In June this year when President Obasanjo reshuffled his Cabinet dropping some and retaining some while others were reassigned to other Ministries  Dr Ngozi Okonjo Eweala the then Finance Minister was among those reassigned. Although she was a bit disappointed as reported by some Media circles but she was encouraged to continue with the good work she was doing for the Country. Therefore she accepted the offer to be the new Foreign Minister at the same time retained her as the Leader of the Economic Management Team for the wonderful job she did during her 3-year stay in the Ministry of Finance. She resigned her position in the World Bank to come and serve in the second term of President Obasanjo which she willingly accepted. She served meritoriously and due to her effort a lot of changes took place in the Ministry a kind of revolution which most people acknowledged and confirmed this fact. Due to her un-tireless effort partly personal influence and clout among the International Economic Circles she spearheaded the present economic reform which helped turned around the Nigerian economy. In addition she was reported to have helped got the debt relief totalling more than $18 billion that was written off a quest that eluded the Country for some time thus creating a strong reform which was widely acclaimed by the International Community that brought sanity and prudent to the fiscal management. We can go on and on I’m sure many Nigerian would agree with me that she tried her best as Minister in charge of Finance due to her experience with the World Bank so therefore she deserved all the credits and commendations that were due to her. She delivered on the target and benchmark set for her by the President during her stay with the Finance Ministry which the President himself acknowledged in accepting her resignation commending the monumental achievement recorded by the Country during her tenure of office. In particular the President noted her 20-year experience in the World Bank helped Nigeria got its debt relief sorted and therefore commended her for her unparallel patriotism dedication and loyalty that she showed during her 3 year term in the Finance Ministry and short term with the Foreign Affairs which set tone for transformation. He regretted that her departure at the time of  the Government’s  reform which he saw as yielding result all speak volume of the effort made by Dr  Eweala who resigned earlier this Month.

When She was reassigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs I wrote an Article titled Buhari/Eweala  2007 Dream Ticket in which I suggested that the duo i.e. General Muhammadu Buhari Retired and Dr  Ngozi Eweala would make good Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates respectively. In the article I suggested that Nigerians should forget their political differences and party Alliance and come together to elect the two as their President and Vice President respectively. Buhari as an honest sincere transparent leader compared with others and Dr Eweala for her ability clout to transform and manage the economy successfully due to her experience should  be given the encouragement to continue with the good reform come May 2007.Whoever does good should be encouraged to continue doing that good that is why in the article I suggested  Nuhu Ribadu the EFCC Chairman and Mr El Rufai the Federal Capital Territory Minister plus the well known human Right Crusader Gani Fawehinmi should be encouraged all to join the Buhari/Eweala Team to help transform the Country into a viable example worthy of emulation by other African Nations as  emerging democracy well managed. Therefore the resignation of Dr Eweala from the Cabinet would help transform this dream into reality come May 2007. We must forget our political differences and formulate a strategy and work for the common good of our Country and not vested interest. In order to achieve this strategy is needed that would help sanitise and transform the whole economy and make civil servants render their services sincerely that would make them accountable to the service they render. In this case discipline is needed and to achieve this we need sincere honest people of impeccable untainted character who would show the way. So the leaders must set examples in this case Buhari can give this kind of exemplary leadership. Therefore ANPP or which ever Party adopts Buhari should at the same time adopt Dr Eweala as their Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates respectively. If the two agree they would work wonders for our Nation so we must give them the chance to prove their worth. I mentioned in this hypothesis that the cooperation of everyone is needed including the President himself who is the present occupier of the Aso Rock and is due to vacate it May next year. The formation of some kind of Interim Government before the President vacates the office is seen by Nigerians as unconstitutional which has no basis in our democratic system therefore it would not be accepted like the dream Third Term Agenda which was flatly rejected by Nigerians. So in the meantime Nigerians should work for the common good and interest of our beloved Nation and who knows making her as the Number Two Citizen for four years would help groom her to take the mantle of the Nation after gaining more experience as the Second in Command. If the strategy works she will be the first lady in history of our Country to hold the title of the real First Lady and not the honorary as the wife of the President after holding the number two position. Remember this is only a hypothesis whether it can work or not this defends on the Nigerian electorates who will decide come May 2007 and not the President or the formation of the so-called Interim Government which has no relevance in the Constitution and cannot be changed without the Approval of the National Assembly Members. No body can impose his or her will on Nigerians as we are now matured a Nation of 140 million people almost twice the population of the whole West Africa combined together. So they say if there is a will there is a way but we should give it a try to work for the common good of our Nation which is competing and trying hard to strengthen our democracy and get a seat in the Security Council which will widen her role as the Giant of Africa and Democratic Transparent Nation .As we have nine Months to go and the clock is ticking  we need to seriously and collectively help to formulate such a strategy so as to ensure transparency and good governance for the benefit and welfare of our people and not vested interest but for the  collective generality of all Nigerians and the Country in general .T

herefore Buhari and Dr Eweala can confidently transform the economy with the help of other sincere Nigerians and other patriotic technocrats who would work for the common good of the Nation which we should all give them the chance. It is left to be seen whether this can be put into practice come May 2007. Meanwhile as the clock ticks the whistle blows Nigerians must work together to find consensus candidates such as the duo mentioned who are transparent and would in no doubt work for the common interest of the people and the Country in general. So let us give them the chance to prove their worth.