Should Change Begin With Me Or Buhari?

By Onyiorah Paschal Chiduluemije  
The foregoing remark credited to and drawn from the speech delivered by President Muhammadu Buhari during the launch of the National Re-orientation Campaign tagged Change Begins With Me, on Thursday, September 8, 2016, is, to say the least, quite unbecoming of the President. Indeed, the man who is now a proverbial tortoise that once upon a time assured all animals at the beginning of their journey, of an existing promised land, like an Eldorado, and only for it (the same tortoise) to announce in the course of the journey, and to the chagrin of all animals, that the so-called promised land which they had all set out to behold and possess was the same as the land they had just left in search of milk and honey (thus obviating the need for their journey).

*President Buhari and Lai Mohammed

But unlike what obtained in the old (and abandoned) land, all animals were now individually saddled with the responsibilities of tracing and accessing the new Kingdom through the different paths apparently leading to it, basically because the main entrance to the promised land was practically unknown. This tale in a nutshell, aptly illustrates the analogous (abrupt) paradigm shift in the APC’s and/or President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘change slogan’ afterthought called Change Begins With Me.

Of course, it is almost unbelievable that the same man who – with hindsight – apparently tricked the electorate into voting him into power with an unmistakable promise of a positive change in the living standard of all, is today squarely pontificating about a clearly diversionary tactic called Change Begins With Me, and, as it were, almost patronising both the hungry and the angry for “failing” to first of all ask themselves what they have done to change their ways before expecting the government to change their lives.

As it were, many an APC supporter would have by now definitely found it extremely difficult to fathom the essence of this seemingly derogatory remark against the people made by no less a person than President Muhammadu Buhari, which, critically viewed, ought not to have arisen in the very first place. And the reason for this thinking is not far-fetched. For one, a campaign promise of change made to the people remains a campaign promise, and so it does not necessarily follow in a thriving democracy that the people must be willing to dance to the tune and/or comply with the dictates, wishful thinking, whims and caprices of their elected representatives, before the latter could be reasonable enough to bring to fruition all that had been promised during the electioneering. Therefore, it makes no sense at all for anybody, be that Mr. President or whoever, to begin to impress it on the masses to alter their ways as a condition precedent for being “entitled” to demand, inter alia, that the APC-led government accomplish its campaign promises. 

Ironically, though, the same President who now appears to be patronising Nigerians and scoffing at their increasing demand for a positive change to take effect as promised by the All Progressives Congress, is yet to repent of his own old ways or, better still, renounce his ethnic and religious preferences and inclination towards people and issues of national importance. Evidently, there is no gainsaying that his glaringly lopsided appointments so far still reek of and speak volumes about facts associated with his unpalatable past.

The Trouble With Buhari's Approach To National Security

By Onyiorah Paschal Chiduluemije

The recent massacre of scores of fellow Igbo and brethren in our homeland by the invading and marauding Fulani herdsmen and the seem­ingly implicit endorsement of their cruelty by the government (judging of course by what could arguably be regarded as a mere formality condemnation on the part of the Presidency that reluc­tantly had to speak on this nas­ty development following public condemnation of almost notori­ous indifference and/or taciturni­ty on matters concerning increas­ing Fulani herdsmen bestiality under this administration) is not just heart-rending, but also it is an indication that there is indeed a deliberate and desperate attempt by this inept administration to generally provoke Ndigbo with a view to compelling them to de­but with their worst case scenario panacea to containing litany of of­fensives against them so far.

 

*Buhari

Just a couple of weeks ago or so, the Directorate of State Securi­ty Service (DSS) under the seem­ingly malfunctioning leadership of Alhaji Lawal Daura – a Fulani man – roundly surprised all sane minds, when it reportedly told the public that the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) allegedly mur­dered no less than Fulani folks in Abia state and readily buried them in a mass grave. Undoubt­edly, while many reasonable peo­ple across the globe still await to hear the last from the DSS in this regard and/or see proofs to sub­stantiate this preposterous asser­tion, it is increasingly crystal clear, as it were, that the only logically ascertainable prima facie intent of the leadership of the DSS under the watch of Muhammadu Bu­hari’s kinsman is to simply crim­inalise the IPOB in order to cre­ate and convey the impression to the international community that Ndigbo and Biafrans alike now parade their own wing of terror­ist group like the Hausa-Fulani Is­lamist terrorist Boko Haram sect. Indeed it is most unfortunate that under President Muhammadu Buhari, the DSS, a hitherto high­ly respected institution of the state, has abysmally become rid­iculed, compromised and relegat­ed to be serving the interest of the migrant Hausa-Fulani in Nigeria at the expense of the larger inter­ests of the real indigenous people of other nationalities of Nigeria.

Strangely enough, while the same leadership of the DSS un­der Alhaji Daura had never and still does not seem to care about disclosing to the public the actu­al number of lives that have been wasted under his watch by the marauding Fulani vermin in Ag­atu community of Benue state, among other places, and the level of damage done so far by his wan­dering kith and kin on the prop­erties of their host community, it is somewhat unbelievable that the DSS appears nowadays to be only “good” at and “alive” to its respon­sibilities whenever and where the interest and affairs of the Fulani/Hausa-Fulani become a fact in is­sue or are likely to be adversely affected vis-a-vis the competing interest and affairs of other folks.

What is more, it is by no means less disturbing, disappointing and, in fact, highly suspicious that despite early warning signals, in­dices and reports that reported­ly went viral within and beyond the Uzo Uwani L.G.A of Enugu State clearly pointing at the fact of the impending attack by the Fulani herdsmen, all the secu­rity agencies, including the sus­pect in the minds of many called the DSS, were understandably docile and as such most proba­bly inclined to treat the pre-at­tack concerns of this Igbo com­munity with near absolute levity, thereby invariably paving the way for the Fulani herdsmen to first carry out their dastardly and eth­nic cleansing act (perhaps in line with an already existing script) so as to later on avail President Mu­hammadu Buhari – their broth­er and patron – the opportunity and the much needed platform to broach and articulate the so-called “priority” of his “adminis­tration’s agenda” and “readiness to deploy all required personnel and resources to remove this new threat to the collective security of the nation”.