To a President who was “Shocked” and “Not Aware,” Bye to Niger Republic

In a few days, the eight-year tenure of Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, will come to an end. As expected, the president and his men have been taking stock and trying to emphasize the successes of his government. These past few days have been occupied by commissioning of various “landmark projects” across the country.
Quite unlike him, the president has also been making numerous utterances in the public recently. Sadly, typical of him, some of his utterances have failed to demonstrate that he has any knowledge of the widespread dissatisfaction Nigerians feel about his government. Insulated, as he must be, from the summary deterioration of life in the country and from objective feedback from ordinary Nigerians, Buhari has been congratulating himself on a job well done.
In February this year, the president made a claim at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti where he was represented by the Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah. “Let me remind us all that my campaign to become president in 2015 was built on the promise to improve the security, strengthen economy and combat corruption,” the president said. “It is with immense gratitude to God Almighty that I make bold to say that we have delivered on the three promises,” he declared (This Day, February 12, 2023).
No doubt Buhari’s claim of having fulfilled all his campaign promises will continue to undergo cross-examination. However, an overview of his administration reveals an inactive president who gave ample reasons for his commitment to the country to be questioned. In the heat of mass abductions of hundreds of schoolchildren by terrorists and unmitigated slaughtering of his fellow Nigerians, Buhari settled into the marginal role of expressing “shock,” sending condolences and issuing series of “last warnings” to the terrorists. It got so bad that ordinary Nigerians began issuing press releases urging the military and the president to remain calm and law-abiding while the civilians were on top of the matter to restore order and apprehend perpetrators.
While his countrymen in the Middlebelt were under ferocious attacks from foreign terrorists believed to be Fulani, President Buhari was caught merely prevaricating. On the one hand, Buhari variously admitted that the killers were “foreign Fulani” but could not bring himself to take any enduring drastic measures to defend Nigeria’s territorial integrity. Instead, he passionately sought to recover pre-Independence “grazing routes” and establish grazing reserves for the Fulani across the country. There was such glaring similarity between the rhetorics from the presidency and those from Fulani groups that it was often difficult to know whether they did not both read from the same script.
When his apathy towards restraining the invaders was becoming an international embarrassment, Buhari invented a new tactic. He simply denied being aware of what was happening. For example, following the New Year Day massacre in Benue, the president was reported to have mandated the Inspector-General of Police to relocate to Benue. Three months later, while visiting the state, he was told that his IGP had not obeyed his orders. Buhari said he was “not aware,” but even after he was told, there were no consequences.
After the terrorists attacked the Kuje Prisons, an apparently angry Buhari ordered full investigations, expressing disappointment in the intelligence agencies. In the weeks that followed, it emerged that dozens of intelligence reports warning of the impending attack had been ignored. Apparently, these intelligence reports had not made their way to the president. Otherwise, how could he have been “not aware?” Yet, after he became aware of the negligence that reversed nearly every significant gain made in the war against terror, as usual, there were no consequences for whoever was responsible.
More distressing to Nigerians, was Buhari’s unwillingness to pursue fundamental solutions to the insecurity choking the country. For instance, throughout his eight years, Buhari refused to investigate and prosecute the sponsors of terrorism in the country. This was despite glaring accusations and coincidences that strongly suggested there were terrorist sympathisers in his government. And while he would not block financial and arms supplies to the terrorists, he resolutely blocked state security outfits, pioneered by governors in his own party, from bearing competent arms.
Perhaps, in these final days more than ever, Buhari’s reason for not being sufficiently concerned about Nigeria’s future has become clear. Like many other politicians, the president has options should Nigeria sink. He has said on more than two occasions this year that he is open to relocating to Niger Republic should things become unbearable for him in Nigeria. This, perhaps, explains his obsession with Niger Republic throughout his tenure. For instance, during the 2019 campaign, two governors of regions in Niger Republic not only crossed into Nigeria but wore APC campaign regalia, asking Nigerians to vote for Buhari!
Having contributed his quota to the economic sinking sand in which the harder Nigerians struggle, the further they sink into poverty and hardship, and having left more Nigerians in IDP camps than he met, Buhari has told us where his future is. It is not in the Nigeria he spent the past eight years allegedly “building,” but in Niger Republic. For the rest of Nigerians being murdered on their ancestral farmlands and suffocating in government-endorsed lawlessness, who have no other country to run to, aluta continua.
As a citizen of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari has the right to reside in any part of the world, including Niger Republic. However, those close to the president must let him know that there is no humour in rubbing it into the face of Nigerians what escape options he and his fellow elite politicians have. The news is awash with heart-rending stories of his fellow countrymen who have lost their lives in the struggle to escape from Nigeria and the needless hardship imposed on the country. The least expected of the man, who had the duty of making the country habitable and desirable for Nigerians but who woefully failed, is to be sober and make utterances that reflect his acceptance of that failure.
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