With emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as the President-elect on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) a lot of energy has been expended by commentators, including hack writers.
What makes Buhari’s victory important is fact that this is the first time in the history of the nation that an opposition candidate has defeated an incumbent president in an election. Also significant is the statesmanship by President Goodluck Jonathan, who accepted the verdict of the people by congratulating Buhari.
Surprisingly, while many Nigerians are still reeling in celebration some spoilsports are engaged in hurling invectives on some public officials whose only crime is to execute their assignments religiously.
One of such public officials at the receiving end of this malice is the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, for his unabashed loyalty to the outgoing president. Having contributed so much to the Transformation Agenda, Bala Mohammed must be barbecued and the solid reputation he has built in the last four years must be torn to shreds as the lifespan of this administration throttles to its terminus on May 29.
To achieve their selfish aim, they have been peddling all manner of allegations against the minister and his children, overtly orchestrating their spurious involvement in several corrupt and shady deals. But how would any sane mind conjure up such fallacy when none of the minister’s children has done any contract under the FCT Administration during the tenure of Bala Mohammed as minister?
It is equally sad to note that the allegations have been extended to some directors of the FCT Administration, including the Director of Treasury, Alhaji Ibrahim Bomoi, who has become the butt of attacks because he has stood his ground, refusing to pay huge sums of money as ransom over threat of negative media reports by his current blackmailers and their sponsors. Bala and Bomoi’s seeming offence ostensibly stems from their objection to the business as usual syndrome.
Judging from the antecedents of those behind this campaign of calumny, it is so easy to discern that their sole aim of picking on the FCT Minister and the Director of Treasury is simply to create disaffection between them and the incoming administration of General Muhammadu Buhari. But their evil intention will fail because the General as a man of integrity will not easily be swayed by such antics. It is on this note that it is necessary that well meaning Nigerians are advised to ‘shine their eyes well-well’ so as not be deceived by professional blackmailers masquerading as media publishers.
Bala Mohammed remains one of the most successful FCT ministers ever. Some of his achievements include: the construction of the ten-lane highway linking Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport and the city and connecting Giri; the construction of the Zuba/Kubwa/Tipper Garage/City Centre express road linking up AYA; the construction of Inner Southern Expressway; the building of Abuja light rail system; introduction of modern mass transportation buses; land swap system for accelerated housing and infrastructure provision, and reform of land administration and allocation system in the FCT.
On several occasions, Bala Mohammed has challenged his critics to take him up on issues, point out the gap in his style of administration and flaws in the execution of projects and proffer better alternative. The minister cannot have all the solutions to the problems besetting the FCT. His sincerity of purpose has certainly never been in doubt. So, he should be left alone.
Rogers Edor Ochela,
Abuja
