By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Voting
on March 28, 2015 for the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, was almost a badge of honour.
At
polling booths, voters proudly flaunted their thump-printed ballot papers to
prove that they were worthy ambassadors of the “change movement”.
Today,
perhaps, the real measure of how much things have changed is that many people
no longer readily own up to being part of the historic movement that led to the
sacking of a sitting Nigerian president.
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| *Buhari |
Nobody admits voting
for change any more. In fact, to accuse anyone of voting for Buhari has become
an offence that people don’t take kindly. How
could I have voted for Buhari, God forbid, is the most popular refrain in
town today. And you wonder who did.
Well, I did. I am one of those who voted for the Daura-born General last year.
I have said so here, severally.
I thought that former
President Goodluck Jonathan had no capacity to continue to rule this country.
He was not in control of his government and another four years with him in the
saddle was, for me, unimaginable. And I still believe so.
I also thought Buhari
would make a better president not necessarily because he possessed the
intellectual capacity to govern. No.
But I reasoned that unlike Jonathan, he had the requisite character and integrity to be in charge of his government and if he was, what he only needed to do was to gather people with the capacity to drive a 21st century economy in dire need of a shot in the arm.
But I reasoned that unlike Jonathan, he had the requisite character and integrity to be in charge of his government and if he was, what he only needed to do was to gather people with the capacity to drive a 21st century economy in dire need of a shot in the arm.
Sadly, knowing what I
know now and having observed happenings in the polity in the last one year, I
no longer believe so.
If the election was to
be conducted today with Jonathan and Buhari as the frontline presidential
candidates as was the situation last year, I would rather not go near any
polling booth because, for me, the difference between the two is the same
between six and half a dozen.
Jonathan as president was clueless as charged. Buhari is not proving to be any different.
Today, May 29, 2016, is exactly one year since he was sworn in as president and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Expectations were quite high when he took his oath of office, vowing to give Nigerians a new lease of life. But, 365 days down the road, Nigerians are aghast.
Expectations were quite high when he took his oath of office, vowing to give Nigerians a new lease of life. But, 365 days down the road, Nigerians are aghast.
