Yusuf Rabiu went door-to-door urging people in the northern Nigerian city
\nof Kano to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in last year\u2019s elections.
\nNow he\u2019s regretting his decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expected him to solve our economic problems,\u201d Rabiu, a 36-year-old hat
\nseller, said at the city\u2019s Kurmi market as a group of friends nodded in
\nagreement. \u201cI didn\u2019t know voting for him would mean more hunger, more
\nsuffering.\u201d<\/p>\n
After ending the 16-year reign of the People\u2019s Democratic Party last year
\nin what won praise as a peaceful transition of power in Africa, Buhari is
\nfacing a firestorm of criticism. Even some of his ruling party members
\nhave met with their erstwhile opponents about forming a new party to
\nchallenge him if he seeks re-election in 2019, according to two people
\nfamiliar with the meetings.<\/p>\n
For Buhari, who ruled as a military dictator in the 1980s, 2016 has been a
\ntough year. He pledged the naira currency would become as strong as the
\ndollar \u2014 it hit record lows after the central bank removed its peg in May
\nand currently trades at 316 to the greenback. Gasoline prices that were to
\nbe slashed by two-thirds have risen about 67 percent since he took office.
\nNow Africa\u2019s second-biggest economy is heading toward its first full-year
\ncontraction in a quarter-century, while inflation is at an 11-year high.<\/p>\n
Broken Promises
\n\u201cHe made a lot of promises that people bought into, and some of these he
\nhas denied or failed to keep,\u201d Clement Nwankwo, executive director of the
\nPolicy and Legal Advocacy Centre in the capital, Abuja, said in an
\ninterview. \u201cThe fundamentals were bad when he took over but not as bad as
\nthey\u2019re today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even Buhari\u2019s wife, Aisha, has lost patience. She told the British
\nBroadcasting Corp. on Oct. 14 that she wasn\u2019t sure if she would campaign
\nfor his re-election, saying a small clique of people controlled his
\ngovernment and appointed most of his cabinet.
\nUpon taking office, Buhari was dealt a very poor hand: a collapse in
\nprices for crude, the West African nation\u2019s main export, and production
\ncuts caused by militant attacks in the oil-rich Niger River delta. In the
\nfar northeast, the Islamist militant group Boko Haram terrorised the
\npopulation with kidnappings and suicide bombings.<\/p>\n
His six-month delay in naming a cabinet created uncertainty about his
\nadministration\u2019s fiscal and monetary policies. Then, as the naira tumbled
\non the parallel market, Buhari slapped an import ban on 41 items, damaging
\nmanufacturing and trade.<\/p>\n
Brent crude, which compares with Nigerian oil grades, rose 0.6 percent to
\n$55.68 as of 7:54 a.m. in London, the highest since July 22, 2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey met a bad situation and they made it eminently worse,\u201d Junaid
\nMohammed, a former lawmaker from Kano who\u2019d been critical of Buhari\u2019s
\npredecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, said in an interview.<\/p>\n
Keep Faith
\nSensing the dwindling support, Buhari urged Nigerians on Dec. 12 \u201cnot to
\nlose faith in the ability of this administration to make a difference in
\nthe lives of our people.\u201d Two days later, while presenting 2017 budget
\nproposals to lawmakers, Buhari pledged to act to \u201cpull the economy out of
\nrecession as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, Buhari ordered the attorney-general to investigate allegations
\nof corruption by some of his top aides, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu
\nsaid, without naming them.<\/p>\n
Buhari\u2019s decision to choose loyalists from his mainly Muslim northern
\nregion for important security and cabinet positions has stoked resentment
\nin the mainly Christian southeast, fueling secessionist demands, and
\ncomplaints in the southwest ethnic Yoruba heartland that was key to his
\npresidential victory. Out of 17 top positions in the army, navy, air force
\nand other security agencies, three are from the south.<\/p>\n
Mounting Disquiet
\nMounting disquiet in the coalition that propelled him to office erupted in
\nOctober when Bola Tinubu, who helped mobilize support for the president\u2019s
\ncampaign in the southwest, published a statement attacking the APC\u2019s
\nchairman John Oyegun, a Buhari ally. Tinubu was supported by ex-Vice
\nPresident Abubakar Atiku, who also backed Buhari in the election.<\/p>\n
Time is becoming Buhari\u2019s biggest enemy, according to Manji Cheto, senior
\nvice president for West Africa at New York-based Teneo Intelligence.<\/p>\n
\u201cEffectively, he\u2019s only got next year to turn things around before the
\nelection cycle starts,\u201d she said by phone. \u201cNext year will be a breaking
\npoint for a lot of Nigerians, particularly if we get a spike in gasoline
\nprices and food inflation keeps rising. In that case, I don\u2019t see how
\nthey\u2019d be able to keep people off the streets.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yusuf Rabiu went door-to-door urging people in the northern Nigerian city of Kano to vote for President Muhammadu Buhari in last year\u2019s elections. Now he\u2019s regretting his decision. \u201cWe expected…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n