How former minister caused Nigerians hardship
daves blog contributor wrote this piece. This does not reflect the opinion of daves blogin this piece cautioned the
minister while stating that
Ezekwesili was a team player in
the hardship suffered by
Nigerians currently. Oby Ezekwesili, one of the leaders of the BBOG Oby Ezekwesili, one of the
leaders of the BBOG But for his antecedence as a
consummate media handler, one
would have been disappointed
that presidential spokesperson,
Ahaji Shehu Garba decided to
join issues with the convener of Bring Back Our Girls (BBOG) and
former minister of education,
Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili for saying
his boss, President Muhammadu
Buhari does not deserve to be
in office. Garba Shehu should have seen
through Ezekwesili and arrive at
the conclusion that he could
have better spent the time
used on writing the statement
dismissing Ezekwesili for other uses. Without doing any library
research anyone can see that
this former World Bank Vice
President is eager to line her
egg nest. She left that supposedly cushy
job to take up appointment
under the Obasanjo
government, returned to the
country under Dr Goodluck
Jonathan but there was no deal until the unfortunate abduction
of the Chibok Girls provided the
material to blackmail that
government with the formation
of BBOG. READ ALSO: Tension as Ezekwesili lashes out at
Buhari’s spokesman It took the surfacing of how
she misappropriated a total of
N458 billion allocated to the
country’s educational sector
when she served as minister
between 2006 and 2007 to silence her. Still along that line of hustling
to get on the joy ride she
became hyper critical of the
Jonathan government while
making it look like she was on
errand for the opposition. Once the new government
emerged without her being
named on the cabinet she found
a new cause that saw the BBOG
promptly revived and used to
harass the government of President Buhari. The truth has a way of
eventually coming out. Other arrowheads of BBOG have
either returned to their full
time occupations or find newer
ways of making contributions to
the nation’s development while
still working to ensure the girls are one day released. But not Ezekwesili. Not even the
dawning realization to Nigerians
that the group could be more
complicit in the captivity of the
girls can make her behave
herself. The former minister has
therefore dusted up what is
left of her credibility and
deployed it to champion the
cause of ‘2000 Nigeria
Immigration Service recruits’ whom she is making to look like
hapless victims. READ ALSO: Doubters: These photos should convince you
Chibok girls abduction is not a
scam Two quick things: aren’t these
the same recruitment that she
claimed were made without
adherence to due process; is
this the same former minister
who had no qualms about downsizing for efficiency in line
with World Bank dictated global
best practices? One needs ask these question
because there should be limits
to grandstanding even when
political manoeuvres are called
for.
Mine expectation is that Ezekwesili would have by now
deployed her clout and access
to the Boko Haram intellectual
components in pressuring Ahmed
Salkida, Ahmed Bolori and Aisha
Wakil to facilitate the release of the Chibok girls. That she could immediately be
latching onto another cause,
albeit for selfish and adulation
purposes, signposts how the
BBOG outings had always been
influence courting exercises for a woman who is unaccustomed
to being out the influence circle. She has spoken in a couple
interview about how she left
nothing behind in government
that she wants to return to
but this latest development has
definitely put the lie to her claims. Not just at this recent sit out,
her recent comments on
national issues betray a refusal
to accept the realities of the
time. Ezekwesili mentioned that the
impunity that characterized the
Jonathan administration has
resurfaced under the present
government, which leaves one
wondering how much responsibility she is willing to
accept or if she even has the
capacity to recognize that she
must accept responsibility
because the foundation for
impunity was laid and solidified under the government she
served and being a minister at
that time there is no record
that she productively tried to
halt that foundation from being
laid. Even with such reckless past,
the least she can do is to
acknowledge progress being
made by President Buhari to
undo the damage she and her
colleagues did in setting off that culture. If she called it
impunity now what would she
have called it before the
incumbent government scaled
back on the abomination that
Ezekwesili’s People Democratic Party (PDP) government left
behind in 16 years. READ ALSO: If Buhari does not do this, Nigeria will be
destroyed – Top 15 quotes Ezekwesili spoke of hardship
without acknowledging her role
in how the policies she actively
supported as a minister started
off what Nigerians are today
experiencing. If she were truly sincere about
the plight of the lower income
bracket population she should
deploy the same tricks her and
her buddies at the World Bank
use to market unneeded loans to emerging economies to
reverse the damage she has
done. This is why I think Garba Shehu
shouldn’t waste valuable time
in responding to this woman.
She is in need of rehabilitation
as the economy of the world
has taken a hit so even a World Bank big wig is not as
insulated as one would assume. Instead of countering or trying
to correct the misinformation
that Ezekwesili is putting out,
the presidential spokesperson
should recognize it as the
desperate cries of a frustrated and sinking woman in need of
intervention. So when next Ezekwesili goes
on her rant, if Garba Shehu has
to write anything it shouldn’t
be a response but a
compassionate memo to Mr
President to find one small appointment for madam, whose
co-convener at BBOG, Hadiza
Baka Usman already has a
national assignment. It is not
easy being left out “inside this
cold of Abuja”.
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