“When a leader fails to address a problem, the problem takes on the role of the leader, and the leader takes on the role of the problem.” Nigeria and its current leader appear to be in this situation.
How have you fared since President Buhari took office? This is a legitimate question that can be answered objectively.
President Buhari still has one year and a few months left in office, but those months seem to drag on forever. The months ahead will be difficult and demanding. How will Nigerians get through this period?
President Buhari arrived in 2022 as a tainted product. All hopes of this elephant dancing were dashed after his incoherent media interview with Channels Television. Despite the fact that his term in office and presidency will end in 2023, he has established himself as the lamest of lame Presidents in history. Recent opinion polls conducted shortly after his media chat with Channels revealed that 80% of the population, including those who voted for him fervently in 2015 and 2019, want him gone.
Is it really that bad? It’s gotten to the point where members of his party, including the party’s leader, are taking turns officially announcing their desire for his job. Because the presidency has been reduced to a retirement home where you are paid to do the wrong things and paid to be wrong, almost everyone wants to be president.
Those who have gathered at the Presidential Villa for Buhari’s inauguration are not members of his cabinet and thus do not require his permission to run for office. They aren’t telling the party’s leadership or the general public why they want to be president. Rather, they’re telling the president that they want to pick up where he left off. We are aware of where we stand with Buhari at this time. Broken promises, a decline in our standard of living, general insecurity, inflation, a deteriorating economy, and a divided nation are all things that Nigerians will never forgive or forget.
Bola Tinubu is the APC Party leader who attempted to run for Vice President in 2015 but was unsuccessful, prompting him to grudgingly send in his surrogate. He and his surrogate now both want to be President. After meeting with the President, BAT told reporters that becoming president is his “life-long ambition.” Consider having as a deputy someone whose lifelong ambition is to be President. The gods were on President Buhari’s side at the time; otherwise, your guess is as good as mine.
Nonetheless, I applaud Bola Tinubu’s sincerity. Unlike Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, who claimed that God had asked him to run for president and that blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah Please excuse me! God does not create perplexity. God will not send you on a mission that he does not desire for you to complete. If God sends you, He will not leave you with a figment of your imagination.
Nigeria is a huge market for diviners, sorcerers, prophets, and pastors who promise prosperity without labor, thanks to politicians who lie in God’s name. They are naive dreamers who believe they can achieve success without putting in the effort.
After listening to Dave Umahi, I wondered what the Christian community would have said if a Muslim man claimed Allah had told him to run for president. He is an Islamist who wants to Islamize Nigeria, as the song goes. That is how emotionally and psychologically involved we have become with religion. I sincerely hope that our politicians do not include God in their politics or lies.
Governor Dave, if he truly wants to be president, should get to work. “God is not a man to lie,” says my dear friend Ronke Apampa, whose words have been a source of inspiration for me. God is necessary, and we must walk in the light of his words.” After Buhari, Nigerians do not require a ‘fake prayer warrior,’ but rather a President who will carry out God’s will and provide security, economic prosperity, a stable standard of living, and unity.
I feel sorry for those who will be anointed by President Buhari. Despite being the President, he is old and unable to assist anyone. He will not be in a position to choose his successor. He has failed miserably. He was in charge of a bad government. He never followed through on any of his election promises. Worst of all, he has divided and polarized the country.
There is no way anyone associated with his policies will win in a free and fair election.
Nigerians are eagerly awaiting the end of Buhari’s presidency. They’re counting down the days in the hopes of surviving him. Anyone who wishes to run for president should be able to do so solely on the basis of his or her qualifications. Because we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of 2015 and 2019, that person should be able to withstand Nigerian scrutiny.
Nigerians have not had it easy in terms of the economy, and they cannot forgive a regime that has had a negative impact on their standard of living. Inflation is the result of bad government policies, not an act of God. The result of the Central Bank devaluing the naira and printing excess Naira notes to meet outsized government spending is, without a doubt, inflation.
We are not only depleting our foreign reserves but also mortgaging our future with debts when the government borrows funds ostensibly to build infrastructure and half of the money ends up in private pockets. This is the result of corruption, not an act of God.
It is not an act of God when government policies cause foreign investors to withdraw and repatriate their foreign deposits from our banks. It is not an act of God when foreign investors flee Nigeria due to insecurity.
Even our own people have lost faith in the Naira. Many Nigerians are fleeing the Naira and converting their savings to US Dollars, Euros, and British Pounds. As a result, the Naira is in free fall. This isn’t a result of a natural disaster, but rather a result of poor monetary and economic policies.
I recently spoke with a restaurant owner who served me poor food at a high price. She informed me that everything in the market is now very expensive. The price of food items has risen. Most items are no longer available in stores, and when they are, they are prohibitively expensive. This includes the price of regular sachet (pure) water.
Nigerians want to be able to afford basic necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, and medications. In a recent interview, President Buhari urged Nigerians to return to the land, citing the fact that only 2.5 percent of the country’s arable land is cultivated, according to his newly appointed Chief Economic Adviser. That is incorrect. Due to insecurity, the lands have been left fallow. Due to the threat of militia herders, bandits, insurgents, and unknown gunmen, roads to burial sites are now busier than roads to farms. Returning to Nigeria, Nigerians seek safety and security, which the government does not provide.
All of the billions spent on our security forces have been a waste of money because they have become ineffective in the face of our never-ending security challenges. The country has devolved into a criminal war zone. Those who can afford to move to the city center have done so, while the poor remain in rural areas at the mercy of criminals who kidnap, rape, maim, and murder them at will.
The country’s unity is under severe threat. We’ve never been more divided than we are now. President Buhari’s actions and inactions continue to divide people. He has so far led an administration that has successfully shattered the country’s unity. We can’t make progress unless we work together. We need a president who can bring people together, understand the economy, and be firm and ruthless in the face of insecurity.
Until our prayers are answered and a truly patriotic and intelligent President emerges in 2023, we will live on hand to mouth and rely on God for our survival for the next 18 months. Everything, I believe, will culminate in His praise.
