Once again, President Jonathan did not disappoint as he amazed
Nigerians with his relentless comic fight against corruption, leaving no
modicum of doubt that he is nowhere close to tackling the ‘cancer’. His
bizarre decisions and actions accentuating his lacklustre combat
against graft to new horizons.
This time around, it was the appointment of Chief Tony Anenih,
chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), as the new chairman of
Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), one of the most lucrative agency
outside the oil and gas industry and one that has served as an agency of
choice for PDP leaders since 1999.
The ineptitude and cluelessness of the PDP and Jonathan led
administration came to the fore as the septuagenarian returned to the
honey pot he occupied for few years without any impact. In awe Nigerians
were made to wonder if there is anything he left behind at the nation’s
doorway of commerce and industry that he intends to pick up. Or How
else can we describe this open show of PDPs shamelessness considering
that a former NPA chairman and PDP deputy national leader, Chief Olabode
George, not long ago completed his jail term in connection with funds
he stole while at the helm of the NPA board.
This was the height of comic mesmerism capable of making even lucifer
laugh himself to a jerk. Of recent Nigerian memory is the fact that
Chief Tony Anenih once served as the Minister of Works of which he
misappropriated funds to the tune of N300 billion meant for road
construction and reconstruction.
Mr. Jonathan has raised the ante to appoint him as the new NPA Boss
as part of his Machiavellian tactics towards self succession in 2015.
Obliviously, Jonathan failed to realise that Anenih has since lost the
sobriquet of ‘Mr fix it’, his political prowess is dwindling and deeming
as we can recall that not too long ago Pa Anenih, as the ageing
politician should now be addressed, served as the godfather of the
trounced PDP candidates in the Anambra and Edo States gubernatorial
polls, Prof Chukwuma Charles Soludo and Maj. General Charles Airhiavbere
(rtd) .
From the inception of the fourth republic in 1999, PDP has been known
for its penchant for celebrating failures, hence, the emergence of Tony
Anenih as Nigeria's minister of works during Obasanjo’s tenure came as
no surprise. Till today, the Nation’s highways, like the Lagos-Ibadan ,
East-West and Benin-Ore roads remain death traps. He left the roads
worse than he met them. To him, pillaging state funds meant for road
construction became his full time calling. So much was his fleece that
till today a good number of the roads have remained in deplorable
condition.
In the PDP, their cunning ability to recycle mediocrity has seen Pa
Anenih metamorphose from Board of Trustees chairman to minister of the
federal republic, then NPA chairman in 2009 and now chairman of the NPA
again in 2012. His 2009 role as the Chairman of the NPA was an indirect
appointment as Late President Yar’Adua’s second term ‘campaign manager’.
The same strategy is the record Jonathan seem to be playing.
Anenih’s indictment during his time at the Ministry of Works without
prosecution and conviction reinforces the public belief that some
individuals are above the law. To succinctly put, “the anti-corruption
law and war in Nigeria is like a cobweb. It is strong to catch the weak
but very weak to catch the strong”. This action validates the school of
thought that the prosecution of Bode George was a smokescreen, he was
only a victim of high level political scheming.
The man that has been deployed to the prime government agency to
superintend the activities of the NPA, should remember that it is the
same post that landed Chief Bode George in Kirikiri Maximum Security
Prison. Edo State Governor Comrade Adams Oshiomhole buttressed this
point during his heated face-off with Anenih prior to the July
gubernatorial election in Edo state, stating that it was ominous that
the last bus stop on the highway to Kirikiri Prison is the NPA
chairmanship!
Severally, Mr Jonathan, has demonstrated his willingness to
condescend to this base level to ridicule his administration already
bedeviled with sleaze, profligacy, impunity and other concomitant
effects of corruption.
A leeway to self-succession in 2015 must have necessitated the NPA
appointment. The PDP must also be playing out a script to wriggle itself
out of the Board of Trustees (BoT) chairmanship tussle. Pa Anenih's
juicy post as NPA Boss, will help to divest his interest in the BoT
race, giving room for the emergence of former President Obasanjo’s
anointed candidate. This arrangement is the grand political game plan of
the Jonathan administration towards the 2015 elections. Anenih as the
Boss of the NPA would ensure he embezzles enough cash and be in high
spirit of 'fixation' when the 2015 elections comes around.
The recycling of the old brigade of PDP politicians that have milked
the country dry over the years, by the Jonathan government and the PDP
at such a time in Nigeria’s history, is another indication that Mr
Jonathan lacks the will power to bring Nigeria out of the wood. Mr
Jonathan should be aware that Nigerians have given up on any hope of
restoration let alone transformation from his administration. He has
shown to Nigerians in different shades that is it business as usual with
his PDP cahoots. For a man who ran a campaign with a subterfuge that he
walked without shoes as a boy, promising zero tolerance for corruption,
'fresh air' and El dorado to turn his back on Nigerians barely two
years into his tenure is not fit to be considered for a second term.
Jonathan’s tenure will readily go into Nigeria's history books at the
end of his four years as one of Nigeria’s most corrupt administration
if the plethora of reports, investigation and other indices available is
a yardstick. Well meaning Nigerians would rather wish 2015 can
fast-forward to save us from this leadership plunge.
President Jonathan has shown from this despicable appointment of Tony
Anenih as NPA Chairman that his is in Aso Rock to perpetuate sleaze,
entrench impunity and sustain the legacy of waste bequeathed to him by
his predecessors. It is a cinch that corruption has come to stay in his
administration.
As 2015 beckons, Nigerians must be vigilant and vote wisely.
Saharareporters
![michael-jackson[1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sug61MOZn0IKjlC2bOvpbmTsz6Z7d9TbuQ-itAgq65Lkb8bkaDpvN3QrfWLAAMX9o9MRPTHq7dGABU5Wbu5jvR3xnUPNNZZIT8_62Z26gLozmr639QQxRdZs3e1hWe5Ct0kbczThf87bELHfS4vDkL8Ix-mxcfL6ctMcA=s0-d)
