The hollowness of Buhari’s self-change campaign

BY NNAMDI OKOSIEME

Since the CHANGE BEGINS WITH ME CAMPAIGN was launched by the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government, Nigerians have been divided on the propriety or otherwise of the campaign.

Those who welcome the idea hinge their acceptance of it on the ground that Nigeria has long since been sundered from its moral mooring and needs to be reconnected. They hold that without this ‘going back to source’, Nigeria will remain firmly planted in the wilderness.

Those who oppose the campaign do so on two key grounds. They are: the timing, and the qualification of the present government in driving that campaign.

The people in this group (to which I belong) fault the timing of the campaign. The argument is that at a time like this when Nigerians have their backs to the wall; a time many have lost their dignity for being unable to meet basic human needs and fend for their families, what government should do, is bring succour and inspire hope.

At a time food has almost completed disappeared from the tables of millions of Nigerians, what is expected of government is to take steps to ensure that food returns to those tables either through direct provision or subsidizing of food production.

Telling a hungry man his laziness, carelessness or other acts of indiscretion led him where he is, will hardly get him to have a rethink; it will alienate him and probably turn him against you.

The second but more important point for me, is the abdication of responsibility and passing of buck that the new change campaign represents.

Leadership is serious business. It comes with a heavy responsibility, which is why leaders enjoy such privileges as being fed, housed and clothed by the state at taxpayers’ expense. This point seems lost on President Buhari and his APC government.

When Nigerians handed the reins of leadership to him, they invariably thrust their destiny into his hands. They wanted him to change their lives and assure the future of their children.

Now, if the President and his men have a challenge doing that job, they can say so; they can throw in the towel. If they can do it but have challenges and need the cooperation of Nigerians, they can say so. There is nothing wrong with that. What is unacceptable is for the President to try to put Nigerians on the spot or to make the people who are already victims of decades of misrule by civilians and soldiers, of which he himself is part, the culprits.

It is trite to remark that every one of us needs to change. That Nigeria is in dire need of moral rebirth is a fact that cannot be over-stressed. My point of disagreement with the president and his party however, is on who should initiate that change. As things stand today in Nigeria, our political leaders, as we say in these parts, hold the yam and the knife.

If any society must improve and be competitive in the comity of nations, there has to be focused, transparent and committed leadership; one that galvanizes the citizenry to action not by ceaselessly making excuses but by the self-less sacrifice of its class.

Whilst President Buhari was campaigning for the presidency in 2014/2015, he promised to be the general leading from the front and not from the comfort of the Presidential Villa. Thus far, we have yet to see that happen. Instead, Nigerians have been regaled with tales of how the PDP and the last administration destroyed Nigeria. Nigerians have been served with excuses as our president and his team steer the ship of state with their eyes focused firmly on the past.

Now realizing that the blame song is grating on the nerves of bewildered Nigerians, our president and his men are trying a new tack with the self-change campaign. It is a strategy with which they hope not only to buy time but also to deflect responsibility for fixing the rot in the Nigerian system.

By casting Nigerians in the role of villains, the President and his party are excusing themselves from the collective Mea Culpa we all have to plea.

To put things in clearer perspective, the analogy of the family will suffice. In a household, the parents assume responsibility for keeping the home on a sound footing. They are the primal role models the children pattern their lives after. Thus the character of the children naturally reflects the personality of their parents. If the parents are responsible then you can take it for granted that the children will turn out well. However, if the parents are irresponsible then there is every likelihood that the children would become a menace to society.

That is where we are today in Nigeria, We have an army of selfish, corrupt, hypocritical, godless and unpatriotic leaders leading a citizenry that naturally reflect their foibles. How these leaders expect the people to suddenly be transformed into responsible and law abiding citizens, must challenge even the minds of the most erudite of intellectuals.

We live in a country under laws but where the laws are treated with disdain by those charged with the responsibility of enforcing them. We live in a country where the leadership repeatedly pauperizes the people, robs them of their humanity and then expects them to be ‘normal and responsible’.

We live in a country where for over five decades trillions of naira have vanished into the pockets of leaders; a country where soldiers trained with taxpayers’ money have turned their guns on the very people who fed them, hijacking power and desecrating national laws. In the end, they end up politicians in Agbada and luxuriate in the National Assembly and Presidential Villa whilst the people languish in abject poverty.
Isn’t it a no brainer that if there must a change in attitude that it’s those who have plunged Nigeria into the quicksand we have found ourselves that deserve it the most? Aren’t they the ones who by virtue of having the most responsibility for fixing things that should set the ball rolling?

And shouldn’t they begin by cutting down on the obscene opulence they flaunt in our faces? Shouldn’t they for once in their lives stop taking the people for granted by thinking that every nonsense that emanates from them should be swallowed like life-saving pills?
Isn’t it time Nigerians stopped dignifying nonsense by calling out President Buhari and his men to do what is so patently needful-to change themselves and re-calibrate their mindset to be more in tune with the demands of the day? Isn’t it time?

Okosieme is a journalist based in Abuja
Twitter: @Okoz