The Methodist Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev. Oche Job, says he admires President Muhammadu Buhari because he is a man that fears no one.
The archbishop’s remark was sequel to the recent signing of four bills into laws by Buhari.
The President had on June 8, assented to the Constitution Fourth Alteration Bill, which grants financial autonomy to the State Houses of Assembly and the states’ Judiciary nationwide.
The law is to ensure that the budgetary allocations of the states’ Houses of Assembly and the judiciary will no longer go through the budgeting process of the executive arm at the state level, but will be transferred directly to the their accounts.
Buhari also signed into law the Bill No. 16 which stipulates that where a Vice-President succeeds a President or a Deputy Governor succeeds a Governor, he or she can no more contest for that office more than once.
Other bills signed into laws were the Constitution Amendment No. 21, which relates to determination of pre-election matters and the Bill No. 9 which gives the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) sufficient time to conduct bye-elections.
The clergyman, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Sunday, said if Buhari “is a man who fears what people will say, by now, he would have become very nervous.
For sure, I commend him. You see, Buhari fears no one and that’s why I like him. He makes up his mind and says and does what he thinks is the best for the nation.
People may not praise him now but by the time he lives the seat, and somebody comes in and they begin to do comparison, they will say if it were in the time of Buhari, oh my God, this thing would have been this.”
He said the financial autonomy for the states’ legislators and judicial officers would ensure accountability at the state level.
“First, the autonomy in terms of finances, I think it is for accountability. So that one is perfect.
It is the best way because if somebody is controlling what you have or you live in fear when the money comes to you, you cannot give proper account of what has been bestowed to you,” he said.
The archbishop said with the signing of the Bill No. 16 into law, the president had justified Nigerians’ action on the 2015 presidential election.
“Let’s take former President Goodluck Jonathan as example. He took part of Yar’Adua’s tenure and by the time it came to him properly, he was elected properly.
When he sought for re-election, people were already tired of him because the period he took from Yar’Adua plus the period he spent on his own which he was elected, people had already known everything about Goodluck Jonathan and they were tired of him.
“Money could not change the minds of the people. And so when I heard about the signing of the bill, I said it is only now that they want to resolve what Nigerians have been covering.
This nation cannot be taken for a ride. By the time you completed the two years which the other man could not complete and you have done your four years which you won, they have known that if you were to fix Nigeria, you would have fixed Nigeria within that six years.
And if things were falling apart, they have correct judgment in their heads to see that you must get out of that place,’’ he said.
He urged that every leader in a position of power should hit the ground running as soon as he or she was elected into office.
“Begin to count your days. I would say that any time you have the opportunity to hold an office, put in your best. Don’t be counting years before you will really show the nation who you are.
“Show something different and that will make them to re-elect you. Deliver dividend of democracy and then you can return to your village,” he said.
The clergyman also said that a good leader must have self-confidence.
“If you must rule and have the blessings of the majority, you need to have what is called self-confidence,” he said.
He noted that though there are cabals in Aso Rock at present, they were not as pronounced as in the period of former President Jonathan.
“There are cabals in Aso Villa till now but they are no longer well-pronounced like before. At the time of Goodluck Jonathan, every time and then, you hear of cabals.
But I think because Buhari makes up his mind and he knows where he is going, he doesn’t listen to people. That’s why the issue of cabal is no longer pronounced like in the past,” he said. (NAN)
