Buhari’s Image Remains Constant In The Eye Of The Nigerian Electorate

Buhari’s Image Remains Constant In The Eye Of The Nigerian Electorate

I get peeved by the wanton and untoward commentary about our President, who is on vacation to enable him recover from a medical ailment that has disallowed him carry out, with personal fervor, the mandate for which he was elected in 2015. The commentary, expectedly, is coming from people who never liked the President and are happy that the President has been too distracted by his health condition to undo the evil that they have done to Nigeria. I am aware of the freedom of expression that Nigerians enjoy, but I cannot understand how people give themselves such a long rope that they can speak of their president without any sense of respect.

Before delving into my voice, let me make it clear and unequivocal that I am a lover and supporter of Buhari and I make no pretensions about it. I voted for him for a reason, and that reason has been the guiding light of his administration since its inception. The Tripod of his mandate was made up of security, corruption, and the economy. It is not in doubt that the tripod grew from the same root, of the same people and can only be eliminated using the same weapon. Proceeds of corruption are used to fuel insecurity and needless agitations to keep the nation preoccupied with the needless.

Who would have thought that the revelations of corrupt practice among key officials of previous administrations have reached such monumental depths? Funds meant to develop infrastructure, take care of the poor, improve security and make our country the envy of other nations are stolen with impunity? Who would have thought that there was open competition to outdo each other among officials and their cronies? Buying vain properties, like yachts, designer cars, and very expensive holiday homes, which they will use only once a year while the nation was left wallowing in abject poverty. It is like Emir Sanusi of Kano once said, the painful thing is that these crooks were not investing these funds, they were simply blowing it.

How can an economy that has witnessed such brazen looting not fall into recession? When the Emir, then CBN governor said that up to $20b might have been stolen from the economy, the figure seemed so crazy that naïve Nigerians never believed it was possible. Now we know better. These heartless officials have been singing like canaries before foreign courts; yes, foreign courts, and unfortunately, most of these funds may never find its way back to Nigeria. This in itself is an indictment on our legal system.

Now, less than halfway down the line, the President who was hale and hearty during his election up to his swearing-in now has to battle for his health especially since January. I am an African and I suspect these same people might have jazzed him. Before the sickness, many ploys have been embarked upon to slow him down, through pipeline vandalization, which led to more than 50% reduction in national oil revenues, so that the administration finds it difficult to finance its programmes. Even the campaign against corruption was painted to look like only a section of the polity was targeted.

The most amazing part of all these is that the legislature and even the judiciary became the albatross against the anti-corruption campaign. Legislators who were asked to defend practices that were deemed corrupt, suddenly started flailing and throwing threats and jabs, they started blackmailing government officials to toe their line or have their pasts probed. In fact, any official who was seen to be close to the President was harangued; remember how the customs boss was subjected to national opprobrium because he dared to request them to pay the correct duty of their imported vehicles? Remember how till today, they are harassing the Ag. Chairman EFCC for his doggedness to ensure no sacred cows in his anti-corruption investigation? Despite serving the same party, many nominees of the President for political office always return from the National Assembly bruised.

The judiciary has also joined the legislature in this war against the President as they have cleared all the judges that were being prosecuted for ill-gotten wealth, some have even resumed at their courts, while the Code of Conduct Tribunal that was trying the case of the Senate President over a 16-count charge of violating the Code of conduct Act has eventually thrown out all charges against him.

Beyond opposition politicians, the legislature and the judiciary, another curious group are those within the administration, who are doing all they can to settle old scores, pursue personal enrichment and even aggrandizement and in the process cause untold harm to the administration. They have on many occasions been seen to sabotage the efforts of the President. Pray, today, only a fraction of the elite can be confirmed to support the President and most of them seem to have two or even three faces.

The ordinary Nigerian who voted for the President is unwavering in his/her belief that the changes for which he was elected can still be achieved; this explains why at every occasion they congregate to pray for him, and they did not hide their excitement when he returned from hospital in March. Since these people are in the majority, God will answer their prayers against the acts and antics of his detractors. The President was elected to set up a government to fulfil his party’s campaign promises; he has done that. He also has a deputy that is superintending over the activities, which are guided by party manifesto. Despite all the sabotage, the nation, which these enemies are doing everything to crash so that their dark secrets will remain covered, is still in one piece.

I see comments from shameless thieves to the effect that the President should resign and take care of his health. They are advised to reserve their unwarranted sympathies. In fact, someone from faraway US, ostensibly under some financial goading, came to Nigeria to institute a case compelling the senate president to appoint a medical panel to determine the state of his health, with a view to impeaching him. Recently too, some members of the senate were reported to have asked their president to take over government because the Ag. President has undertaken a one-day trip to Ethiopia.
I want to remind us all that the legislators were elected by only a fraction of the country, not the whole country, only the President and his vice enjoy that privilege, they should therefore not mistake their collective power as being comparable to that of the President. To the judiciary, they should know that they too were imposed on Nigerians by the system as they were not elected, they are paid workers of government and should therefore support the President and ensure that erring members are prosecuted and removed from the bench.

We must always remember that the majority of Nigerians that elected President Buhari are still behind him and are appreciative of his efforts despite all they are doing to cripple him and give him an image of failure. We know he has succeeded and we continue to be convinced that he will continue his assignment until corruption is curtailed in Nigeria and corrupt people are exposed, and until our stolen monies are returned to us.

Let’s keep praying for the President while counting our blessings.

This article was written by Maiwada Dammallam