When in 2015 we opposed the candidacy of President Muhammadu Buhari, some Nigerians were chanting the “we want change” mantra; a change they clamoured for without proffering a viable alternative.
These same persons today have been left speechless by the man they deified as the saviour who was to come.
Under his administration freedom of association, has totally grown wings. It is either you are of Buhari’s ethnic extraction or you are of his religious configuration, before your “Nigerianness” may be put into consideration.
De jure, you certainly are, but de facto, you are not. That is the extent to which the 97% and 5% President of a liberal and secular State as Nigeria, has so segregated the nation.
The two fundamental campaign agenda of Buhari was a fight against corruption and ending the Boko Haram insurgency. However, we can attest to it that we have never seen a corrupt regime like this since the birth of the nation Nigeria. Just recently, the Accountant General of the Federation who is now seeking a plea bargain was involved in an N80 billion scandal. It is under this administration that snakes swallow money and monkeys do away with millions of cash hidden in a farm. Let us not even talk about how termites recently ate documents attesting to an N17 billion financial deal. These are just a scratch on the surface of the huge corruption depth in the nation.
Insurgency now practically lives with us in Nigeria; it lies on our bed and dines on our table. Traveling by land in Nigeria is now impossible as you would have to ensure that your kidnap ransom is fully ready before embarking on such trips.
The rail system which some decided to take solace in has been halted by Fulani herdsmen named bandits by President Buhari; herdsmen who have made significant fortunes from blowing up trains and kidnapping passengers.
This has led to high traffic in air travel, which at the moment might be termed the safest traveling route in Nigeria, but the economy has so much dwindled that even the rich are having a hard time paying the skyrocketed fare which itself has been exacerbated by fuel scarcity and fuel hike across the country.
Even when planes finally land in airports, passengers are greeted by cows on the speed lanes which now roam the tarmac as freely as they can. There has never been a regime that appropriated more significance to cows and herders than Buhari’s regime.
These herdsmen and bandits are on a kidnapping spree and making immense fortunes as they go, yet little or nothing is being done by the commander-in Chief who is either grossly incompetent in tackling the security challenges posed by these bandits or deliberately turning a blind eye to their atrocities, which according to many, may be due to his ethnic and religious affiliations with these set of people.
While we lament the kidnap and killing spate of herdsmen and bandits, there remains the issue of Boko Haram who now openly collect taxes in some parts of Northern Nigeria, a nation under the leadership of a so-called retired Military General.
Almost on a daily basis, we hear of jailbreaks setting free arrested Boko Haram insurgents; jailbreaks orchestrated by Boko Haram members with alleged help from their followers within the system, if rumours serve right. Yet, Nigerian security agencies are unable to rescue kidnap victims who have been at their kidnappers’ den for months and in some cases, even years; Chibok girls as a case in point.
Nigeria is on the precipice under a leader who has no idea of ruling a multicultural and multi-ethnic configuration like Nigeria.
While we await 2023 to say farewell to the General conquered by bandits, Nigerians are now praying that the nation survives till then.
Harvey Avanrenren, a sociopolitical commentator sent this piece from Lagos