to me like irresponsibility and or abdication of responsibility contradicting the oath of office and allegiance sworn to by Mr. President.
“To further shut out your political appointees forcing them to report to the chief of staff on policy matters is a worse display of incapacity”.
He specifically cited the appointments of Col Hammed Ali as Customs Comptroller –General, Ibrahim Idris as Inspector- General of Police and Ibrahim Magu as the Acting Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC as one of the counter-productive appointments incapacitating the Buhari’s administration in different ways.
According to him, under IGP Ibrahim Idris, the Nigeria Police Force is seriously in bad shape due to promotion of mediocrity as against meritocracy with attendant low sense of morale among hitherto hardworking and very patriotic officers and men.
He said, “We remember with sad nostalgia how 23 officers of the ranks of AIGs and DIGs were sacrificed to bring the IGP on board. It is sad that the level of incapacity pervading the Nigeria Police is mind boggling and may if urgent steps are not taken crystallize into implosion.
“Many officers and men of the police have been weighed down by undeserved promotions, even multiple promotions and assignment to commands and patronages that benefit few against others essentially because of where they come from. While some that are just mediocre officers are favoured, many others who actually deserve to be celebrated are left in the outer cold of neglect just because of where they come from in Nigeria.
“The damage of this singular act in reference cannot be quantified neither could it be reversed nor remedied. An IGP with capacity definitely must be conscious of the consequences of his actions or inactions on the institution and the nation. What would be going on in the minds of the course mates of the officer in reference some of whom are still CSPs or ACs.
“Traditionally, investigations nationwide are co-coordinated from the office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police in charge of FCID with offices located at Area 10 Garki Abuja.
“Unfortunately, all investigations today are concentrated on the desk of the IGP who in turn delegates some to his:- Intelligence Response Team; IGP Special Tactical Squad; IGP X Squad and or IGP Monitoring Unit. The officers heading these IGP creations do not have the competence, training, manpower and requisite infrastructure to handle investigative challenges. Most of them are cronies of the IGP who must be seen to be reigning with their boss. As a direct consequence, reverse in previously established and achieved intelligence investigative paradigm is gone with the wind of change. FCID is further reduced to nothing with all the built unused capacity.
“As a remedy, I suggest that the IGP must be directed as a matter of priority to recognize, respect and promote merit while eschewing mediocrity. I further suggest a collegiate assembly of past Inspectors General of Police to advice every sitting IGP on matters of policy to save the Nigeria Police from implosion”.
He alleged that similar scenario is playing out in the Nigeria Customs Service under Hammed Ali and advised that the President should replace Magu as EFCC boss since the federal parliament and some other critical stakeholders in the polity are against him.