By Victor
Anya
It is indisputable that the
greatest undoing of the President Muhammadu Buhari-administration is his praise
singers. Since he assumed office on May 29, 2015, they have been moving from
one television and radio station to another speaking vehemently in support of
whatever decisions he has taken so far. His supporters who have the flair to
write are also keeping the newspapers awash with opinions defending his
actions too.
*President Buhari |
Recall, when Buhari
wasted six months searching for his proverbial saintly and incorruptible
ministers, the praise singers eulogized him to high heavens insisting it was
the best decision ever taken by any Nigerian President. But when the names of
the “angelic ministers” were released, the same people were perturbed and
disappointed. Within the six months of searching for the sanctimonious
ministers, Buhari ran the country as a sole administrator and the poor
management of the economy are the pains Nigerians are reaping at the moment.
By November 2015, when
he clocked 181 days, President Buhari had travelled to 12 countries under the
delusion of seeking foreign investors. By May 2016, he has made 26 foreign
trips! With the scenarios painted above, one can imagine the number of foreign
trips he would make at the end of his four-year tenure in 2019. Reports had it
that Buhari spent about N64 billion on foreign trips alone in just one year in
office!
Since May 29, 1999, he
remained the greatest critic of successive administrations. He criticised
former President Olusegun Obasanjo for his excessive foreign travels. He took
the same hardline position against the late former President Umaru Yar’Adua,
but his criticism became more acidic and venomous against former President
Goodluck Jonathan’s foreign journeys. As the Presidential candidate in the
2011 general elections under the defunct Congress for Progressive Change
(CPC), one of the political parties that merged to form the All Progressive
Congress (APC), he chided Jonathan over his foreign trips. CPC spokesman, Mr.
Rotimi Fashakin, stated: “It is conventional wisdom that charity begins at
home. Unfortunately, President Jonathan has not imbibed this. Where did the
incessant shuttles of Obasanjo’s eight years lead us to in terms of foreign
investment? Did it positively affect our balance of trade?"
Former National Chairman
of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), now part of APC, Chief Bisi Akande,
chastised Jonathan for his foreign trips too. Akande spoke through Mr. Lani
Baderinwa and said: “We are not saying he should not travel abroad, but the
mood of the country should dictate his sojourn abroad. The Brazil summit is likely to benefit Nigeria , but of
what use is the summit when Nigerians are being killed on a daily basis?”
It is therefore
baffling that the same people who condemned Jonathan for his foreign travels
are extolling Buhari over his excessive travels even in the midst of incessant
massacre of Nigerians by Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen.
No doubt, the
purported N64 billion that President Buhari has spent so far on foreign trips
is a misadventure which ought not to, given the antecedents.