Activists laud Buhari’s anti-corruption war

A member of the defunct  Zikist  Movement and Organising Secretary of the NCNC, Elder Idika Nwobasi, has lauded the anti-corruption war of the present administration, saying it would  correct anomalies in the way things were done in the country.

Nwobasi, who was speaking to our correspondent, on the occasion of one year in office by the administration, however noted that while the President could be found to be doing well, his lieutenants were mostly people whose antecedents were known as a part of the old corrupt Nigerian society and had participated in past governance of the country.

He said the war should be extended to other areas outside members of the immediate past Jonathan administration, if it was to gain credibility among all Nigerians, stressing that for now, it seemed as if the then PDP administration was singled out for probe, for which many Nigerians and friends of the former ruling party in the diaspora were not very comfortable.

The septuagenarian Organising Sectretary of the old Lower Cross River (now Cross River State) chapter of the NCNC and educationist, said that while the PDP may not have done well in managing the economy for which many Nigerians, especially the poor masses were suffering, the Buhari administration had not come out to institute tangible policies that would alleviate the pains inflicted by the condemned regime.

He noted that it was the belief that the PDP had lost focus in leading the country and its people to greatness that led to the massive support the All Progressives Congress (APC), and its candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, became the next president, and wondered how long it would take any meaningful government to implement positive ideology that would enhance its people’s living standards.

On the removal of petrol subsidy by the government, Nwobasi said that while the government meant well in its programme, labour movements scuttled the chances of getting it come to terms with palliatives it would put in place to cushion the effects of the removal as it had affected all segments of life especially transportation and procurement of usable items that were daily looked for by common Nigerians.

According to him, inflation was at the highest level with prices of foodstuff and other domestic needs selling at costs that were almost affordable to many Nigerians, ecept those in government and their immediate relations.

He said the Nigerria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), which represents the nation’s workforce and the common citizenry in the rural communities, should have worked with one voice, and blamed elected representatives of the people for standing aloof and behaving as if all was well.

“The people that we elected into offices including Local Government Chairmen, State Governors and members of the various assemblies ought to work in liaison with the people instead of playing ‘god’ and seeking only their private good to the detriment of the rest of us”, he lamented.

On the spate of agitations across the Sout-East and South-South states for the resuscitation of the Biafra cause, who played a prominent role in the struggle about forty years ago, said, though the call for dismembering the country was not the best way to go, government should look into their agitation to find out their grievances and find ways of solving them.

He said the arrest and continued detention of Nnamdi Kanu, the Radio Biafra director, was due to the over-zealousness of security managers of the country, adding that such indefinite detention were not part of the democratic governance the country was into and wondered how many agitators from other regions of the country, have been arrested and incarcerated instead of calling them in for dialogue and settlement of what their grievances were.

He appealed to Nigerians to exercise patience and continue to pray to God while believing that one day, the anomalies facing the country would be rectified and all would become happy, thereafter.

Speaking in the same vein, a senior pastor withthe Assemblies of God Church, in Aba, Rev (Dr) Acha Azu, said Nigeria was at the crossroad of replanning and reorganisation of its leadership machinery to meet the challenges of the new global order.

He noted that while God used President Muhammadu Buhari to effect a change on the way the country was being governed, Nigerians were yet to see positive actions of his administration in areas of economic revival and were therefore being discouraged, especially with the increasing costs of managing their families and outages in social engagements.

Azu, who is a prominent radio evangelist, posited that God would turn around the fortunes of the people for the better if they returned to him and stop living as if the world was in their pockets, a situation he noted had made those elected to serve to commit funds for development and improvement of life situations to their own personal use.

He said the marginalization of the former eastern region especially the South-east, may have given rise to renewed agitation for secession and urged the government to be bold to enter into dialogue with those spearheading the agitation to create an enabling peace and from there build an egalitarian society.