From my Mail Bag

Re: The long distance runner Your description of President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance so far in “The long distance runner” of Sunday August 2, 2015 was inspiring. It succinctly captured the deliberate pace PMB has chosen as his style as he begins his mandate which you said was being referred to as “go slow”. Well, with […]

Re: The long distance runner
Your description of President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance so far in “The long distance runner” of Sunday August 2, 2015 was inspiring. It succinctly captured the deliberate pace PMB has chosen as his style as he begins his mandate which you said was being referred to as “go slow”. Well, with what have happened to date only those living on the moon would continue to describe his style as “go slow”. Without climbing to the roof top to shout about what he has been doing, as you said PMB has managed to show the utter maladministration and misgovernment that went on under Goodluck Jonathan, which as we are all witnessing can best be described as mindless pillaging by a government purported to have been elected to oversee Nigeria’s wellbeing and progress.
In this sense, therefore PMB’s quiet and calm disposition and style has been more beneficial than the type which you said was characterised by “frenetic pace, announcing new policies, discarding old ones…ordering dismissals and appointments -all in one breathe”. Of recent though PMB has also embarked on well considered appointments, dismissals, re-appointments and re -instatements-but that is after the situation has warranted it.
Ernest Magba, Abuja 

Your piece “The long distance runner” of August 2, 2015 made interesting reading, it described this government in its early days as having embarked on a policy of “speaking less and letting your work do the talking…” The calm confidence PMB has displayed so far and the assured manner he has employed in revealing the atrocities under the previous administration is simply a mark of a man who knows that governance should consist of acts that elevates as opposed to debase humanity. In these early days all he has done is to correct the misdeeds of the past government and to do that justifiably he needs to be sure he is acting on strong moral grounds and not embarking on witch-hunt. On that score he has discharged himself creditably. Hence the slow and deliberate manner is what it has taken to avoid pitfalls.
Muhammed Babayo, Yola

Re: Reprieve for erring soldiers
You spoke the mind of many people in your ”Reprieve for erring soldiers”, of August 9, 2015, by asking for a review of the case of soldiers arraigned before the military court for acts unbecoming of soldiers of refusing to proceed to combat and general unruliness that cannot be condoned by the military. It has been argued that when it comes to the military care must be taken on issues of discipline so as not to undermine the military’s bedrock of order and respect for rules that can determine life and death. Therefore upholding the military’s tenet should take priority even in situations where soldiers have been forced to act contrary to laid down rules.
That may well be so. But no rule should allow innocent people to be blamed for faults and errors not entirely their own. Increasingly it is becoming clear why these soldiers acted the way they did, and that should be factored in when they are deciding and reviewing their cases. After all, it is human lives we are talking about and they should be worth more than attempt at maintaining some institutional image.
Moses Ibinabo, Abuja
 
Re:  Other people’s money
The lead piece of August 9, 2015 entitled “Other people’s money” highlighted the fact that the loans that the debtor companies and individuals have refused to pay back were deposits made by other hard working people and that utmost care should have been exercised before given them to largely unscrupulous people. I dare say that is a fact that cannot be gainsaid, but would the financial sector ever heed such a plea? Fact is that the sector everywhere is built on this manipulation of enormous funds at their disposal in a way that it breeds fraud rather than help to facilitate the growth of the economy. It is the reason every country continues to sanitise the sector endlessly through financial regulations which are soon rendered useless through new devious ways.
All this makes me wonder whether my grandmother, bless her soul who kept her savings from petty trading under her bed much against our entreaties, till she died was after all right all along!
Christiana Oluwole, Kaduna
 
Re:  PMB goes to Washington
The Sunday Column of July 19, 2015 “PMB goes to Washington” was too solicitous of President  Barack  Obama to visit Nigeria. You argued that since he was going to Kenya just about the time Buhari was embarking on his visit to the US, Obama could simply have made a detour from his Kenyan tour to come to Nigeria. In diplomacy, itineraries of dignitaries are an intricate matter and not subject to your kind of permutations.
Buhari’s visit to Washington was aimed at seeking the assistance of the US for Nigeria in its many areas of endeavour; it is therefore the one seeking for help that should go to his benefactor, not the other way round. As for Obama not coming to Nigeria, even when his tenure is about to run out, it is his way of not lending respectability to a country that has made a mess of itself by steeping itself in corruption and allowed a cynical cabal to run the polity aground. Coming to Nigeria would have meant supporting the grand larceny that characterised the previous administration which Buhari is working hard to ensure is returned.
There is therefore no doubt that if Buhari stays the course in his restitution crusade and succeeds to turn things around, Barack Obama may see the need to pay a visit before he leaves office.
Sheye  Muhammed, Kaduna

Re:  A slap on the wrist or…
You showed your disgust for the lip service that has been paid to the manner corruption has been fought in Nigeriain in a “slap on the wrists or…” of August 23, 2015.  Successive governments have opted to established grand and elaborate bureaucracies- EFCC and ICPC- rather using a less visible slim outfit working behind the scenes as has been the practice in most countries that have achieved more salutary results. Such an outfit working secretly would be mandated to look into contracts beyond a certain amount to ensure all rules are observed. Had that been done corruption would not have reached the scale it has reached now.
I agree with you that it is about time for exceptional penalties to be instituted. Anyone who is hardhearted enough to steal billions should as well be bold to face the hangman’s noose. As they say a desperate illness requires an equally desperate remedy.
Jonathan Malam, Ilorin