To become the president of one of the most populous black
nations in the world is not an easy task.. It takes a lot of courage,
commitment, negotiations, permutations and indeed tenacity to be able to overwhelm
other candidates and emerge victorious.
Surely, as a president of Nigeria, you are surreptitiously the most
prominent leader in Africa and one of the most related in the world. By winning
the March 28th 2015 presidential election, the president automatically
became the most popular Nigerian. At
this point it is noteworthy to acknowledge that his popularity did not just emanate from just winning
the presidential office but by the fact that his victory broke an unprecedented
record of an opposition candidate defeating the incumbent president to the snag
of the Peoples Democratic Party. This is one defeat that will not be forgotten
in the history of this country. A confirmation that politics is beautiful when the
people are allowed to choose their leaders based on their own terms rather than
imposition.
An inventory of
what took place before the victory shows clearly that Nigerians wished for the ouster of the previous
government due to high level ineptitude
as well as a new president
flagging another political party to be at the helm of affairs hence, Nigerians
saw the change advert, opted for it and
finally got it! Although, this is not the first time PMB will be in control but
after a period of thirty years and under a democratic arrangement, for him and
his supporters, this victory is worth
celebrating considering the number of times he contested coupled with
the rhythm of his campaign which anchored on CHANGE meaning “doing things
differently” .
For
these and many other reasons, Nigerians expect a lot from the president inspite
of the awareness that the man is inheriting a calamity of a pitiable depressed
economy. Of course, as the saying goes “to whom much is given, much is
expected”, but in the case of Buhari,
Nigerians are not just expecting ‘Much’, they want ‘Much’ to be achieve. For when a nation’s issues are hazy and fuzzy
the only psychological relief is verifiable action on the part of the
government. Over the years, the nation has been plunged into depth of poverty
and poor governance and as such the very opportunity he has to restore the
nation’s battered image and leave a legacy for Nigerians to remember.
Certainly,
Nigerians could no longer endure the unholy infusion of recklessness by the
government of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. The immediate past leader misread the mood of
the people. Having failed to exude authority and integrity, the people knew he
was weak and bereft of leadership vision which carried transformational
agenda. One can say that he was the
architect of his own defeat. He made critical mistakes that turned the public
and allies against him which led them gravitate towards the opposition. A need to substitute the party in government
for another became imminent. There was no need to consult any oracle about the
state of the nation; the nation itself saw that it wanted change due to the
unfavourable and unbalanced relationship it entered with corruption,
masterminded majorly by the last administration.
Nigerians
firstly, believes in Buhari because there is something undeniably positive about
him; hardly will you find in Nigeria any public officer whose past had not fall
short of glory. It is not a difficult assignment to find men and women so
admired without allegation of one impropriety or the other. But for the man
Buhari, no one has boldly come out to tie such accusation to his pedigree. Secondly, the confidence that he understood
the importance of the job for which he was to be hired gave him a tremendous
edge. The people saw him as eminently qualified, with the right capacity to
address the challenges facing the country in terms of structural and
institutional failures. On his part, he has
got no choice but to actualize the mandate of his appointment.
So
far, the president seems to be effectively ensuring the change mantra that
dominated his campaign lyrics. The
presence of Buhari is witnessing a silent revolution in almost every sector of
the ministries. The fear of being sacked has resurrected every public and civil
servants to it responsibilities. It is almost a culture that Nigerians are
oriented towards authority. In other words, an average worker who is not
closely monitored by his/her boss is reluctant on exercising the duties for
which salary is paid. The body language of the number one citizen of this
country is generating shivers and consciousness as no one is prepared to be
summoned for questioning or shown the way out. Surely, the fear of Buhari is
the beginning of “no time for nonsense”. If only the president can continue in
this direction, Nigeria in no time will be ushering into her system a glorious
past where there was voluntary compliance to lawful orders.
Talking
about direction and under the watch of Mr. President, the central bank sometime
in August banned access to foreign exchange to certain categories of importers,
including those who bring in toothpicks, rice, and vegetable oil. The policy
placement did not stop there as banks introduced several impediments on
businesses whose concept of businesses were not in the path of moving the
nation forward. A critical look at such official statements are intended to
restructure the economy that is barely crawling to survive; raise the value of
the naira, stop illicit financial flows in the banking system and curtail the importation of certain items that could have enjoyed local production.
Although, some class of people from the south east have condemned these
policies; considering it as highly vindictive to the igbo businessmen prominent
in this type of businesses caught up by the policies. However, if the dimension
and temperament of the present administration is to be viewed, one can say that
it is in a way affecting the influence and popularity of the man occupying the
top seat of government.
Again,
at the resumption of office, one major activity that set President Buhari from
past leaders was an effort to introduce a new baseline for accountability. In
such effort, he had since moved towards the direction of public appetite on the
fight against corruption. His anti-corruption investigation, prosecution and
asset recovery has being applauded by most Nigerians. The current hunger for
accountability and restitution has invited a lot of persons by EFCC who until recently
gave the free will to go after anybody culpable of corruption charges and other
related offences. Atmospherics aside, few Nigerians have expressed concern and
slight rejection about the anti-corruption crusade of Mr. President. In their
feelings, they believe that the president is paying too much attention on
fighting corruption at the expense of making quality economic policies that
will set the pace and opportunities for improved standard of living. They
argued that the government can chew and work at the same time.
Furthermore,
they believe that the ongoing investigations and assets recovery can be done
simultaneously with serious policy formulation; with the aim of charting a
functional direction for new government so as to erase the perception that
governance is being scarified at the altar of probes which are politically
popular but with little impact to the electoral promises of the president. Of
course, any anti-corruption activities by the government should follow due
process rather than driven by fissure of raw emotions and anger of public
frustration. Without equivocation the nation needs more constructive policy-making
without enormous preoccupation on obsessive and selective
probes that may at the end preclude serious governmental tasks.
Before
now, in what analysts describe as a government in a haste to correct the wrongs
of the previous administration, PMB upon assumption of office went on a mission
to weed out appointees he inherited from President Jonathan. The move which
commentators have labeled as a mission to sack persons suspected to be inimical
to the success of his government. Not only that, Buhari descended on
institutions that were openly partisan in the run-up to the 2015 general
elections. For instance, security agencies, parastals that were involve in the
acts of breaching or stalling official protocols; harassing and arresting
opposition figures were all affected.
The
president is now on the throne and it is believed that he is enjoying the
rising capacity of his popularity. In a way of
reviewing several accusations
leveled against him such as: forgery of school certificate; that he was not
sound health wise; the verbal and advertorial thuggery to discredit his person
and even the perpetual factionalism within the PDP caused by internal bickering
and the strangulation of opportunities for members to realize their potential
ambitions created unimpeded avenues for President Mohammadu Buhari to become
popular than he ever imagined.
Written by Nsikan Umoren.
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