…says Nigeria has no hope of redemption yet
A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and public affairs commentator, Prince Kassim Afegbua has described the nomination of ministers by President Muhammadu Buhari and their ongoing screening by the Senate as sham and hypocritical, indicative of the double standard the APC-led government is known for. He also described the Senate as rubber-stamp for screening people he said have corruption cases against them.
Afegbua said the “new ministerial nominees of the APC-led Federal Government is another show of leadership inexperience and gross incapacity and lack of understanding of the issues confronting us as a nation. The exhibition of some allegedly corrupt persons who are still standing trial in court over their less than noble conduct, is a confirmation that this government is hypocritical, contradictive and master of double standards”, the former commissioner under the APC government in the Adam Oshiomhloe-led government in Edo state before he joined forces with the PDP added
He made an example of Timipreye Sylva who was told to take a bow without a whimper even as he is “undergoing trial by EFCC over misappropriation of N19b having been accused of owning 48 houses” describing it as sickening. Afebgua said it is revealing that “under a government that talks about integrity and anti-corruption, such a man is made to pass through the Senate, without a single question about the antecedent of Timipreye Sylva”.
With this set of would-be ministers, Afegbua said “this country has no hope of redemption. I am sick in my heart right now over this deliberate action to promote corruption over merit, taking a bow for corruption and romancing incompetence in such a whimsical verbiage. Nigeria is hopeless, helpless and hapless”. The distraught Afegbua also made a reference to Senator Godswill Akpabio, a man, he alleged was “accused of misappropriating N108b Akwa Ibom money, also taking a bow with effortless ease” while taking an umbrage over the role of a co-PDP senator in the person of Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe for his “patronising role as the Minority Leader and leading the charge of the take-a-bow idiocy”.
Commenting on the delay in sending the ministerial list, Afegbua rhetorically asked if these were the names we waited for since March till date, adding that with this “assemblage of campaign team and not ministers of a supposed Federal Republic, the president has poisoned the hearts of many Nigerians. “Aside from a few of them who have the cognate experience to manage whatever portfolio they are given, most of the names are greenhorns whose antecedents are anything but noble. For telling these guys to take a bow, the Senate has just confirmed themselves as a rubber stamp parliament that should never been taken seriously. It hurts and offensive to our sensibilities. It is ridiculous, shameful and morally reprehensible”, the former commissioner said.
