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| President Buhari |
Disclaimer:
Now that it is a new normal for Daura Secret Service to
stifle dissenting opinion, may I emphatically state that my appraisal of the
Buhari administration and projection of his reelection prospect is not a
function of vested interest. I don’t do ‘political party’ let alone parish-pump
politics. I am simply a sycophancy-hating, disillusioned, politically-conscious,
informed, straight-from-the-shoulder, passionate and active-citizen who desperately
yearns for a safe society and a responsive, responsible, purposeful leadership.
If you oppose with analysis, rather than resort to name-calling or intimidation,
please do a rejoinder with superior argument. This is how it works in ‘’saner’’
climes.
Preamble:
Having been around for a while, I say without mincing words that
Nigeria has never witnessed the sheer level of despair, insecurity,
bloodletting, audacious brigandage, instability, and excuses for
non-performance like we have it now. A lot of people, yours sincerely
inclusive, erroneously believed that Buhari been a retired Army General and ex
Head of State, would rein in insecurity in the country. We were damn wrong!
Nigeria is more unstable, less secure than it was five years ago. Jeffrey Smith, the Executive Director of
Washington D.C-based Vanguard Africa Movement, submits in Pittsburgh Post Gazette, that ‘’Nigeria’s [Buhari] leader has
exacerbated the country’s problems’’.
According to Mr. Jeffrey, Mr. Buhari has exacerbated entrenched ethnic,
social and religious fissures, leading to escalated violence across the
country. The latest corruption
perception index (CPI) released by Transparency International, TI, asserts that
‘’Corruption is getting worse in Nigeria’’. In a recently released report, the
International Monetary Fund, IMF says Nigerians are getting poorer under Buhari’s government. Rather than be responsive and take responsibility,
Buhari’s government effectively entrenched finger-pointing and buck-passing as
national policies. Buhari tells Nigerians to pay the ultimate sacrifice for
Nigeria but his disposition, lifestyle, that of members of his family and his
kitchen cabinet profoundly negates his preachments. For instance, Mr. President’s son, Yusuf Buhari had a power bike
accident in Abuja on Tuesday, December 26, 2017. After repeated denials that he
was not flown abroad for medical treatment, the young man returned to Nigeria
on March 1, 2018 after spending several weeks in Germany. Kogi state governor,
Mr. Yahaya Bello, Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau and his Health
counterpart, Dr. Osagie Ehanire were amongst top Buhari appointees who
abandoned their duties and trooped to the airport to welcome Buhari’s son. Make
no mistakes; I sincerely don’t begrudge Yusuf Buhari. Thank God he recuperated;
I only wish that president Buhari showed more empathy, expedites the homecoming
of abducted Dapchi schoolgirls as he did his son. How many governors, ministers
and bootlicking appointees spared time to not only empathize with families of
abducted Dapchi schoolgirls but channel resources to ensure their safe, immediate
return? What grounds will President Buhari, his handlers and ubiquitous spin
doctors premise his re-election campaign on? Tackling insecurity, Boko Haram?
‘Fighting corruption? I hear president Buhari bandying another campaign
catchword - ‘’Next Level’’. Is it the next level of the ‘’change’’ currently stifling
Nigerians?
Without further ado, this treatise aims to dissect how the
under-listed shortcomings and events such as inter-alia: Boko Haram’s
unrelenting attacks and recent abduction of 110 school girls from Dapchi,
Buhari’s inaction and omerta over the marauding herdsmen bloodletting
activities that permeates the nook and cranny of Nigeria, his manifest
clannishness, nepotistic inclination, and skewed anti-corruption campaign, portrays
the Buhari administration and will possibly jeopardize his reelection bid in
2019. The Chibok schoolgirls’ abduction seriously undermined Jonathan’s
reelection in 2015. I foresee Buhari in tow.
1. Abducted Dapchi School
Girls And Buhari’s Election Fortune:
For a comprehensive report of the Dapchi schoolgirls abduction
miasma, read my earlier piece – ‘’Analysis:
The Dapchi Schoolgirls Abduction Debacle’’. Here, I
opt to reconcile how this déjà vu, national shame will impact Buhari’s
reelection prospect.
President Buhari was in his home town – Daura, Katsina state when
110 schoolgirls of Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC),
Dapchi, Yobe State were abducted, purportedly by the Albarnawi faction of Boko
Haram on Monday, February 19, 2018. Mr.
President reportedly visited Daura to commiserate with bereaved members of his
extended family. He was in Daura for five days. Buhari on Tuesday, February 20,
departed Katsina State and flew to Yola, the Adamawa state capital to commission projects.
Saturday, March 3, 2018, newly two weeks after the Dapchi schoolgirls abduction,
akin to Rome's emperor Nero who reportedly
“fiddled while Rome burned, Buhari, 22 state governors
and several high-ranking members of his government flew to Kano to attend a
wedding between the daughter of Kano State governor, Umar Ganduje and the son
of his Oyo state capital, Abiola Ajumobi. Buhari couldn’t spare some
time to visit Dapchi, Yobe state to sympathize with families of abducted Dapchi
girls but he was fit as a fiddle, had all the time in the world to attend a
wedding? Anybody with a conscience will agree that this
is a gaffe; indefensible. Pretty sure he’s no lacking in Advisers or
could it be that he is impervious to advice? I bet that Buhari would have
swiftly visited Yobe if it had to do with politicking.
