As you read this, the
news has just filtered in that herdsmen just killed another 27 Nigerian
citizens in Plateau state. But do not worry, the Nigerian government is dealing
with the terrorist Indigenous People of Biafra AKA IPOB!
I am sorry if I seems to
be trivializing the deaths in Plateau state, but the situation is just
ridiculous to say the least. These murderous herdsmen continue to maraud and
pillage and the feeble response of President Muhammadu Buhari is to urge the
police and security agencies to stop 'this madness'.
Rhetoric. All we get is rhetoric.
How many herdsmen have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted as a result of
the President's many directives to the police and the security agencies? The
answer is between zero and few. Nigeria is the world's only nation where
herdsmen who kill citizens are left alone while secessionists who do not kill
are labeled terrorists!
If herdsmen are not
terrorists, then what are they? Are they a charitable group donating free bullets
to Nigerians by shooting it into their bodies?
Herdsmen are killing
Nigerians in Plateau state while the Nigerian soldiers who should protect them
are carrying out unwanted medical outreaches down South!
Why can't President
Buhari divert the soldiers he sent to the South, where no one is killing or
dying, to Plateau to deal with killer herdsmen? But what am I even saying? If
the President's wife complains that the State House Clinic cannot help her or
her family, how can you believe President Muhammadu Buhari can help you or your
family in Plateau State or anywhere else in Nigeria? And instead of facing
these issues, the President keeps narrowcasting his blame game to a rapidly
shrinking audience.
Just two days ago, the
Presidency released a statement blaming the People’s Democratic Party for the
restructuring agitations in the country. Perhaps the President's memory is fading,
and he has forgotten that it was precisely him and his party that campaigned on
the issue of restructuring.
But of course, the administration
never disappoints. They always know who to blame for the problem and never
knows who will solve the problem.
Where real leaders have
a solution for every problem, this administration has someone to blame for
every problem. Not everyone with a title is a leader!
And the saddest thing is
that like all insecure leaders, this administration is now using instruments of
State power to intimidate rivals who want to compete for space within the
leadership plinth with him.
Atiku Abubakar showed
interest. NPA cancels his contract. Tinubu eyes the Presidential seat. SEC
announces audit of Oando. Fayose declares interest in 2019 and within 2 hours
the EFCC arrested his finance people to cripple him. Ibe Kachikwu threatened
President Buhari's reelection by exposing the deep corruption in the Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation and within days his house was literally on fire.
Will 2019 be an election or war?
Sadly, all those who
thought APC and Muhammadu Buhari were the messiah now know the difference
between a messiah and a messier. APC and Buhari are not the Messiah.
In the five years that
he governed Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan spent ₦16 trillion. The
economy grew. Naira was stable. We had the greatest expansion of infrastructure
since the Gowon years and inflation was at single digit.
In the two years that APC
and President Muhammadu Buhari have RULED Nigeria, he has spent ₦15 trillion.
We have had recession. Naira collapsed. Inflation has gone back to double
digits and the only infrastructure that he has started and completed is the
Daura helipad. Yet Jonathan was clueless. See life?
When even the
President's Wife complains of the State House Clinic under his own nose. Can
cluelessness be more domestic than that?
And then while we were
grappling with this monumental show of incompetence as exposed by his wife,
along comes the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, who revealed that the
President told him to focus the attention of the bank on Northern Nigeria.
This is what Mr. Kim
said "You know, in my very first meeting with President Buhari he said
specifically that he would like us to shift our focus to the northern region of
Nigeria and we’ve done that. Now, it has been very difficult. The work
there has been very difficult".
And when the rest of the
country was justifiably upset with this nepotistic behaviour, the Presidency,
rather than pacify the nation, released a very belligerent statement insulting
those who dared to question what the President said.
But if the Presidency
says the President of the World Bank misinterpreted President Muhammadu
Buhari's request urging the bank to focus on Northern Nigeria, then how come 14
out of 17 leadership positions in the military are held by Northerners? How
come 36 out of 55 recent top NNPC appointment went to Northerners? How come the
Kano-Daura rail was approved while the rail links in Southeast were not funded?
How come IPOB are declared terrorists and the army sent after them but herdsmen
are not, and grazing reserves planned for them?
According to an investigation
carried about The PUNCH Newspaper in their edition of Sunday the 15th of
October 2017, no World Bank project has been "specifically designed
for" the South South, South East or Middle Belt since President Muhammadu
Buhari assumed power.
According to Punch, only
the core North and the Southwest have had specific projects under the Buhari
administration. It seems the World Bank abided by President Buhari's 97% versus
5% directive for them to 'focus on the North'.
The funniest thing is
that these World Bank projects that are 'focused on the North' are loans that
will be paid back by all of us! And this cluelessness pervades the whole
administration.
Babatunde Raji Fashola
once said a serious government will fix power sector in 6 months. He has been a
minister for 2 years; can we conclude that he's unserious? All Progressives
Congress once said that ₦216 to $1 under Jonathan was unacceptable. Today I ask
if ₦370 to $1 is acceptable? President Muhammadu Buhari went to Chatham House
to condemn public officials who go abroad for healthcare. Today he is Africa's
biggest health tourist to London. Nasir El-Rufai mocked Jesus our Lord on
Twitter and insulted Goodluck Jonathan while praying. Today he is notorious for
jailing his critics! So next time the APC promises you anything, take it with a
bucket of salt!
The truth is well known,
this administration has shown without doubt that it is clueless. If you doubt that,
go to the State House Clinic and ask for ordinary panadol!
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