Buhari’s contest between honour and power

There is clearly something about power that makes people turn suicidal. I may be right. I may be wrong. But that’s the conclusion I’ve drawn looking at the desperation of political leaders in Nigeria and other climes who struggle to gain power as if that is all there is to life and choose to hold on to it at all cost even to the detriment of their own personal interest and wellbeing.

I say this because as we keep discussing the health status of President Muhammadu Buhari, the uncertainty of what ails him and when he will be back in the country from the United Kingdom, despite our clamour that the Presidency be more forthcoming on his condition beyond the half-truths and outright lies Nigerians are being fed with, there are fundamental questions we have left unasked and unanswered. They are issues I believe we haven’t discussed well enough even though they are ones we must confront for our own good.

Is it not a national shame and international embarrassment, for instance, that our country’s President and other political leaders keep travelling overseas for medical treatment and we continue to allow such aberration as a people? For how long are we going to be generally docile as citizens and allow this error to continue? Is that not a collective and systemic failure?

Again, if Buhari is not scandalised, are his family members not embarrassed? Are his spokesmen, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu, not troubled and unsettled if they will be true to their conscience? Is it also not another indicator of the failure of the President’s party, the APC? And should both administration and party continue to hold the country to ransom with their continuous underperformance and disappointment? I’ll say anything about Buhari’s ministers some of whom are also guilty of what the President is doing. Theirs is unquestionably an underperforming cabinet except for one or two members and their matter is for another day!

Meanwhile, there is a reason why I didn’t write this column in the last one month. To all my readers and followers, I sincerely apologise for not giving you notice. But believe me, it’s tough and really difficult as a public writer and columnist not to be occasionally perplexed and overwhelmed about Nigeria. Daily, you think about the country and how things can get better for citizens. You then write expecting that leaders will take heed on issues raised. You intervene hoping to see change. Unfortunately, rather than for the country to change for the better, things only get worse. Tell me, isn’t it perplexing and indeed depressing? Honestly, Nigerian columnists are people to be pitied!

Sincerely, if we say Nigeria isn’t a failed state already, we only make ourselves feel good. The reality is that there is fire on the mountain like Asa sang years ago. You may be saying as optimists, we can’t give up on our country. I totally agree. As patriots, I know we shouldn’t. And that’s simply why I’m again writing this week.
Key officials of Buhari’s administration keep saying Nigerians should wait for four years before judging their performance; a point which Rotimi Amaechi, the minister of transportation, again re-echoed few days ago at a town hall meeting in Ilorin in response to the recent anti-government protests in Lagos and Abuja. According to Amaechi, the APC did not promise to fix Nigeria’s problem within a year, so, those lamenting the economic hardship should wait till 2019 for the desired change.

Now, morning, to a large extent, shows the day. There is no doubt that former President Goodluck Jonathan had his mess, and it was undoubtedly a big mess, but his democratic credentials were far better than those of Buhari’s who has made a bigger mess of the country on many fronts than we’ve ever known in our history.

In moments of personal introspection, I cannot help but wonder why we vote an administration into office, and such government will waste our time as a country with non-performance when we lag behind other nations in development indices, and such administration will still be allowed to finish its term, even when we know that things will only get further worsened if such government continues in office? Beyond being politically correct, is it not better to stem the tide now before the whole structure collapses on all of us?

Without Nigerians waiting two more years, even a blind man can see that the Buhari government has failed while a deaf man can hear it loudly. I won’t even mention the slow start of this administration and its several other mistakes. For instance, why does the President have to wait till after Nigerians have shouted themselves hoarse and just two days to the expiry of Justice Walter Onnoghen’s term as Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria before sending his name to the senate for confirmation as the substantive Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)? Any answers?

I believe it says a lot when someone like Sonala Olumhense, a respected columnist and long-time Buhari supporter who I’ll say made positive impressions on me as a senior colleague when we met for the first time at the Hilton Hotel, Addis Ababa, in 2008, now expresses his public regret for the support he gave to Buhari and the APC. As far as Olumhense is concerned, Buhari’s much-heralded leadership has become a farce, and his ability to make a positive impact on Nigeria, a hoax.

Now, what more does one need to add when a key voice among Buhari’s own men is publicly capitulating in the manner Olumhense has done?

For Nigerians who keep giving this administration the benefit of the doubt, they can continue to do so. It’s their right. No one is contesting it with them. But as far as I’m concerned, Buhari’s APC government has shown enough signs that it was ill-prepared to govern Nigeria and deliver the change we all yearn to see in our fatherland. The party simply has nothing of value or significance to offer Nigerians at the federal level before 2019.

That is why I honestly see no point why Buhari should continue in office for the sake of it when his leadership capacity, including his spirit, soul and body show they aren’t up to the challenge of the position. His, unfortunately, is a Presidency that raised a lot of expectations but has broken millions of hearts with its woeful performance.

With the generality of Nigerians complaining of rising inflation and tough living conditions with nothing in the horizon from government to reassure the people that things will truly change for the better, I believe it is most honourable for President Buhari to throw in the towel now even as I wish him speedy recovery where he is in UK currently.

Since our President is aware he is not meeting up with expectations, since he’s aware Nigerians aren’t impressed with his administration, and since he has the matter of his health to attend to, it’s just honourable to resign from the position and give others a chance. He must avoid the temptation of being in power for power sake with nothing of value to contribute like Methuselah who lived for 969 years without any concrete achievement recorded to his name.

And despite the current lamentations, we must keep an eye on the future by looking out for those we believe have the capacity and the capability to lead and steer Nigeria aright as 2019 draws nearer. Beyond Buhari, it’s time to look ahead and plan for the future. As a country, I think we’ve messed ourselves up for too long. We just can’t continue getting the leadership question wrong.

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