In an interview with Qatari Aljazeera during his not-so-fruitful trip to Qatar, President Muhammadu Buhari made claim of saboteurs within his government. While reading the interview report, I made attempt to reconcile the claims of the President and facts on ground to establish who really was sabotaging Buhari but I could only find two saboteurs; the first is Buhari, the second is his party and praise-singers.
How Buhari Sabotaged His Own Government:
If we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that President Buhari is one lucky President that didn’t inherit problems from his predecessors. For instance, he was lucky enough to inherit a power sector that has already been reformed by Jonathan’s administration and already yielding fruit. He was lucky enough to inherit a Nigeria that wasn’t plagued by ethnic clashes. He was lucky enough to inherit Nigeria’s refineries that was already undergoing infrastructural reform. He was so lucky to inherit a Nigeria that was tagged the number one growing investment haven in Africa. He inherited Youth Empowerment Schemes like YouWIN, and inherited a roadmap that has the potential to lead to permanent restructure of Nigeria, the 2014 Confab Report(which is entirely another story). All that was needed of Buhari was to consolidate on what he met on ground, and take us from where we were(as at May 2015) to where we dream to be. Not forgeting that he is the only President in Nigeria to have the luxury of governing without the distraction of election litigation.
Unfortunately, President Buhari blew away all that. Take the power sector for instance, he assumed that the improved power that came into being when he was sworn-in was due to his body language and ‘fear’ of his person by staffs and management of the various GENSCOs and DISCOs. Instead of crediting the development to reforms of the sector, and improve on the reform President Buhari deliberately refused to bring on board his own power plan nor develop the plan he inherit from his predecessor, he would rather allow the system to flow by itself in “auto-piloting mode”. Six months into his administration, Buhari merged the power sector with two unrelated sectors (works and housing) and brought in Raji Fashola, a lawyer and politician that has no clue about the sector to head the new ministry. The outcome of his mis-steps is the power failure that is being experienced in all part of the country, including Aso Rock. Perhaps, the huge budget on diesel for Aso rock was because President Buhari was prepared for his own power failure.
Buhari failed woefully to put up economic blueprint to transform Nigeria from being the fastest growing investment hub in Africa to a permanent investment haven. Instead he banked on his body language and Lai’s propaganda to do the job, as a result, we not only lost investors coming in but we lost those already in. His failure to put up economic team in his first months in office that would define our fiscal direction led to loss of investors’ confidence.
…Sabotaging Nigeria’s Religious And Social Peace
About a week ago President Buhari confirmed Nigeria’s membership in Saudi-led Islamic Coalition Against Terrorism. Justifying the membership, Buhari said “We are part of it because we have got terrorists in Nigeria that everybody knows which claims that they are Islamic”.Isn’t it an invitation of chaos to associate Nigeria with a particular religion and even make it appear like an Islamic State? Should Buhari insult the Christian community by saying that “Why can’t those Christians that complain go and fight terrorism in Nigeria or fight the militants in the South.” Does he mean that only muslims fight militants in the South South and Boko Haram terrorists in the North East? Is the President’s statement not enough to create religious tension and threaten the relative peace that we enjoy?
…Sabotaging His Own Stand On Secession
The same President Buhari that vowed that “Biafran agitators are joking with the security and Nigeria won’t tolerate Biafra” in his Aljazeera interview, is the same man that pledged Nigeria’s support for secessionist Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) aka Western Sahara(from Morocco) in line with several resolutions of the African Union (AU) on the right of the Sahrawi people to self- determination and independence. He is the same man that pledged “total support” for Palestinian Statehood with Jerusalem as capital. Doesn’t that reeks hypocrisy? Is the AU charter on self determination restricted to only Western Sahara or does it specifically exclude non-Muslim agitators like Biafra? Would Buhari had supported the Biafran agitation if they were predominantly muslims like the Palestinians and Western Saharans? Is Buhari’s action a panacea of peace or chaos?
Marginalising The Southern Minorities in NNPC Appointment
The recent appointment in the NNPC was a clear display of marginalisation of southern minorities whose lands and waters the oil lies and whose environment is polluted. His action is clearly an invitation to rebellion from people from the region. Who will Buhari blame if such rebellion arise?
…His Inaction On Fulani Herdsmen/Terrorists
Fulani herdsmen have graduated from being social and environmental nuisance to full blown terrorists. Killing scores in the most gruesome manner in Agatu(Benue state), Mile 12(Lagos state), and Abia state, yet the government of Buhari has refused to permanently address the issue. It is even shameful that IGP Solomon Arase would tell us to our faces that the Agatu casualty is “overrated”. Is the President inviting ethnic conflict or a civil war before he will act?
Who/What Has Buhari And APC Not Blamed?
Since May 29, 2015, this administration of change(as claimed) has turned into an administration of blame. They blamed Jonathan for all that happened during his government and also blame him for all that is happening now that he has left power. They blamed innocent civil servants for their(government) own failure to put up a sane budget proposal. They blamed the Supreme Court Justices for their own failure to present better argument in the governorship election cases PDP candidates won. They blamed poor oil price for their failure to come up with and implement sound monetary and fiscal policies for the economy. They didn’t just stop there, they blamed God for the collapse of the economy. They blamed oil price for their own failure to meet their campaign promise. Now they are blaming saboteurs. Who are the saboteurs if not Buhari and his army of praise-singers?
Who will they blame next? Like I told some people on Palmchat network, I just hope they don’t shift their blame to the unborn generation.
May God Bless Us All and Bless Nigeria.
