BY TAYO DEMOLA<\/p>\n
At this moment of our national life where Nigeria has been plunged into
\navoidable economic hardship and the living standard of many Nigerians
\ninstead of improving, has gradually deteriorated below poverty level, many
\nNigerians are shocked by what they got from the Buhari government which has
\nfailed to make any positive change in the lives of the people. And with the
\nway we are all astonished as to how a government that promised us heaven
\ncould turn around to give us hell instead, many Nigerians have wondered if
\nthat Presidential Villa, Aso Rock is truly a blessing to Nigeria or a
\ncurse.<\/p>\n
Is the President even aware that many Nigerians are killing themselves due
\nthe hardship and suffering brought about by his incompetent government?
\nDoes he even know that an average Nigerian is so disenchanted with his
\ngovernment that Nigerians are now even ashamed to call him their President?
\nDoes he even know that due to the high expectations Nigerians had of him
\nwhen he was sworn in, that Nigerians now regret voting for him in the first
\nplace? But the President knows all these, he cannot pretend not to know but
\nthe activities of praise singers and the enemies of Nigeria who would tell
\nhim that all is well would not make him realize the magnitude of the public
\ndisenchantment and disconnection of his government from the masses of
\nNigeria and from the reality on the ground.<\/p>\n
The Nigerian government has undoubtedly been hijacked by a certain selfish
\ncabal who are no doubt enemies of Nigeria and who would do anything
\npossible to entrench their own selfish agenda on Nigeria. People like the
\nPresident\u2019s Special adviser on Media Mr Femi Adeshina would always tell him
\nthat all is well and that Nigerians are wailing wailers. And talking about
\nwailing wailers, Mr Femi Adeshina has introduced another vocabulary into
\nthe Nigerian political arena which we shall make reference to from time to
\ntime.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s look at this critically. Does Mr Femi Adeshina have any right as
\na political appointee who is paid with the Nigerian taxpayer\u2019s money to
\neven call Nigerians who are complaining about bad government as wailing
\nwailers? Does he not know that the Nigerian masses have the ultimate power
\nto choose whoever should lead them and after choosing such person the
\npeople have every right to complain about the government if their
\nexpectations are not met? Does he not know he is a public servant and that
\nhis duty is to serve the interest of the people and that it is completely
\ndisrespectful to call the people of Nigeria wailing wailers?<\/p>\n
If as a government you have failed the people and you failed to meet up
\nwith the expectations of Nigerians, then don\u2019t expect Nigerians to be happy
\nwith your government. It is completely unacceptable to continue to take
\nNigerians for a ride after we have voted you into power and instead of you
\nto improve the lives of the people, you ended up increasing their sorrow.
\nWhat sort of government is that? I noticed that every Presidential
\ncandidate or political party in Nigeria would always come with sugarcoated
\nmouth and promise heaven and earth during campaigns and the people will be
\nso deceived into voting for them thinking they would change their lives for
\nthe better but as soon as they get power, they would not fulfill such
\ndeceitful promises to the people.<\/p>\n
It looks as if there is something in that Aso Rock that twists the head of
\nevery President that gets there and makes him forget all the promises he
\nmade to the people. It looks as if that Aso Rock is jinxed against the
\nNigerian people. It seems to me Nigeria may never make any meaningful
\nheadway until that Aso Rock is completely disbanded to pave way for the
\nbuilding of another Presidential Villa by a Godly and properly elected
\nNigerian leader who would lay a good foundation for the building of that
\nnew Presidential Villa.<\/p>\n
It is very clear that there are many forces militating against the
\nperformance of any Nigerian leader who enters that Aso Rock. It is very
\npossible that our lovely Aso Rock which we built with a lot of money during
\nthe military era may actually be the problem of Nigeria. If not, why do
\nleaders suddenly turn against the masses as soon as they\u2019ve taken over the
\nmantle of leadership? Why do they say one thing and do the complete
\nopposite of what they say? Is there not something mysterious about that Aso
\nRock?<\/p>\n
The one thing that also amazes me is how the President allows certain
\npeople, praise singers and cabal to hijack his government without standing
\nup to the occasion for the sake of Nigeria. Is the interest of Nigeria not
\nabove any selfish personal interest? The level Nigeria is now economically
\nshows clearly that this government is either unprepared for leadership from
\nthe onset or completely incompetent and therefore does not deserve to lead
\nNigeria any more. Nigerians were even better off during the tenure of
\nformer President Goodluck Jonathan and things were not so bad. We are tired
\nof promises that will never materialize, we want action. We want an action
\ngovernment that will ameliorate the suffering of the masses of Nigeria
\nwithin a reasonable period of time and better the lives of Nigerians and
\nany government that cannot do this should be shown the way out of Aso Rock
\nfor another government to take over.<\/p>\n
Nigerians have never had it so bad and even during Jonathan\u2019s government,
\nthe economy was not so harsh on Nigerians. Despite all the efforts of
