THE Enugu State Government refused to pay workers, Minimum Wage in 2011. The then Executive Governor, Sullivan Chime had in response to workers agitations, won or bought over some labour leaders in the state and intimidated then Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Chairman, Chumaife Nze who refused to sell out.

For me and several other people to whom I have spoken, the events leading to the release of the amounts recovered by The Federal Government by the Minister of Information on Saturday, June 4, 2016, without the list of names promised by President Buhari was an embarrassment in many ways. Only God knows how many friends and associates I have lost since 2011 on account of my total support for Buhari, who was the closest person to meet my idea of the sort of leader needed in Nigeria at this particular time when corruption killing us. I always felt that he was a leader who would keep his promises once made. You might not agree with the promise, but, you knew where you stood with him. The other person was late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

Ask the average Christian for his pastor, and he is likely to refer you to mere mortals. But David declares in his most famous psalm: “The LORD is my pastor; I have everything I need.” (Psalm 23:1). If David has everything he needs because he made the Lord his pastor, why do Christians persist in accepting ordinary men as their pastors? Why do we tend to prefer the counterfeit to the original? Why are we inclined to prefer the earthly to the heavenly?

If the number of challenges which the 2016 budget has encountered is anything to go by, the document would go down in history as a special budget. To start with, it is the first budget of change by President Buhari’s government. In which case, it ought to depart from the “rub my back and I will concur” posture of the past. Surprisingly, change didn’t quite occur along that line as efforts were made from the beginning to adulterate the budget.

The token gesture of reducing the number of ministries by the President notwithstanding, there is no evidence that the cost of governance has gone down significantly to the extent of impacting positively on the lives of average Nigerians. Information in the public domain about the billions of naira earmarked for the renovation of Aso Rock clinic, feeding in the Presidency, purchase of exotic BMW cars, and maintenance of aircrafts in the presidential fleet indicate that the despicable Animal Farm syndrome characteristic of political leadership in Nigeria is still with us despite the propaganda of change by the APC.