RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Is Buhari declaring amnesty for corrupt politicians?

Indeed, the President's speech writers goofed in their choice of dramatic metaphor.  As the speech stands, the phrase 'past is prologue' contradicts the thrust of the President's message of not settling old scores.  What they probably meant is sub-plot.

Olayinka Agbetuyi  

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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Is Buhari declaring amnesty for corrupt politicians?
From: seguno2013@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 31 May 2015 21:33:26 +0100
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com

To me it is not a wise approach at the moment to engage in probes. The President needs to solidify his control and stabilize properly before considering probes that cannot be resolved quickly given the nature of our judiciary. 

The President's function is to first of all reform all the weak institutions that are responsible for corruption to thrive and provide enabling environment to probe corrupt officials, contractors, business people who have hands in looting the treasury of the country, political and religious business institutions etc. 

if the institutions are not properly energized the probes will be nothing but exercise in futility. 

The President should concentrate on security matters vigorously and unite the nation and improve on the economy and basic infrastructure. 

The country needs peace and not anything that will evoke chaos which will ultimately scare local and foreign investors. I believe Mr. President knows his onions. Let us wait and see his prescriptions for the ills of the nation. 

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

On May 31, 2015, at 4:22 AM, Bode <ominira@gmail.com> wrote:

Because I consider probes to be the rites of passage that Nigeria needs for social maturation, the most unsettling part of Buhari's speech is the ambiguity in his suggestion that he would not settle old scores. There are two individuals, at least, with whom we know Buhari has personal scores to settle: Ibrahim Babangida who overthrew him in a coup in 1985, and Olusegun Obasanjo who twice rigged elections against him. If the reassurance were for these two alone, there would have been no need to address it to the Nigerian public in an inaugural speech. This makes me think he is talking about a larger group of leaders who fear Buhari might come after them for reasons one could only imagine has to do with official corruption. If the latter were the case, then, Buhari has just declared general amnesty for corrupt leaders. This is very troubling indeed, and it may well be the statement that would be most predictive of his future as President. Going after corrupt leaders is not settling scores, there is nothing personal about it, and it is not only morally and politically imperative, it is the constitutional duty of the President, the very oath of his office. 

Contrary to those who view probes of past governments as the third rail of Nigerian politics; who argue that Chief Awolowo's failure to become President in 1979 is directly connected to his statement that he would probe Obasanjo, I would argue that it is a political imperative for Buhari to probe these leaders for the country to become a country of laws. In other words, whether Nigeria makes the transition from a Society of Status to a Society of Laws depends absolutely on whether past leaders are made to account for what in the public eyes are their many misdeeds. It will be naïve for Buhari to think that these gladiators will fade away into the night once he declares amnesty. No, it will embolden them. They will always continue to seek relevance and peddle the influence they have amassed through corruption. They will ultimately undermine Buhari's programs and when they do, Buhari would have lost the support and goodwill of the people to fight back. It is then that the fight against corruption will take on a personal score. Now is the right and only time; when the window of opportunity closes, it will take another rare cosmic alignment to bring Nigeria back from ruins. It is not a waste of energy or a distraction as some in their wisdom are counseling, it is a political and economy necessity. Probes are the rites of passage that Nigeria needs for social transformation and maturation.  

Bode Ibironke 

On 5/30/15, 3:50 PM, "Nnaemeka, Obioma G" <nnaemeka@iupui.edu> wrote:

President Buhari gave an excellent speech. However, "prologue" is the wrong word in the context it is used:  "A few people have privately voiced fears that on coming back to office I shall go after them. These fears are groundless. There will be no paying off old scores. The past is prologue." We can parse the word which way we want, it does not make it correct.

Obioma Nnaemeka, PhD

Chancellor's Distinguished Professor
President, Association of African Women Scholars (AAWS)
Dept. of World Languages & Cultures   Phone: 317-278-2038; 317-274-0062 (messages)
Cavanaugh Hall 543A                          Fax: 317-278-7375

Indiana University                               E-mail: nnaemeka@iupui.edu
425 University Boulevard                   

Indianapolis, IN 46202  USA

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] on behalf of Bode [ominira@gmail.com]
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2015 1:47 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re-"The Past Is Prologue"

There are many phrases in that speech that makes me suspect I know who may have contributed to the speech from this list! In any case, CAO, neither the prologue nor the epilogue are part of Act, one introduces the audience to the first Act and the other provides additional information not known to the audience even after the final Act. How can the past come after the final Act of Buhari's Presidency, that is just about to begin? By saying the past is prologue, could he be saying the past is not the main Act or focus of his presidency? I agree as an idiom, it could mean a lot more…

Bode 

On 5/30/15, 1:01 PM, "Chidi Anthony Opara" <chidi.opara@gmail.com> wrote:

President Buhari while trying to debunk opinions in some quarters that he would be vindictive in power said in his inaugural speech that "the past is prologue".
One have been at lost at what the president meant by that quote, within the context of the message he was trying to pass across.
The president surely, could not have meant that he would preface (start) this present with the past, which is what his quote potrayed in my opinion.
What about "the past is epilogue"?
CAO.

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