Nigeria: Before Contemplating For Another Messiah
With utter chagrin with president Goodluck Jonathan-led government's handling of Nigeria; and magnetizing ballyhoos, utopian promises and masses-proof campaign rhetoric of the then mega opposition party APC, Nigeria's disgruntled masses trooped to polling booths on 28th March 2015 and voted-amidst flurry of hope and optimism-for the APC's Muhammadu Buhari en masse. There was a collective sigh of relief when it becomes crystal clear Buhari won the election even before official announcement, outré jubilations leading to many deaths ensued. Obviously, the disgruntled voters hoped for the new government to speedily reset the country to normalcy, arrest worsening security situation and improve the welfare of common Nugerian.
Nobody, perhaps even the pessimists would have dreamt of the retrogression of Nigeria to the situation we're today. Nineteen months down the line, the story is different and sadly, disappointing. Everything happened. Economy suffers the heaviest blow, and the masses are now just striving to survive. Fuel subsidy removal - which Buhari promised not to - and unofficial Naira devaluation ushered speedy hike of prices in the market. "The tempo at which things change for the worse in this country is so fast that, it is obvious the days of Jonathan must now be looked back upon with nostalgia" a worried Nigerian recently wrote on Facebook.
Buhari, as an opposition candidate, enjoyed the enormous goodwill, free confidence and touted by common man in Nigeria. Through Buhari Campaign donation card, the masses, pauperized by PDP's rule, financially contributed directly to Buhari's ascension to power, beside sacrifices in all possible way in ensuring his victory. But things has since fell apart and still falling day by day to even scarier level. Many small businesses crumbled, almost 4.6 million jobs lost according to 'official' publication. In his letter titled "What has gone wrong for Nigeria's President Buhari?" published recently by BBC, the editor-in-chief of Daily Trust, Mannir Dan Ali, quoted a viral Facebook status update urging the president Buhari to halt hisesoteric 'Change' and kindly return Nigeria to the state it was before he became president. The post to me, speaks more than it seems. Behind being a sample of deluge of posts like it all over Nigeria's cyberspace and print media, it is also incisive encapsulation of what transpired daily in our markets as well as demotic conversations off social media. Buhari, as a president, beside building a reputation of junketing the world at the slightest excuse, he also cultivated a wont of split-second response-condolence, felicitations to faraway foreign happenings, at the same time display insensitivity toward killings, incidents and bloodshed in the country. It took him few hours to speak to faraway Saudi Arabia over purported reprisal missile attack while on the same day dreaded Boko Haram killed an army lieutenant colonel along with unknown number of soldiers.
When another lieutenant colonel was also killed recently, his disappointed brother had to write a brusque open letter on the insensitivity displayed to their family by the presidency. On November 20, whilst over 40 hapless people were gunned down by gunmen in Zamfara, Buhari was mute, perhaps busy, but swiftly sent acondolences to faraway Republic of India over train derailment there. When army killed scores of unarmed Biafra separatists, Buhari didn't deem it worthy of presidential action, and when he do, he dismisses their agitation without even a tangible intent in addressing their agitation or probing the impropriety of confronting unarmed demonstrators with full military might.
Between 12-14 December last year, a contingents of army displayed full military might in massacring defenseless members of Islamic Movement/Shiites in what Amnesty International and other Human Rights organizations described as systemic repression. To cover up, the army in collaborating with Kaduna state government summarily mass buried the victims. Buhari - whose supporters trumpeted as an unrelenting humane and embodiment of human rights - this horrible massacre didn't evoke his 'symphathetic' heart; as a leader, he tacitly justified it, and this affirmative silence lead to another series of Shiite minority persecution the following months. A commentator Chris Ngwodo, aptly wrote: "Buhari risks leaving as his defining moral legacy, an indifference to human suffering and tyrannical oppression of minorities that will forever colour the memory of his presidency". After Chris' comment, many things happened and all substantiating his assertion.
Buhari no doubt, is the last - and to some, only - hope of the common man, having suffered for 16-year 'misrule' of PDP. He was elevated to saint station, touted and vaunted by supporters and posse as a no-nonsense, competent, sympathetic and a poor like the masses, who can't even afford to pay for his nomination form. With the unceasing precipitous decline of things, dwindling economy and excruciating hardship all this myth about him has been shot down and it beg to ask the question; what if Buhari hadn't won?. Incontestably, had he (Buhari) not won the 2015 election he would have surely been celebrated and extolled alive and in death as a Nigeria's only saint and messiah, but that was then. The sorry status quo of Nigeria and the tempo at which things change for the worse exploded this mistakenly thought messianic prowess.
The involvement of his top loyal officials in path breaking corruption scandals also demystified his assumed integrity and shattered his obvious selective war against corruption. When the chief of army staff, T.Y Buratai's evidence of diverting government funds to acquire properties in Dubai were published, he was speciously cleared in hurry by a 'special panel'. Another top loyalist, SG to the federation, Babachir Lawal was recently on the news about alleged mind blowing grass cutting scandal, all this happening whilst the opposition are arrested at slightest allegation and the masses are wallowing in unprecedented hyperinflation, hardship and worsening power supply.
His pre-presidency ascetic lifestyle and austere simplicity has already been rubbished by the lavish outrageous allocation to the presidential kitchen and zoo in 2015 budget, talkless of the Aso rock clinic which got share more than 16 teaching hospitals of the country combined. Many of the president's core supporters now have doubts in his abilities, while some are saying that it would have-perhaps been better if he had never won. Arguing that would have preserved the myth of his competence which is now shattered. He would have remained a presumed best president that Nigeria never had and would have enliven the legacy of extolling and singing him messiah praises after his life. Now should we be contemplating for another messiah to clear 'mess' of APC's rule? Or should we be hopeless and just pray for God to fix things?
Albeit, we are now bound to wait for remaining 2 years of APC, Me personally thinks, it is high time for Nigerians before rushing in search of another messiah, to start thinking out of the box; what's really the problem with the system binding the entity Nigeria? After all, it's proven now, the system transcends any supposed-integrity, competence or what all.
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Ammar Abdulhamid Katsina wrote this piece from Zaria.