Rotimi Amaechi – To Become A Minister In Buhari’s Cabinet?

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Amaechi-todayRumour, yes! Let me presume it is one on the grapevine, though it sounds too strange to be true that Rotimi Amaechi who was once depicted by General Muhammadu Buhari sometime in 2011 as the most corrupt state Governor in Nigeria has suddenly become stainless to be nominated, cleared and  absorbed into his cabinet of ”efficient” ministers. Ah, I am beginning to call this man’s avowed integrity in question and more so his anti-graft war!

Nigeria is a country that breeds, parades intellects and great minds. No one, no tribe, no ethnic group is more Nigerian than the other but sad to say today that the reverse is the case and to what do we owe this if I may ask? It is none other than, greed, ambition, impunity and personal aggrandisement being recklessly  exhibited by a cabal that has metamorphosed into a political dynasty holding us hostage and further  subjecting the generality of Nigerians to their diabolic whims and caprices.

This, doubtless, makes Nigerians tired, irritable and see themselves jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. The question that agitates this writer is:

Where is the change Nigerians voted en masse for about five calendar months ago?

The change of which we urgently stand in need is nowhere in sight, in fact, it is nowhere on the horizon with the crop of men that make up the Abuja regime. If one may use a Biblical phrase as a satire on the ongoing obviously sad situation what we see under the existing circumstances is a new wine into old bottles and we, of course, know what the Holy Writ forewarns; ”the new one will burst the bottles and be spilled and the bottles shall perish”.

I often find myself standing mouth agape with incredulity watching the Buhari I used to know throwing caution to the winds by transgressing the bounds of decency. Ay, this has shocked and horrified so many Nigerians with a shred of decency that a government under the leadership of a supposedly perfect martinet in military discipline which is fighting a corruption war to regenerate Nigeria is often seen dining and winning with vermin and recidivists that have plunged us into  abysmal depths. Frankly, it is very disheartening!

If President Buhari is genuinely out to cleanse the Augean stables, there is every need to quickly employ positive values, demonstrate honesty, reinvent himself and backtrack on his ongoing vacuous magnanimity.

We all lauded the President and resolved to rally around him when he embarked on a campaign to root out corruption from Nigeria, like the Shakespearean Brutus in the play titled Julius Ceasar after he  slew his fast friend, Caesar, the Roman Army General, he told the Plebeians that though he loved Caesar, but he loved the city-state of Rome more.

We saw Buhari toeing this line and thus stood firm in our conviction having drawn inferences from his antecedents that he loves Nigeria more which made him do all that he did some 30 years ago probably to revitalize the decadent paralysis at the time.

All in all, in the run up to 2015 presidential election, he did tell us there would be no sacred cow when voted to power. This was heartwarming and left us with no option but to pitch tents with him in anticipation of the much-desired change. On that historic day of destiny and power, our lips bore only one name, and  by the instrumentality of the ballot this change was effected devoid of bloodshed but what one sees on the ground today is better imagined than real which leaves a scar of distress on one’s heart!

Iyoha John Darlington is a scholar based in Turin, Italy’s northern uplands.

Email: [email protected]

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