I read somewhere that the
Commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria
didn't visit #Dapchi #Yobe because Boko Haram boasts of surface-to-air
missiles (SAM), and Man-portable
air-defense systems (MANPADS). Yet
Boko Haram didn’t shoot down the Ministers, government delegates who visited
Dapchi? In essence, #Dapchi, Yobe state is an ungoverned space in Nigeria? This
spurious alibi is tantamount to demarketing Yobe state and Nigeria. Could it
also be because of the threat of ground-to-air missiles (GAM) that the
Commander-in-chief of the Armed forces of the federal republic of Nigeria is
yet to visit Benue state as well? Hopefully these arsenals will not prevent the
president and his party, the APC from visiting those climes to solicit for
votes? As we speak, Buhari will on Monday, March 5,
2018, depart for Accra, Ghana to attend the
country’s 61st independence anniversary scheduled for Tuesday.
As
if Buhari’s seeming nonchalance, lack of empathy is not enough, according to BBC journalist, Stephanie Hegarty, ‘’ten days after the
Dapchi attack and 110 school children are still missing, Nigeria’s Minister of
Information, Lai Mohammed is sending out press releases about golf’’. Lai
Mohammed reportedly attended the 2018 West African Golf Tour which held in Abuja.
Forget the flowery, cosmetic press releases; these people don’t care about poor
Nigerians.
2. Unrelenting Boko Haram
Attacks
Prior to the 2015 presidential election, Buhari
vowed to 'lead from the front' against Boko Haram in the fight against Boko
Haram if elected president. Five months into his
presidency, Vanguard Newspaper, October 14, 2015 quoted
Buhari as saying that, ''Boko Haram Insurgency will end by December''. December 2015 has come and gone and more than
two years after his deadline, Boko Haram is still carrying out suicide attacks
on hard, soft targets and also carrying out mass abductions. When it became
evident that the December deadline was not pragmatic, Buhari told the British Broadcasting
Corporation that, ''Nigeria has "technically won the war"
against Islamist Boko Haram militants''. Aftermath of
the Dapchi schoolgirls abduction, one of President Buhari's spin doctors, Mr.
Femi Adesina, on February 25, 2018 came closer to the truth and admitted on
Channels Television that, ''Boko Haram Terrorists have not been completely
defeated but terribly Degraded'’.
Of course that election took place in 2015 in Boko Haram strongholds, remotest
parts of the northeast – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe attests to the fact that Boko
Haram was substantially reined in before Buhari’s ascendancy. Hate him or love
him, the former chief of army staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika stifled Boko
Haram.
Three years into Buhari’s four year presidency, Boko Haram seems to be emboldened by the millions of Euros ransom
payments, the Islamic Sect purportedly received from the Buhari administration.
In its May 19, 2017 report - ‘’The
fate of the Chibok girls’’ - the British
Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, broke the news that the Nigerian government paid
two million Euros ransom to secure the release of 84 Chibok schoolgirls
abducted by Boko Haram. Though the Nigerian government repeatedly denied this
claim but in February 2018, some Nigerian Senators acknowledged that the release of some of the abducted Chibok girls involved
payment of ransom to Boko Haram Terrorists. It was also reported that the
Nigerian government paid millions of Euros to secure the release of some
University of Maiduguri lecturers and ‘’policewomen’’ abducted by Boko Haram.
The problem with this ransom strategy is twofold: (a) it becomes a
money-spinning enterprise for corrupt government officials who negotiate for
ransom payments, release of victims (b) it becomes a vicious cycle, terrorists
are emboldened and ransom goes funding, equipping the terrorists. Propped by
ransom war-chest, it is not surprising that Boko Haram that seemed to peter
out, is now reinvigorated, now launching blistering attacks in northeast
Nigeria. Apart from the Dapchi schoolgirls abduction, in a spate of one week,
Nigerian Army Commanding Officer, Lt. Colonel AE Mamudu was felled in Sambisa
forest reportedly by a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED), three
United Nations aid workers, three soldiers were reportedly killed by Boko Haram on Thursday, March 1, 2018, when the
bloodletting Islamic Sect attacked the Rann Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs
camp, situated at Kala-Balge Local Government Area of Borno State.
It is evident that Buhari has failed in his
promise to lead from the front and to end the Boko Haram insurgency within
three months.
3. Buhari’s Inability To Rein
In Marauding Herdsmen
Fear and anxiety continue to pervade the nook and cranny of –
Taraba, Kaduna, Benue, Plateau, Zamfara, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Ogun, Enugu states
and other parts of Nigeria over sporadic, bloodletting attacks by so-called herdsmen.
Recall that the Global Terrorism consistently ranked Fulani Herdsmen as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the
world. Apparently, Buhari a Fulani himself refuses to see things this way. It
smacks of double standard that Buhari came very hard on Shiites, Biafra
activists - the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) but is not decisive on the
herdsmen imbroglio. 73 bodies of victims
of herdsmen attack in Benue state were buried weeks ago. In a chat with BBC
Pidgin, a leader of Miyetti Allah cattle breeders in Benue State, Garus Gololo revealed that Fulani herdsmen attacked some communities in Benue state,
saying their action was a reprisal for alleged theft of cows. In his words, “as
we dey relocate go Taraba State through Nassarawa State, for border town of
Nengere, thief come collect 1000 cows from us, so we sef fight dem back”, he
said. Notwithstanding the bloodletting in Benue state, President
Buhari is yet to visit Benue state nearly three months after the attack.
The political implication of Buhari’s inaction
and nonchalance over marauding herdsmen attacks in Benue and in the middle belt
is that Benue state governor and some of his colleagues are tenably on their
way out of the APC. My prognosis is that the electoral fortune of the
APC/Buhari in Benue state and in the middle belt in 2019 is bleak.
***Stay tuned for the concluding part
Written by: © Don Okereke
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