Fellow Nigerians, let me say categorically and emphatically that
our dear beloved country is dangerously haemorrhaging again and this perfidious
drift must be halted urgently before we all end up in perdition. Anyone telling
President Muhammadu Buhari that all is well or that his government is moving in
the right direction is either lying or pretending like a rattlesnake. And there
are many scorpions around ready to mislead every government and move on
effortlessly when things fall apart. For sure President Buhari possesses the
ability to move this country in the right direction and lead us to where we
want to be but right now it is not happening and the soul of the people
palpitates! I’ve been on several television and radio interviews in the past
one week and the commonest question is on the performance of our President. The
general perception is that the change mantra seems not to be working and the
world is worried because of the importance of Nigeria
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| President Buhari and Dele Momodu |
I hope our President will get to see this piece, read it and
ruminate on the points I will raise. The Buhari government has lost a
substantial equity in just one year as I will try to explain in the next few
paragraphs. It must be noted that Nigerians were happy with the election that
ushered in President Buhari. Even those who did not vote for him accepted him
with unusual equanimity. Those we expected to fight and throw tantrums simply
vamoosed into their bunkers. The expectations were high then but I doubt if
enough effort was put into seizing the momentum and translating it into a mass
movement that would have stood the test of time. It is not too late to reclaim the
moment.
The faith Nigerians had in the abilities and incorruptibility of
Buhari is mighty enough to move mountains. But unfortunately, I think the
government took many things for granted once it took over the reins of power.
The government mistakenly believed that the support of the people was like
several blank cheques which it could cash at any point in time. The general
impatience of Nigerians and their desire for progressive action were never put
into consideration. I remember writing two memos to our President in quick
successions, when I realised that Nigerians were getting restless and restive,
one of which was the desperate memo that earned me an invitation to the
Presidential Villa for which I am so honoured and proud.
Still the government did not respond appropriately to the
yearnings of the populace. The major problem is that the priorities of Buhari
were never palpable to the general public as everything seemed to operate in
utmost secrecy. This is probably a relic of the military days when surprise and
spontaneity achieved more. However, democracy is an open book and it has become
even more so since the internet turned the world into a global information
minefield. I’m sure it was assumed that the people would never doubt or query
the sincerity of a messiah. So there was no need to provide any real
information about the activities of government. That was the first fallacy.
The second fallacy is that people would give the President plenty
of time to unfold his change agenda. One year on, it is obvious that this has
not been the case. President Buhari should have moved faster once the people
started grumbling about the apparent sluggishness of his administration. The
selection of his cabinet was annoyingly slow and by the time it eventually came
it had evaporated into a deja vu. There was no element of surprise to elicit
major excitement. In fact, most people wondered why it took so long to assemble
his present team most of whom he could have picked in two weeks or even before
he was sworn in. The demystification of Buhari became manifest from that moment
not because the team he picked is not worthy or creditable but because the
interminable delay in making the choices cost the nation dearly.
