Buhari was Prepared for Power, not for Nigeria

By: Tony Ayawa

The blind can see that Nigeria needs help. Even the deaf can hear the unusual cry for help across
Nigeria landscape. Nigeria needs help in all fronts, but the area she needs it most is that of security. The increase bombings of the Nigeria state by the Islamic sect (Boko Haram) since the assumption of office by President Buhari truly calls for a sober reflection on the direction the ship of the country is drifting to. As it is, the value of human life has been brought to the point of worthlessness in Nigeria as human beings are daily being roasted like yams, the inhuman part of this dehumanization is that if fewer number of people are killed when there is a reported attack it doesn’t make news to most Nigerians as the question always being asked is “how many died?” shamelessly reducing the worth of a soul.

It is a pity that the Nigeria state is an orphan longing for parenthood, she has truly suffered from the biosokwor of poor leadership and followership as Africa’s late literally giant Chinua Achebe rightly puts it in his ever green book “The Trouble With Nigeria” the trouble with Nigeria remains the traditional hatred for the state by the ruling class or the ‘cables’ who have hung the state on a solar panel circuit watching with busy clean fingers and feigned patriotic laughter.

With Buhari’s weak handling of the fight against insurgency which is evident in the military continuous outcry and the shift in date of conquering the blood thirsting urchins by the presidency it is transparent that the hunger for power without direction or coherent national blueprint drove Buhari to Aso villa. It is obvious that president Buhari was prepared to take power but was not prepared to solve the problems of Nigeria. So far, Mr. President has not introduced any innovations in the fight to chop off the wings of insurgence other than the conventional methods used by his predecessor Jonathan. This is bad, knowing the fact that Mr. President has been on the sideline for long which would have given him the opportunity to have seen the areas that needed to be improved upon now that he is the captain of the nation. There is no how one can experience positive result if things are been done the same old way.

Mr. President’s lack of genuineness in the effort to rid the nation of the menace of insurgence as he promised during his campaign is seen in the fact that no arrest of any sponsor of Boko Haram has been made since he came on board as the commander in chief of the arm forces of the federal republic of Nigeria. The direct combat with executioners of bombs attacks can be seen as trying to stop a dancer on stage instead of stopping the drummer or DJ, you will agree with me that if the source of the music is identified and stopped the dancer will naturally stop dancing; until this is done the so call fight against Boko Haram will continue to be a mirage to Nigeria public but a success in pursuing an unknown agenda.

Another step that Buhari would have taken to show his sincerity in the fight against insurgence would have been in the area of blocking our national borders, you will also agree that the ammunition been used to carry out attacks against defenseless Nigerians doesn't fall from the moon but passes through the nation's porous borders, so far, no decisive action has been taken by Mr. President to checkmate the porous nature of the Nigeria borders as concern the fight against Boko Haram. Besides these, the president has not taken real steps to know the source of the supply of logistic to the dreaded sect with a view to arresting and stalling their operations. No doubt former president Jonathan made some appreciable progress in the fight against the sect especially in the last months of his administration, it is clear that president Buhari refused to consolidate on this line instead he introduced crude methods such as dismantling of military check points, relocating of military headquarters to Boko Haram base – Borno and proposed round table discussion with the sect. these methods have not yield positive results rather it has led to increased attacks and infiltration of the sect to the society.

Being a politician, Buhari fished in the troubled waters of former president Jonathant’s struggle to end the menace of insurgency to rise to power as putting a quick end to Boko Haram's activities was his main campaign hold, if truly Buhari was patriotic enough or has the heart of a state man he would have profile solutions as a former military general to the struggling Jonathan Sambo administration in their efforts to ward off the sect, instead of tolling this part of honour, he did otherwise.

In one of his patriotic statements he said that war against Boko Haram is war against the north, not letting go his once forgotten patriotic chip “I will make Jonathan’s government un- governable” the point is that all hands have never being on desk to manufacture a nation out of the contraption called Nigeria. The north and south divide continue to loom larger than life before the very core of our national fiber.

Another ladder of half truth that Buhari stepped on to see the road of the presidential Villa is the mysterious Chibok girls kidnap. The president and his party capitalized on this and initiated the “the bring back our girls campaign” just for the sake of usurping power from Jonathan instead of supporting him. It is now clear that the abductions of those girls are still questionable even now that Buhari came into power, they are still not found and the sing song and placard carriers of “Jonathan bring back our girls” have reduced their momentum. It defeats my imagination how Nigeria politicians’ plays game with human lives in this side of Jordan just to clinch the claws of power.

It will do us a great deal of good if future Nigeria leaders and the electorate will learn the importance of putting their hands on desk to stand behind a leader be it at the local, national or federal level so that they can fare well other than politicizing crucial national issues that hampers progress and threaten the existence of the nation. It is obvious that president Buhari alone cannot solve the problem of insurgence (if indeed he is sincere) that is pestering us on daily basis without the support of every Nigerian and utmost sincerity from the northern elders.