Will General Buhari Listen to the Youths or is he Damned?
Is President Buhari powerful and in control of governance in Nigeria; and is he visionary enough to understand and address the current challenges, including restructuring Nigeria with the #EndSARSnow as the catalyst? How successful has he been in tackling corruption, poverty, hunger and disease, and the low intensity warfare of Boko Haram? Can we say with all confidence and beyond every sentiment that Mr. President was prepared for governance beyond winning at all costs? What about the challenges confronting the nation and what are his plans and projections in tackling these problems? Are we better off now than when he took over the rulership of Nigeria in 2015?
Nigeria is in the hands of privileged leadership elites who are predators in both the political and economic sectors. These Tammany Hall politicians, the godfathers of Nigerian politics are associated with abuse of power, are irredeemably corrupt and are now equating themselves with God. They control the political machine, dispense political patronage and are arrogant. They use money looted from public tills to sustain their abuses, disobey the courts and oppress the civil society through the instrumentality of the police and the military.
One historical mistake they are making is that they are not students of group harmony, but task specialists who demand loyalty from the led. Because society by itself is dynamic and that there had existed mutual hostility between the political parties, there can only continue to exist conflict with an unending struggle to explore opportunities creatively.
Gen. Buhari appears overwhelmed, surrounded by a coterie of absolutists bent on revalidating a supremacist agenda, dating as far back as the Fulani Jihad of Uthman dan Fodio in 1804 with scant regard for the feelings of other federating units in Nigeria. He presides over a failed nation with no sector that you can give the thumbs up. The conclusion is that government through its policymakers and the bureaucrats are the problem, using public resources for personal gains.
Nigeria is still grappling with nepotism, extra-judicial killings, injustice, abuse of the environment, especially our forests, wetlands, pollution of the water systems, among others. Our institutions have deliberately been so weakened as to be unable to independently challenge corruption in high places or bring to judgment the looters of the Nigerian treasury. What is apparent is the worst form of political decay: repatrimonialization. This favors family and friends over ability and thus leads to a patron-client relationship.
Integrity means nothing to this class of elites. They have no self-respect nor are ready to help Nigeria grow out of poverty. Rather, they are selfish and greedy for gain.
Will it be right to contend that our President has integrity and is a self-respecting personality? Has he helped the Nigerian nation and is he selfless and a most dedicated and visionary leader?
The office of the President in Nigeria is expected to hold specific roles and according to the Constitution, to function without undue constraints. Among these is the Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces, the Chief Executive of the Republic and the chief custodian of the constitution of the people and the laws of the Federation. His primary responsibility in governing the nation comes above all other things while in a civilian administration, must meet all promises his party made to the nation.
However, as the commander-in-chief, Mr. President uses it as a tactical device to dislodge the military as a threat and possible confrontation in the form of a coup d’état, not deploying the military to subvert the genuine aspirations of the people he pledged to defend. As the chief executive of the federation, has Gen. Buhari used his Office to promote the sanctity of the Federal Republic of Nigeria? How has he executed his powers and is his performance satisfactory? Has he been able to persuade us that he is working in the best interest of all Nigerians and not for a section of the federation? How has he come across — through his personality traits?
Nigerians are tired of living in abject poverty and being shot for pleasure by animals in human skin. You cannot have freedom without democracy. Nigerians will fight authoritarianism and all appearances of evil. Nigerians cannot stand any “benevolent” dictator for there is nothing benevolent about suppressing an individual’s right to speak, publish, think, pray, rally, satirize, criticize, read, and search the internet. Apologists for authoritarianism who wanted to emulate Goebbels insist that people have a right to order — but without the rule of law, only the ruled are constrained, not the rulers. That is why the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Muhammed would want to perpetuate inequality.
Human nature being what it is, power that is not checked will sooner or later be misused. That is why this government, through the army ‘brass hats’ are rolling out the jackboots to once again suppress Nigerians. It failed with Babangida. It failed with Abacha. And it surely will fail with Buhari. Nigerians are tired of pervasive greed, incompetence, unimaginable poverty and squalor. They are resilient and hope for a glorious Nigeria and are ready to water the tree of democracy with their blood. That essentially is what the Nigerian Youths are asking for. And we their parents that fought the IBB/Abacha atrocities and infamy stand to be counted. If they are getting tired, we will scoop for them water to refresh, and the strategies and tactics that defeated past military dictatorships. Enough is enough. It is time to reform Nigeria. Time to Restructure Nigeria
The buck stops on Gen. Buhari’s desk. He will either be reckoned as one of Nigeria’s greatest leaders or a mere footnote in her history. Or he will go down in infamy as the leader that hastened Nigeria into fractured nations?