We see mandate already turned into madness, a perpetual madness furiously at work, brooking no opposition, turning our country into a conclave of insanity; even as helpless citizens are being grinded to death by the day. Why have the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), and other concerned Nigerians ask General Muhammadu Buhari to resign from office; why did some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmakers call for the impeachment of the President? Why did a House of Representatives committee looking into the 2021 Budget ask the management of Aso Rock Presidential Clinic to show evidence of the money appropriated for it in 2020 Budget? This President who certainly belongs to some insensitive forces, whose nostrils are drizzling with the blood of our people, must provide good governance at all cost or simply resign. It is most unfortunate that in this millennium, we are being confronted with a debilitating negative leadership scenario that resembles that of Paul Biya’s Cameroon in many dimensions. With the Nigerian economy perpetually in tatters; the Naira already beaten out of global proportion and reckoning; and hyper-inflation turning a large section of Nigerians into professional beggars, perhaps, the next presidential election in 2023, in Nigeria, would afford the Nigerian people the opportunity to start afresh; to do the extraordinary, to elect a president that will truly belong to ‘nobody, but to everybody.’
By lgbotako Nowinta
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is the first ever Niger Deltan in the history of Nigeria, to rule the country from May 5th, 2010, to May 29th, 2015.
As President of Nigeria, Jonathan who was ushered into the highest political seat by the heaviest form of enthusiasm and goodwill, ended up disastrously.
In his abysmal performance in office, Goodluck Jonathan tried desperately by every means available to him, to please the people of northern extraction in Nigeria without success; the East-West road and the cleaning up of the oil-devastated Ogoniland were some of the projects he failed to handle.
The issue of insecurity which singlehandedly and alarmingly tore his administration into shreds, became a magical wand for Major General Muhammadu Buhari, to sneak into the presidency in 2015.
Therefore, when presidential power eventually fell under his laps and control, General Buhari chose to adopt a mysterious slogan: “l belong to nobody, l belong to everybody,” which he read out during his historic inauguration on May 29th, 2015, at the Eagle Square in Abuja.
Now, six years down the lane of power, the very critical issue of insecurity which enabled him to grab the highest political power in our land, has become an albatross hanging menacingly over his presidency.
Never before have mindboggling bloodshed, senseless murders, episodic, traumatic barbarities, unimaginable and unparalleled wickedness overtaken our country like the way it is presently.
The eaters of flesh and the drinkers of blood which will know as Boko Haram adherents have pathetically instituted themselves as bedfellows with the Nigerian armed forces, while the Commander-in- Chief, is pitiably missing in action.
Where are you in the midst of this carnage, Mr. President, one would like to ask?
The recent massacre of 43 rice farmers in a village, near Maiduguri, Borno State by some outlaws suspected to be Boko Haram terrorists, was a horrific national shame and disgrace that pierced the hearts of many concerned Nigerians, and which has dramatically compelled members of the House of Representatives, to pass a resolution calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to appear on the floor of the Green Chambers.
Instead of honoring this invitation, the Attorney- General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has added an unfortunate dimension to the development, saying that the President is protected by the Constitution not to honor the invitation extended by the House of Representatives; that Mr. President cannot make public certain security details.
For me this current brewing constitutional crisis bordering on the refusal of Mr. President to appear before the lawmakers is uncalled for and highly regrettable. I want to believe that Abubakar Malami and other members of the Muhammadu Buhari kitchen cabinet are allegedly afraid of something; certainly to shield Mr. President from an embarrassment they know too well to make public.
Paul Barthelme Biya bi Mvondo of the United Republic of Cameroon easily comes to my mind here. This man snatched power from Alhaji Ahmadu Ahidjo on November 6th, 1982 and has refused to relinquish power at 87 years old.
Paul Biya has disgraced Africa in many fora outside his country by his sheer inability to physically perform his presidential duties; the other time he collapsed and passed out in public during an international engagement; only to be resuscitated luckily in an hospital.
In Cameroon today, Biya is often referred to as a ‘phantom’ an absentee guy; a king who has abdicated his throne after 37 years in power. It is ironic that one of the reasons Paul Biya clamored for succeeding Ahmadu Ahidjo was the reluctance of Ahidjo to leave power after he led the country to independence.
By transforming himself into a stark tragedy and a monster, Paul Biya is not only a curse to his generation, but presently Maurice Kemto, who gave him a hard fight for his money during Cameroon’s presidential election in 2018, is leading formidable national opposition to put an end to the reign of one of Africa’s evil spirits.
Coming back to Nigeria, the inability of General Muhammadu Buhari to see things from the view of Nigerian people has manifested in the cold imbroglio between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government.
