Buhari Needs To Seek Help Now!

BY SIMON REEF MUSA
Last week, for those who had been persuaded to believe that President Muhammadu Buhari’s look alike from Sudan was in charge, the media interviews on Arise Television and the Nigerian Television Authority, including the president’s national broadcast commemorating the June 12 anniversary, laid to rest all disputes. While there may be discordant tunes by analysts over the content of these media outings, one thing is clear: President Buhari is fully in charge.

One rattling question disturbing Nigerians is that if it is indeed true that Buhari is in charge, why has he remained reclusive and seemingly unconcerned with issues confronting the Nigerian state? Could it be that the continued insecurity ravaging the nation that has resulted in the decimation of hundreds communities and rising spates of kidnappings not strong enough to warrant his reaction?

For a country that was declared the global headquarters of poverty last year, with an additional 7 million citizens pushed down the poverty hole by the COVID-19 pandemic as recently disclosed by the World Bank, not many Nigerians are convinced that the government has done enough to rescue citizens from poverty that has been exacerbated by monsters of insecurity.

Nigeria is now confronted by a myriad of forces battling to ensure it remains in a quandary of retrogression. On the basis upon which he rode to power, President Buhari is yet to deliver his electoral promises on security and resuscitation of the economy.  He had assured citizens ahead of the 2015 polls that if elected he would lead from the front and not from the back.  In the ravaging challenges bedeviling our nation, some Nigerians contend that Buhari is neither seen at the front nor the rear.

The economy under President Goodluck Jonathan had seen worse times, with many citizens finding it increasingly difficult to survive the hard times. Buhari’s promise to ensure security for all and improve the economy remain the major planks upon which he emerged victorious after previously contesting three times for the presidency.

Over six years down the road, has Buhari fulfilled these promises? Though former Chief of Army Staff, General Yusuf Buratai (retd) had announced the technical defeat of Boko Haram in the North-east, the terror gang has continued to unleash terror on not only civilian populace but also on the military. More worrisome, the rage of insecurity has widened to various nooks and crannies of our nation as unknown gunmen and bandits have let off steam on bloodshed and massive destruction of vulnerable communities.

Nigeria’s food security has come under severe threat as farmers have abandoned their farms for fear of kidnappers that have become so ruthless in demanding whopping ransoms. During most times, relatives of kidnapped persons have resorted to selling their farmlands to raise money to secure release of loved ones.

In all these, the government seems handicapped in dealing with these armed non-state actors that have introduced terror to perpetually ensure citizens are frightened to facilitate coercion. Education has been adversely affected as parents are now forced to withdraw their children/wards from schools. The sordid stories of Chibok, Dapchi, Kankara, Jangebe, among others, hold horrifying spectre for those willing to send their children and wards to schools.

When recently the Kaduna State Government warned it would not negotiate with kidnappers over ransom payment, it sparked outrage across the country. This position, coming on the heels of the Afaka kidnapping in Kaduna was seen by many as insensitive and inhuman to the feelings of parents of abducted students. If the government had felt the kidnappers would surrender too quickly, the bandits sent a clear signal when they killed five undergraduates of the Greenfield University and threatened the grief-stricken parents and authorities to either pay the sum of N500 million or risk losing the undergraduates. Even with Boko Haram’s leader dead, these bandits have succeeded in discouraging education by reducing the urge among students to embrace education. With the schools now unsecured, many will now think twice before accepting to go to schools.

Without being told, the Buhari-led government needs to seek help and never rest on its oars to collaborate with relevant countries and global agencies to tackle insecurity and bring the nation back on track. The sickness that ails Nigeria is not one to be tackled through negative political partisanship but through cooperation and working in harmony in dealing with the monsters of destruction that are committed to the final annihilation of the country.

With the smoke of rebellion as demonstrated by the insistence by the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) to resuscitate the agitation for Biafra, the incapacity of government to meet the aspiration of citizens is forcing others to embrace self-determination. With the army and IPOB involved in claims and counter claims over the presence of the military in the South-east, the dust of controversy may not go away for a little while.

There is nothing wrong with Nigeria as a nation, but leadership has turned the potential of the country into a blight, with depressed ethnic groups opting for self-determination if the problem of leadership is not resolved. There is no guarantee that even after the severance of Nigeria’s sovereignty into smaller and newer countries will eventually translate into an Eldorado.

Against the backdrop of many issues militating against the country, the need for the government to rise up and defend the sovereignty of our nation is very crucial. The ability of leadership to seek help when faced with overwhelming challenges is not a sign of weakness but strength. Nigerians cannot continue to pretend that all is well.

For help to come, President Buhari must assess the performance profile of ministers he appointed since 2015. It is true that some of them have put up sterling performances, but some of them have been found wanting. Those who have performed dismally should be shown the way out, while new hands be appointed to deliver on the electoral promises of the All Progressives Congress-led government.

These six years have not only become hardship-ridden but also tried the souls of citizens. Much as Buhari has come out more than ever before to speak to Nigerians, it is far better to talk than keep silent in the face issues that need clarifications from the nation’s leader. We have the most qualified people excelling in international organisations and that shows that our country is not devoid of competent hands to scale us through the darkest period of our national crisis.

More than anything, the government should be fair to all ethnic nationalities. When inclusiveness becomes an alien and strange word for government, then, there can be no stopping the country from cascading down the valley of self-destruction.

As long as citizens are convinced that there are deliberate attempts at enthroning a particular ethnic group over others, so long will national unity and development elude Nigeria as a nation. Nigeria under President Buhari must seek help now in order to avoid the looming storm of danger.