have been public attention on him since mounting the saddle of
government on May 29, a verdict will be passed on him and his
fledgling administration this week.
Maybe, given the option to choose Buhari may readily not endorse this
week's exercise. But, Nigerians, as a matter of compulsion, will, in
couple of days to come, examine and pass judgment on the President's
style and achievements in the last 100 days.
Marking100 days in office has been, inadvertently, etched in Nigeria's
democracy. Informed individuals , especially the opposition look
forward to it . For a number of reasons, more Nigerians, even the
international community seem keener to assess the road so far plied by
the incumbent administration in the last 100 days. Buhari bumped
former President Goodluck Jonathan from power on March 28. It was the
first time an opposition party candidate routed a sitting President.
And that is why groundswell of expectations are dotting the steps of
the President.
The President and his henchmen are aware of these expectations and
had, severally, yelled that Buhari is not a miracle worker . While
such explanation may be in order, it is easily dismissed by many . It
is on account of that that many are jostling to rate President Buhari
and his government in the last 100 days.
The body language of the President clearly shows that he is not ready
for such scrutiny. His Senior Special Assistant on Media and
Publicity, Garba Shehu, last weekend, issued a statement disclaiming
documents purportedly from the table of the All Progressives Congress
(APC) during the campaign to the effect that the President will
showcase 100 achievements on diverse fronts after 100 days in office.
Shehu's statement read "there is a certain document tagged "One
hundred things Buhari will do in 100 days' and the other 'My Covenant
With Nigerians'. Both pamphlets bore the authorized party logo but as
the Director of Media and Communications in that campaign I did not
fund or authorize any of those .
"I can equally bet my last kobo that candidate Buhari did not see or
authorize those publications .
"Sequel to the publications, ,expectations have been raised
unreasonably that as President, Muhammadu Buhari would wave his hands
and Nigeria's problems -insecurity, corruption, unemployment, poor
infrastructure etc would disappear."
Although Shehu is uncomfortable with the huge expectation placed on
the shoulder of his principal, he believes Buhari deserves adulation
and encomiums from Nigerians on the feat he has achieved in the last
three months.
Hear him ""President Buhari has given the job his best shot and the
whole country is saying that we never had it so good . He has
re-instituted the values of hardwork and administrative efficiency .
"The President says time without number that this country needs to fix
governance and that he won't tolerate laziness .
"In the area of economic management, Nigerians are seeing things
happen that they thought were not possible in so short a time . He
didn't put a kobo to finance the power sector. Yet reading his body
language alone and knowing that there are things you cannot do and get
away with under Buhari ,electricity supply all over the country has
risen to unprecedented heights.
"In this country appointments and removal from office are done usually
in accordance with a spoils system. A new government sacks officials
on the basis only that it did not appoint them but the predecessor
administration did. President Buhari has shown that his government is
different . He wants to look at each case on its merit and it is clear
by now that he is not ready to surrender the country to burnt out
politicians . Technocrats will have a big place in his administration
. He has appointed no ministers yet but the government is running
smoothly".
She continued "In this period of three months government certainly
deserves a pat on the back for improved power, reform in the energy
sector , foreign relations , fight against corruption and insurgency
and the fact of Nigerians being at peace , not only among themselves
but with their neighbours and the rest of the world".
He predicted "President Buhari will turn out to be a leader in the
tradition of Lee Kuan-Yu and India's current reform minded Prime
Minister , Modi, with strong and clear emphasis on detail and
execution . He may however differ from them by not micro-managing
things".
Nobody would be surprised that Shehu exalted President Buhari to high
heavens. In fact it would have been shocking if he had praised him
sparingly.
Bright side of the 100 days
The President has , expectedly, attracted knocks here and there in the
last three months but has also received huge kudos and thumps up in
the handling of some sectors and challenges. Among them are fight
against insurgency, corruption war, energy crisis and foreign affairs.
In the last couple of months Nigerians have not been in doubt about
the commitment of the administration in battling Boko Haram . Soon
after being inaugurated he visited Chad, Cameroon, and South Africa
and Benin Republic in a bid to strengthen the existing understanding
in the fight against sect. Last month he appointed new Service Chiefs
and other top security officers and handed them three months to see
off the sect. The military command centre, based on the directive of
the President has been relocated to Maiduguri.
While many have lauded the renewed vigour in tackling insurgency ,
they have also been taken aback that bombings have, arguably been on
the increase in Yobe and Borno states .
