The President-elect, retired Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, on Sunday in Abuja met with the said he would shift attention from Northern Elders led by Nigeria’s permanent representative at the United Nations, Alhaji Maitama Sule. At the meeting, the President Elect had made known his intentions to quickly focus more on Agriculture thus diversifying the economy from heavy dependence on oil.
However, what caught our attention the most was the comment made by Alhaji Maitama Sule which we thought was awkward. Here it is;
”Sir, it is easy; I know it was easy when you were a military leader and what made it easy was justice.
”With justice, you can rule Nigeria well. Justice is the key; irrespective of tribe, religion and race, justice must be done to whosoever deserves it. ”Power can remain in the hands of an infidel if he is just and fair but it will not remain in the hands of a believer if he is unfair and unjust,” he said. Sule also said injustice was the fundamental cause of crisis all over the world and that the only solution to avert crisis was justice.
“The world itself can never be governed by force or by fear nor by power; in the end, what governs is the mind, what conquers is the spirit and what governs the mind and spirit are justice and fair play. ”I have always known you to be a man of justice and I ask you to please continue, don’t change or compromise justice for anything. ”Mr President-elect sir, we know what we have gone through.
‘’I will ask you not to discriminate against any part of Nigeria but I’ll urge you to do justice to all part of Nigeria, justice that will bring about peace and stability, that will lead to the development of Nigeria. ”I know you believe that one day you will stand before God to give account of everything you have done here on earth. ‘’I will rather prefer that you disappoint me than to disappoint God, your creator,” he stated.
If you were counting, he used the word Justice a total 10 times in this short statement. Why exactly is that? Is he suggesting that it is inevitable that the government will go after past handlers of the economy or polity? And that perhaps he should “do justice” not just to some select people but to all who were equally found culpable? Beats our imagination