[dropcap type=”2″]F[/dropcap]ormer governor of Bendel State, Dr Samuel Ogbemudia, has described the jaundiced criticisms of President Muhammadu Buhari by a section of Nigerians as unwarranted.
Ogbemudia, who is a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Board of Trustees, spoke in Benin, Edo State capital, yesterday at a forum where he inaugurated the Best Journalist awards committee led by a former General Manager of the Edo State Broadcasting Service (EBS), Pastor (Mrs) Sibi Lawal-Igioh.
The elder statesman, who was reacting to scathing remarks made by some Nigerians over perceived lopsided appointments by Buharai said: “Nigerians asked him (Buhari) to appoint people who can work with him and he can only appoint people he knows. If he fails by appointing a united nation they will say it was his fault, they ought to have known. But he is now picking people he has tremendous trust in their ability. So, those criticising him should let him do his work. If at the end of four years he did not perform, then Nigerians have another opportunity to either say carry on or stop.
“All these criticisms, I do not buy them. And the people who are criticising him probably have never held any government position, they don’t know what is happening there, that all that glitters is not gold.”
On the propriety or otherwise of assessing the administration in the last 100 days, Ogbemudia said it was not in order.
“Buhari was elected for four years and in the programme of events which led to the elections, at no time was hundred days mentioned. That they were being done in the past was perhaps a persuasive authority but that does not mean that everybody should keep to it. A programme well thought out to bring Nigeria back to the line of development, the line of security and so on, planning alone takes more than a hundred days,” he stressed.
[quote_box_center]“So they can excuse him because the Buhari they knew earlier on is no longer the same Buhari because this is a democracy. He has the National Assembly and the judicial arm now. His powers then are being shared with these two arms now. He cannot join the bandwagon, as a matter of fact that is why he wants to change the evil ways things are done before so that Nigeria will be better,” he stated.[/quote_box_center]
Justifying the introduction of the Best Journalists Award in Edo, Ogbemudia said, it was his own way of rewarding excellence in journalism.
“When you go to Observer (state-owned newspaper), you see reporters who have worked hard over the years but no recognition. So what we want to do is that at the end of the year we will find out which journalist has excelled over the year and give him a plaque and a little money attached,” he said.