\nJonathan, we called him clueless because he could not meet up with a whole
\nlot of our expectations. He didn\u2019t fight corruption and he exhibited a
\nlackadaisical attitude to the fight against the Boko Haram insurgents who
\ndestroyed countless lives and property in the Northern part of Nigeria. But
\nwhile Jonathan could not do any of these and Nigerians hated him so much
\nand voted him out, we now have a President who we think is fighting Boko
\nharam and corruption but the people are dying of hunger and committing
\nsuicide on a daily basis due to the excruciating economic hardship in
\nNigeria.<\/p>\n
But under Jonathan Nigerians could still afford to eat what they wanted and
\nthe cost of things in the market was never so outrageous.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0We
\ncalled Jonathan clueless but I bet you many Nigerians are so disappointed
\nnow that they don\u2019t even know what name to call the Buhari government. But
\nthis government is worse than clueless because if in a clueless government
\nthe people are better off and in a supposedly \u2018\u2018non-clueless\u2019\u2019 government
\nthe people are suffering, then what is means is that the Buhari government
\nis worse than clueless. And it is very clear that things were quite better
\nfor an average Nigerian under the Jonathan government and despite his
\nsupposed \u2018\u2018cluelessness\u2019\u2019, Nigerians even wish they never voted him out in
\nthe first place.<\/p>\n
If at all you are fighting corruption and Boko Haram, this is never enough
\nif the people are suffering. And what manner of corruption is the
\ngovernment fighting in the first place? Is the corruption fight all
\nencompassing or is it only against some perceived opponents and enemies? Is
\nit only against certain people while some sacred cows are left off the
\nhook? What about those in the President\u2019s cabinet and those in the current
\ngovernment who have been indicted and who should have been investigated and
\nprosecuted if found wanting? Now we can see that it\u2019s the usual
\n\u2018\u2018paddy-paddy\u2019\u2019 government which our all-time legend Fela told us from time
\nimmemorial. The fight against corruption can never be holistic if certain
\npeople who are indicted for corruption and tainted are still in this
\ngovernment without being shown the way out. It would be hypocritical to do
\nso and that would mean taking Nigerians for granted.<\/p>\n
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently told us that President Buhari
\nis not good with the economy. Now some Nigerians might take that statement
\nwith a pinch of salt but that is the plain truth. If Buhari was good with
\nthe economy, if he were a good manager of the economy, by now the Nigerian
\neconomy would not have gone from good to bad and now to worse. This clearly
\ntells us that we made a great mistake for voting in the Buhari government
\ninto office in the first place since he is not a good manager of the
\neconomy. It\u2019s just like someone who doesn\u2019t know how to cook and you ask
\nhim to go and manage the kitchen and get a good meal out of that kitchen,
\nhow possible is that? He will only go there and turn the kitchen upside
\ndown and get you a badly prepared meal that will turn your stomach upside
\ndown. That is what you get when you make the mistake of voting in someone
\nwho doesn\u2019t know how to manage the economy.<\/p>\n
But mind you, former President Obasanjo cannot be wrong on this statement
\nbecause we can all see how the Nigerian economy is being badly managed with
\nall sorts of trials and errors that keep impoverishing the masses the more.
\nAnd the funny thing is that the President acts as if he has all the time in
\nthe world to make the change that we Nigerians desire.<\/p>\n
He acts with so much slow pace and reckless abandon as if he has ten or
\ntwenty years more to lead Nigeria. He has forgotten that he has only FOUR
\nYEARS to make any impact and nothing more because it is very clear that
\nNigerians will never vote for this APC government in 2019 except if Buhari
\nis not the Presidential candidate of the APC. The people want change and we
\nwant it in record time and not endless promises. You don\u2019t have to make
\nthings worse before you make it better. Any government that makes things
\nworse for the people with a promise that things will get better is an
\nincompetent government that should be removed from office. Infact Nigerians
\nwere already tired of this government as far back as 2016 when it started
\nto inflict pains and suffering on the hapless masses.<\/p>\n
We were promised that the fuel price which was increased last year will
\ngradually come down but nothing of such has happened. We were told that
\nkerosene will soon get cheaper but instead of getting cheaper, it now even
\ncosts more. And every commodity in the Nigerian market is beyond the reach
\nof an average Nigerian.<\/p>\n
So with all these failed promises and with 2019 around the corner when the
\ngovernment will come up with another set of deceptive and dubious promises,
\nwe must all ensure we obtain our voter\u2019s cards and vote out this government
\nsince it is clear it cannot take us anywhere. We must change this
\ngovernment before it finally destroys Nigeria. Is it when everybody dies of
\nhunger that the change we all clamoured for will come?<\/p>\n
*TAYO DEMOLA, HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCATE & RELATIONSHIP COUNSELLOR, LAGOS,
\nNIGERIA. Reach him via tayobarrister@gmail.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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