The Comptroller General (CG) of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), Colonel Hameed Ali (rtd), has said the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has not fulfilled its promises, half way into the journey of four years.
In an unsparing assessment of the party by an insider, Ali said the party was gradually losing its core values, vision and mission.
He added that more than 50 per cent of the positions in the Buhari government were being held by members of the PDP who fought against the actualisation of a Buhari Presidency.
The usually blunt retired colonel spoke on Friday in Abuja at the commissioning of the office complex of the Buhari Support Organisation in (BSO).
Ali is also a national co-ordinator of the group.
“We have won one battle by taking over power. But what we make of this power is very essential to us and to humanity. We must agree that we cannot finish our four years without delivering and leaving something to be remembered for in this country for a long time to come.
“We have no problem with our president because he is on course. But I must confess here that we have been infused by people who were not part of this journey and these people are the ones that call the shot today.
“That is why we are derailing. If we had the right people who had the vision and have been there in and out, I believe that we will not be going the way we are going today.
“It is my belief that those of us who have been in the trenches all these years to get good governance will surely be sleeping with belly ache every day, especially in the recent past.
Every day, when you wake up, there is a story that makes you shiver. We cannot, as a people who have fought and committed everything we had to bring this government to being sit back and allow things to happen the way they are happening.
“These people that are calling the shots today were not there and when the chips are down, they will disappear and melt within the system. We are the ones that will be asked to account for what happened.
“Are we willing to face Nigerians and tell them that we have failed? I think this is the time for us to come together, create a system that is very robust enough to fight back and take back government in our hands and ensure that we deliver.
“We believe that if you want to change the system, it will happen. Let me say that in the course of the jihad of Prophet Mohammad, anytime they go out for a battle, they come back with loot, but these loot, as far as my own research told me is not distributed to everybody, but to those who took the sword and faced the enemies.
“We are the ones that will be asked to account for what happened. Are we willing to face Nigerians and tell them that we have failed? I think this is the time for us to come together, create a system that is very robust enough to fight back and take back government in our hands and ensure that we deliver.
“But let me say here without fear of being contradicted that I think half way through the journey, we are losing our core values. We are losing our vision and mission and I think that the idea of our being here today is to look critically at what we need to do to get back on track.
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“There is no doubt that we have derailed because we are not doing what we say we want to do. Why is it so? We need to find an answer to that. If we do find an answer, then what should we do to get us all back on track. We owe this great nation and the 180 million Nigerians the duty to give good governance. Good governance is what they voted for and good governance is what they expect to get and they deserve that.
“We therefore, as BSO, have a great task ahead of us. My dear comrades, the battle and the job starts now. We have won one battle by taking over power. But what we make of this power is very essential to us and to humanity.
“Therefore, I want to take this opportunity to tell my colleagues here that we have to change the narratives. When we were out there working and jumping on the street and reaching every corner, we were shouting change, change for a better Nigeria. Now, the key word is good governance for Nigerians.”
Col. Hameed Ali ’s position was supported by Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, who said state governors were not happy that they were left out of appointments being made by the government.
Lalong, who shared the sentiments of the Custom boss also lamented that appointments into government positions were made without recourse to the governors.
He added that those who do not have the capacity to defend the actions of the president had been the ones benefiting from federal government t appointments.
The governor said the government must be made aware that things were not working the way they should.
He said “If things are wrong they are wrong, if they are right they are right. But it requires very courageous people to come out and say these things are wrong or they are right.”
