The Independence Speech: A Quick Post-Mortem

Our nation is 55 and hope is rekindled that a new Naija is possible. It doesn’t take a violent revolution to make change. If it does, the Bolshevik revolution would not have collapsed after seven solid decades. If broken Russia is too far, Egypt the epicenter of the so-called Arab Spring is nearer. Egyptians keyed […]

Our nation is 55 and hope is rekindled that a new Naija is possible. It doesn’t take a violent revolution to make change. If it does, the Bolshevik revolution would not have collapsed after seven solid decades. If broken Russia is too far, Egypt the epicenter of the so-called Arab Spring is nearer. Egyptians keyed into the Tunisian uprising to oust Hosni Mubarak. They refused to leave Tahrir Square until Mubarak, dropped the idea of installing his son khalif after him. Morsi’s Islamic Brotherhood that cashed in failed the mob and even today with Abbdelfatah al-Sisi, Egypt may have found the road to redemption, but it is not quite where it wants to be.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s October 1 speech convinces that a new Naija devoid of political acrimony is feasible, possible, and desirable. It is an anticipatory presidential media chat transcript providing answers to the many questions citizens were asking since the wind of ‘change’ torpedoed the house of fraud built around the largest party in Africa. The speech was short, but full of quotable sound bites. It was precise, straight to the point, perhaps eerily conciliatory but rallying. It is the kind of speech that says that the glue of nationhood may not have cemented even after 55 years, but that the temperature is conducive to help it achieve that aim.
Without an authentic ministerial list, Bukola Saraki played the good boy by refusing to open the presidential envelope until Tuesday. The unofficial list in circulation fulfilled President Buhari‘s promise of rewarding those who worked with him and stood by him through his political odyssey. The big question is – did we have to wait four months for this? Couldn’t we, the 9th Most Populous Nation on earth have done better?
Some of the names being bandied about cannot scale through the needle’s eye of a truly impartial anti-corruption inquest by virtue of what is known about the records of most of these people in public service. This may be the first disappointment and the first moral albatross for a government headed by the most dreaded incorruptible individual in contemporary political history. If they get the bow and go nod to serve, they would need a load of Perestroika and Glasnost to shed their bad image before the public to convince citizens that change is indeed here. Here’s hoping that the rules of engagement are published and that strict compliance is open and easily accessible to all using the freedom of information act.
The presidential acknowledgement of the ‘noble’ role of his predecessor may be good for national cohesion and convince his wailing supporters to back off for a while, but the real hope is that this government would build a nation where nobody becomes a hero by doing what is expected of them.
Mr. President’s talk of not after anybody is reassuring, but has negative effect for a country that is known for lawlessness of the highest order. Naija needs that assurance that the new sheriff in town would not adopt the ‘go and sin no more’ attitude to presumptuous impunity.  Those who’s past actions brought our country on its knees must forever fear their shadows and the president’s looming image as a post-colonial village headmaster helps. There cannot be a new Naija if those who messed the nation in the past sixteen years think they have been forgiven with a confession to their priests. This assurance, conciliatory as it is may have come too soon for positive effect.
Naija must welcome news of the audit of the over milked cash cows – NNPC, FIRS, NCC, Customs et al. However, the best way to chart a new course is to show that presumptuous past misdeeds would never go unpunished. It is for us to see those who wrecked these agencies in their quest to become the high and mighty sweat it out in the dock facing iron-cast evidence that can make their rich SANs earn their pay but not enough to keep them out of jail. Cool talk won’t cut it, and back door restitution would only strengthen the culture of impunity now in hibernation. Our country must send a message that it would come down hard on those who bring down its economy and mortgage its future.
Mr. President said he has worked out a short; medium and long term plan for national salvation and redemption. The earlier these plans are unfurled with timelines, the better. As the president said, change is not rhetoric, change is action; change is not a mantra, it must be tangible transformation, a 360-degree departure from status quo ante. The era of moaning over what should have been should now be replaced by the era of tangible solutions. Hope remains a slim diet; we must turn it to yeast, raise the dough and bake the cake to feed hungry souls. Happy birthday, Naija, may this be the change we voted for.