Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole has reacted
to criticism labeling President Muhammadu Buhari
as performing poorly, adding that the president is
already delivering on his electoral promises and the
APC Change agenda.
to criticism labeling President Muhammadu Buhari
as performing poorly, adding that the president is
already delivering on his electoral promises and the
APC Change agenda.
Oshiomhole, who was speaking at the national
executive committee meeting of the Nigerian Bar
Association, NBA, said, “I know that right now,
everybody is talking in the country.
“Is this the change we asked for? And my answer
is Yes. It is the change we asked for.
“For all of us in this hall, you know that the
challenge of fixing a house that has been
destroyed is much more cumbersome than even
building a completely new house because for the
one that has been destroyed, you have to start by
removing the debris.
“You have to check whether the foundations are
weak so that you remove them. You must first do
a lot of cleansing and excavation.
“That is what President Muhammadu Buhari is
doing. And people expect that in 12 months you
would have fixed what was destroyed in 16 years.
“It is simply not possible and in any case, you
must also recognize that even the pressure on the
naira is the result of the so much dollars that was
taken out and it will require a lot of efforts at a
time of collapsed prices and the challenge of oil
export to fix what was completely mismanaged.
“So, I ask us as elite, we have a duty to explain to
the Nigerian people: Changes will come, but they
won’t come by trying to remove a house with
smoke under.
“You must extinguish the fire and make sure the
foundations are strong, and start the process of
rebuilding gradually.
“Is this the Change we asked for? Yes. It’s the
Change we asked for. There is no way miracles
can occur in the life of a nation.
“The challenge of re-fixing the house that has
been destroyed is much more cumbersome.”
The governor, however, called on the NBA to join
hands with the government in the fight against
corruption.
He added, “The NBA has a very important role to
play in the national effort to combat and defeat
corruption. But I asked my Lord the Chief Judge,
by the time the President of the NBA said the Bar
has been fighting the war, and I said to my lord,
are you aware of any casualty in the war the NBA
has been fighting against corruption? Is it possible
to fight a war without casualties?
“I think now we are beginning to see casualties
because there is a renewed determination by the
federal government under the able leadership of
President Muhammadu Buhari to demonstrate that
if it is true that corruption is as rampant as
everybody claims, and if it is true that we have set
up institutions to fight it, it cannot also be true
that we are fighting and nobody is falling.
“I think right now people are beginning to fall, and
with your help, they can fall faster. Corruption is
fighting back and I regret to have to say this in
your presence, I should say this after you have
left, that it appears that corruption is fighting
back, and a section of the Bar is supporting this
effort, because we have seen needless
adjournments, needless amendments to charges
and needless preliminary objections, leading to
endless adjournments.
“I think that the Bar in your business section
agrees on a code that if as Buhari said, if we don’t
kill corruption, it will kill us, and we don’t want to
die, then we must allow justice to have its way
without delaying it.”
Oshiomhole said criticisms of the anti-graft war
being one-sided should be ignored, adding that its
all handiwork of detractors.
He noted, “The truth is if you monopolize power for
sixteen years, and you monopolize the sharing of
the national treasury for sixteen years, should you
not monopolize the burden of being prosecuted for
sixteen years?
”Is it the victims of the sharing that should be
prosecuted? You dominated power for sixteen years,
you have operated in the name of Boko Haram and
you spent the money and shared the money.
”Who else should be prosecuted? So, I think the Bar
needs to be bold in dismissing those who are
seeking to trivialize the anti-corruption war. Just
now, we are beginning to see all kinds of groups
coming up under the guise of one protest or the
other. They want to harass and intimidate the
system.”