Because of this we have seen a display of deliberate scientific degradation, humiliation and dehumanization of Nigerian university lecturers fighting for the sanity of our tertiary educational system.
What is the essence of government or democratic representation where the likes of Chris Ngige and Abubakar Malami have become official principalities and vengeful apparitions?
Why is the Nigerian Government holding the people down at every inch of the day; using them as burnt offerings, instead of alleviating the atavistic plight of the governed? What is governance if it is not for the best interest of the electorates?
How much is ASUU asking for in comparison with the insane looting going on in several sectors of the country? How much is being lavished on our law makers daily? How much are some of our recycled ex-governors still earning as pensions?
Billions are being spent on the Army and the ongoing senseless war against insurgents; what of the blatant daylight robbery at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) with most of the culprits still hanging out in red districts in Abuja?
The amount of money squandered by Abduraman Maina and his boys is enough to fix all our refineries put together in Nigeria.
Until the day Nigerian voters in whom absolute sovereignty lies, are able, via electoral digitalization, where individual biometric of citizens could be captured to exercise the right to vote candidates of their choice in any form of election in Nigeria, we would continuously be confronted with mean and heartless maximum rulers, like the sitting President of Nigeria, who swore and promised never to be a slave to ‘nobody’ but who has incredibly turned a blind eye to reality, to fall in love with ‘somebody’ (some in-laws, relations and some established eternal foes of Nigerian masses).
Until the day, we as a people make it a constant point of duty, to hold our rulers accountable, by applying the various constitutional provisions in our books, old senile, visionless or ideologically blind and deaf nincompoops would be treating us like third class citizens and still brag about it.
If not how could President Muhammadu Buhari sit down in Aso Rock Presidential Palace, telling us that he cares about us, while all the masses see beside and around them are excruciating pains, anguish and hunger?
How does Abubakar Malami want Nigerian voters to feel; that General Muhammadu Buhari is assiduously living up to his oath of office or abdicating his presidential responsibilities in the midst of the current security hullabaloo?
Who says General Buhari should go to the House of Representatives to divulge top security secrets to our lawmakers, when what Nigerian voters want from him is to show to us that he is on top of the nation’s security quagmire; to at least demonstrate pragmatic concern?
Because General Buhari is not interested in the welfare of Nigerians, one Chris Ngige, the Minister of Labour and Productivity is bold to show his disdain for the educational sanity of our tertiary institutions; that is why he is treating university lecturers like spoils of war.
If Ngige’s children are in Nigerian university campuses, he would certainly have changed his protracted war game with the Academic Staff Union of Universities by now
With Christmas few weeks away, and the haunting ghost of Covid 19 walking in the air, staff in 428 Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), are in shock as their November salaries have not been paid, while the Budget Office is incoherent about what to tell them.
Perhaps Mr. President does not have the will to order something to be done urgently, to remove millions of families from the throes of hunger, apathy and disillusionment
Leadership constantly requires ingenuity and dynamism at every point; a combative leader must never look like a lame duck, helpless or submit to hopelessness, something must give way to yank the masses from the jaw of certain deaths and forlorn circumstances.
We need massive social investment schemes in Nigeria to bail out the people from constant penury; there should be a deliberate policy from government to control prices of essential commodities like rice, beans, garri, cereals etc.
What is wrong with the government subsidizing the prices of basic food stuffs in Nigeria at this critical time of our history? Government should genuinely make its Social Investment Program work to touch the poorest of the poor.
That most Nigerians have lost faith with the Muhammadu Buhari government is an understatement; this government has lost the moral authority to rule over the Nigerian people.
We see mandate already turned into madness, a perpetual madness furiously at work, brooking no opposition, turning our country into a conclave of insanity; even as helpless citizens are being grinded to death by the day.
Why have the Northern Elders Forum (NEF), and other concerned Nigerians ask General Muhammadu Buhari to resign from office; why did some Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), lawmakers call for the impeachment of the President?
Why did a House of Representatives committee looking into the 2021 Budget ask the management of Aso Rock Presidential Clinic to show evidence of the money appropriated for it in 2020 Budget?
This President who certainly belongs to some insensitive forces, whose nostrils are drizzling with the blood of our people, must provide good governance at all cost or simply resign.
It is most unfortunate that in this millennium, we are being confronted with a debilitating negative leadership scenario that resembles that of Paul Biya’s Cameroon in many dimensions.
With the Nigerian economy perpetually in tatters; the Naira already beaten out of global proportion and reckoning; and hyper-inflation turning a large section of Nigerians into professional beggars, perhaps, the next presidential election in 2023, in Nigeria, would afford the Nigerian people the opportunity to start afresh; to do the extraordinary, to elect a president that will truly belong to ‘nobody, but to everybody.’
