Tinubu dismantling Buhari’s governance structure with envoys’ recall – Analysts

President Bola Tinubu’s quest to replace political appointees of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari has not slowed a bit with the appointment of a new Board and Management for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), earlier in the week.

The development continued till late Friday when the country’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sarafa Isola was denied renewal of his tenure but instead given 60 days to wind down his stay and return to Nigeria.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Isola as the high commissioner to the UK in January 2021.

Isola had also previously held the role of Minister for Mines and Steel Development under the late former President Musa Yar’Adua.

Meanwhile, barely hours after recalling Mr. Isola, President Tinubu has directed the recall of all career and non-career ambassadors of Nigeria serving abroad.

According to President Tinubu’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, Saturday, the directive, however, exempts the country’s Permanent Representatives at the United Nations in New York and Geneva.

“President Bola Tinubu has directed the recall of all career and non-career ambassadors from their duty posts worldwide.

“The President’s directive is sequel to his careful study of the present state of affairs at Nigerian Consulate Offices and Embassies worldwide, and in line with the President’s renewed hope agenda, the President is determined to ensure that world-class efficiency and quality, will henceforth, characterize foreign and domestic service delivery to citizens, residents and prospective visitors alike.

“To this end, the President further directs that Nigeria’s United Nations Permanent Representatives in New York and Geneva be exempted from this total recall, in view of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly, holding later this month.

“By the directive of the President, the recall of the affected officers takes immediate effect,” the statement by Ngelale read.

Under the guise of his ‘Renewed Hope’ agenda, Tinubu is strategically dismantling the governance structure established by Buhari, despite promising the electorate during the 2023 general electioneering campaigns that he ‘will continue from where Buhari stopped.’

It would be recalled that Tinubu while speaking at a presidential rally of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Owerri, the Imo State capital, in February, this year, promised to continue with the legacies and programmes of the then President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Tinubu had described Buhari’s eight-year reign as a retooling process of the economy battered by the PDP’s 16-year rule, adding that if elected he would invest in education, and real estate, build infrastructure and be prudent with resources.

“We will continue with the developmental programmes of APC. It will not stop,” the now President declared.

It does appear, according to political watchers who spoke to Oracle Today newspaper, that it was only a ploy to win votes from the core North zone, a stronghold of Buhari and his supporters.

“Since he assumed office, he has been systematically persecuting allies of Buhari, including the former CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, or undoing projects initiated by his predecessor. The case of the ambassadors is not different. These were people appointed by Buhari; some of them have not even stayed there for a year,” said Emma Okafor, a public affairs analyst.

It would also be recalled that the new Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, had Friday, suspended the controversial concession agreement reached between the Federal Government and some private companies for the two major national airports in Nigeria; the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA) in Abuja, in May this year.

In addition, Mr Keyamo also hinted at a probe into another controversial project of Buhari’s administration, the Nigeria Air project, after also suspending further activities on the deal with the Ethiopian Airlines.

As welcome as these interventions might be, the issue remains that the Tinubu administration is not continuing from where Buhari government stopped, but may be heading towards prosecution of the latter.

“Considering last Friday’s press briefing where the Finance Minister, Mr. Wale Edun, tacitly indicted the Buhari of financial mismanagement and wrecking the Nigerian economy, anything is possible,” opined Abdul Umoru, another Lokoja-based analyst.

Also commenting, Friday, immediate past Chairman of the Nigerian Body of Benchers, Chief Wole Olanipekun SAN, urged Tinubu to examine and audit all books and records, as well as past expenditures of the Buhari administration which he said would provide an insight into ‘why the economy is grounded; why the refineries have collapsed in spite of billions if not trillions of Naira that have been allegedly expended at refurbishing them.’

Chief Olanipekun spoke his paper presentation titled; The Nigeria Of Our Dreams: A Call To The Patriots,’ at a colloquium held in Abuja to mark the 25th anniversary of Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.