Beyond Africa Buhari also participated in the G7 conference that held
in Berlin, Germany and was equally the guest of the United States
government in July.
The key area that Buhari would be remembered as having made a mark in
the last 100 days is in the war on corruption . The Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC ) has been on the trail of some
notable people . However, the development has attracted attention, has
not enjoyed much plaudits from Nigeria. It is, at best, seen as mere
smokescreen.
The last few months would be remembered as a season when civil
servants were kept on their toes. Permanent Secretaries, on daily
basis brief the President on programmes and plans of their ministries.
Several civil servants are unlikely to forget the President for
granting bailout to governors with which their arrears of salaries
were off-set.
Dark side of the 100 days
Buhari has not been insulated from criticisms in the last few months.
His major criticism has bothered on the lopsided appointments he has
made. He is accused of favouring the North in key appointments. The
development has made some to accuse him of habouring an ethnic agenda
and questioned his claim to be fair to every section of the country.
His Special Adviser on Media and Publicity , Femi Adesina, has allayed
fears that any part of the country would be neglected in the
appointments. Whether the promise is taken in good faith by many is
another thing.
Buhari is not pummeled only on the issue of alleged lopsided
appointments, he has attracted strident criticisms for running his
government without cabinet in the last 100 days. Some lawyers even
went the extra mile to accuse him of engaging in illegality.
Renowned lawyer, Prof Ben Nwabueze (SAN) in a recent piece, aside
questioning the constitutionality of running government without
ministers said, the President, so far, is running a government of
'personal rule' .
He wrote "As for President Buhari's regime, it is too early to
classify it, beyond saying that it is, so far, not an institutional
government, but a regime of personal rule, the main institution i.e. a
council of ministers, to advise and assist him not having as yet been
constituted. In the mean time, the nation is all expectancy, waiting
to see whether he is truly a democrat as he, in his
ppost-electionost-election statement, declared himself to be, or
whether he is going to conduct the affairs of the country in the way
his antecedents as former army commander and head of the military
government, would lead us to expect. In any case, he should bring to
an end, this unconstitutional regime of personal rule by announcing
his ministerial nominees without further delay.
What is said in this write-up is applicable to some newly elected
state governors who also rule without commissioners apparently taking
a cue from the President."
Nwabueze stressed "The consequences of the President not having
ministers or not consulting with them collectively as a council are
that his exercise of the functions of government noted earlier, is
largely unconstitutional. By making it mandatory for the President to
establish offices of ministers and, with the approval of the Senate to
appoint persons to such offices, and by casting upon him, the
obligation to hold regular meetings with the vice-president and
ministers for the purpose of advising him on the exercise of his
executive functions, the constitution does clearly manifest an
intention that the President is not to govern without the restraining
and moderating influence of the collective advice of an executive
council.
"Clearly therefore, in a situation where the President refuses or
neglects to establish ministerial offices and to appoint persons to
them or where, having appointed ministers, he refuses or neglects to
hold regular meetings with them collectively as a council for the
purpose of getting their advice on his executive actions, the
administration of government by him in these circumstances would be a
violation of both the spirit and letters of the Constitution, no
matter how benevolent, liberal or beneficial to the public his actions
may be. "I am of the view", said the learned President of the Federal
Court of Appeal, Justice Maman Nasir, "that if the Governor…….refuses
to hold these regular meetings, he constitutes himself as a dictator
and this will be in my view, not only contrary to the spirit of the
Constitution but is clearly a breach of specific provisions of this
section." Lawal Kagoma v. The Governor of Kaduna State & Others, Ibid.
"What the decision of the Court of Appeal in the Lawal Kagoma case
means, in clear, unequivocal language, is that the administration of
government by a President without the restraining and moderating
influence of a council of ministers is unconstitutional, null and
void. A president under our type of Constitution ruling without
ministers tantamounts, in an approximate or loose sense of the term,
to a dictatorship but not in a strict sense, since a dictator, defined
in the dictionary as "a person exercising absolute authority", cannot
co-exist with the system of limitations on power established by the
Nigerian Constitution."
Nobody has stepped out to fault Nwabueze's submission neither has
anyone applauded it publicly. However , as the nation takes a holistic
view on the administration of President Buhari in the last 100 days,
the truth or otherwise of Nwabueze's claims will take centre stage.
-TheSunNews
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