Paris Club Refund: Fayemi Got This!

POLITICAL NOTES

The Chairman of Nigerian Governors’ Forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has never left anyone in doubt whenever the debate is about holding tenaciously to patriotic stands. He might shift grounds and show understanding, when other considerations are put on the card. Certainly not when the collective fate of the country and her people is on the line.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision, at the weekend, to suspend the payment of $418 million as consultant fee in the controversial Paris Club Refund was though, a temporary victory for Fayemi, it is difficult to turn the tide against his position at the end of the day, having a full grasp of the issues.

Call it what it is: a conspiracy of the high and mighty to defraud Nigeria in the name of consultancy. Of course, this has been driven a long winding route in the name of many excuses, including slinging a lot of indignation in the way of Fayemi. He didn’t, however, falter but stood solidly on what he believed in.

Truly, if three presidents: Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan refused to pay the same money based on their convictions that it was suspicious, even when these people never hawked integrity or audaciously marketed anti-graft war, on what basis would Buhari say he paid off such humongous money as consultancy fee?

At the end of the day, Buhari not only listened to the voice of reason, but in a sense, showed that he could be a listening leader, contrary to familiar misgivings. Even more noteworthy is that Fayemi has proven worthy of representing both his colleagues and the Nigerian people, in a matter they could have easily disowned him if it had been messier.

Perhaps, those who had thought that Fayemi had an ulterior motive or would have switched position if the bargain was right, should know by now that the concept of Omoluabi is not a title everyone merits, and hopefully, the president too would shut down this desperate fraud against the nation for good.