Critics of President Muhammadu Buhari
think he is a disaster to the country. They
see no good in him. They believe he has
seriously under-performed in the one year
plus he took over the mantle of leadership.
How true these are, the different national
problems on ground tell the story.
On the other hand, die-hard fans of the
former military ruler believe he is the best
thing that could ever have happened to
Nigeria at this time. They based their
argument on the fact that he is insulated
from corruption and all forms of corrupt
practices.
These Buharists also say their hero inherited
a 16-year-collapsed building from the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Therefore,
he needs more time.
The truth about all these for and against
arguments is that President Buhari will
become a hero or a villain at the end of
2019 if the five major monsters threatening
Nigeria’s unity are not tackled headlong.
1. Corruption/bad leadership
The bane of growth and development in
Nigeria is corruption. This behemoth has
given birth to other evils in the country after
devouring a good number of people who
stand for justice and truthfulness.
Presently, the toxic odour of corruption is
choking almost everybody to death.
Bad leadership and corruption are both
synonymous. Since 1960 that Nigeria gained
her independence from British, out of all the
people that have led the country in one
capacity or the other since then, the number
of leaders who stood out are not up to
three.
Nigeria has had executive presidents/Head
of States who spent more than seven years
in office without any tangible developmental
effects on the poor masses. They even left
the country poorer than they met it.
Buhari himself is familiar to the leadership
terrain. This is his second time he is leading
the country and Nigerians are eager he
provides the kind of leadership which has
eluded the country for more than half a
century.
Senate president Bukola Saraki and deputy
Senate president Ike Ekweremadu
Time will tell if Buhari will be a part of the
solution or part of the problem of bad
leadership.
2. Battered economy and unemployme
Why can’t President Buhari fix the economy?
Is he that he has no economic experts to
work with?
Early in February this year, Nigeria’s inflation
rate hit an all time high of over 13%. Then,
one economic expert even said the country
was suffering from ‘economic ebola.’ In
addition, many local investors said early
2015 was one of the worst they ever
witnessed.
At the parallel market, a dollar is exchanged
at N345. This is rather absurd. It is much on
the high side. There is no country in the
world which will have a prosperous economy
when the foreign exchange rate is totally not
in favour of the local currency.
Talking about buying goods and commodities
at the market, prices have hiked and are
beyond the reach of the common man.
People starve to death everyday.
The army of unemployed youths is scary.
Nobody seems to know what is being done
to salvage the nation’s battered as the
government should works towards preventing
a situation whereby Nigeria does not become
present day Venezuela where citizens have
become food robbers due to food shortage in
the country.
3. Sectional agitations/regional uprisings
The Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast
is just being stemmed down gradually.
However, other militant and secessionist
groups have sprung up since Buhari was
sworn in last year. Suffice to mention Niger
Delta Avengers, High Sea Commandoes,
Biafra Independent Movement, among the
rest.
All these groups are agitating for one thing
or the other, with violence and killings
occurring every day in the regions these
groups exist.
Niger Delta Avengers
There were speculations when President
Buhari sent his vice Yemi Osinbajo to
represent him at Rivers state. The were
rumours that Niger Delta militants had a plan
of attacking the president. The Avengers
were reported to have said they could not
guarantee Buhari’s safety if he comes to
Rivers state. Whether the militants’ threat
was true or not, Buhari did not visit River
state.
4. Religious intolerance
The level of religious bigotry in Nigeria is at
its zenith. Nigerians are majorly Muslims and
Christians. The Mosques and Churches fill to
capacity every Friday and Sunday
respectively. Nigerians call on a Supreme
Being to intervene in all their affairs. Imams
and Pastors admonish their congregation on
peace, love and compassion. However, there
is so much mistrust between Muslims and
Christians in the country.
It is so sad to hear followers of a particular
religion killing followers of another religion.
A good number of Nigerians are just
religious. They are not Godly at all. The
number of religious-related crises and
massacre that have happened since
independence is too numerous to
enumerate.
President Buhari himself is not trusted by
some Christians who see him as anti-
Christianity. They believe he is a Muslim who
cares only about his fellow Muslims.
5. Tribal sentiment
Nigeria will never develop if tribalism rules
over everything. There is hardly any Nigerian
who does not see members of other ethnic
groups as inferior. It is more disheartening
to see a particular person pledge his
unalloyed allegiance to someone from his
tribe even if that person a criminal.
For instance, if an Idoma man is corrupt and
has a bad antecedent in terms of leadership
qualities, his fellow Idoma man will still
prefer to queue behind him even if he knows
a Tivi man will provide better leadership.
Comments