By Emmanuel Aziken
The news that President Bola Tinubu had dropped the nomination of Ruby Onwudiwe as the Southeast nominee to the board of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN has stoked different reactions in the country.
No reason has been formally given for the withdrawal of the nomination. However, nearly all reports allege that she was dropped after reports emerged that she was a supporter, and perhaps, a vociferous canvasser of the Peter Obi aspiration in the 2023 presidential election.
The Presidential Villa has not come out to react to the claim.
The news that her nomination was being dropped from Senate consideration came at a time when the Godswill Akpabio-led legislative body was itself roiling under another controversy following the suspension of Senator Abdul Ningi.
Ningi was suspended upon his allegation of the padding of the budget to the tune of N3.7 trillion. That revelation is still gushing repugnant spews of corruption with the most vexatious synopsis being that the Nigerian National Assembly has progressively desecrated the principle of prioritizing the allocation of national resources.
Indeed, the budget should be the swivel for the contractual relationship between the people and the government. However, revelations of the desecration of the 2024 budget of the federation with such inputs as street lights, purchase of deep freezers, empowerment of traditional rulers and other idiocies underline the betrayal that is the 2024 budget.
It is no surprise that before this controversy the National Assembly had fought to keep its budget secret over the past years.
While it is not known if these line item budgets would ever be actualized, past incidents of thievery by lawmakers have been repeatedly established. There was the case of one lawmaker from Ogun State who converted an ICT Training Centre into his personal business centre.
It is understood that the desecration of the budget deteriorated under the 9th National Assembly before the rot that it is now in the 10th National Assembly.
Whatever, the decision to slam a suspension on Senator Ningi for raising questions on the alleged padding is one that has drawn criticism from many political stakeholders. Do you sanction a man for bringing forward his view in a democratic society? If he has erred, why don’t you subject him to court proceedings for defamation?
Whether Ningi spoke the truth or not, what is clear is that the putrid eruptions from the saga that had otherwise been covered in the Godswill Akpabio Senate have further amplified the rot in the nation’s democracy.
It was also shameful that the Minority Leader of the Senate, Senator Abba Moro contributed to throwing his colleague under the bus. His action will not help to redeem his image following the controversies that shadowed his occupation of office as minister during the Goodluck Jonathan administration.
The culture of silence that the Senate appears determined to force on its members must be condemned as it is a recipe for dictatorship.
That culture of silence being forced on the Senate was apparently what rubbed off with the decision by President Tinubu to drop the nomination of Ruby Onwudiwe from the CBN board.
Her nomination was reportedly torpedoed after some senators close to the president alleged that she supported Peter Obi in the presidential election.
This move, coming after the first nominee, Eke Kalu rejected his nomination has now sent the presidency to scour for a third nominee.
It is significant that the president is having to endure this snag given the pattern of nominations by his administration that has clearly been biased against the two other regions of the South and favoured the Southwest.
It would be remembered that before the election President Tinubu had cautioned the Southeast that they should support him or else they would be left with only bread soaked in water. It appears that the region could not be getting anything worse than what the president promised during the campaign.
The decision to drop Ms Onwudiwe has, however, elicited strong disapproval from some who quoted the president as recently telling governors that time for politics was over and that they should focus on governance.
By withdrawing the nomination, the president has apparently turned away from positive governance and played up politics. He has by this action missed a big opportunity for inclusivity. The revelation that the former nominee is an Obidient was one big opportunity for Tinubu to act presidential and demonstrate his capacity as the country’s father figure.
It is this same negative streak that some allege, has stopped the Tinubu administration from jumpstarting industrial growth using the automobile industry that is locally led by Innoson.
You could imagine that officials of the government prefer to import Toyota Vehicles at great cost to the economy than patronize Innoson vehicles as a local brand, and with it, spur growth in the local economy.
So, given the fact that the administration is unwilling to patronize Innoson vehicles, the question emerged on Twitter yesterday as to whether President Tinubu would allow himself to be tended to a doctor who supported Obi if he were the only one available.
Would he? I guess so.
President Tinubu must see Nigeria as a sick entity needing all hands to nurse her out of its present situation, whether Obidient or not.
VANGUARD
