5 notable events since Obasanjo's letter to Buhari

Since Obasanjo’s letter dropped Nigerians have not stopped talking about it.

While most Nigerians agreed with the content of the letter, a few others have expressed reservations about the intention of the messenger – Obasanjo – who they say “is trying to play god” again.

Few hours later, the APC national leader, Bola Tinubu and Chief Bisi Akande ‘rushed’ to the Aso Villa for an ‘emergency’ meeting with President Buhari.

But, after over 24 hours of careful thoughts, the minister of information, Lai Mohammed released a statement in which he thanked the former president for the “long statement”.

Lai, however, termed “Patriot Obasanjo’s” advice to President Buhari on seeking a reelection a .

The ruling party also commended Obasanjo for the letter but declared the APC the best option for Nigeria.

Well, we didn’t expect anything less.

They federal government and APC may have ‘dismissed’ Obasanjo’s letter in their statements but events that have played out these few days suggest otherwise.

1.Babachir Lawal was finally arrested

After thirteen (13) months and ten (10) days after the Senate adhoc committee investigating the humanitarian crisis in the northeast indicted the former secretary to the government of the federation, Babachir Lawal was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

This did not happen until a day after Obasanjo’s letter to Buhari.

Obasanjo had accused President of nepotism, clannishness and condoning acts of corruption.

After a night at the EFCC cell in Abuja, Babachir’s accounts have been reportedly frozen by the EFCC.

The EFCC has however said that their action on Babachir was not due to Obasanjo’s letter.

2. Buhari met with security chiefs

Former President Obasanjo had accused Buhari of handling the farmers/herdsmen clash with kid gloves.

Although the President had ordered the inspector-general of Police, Ibrahim Idris to relocate to Makurdi following the gruesome killing of over 100 Nigerians in the Benue state, that did not stop the attacks.

President Buhari had advised the governor, Samuel Ortom to appeal to Benue people to "accommodate their countrymen".

But the killings continued until Buhari’s letter dropped.

On Thursday, January 25, 2018 – two days after Obasanjo’s letter – President Buhari met with service chiefs over the rising insecurity in the land.

President Buhari was briefed on intelligence gathering and law enforcement efforts across the country.

“Security meeting today, presided over by President @MBuhari. NSA, Service Chiefs, Intelligence Chiefs, IGP in attendance. President briefed on Intelligence-gathering and law enforcement efforts across the country, by the various agencies,” the Presidency said on Twitter.

"We are stepping up our efforts to tackle the proliferation of small arms and light weapons across the country. The security agencies already have standing instructions to arrest and prosecute anyone found with illegal arms," the Presidency added.

3. More trouble for notable Nigerians

Arising from President Buhari's meeting with the service chiefs was an order for the security agencies to monitor the social media accounts of prominent Nigerians against hate speech.

ALSO READ: 4 things Buhari didn't respond to in Obasanjo's letter

The minister of defence, Mansur Dan Ali, had described the trend of hate speech on social media as worrisome.

“Relevant security agencies should as a matter of urgency tackle the propagation of hate speeches through the social media, particularly by some notable Nigerians,” Ali said.

But some Nigerians have described the order as an attempt by the federal government to stifle critics.

4. APC backs restructuring

Sequel to the increasing call for restructuring, the APC had set up a panel to look into how the issue can be addressed.

Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state headed that committee. But the recommendations were not made public until two days after Obasanjo’s letter, Thursday, January 25, 2018.

Chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum, Kashim Shettima of Borno state had dismissed the call for restructuring.

“People are talking about artificial intelligence, other nations are talking about nano technology or robotics engineering but unfortunately, the topical issue in Nigeria is restructuring. Restructuring my foot! To hell with restructuring,” Shettima declared at the launch of Bolaji Abdulahi’s book, ‘On the Platter of Gold – How Jonathan won and lost Nigeria’.

The governor had more...

“Let us improve on governance, let us work for the people, invest in education, create jobs for our people, this madness will stop.

“Restructuring my foot! To hell with restructuring,” the governor exclaimed during his remarks at the event which took place in Abuja on Thursday, November 30, 2017.

"Let's focus on governance. Let's invest in education, let's work for the people and create jobs so this madness will stop," Shettima added.

Two days After Obasanjo’s letter, the APC panel has backed the call for restructuring in the following ways.

The panel proposed amongst other things an amendment of the constitution to provide referendum to be conducted on national or state issues,

“Item six, police, we have also moved it to the concurrent list. we are recommending that police should be both federal and state,” the report said.

Here’s are other recommendations as proposed by the El-Rufai led panel.

“We have proposed an amendment to create the State Judicial Council that will appoint and discipline judges within a state while the National Judicial Council will exercise control over the appointment, discipline of judges of the federal government only.

“We have recommendation on fiscal federalism and revenue allocation in which we propose amending section 162 and sub-section two of the Constitution; as well as amend the revenue allocation of revenue Federation Account Act to give more revenue to the states and reduce the federal government’s share of revenue.

“On citizenship, the issue of local government or state of origin is discriminatory and should be replaced with state of residence.

“It is around this that we have proposed an amendment to the Federal Character Commission Act to allow people domiciled in a place to be considered as indigenes."

On Independent candidacy, Governor El-Rufai said: “We believe widening the political space is consistent with APC’s and the President’s commitment and we have made recommendations but with very strict conditions. We have included in the bill to allow for independent candidacy that no one that wants to run as an independent candidate should not be a member of a political party six months to the election.”

The panel also proposed that that “state of origin is discriminatory and should be replaced with state of residence.

5. President Buhari signs eight bills into law

Again, on Friday, January 26, 2018, President signed eight more bills into law.

The senior special assistant to the president on national assembly matters (senate), Ita Enang, told statehouse correspondents that part of the bills signed was the Legislative Houses (Powers and Privileges), 2018.

This act grants the legislative houses – both national assembly and state houses of assembly -- immunity from litigation for actions taken in plenary or committee proceedings of the house or committee.

Others bills assented to by President Buhari includes: Avoidance of Double Taxation Agreement between the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Kingdom of Spain (Domestication and Enforcement) Act, 2018; Rail Loan (International Bank) (Repeal) Act, 2018; Chartered Institute of Project Managers of Nigeria (Establishment) Act, 2018; Chartered Institute of Local Government and Public Administration Act, 2018; and Nigeria Agricultural Quarantine Service (Establishment), Act, 2018.

Do you think these actions by the APC-led government mere coincidences or a non-verbal response by the Buhari-led government to Obasanjo's letter.

Share your thoughts in the comments section below.