The life of the average Nigerian is short and brutish and the headlines in any given day in Nigeria sounds like a reading from the Book of Lamentation. Hardly does any day pass without headlines like: Boko Haram kills 23 in Borno, Bandits kill 45 in Kanu, Gunmen kidnap family of five in Southern Kaduna; 34 die in Ilorin-Ogbomosho road crash; Gunmen burn 50 houses in Zamfara village; Pirates kill one, kidnap 15 crew on Turkish ship or Kidnappers abduct parents of Managing Director of XYZ Company, etc. Even as the hearts of Nigerians bleed for these innocent victims of insecurity which has taken the nation hostage, President Muhammadu Buhari, the man they elected to solve these problems is nowhere to be found; in fact he doesn’t even pretend that he cares about the predicament of his fellow citizens. The latest manifestation of the president’s apathetic attitude towards his job, is his decision to proceed on a four-day official visit to his hometown, Daura, Katsina state to, among other engagements, participate in the APC membership registration and revalidation exercise. Just let that sink in for a moment; the nation is bleeding and the president is in his village politicking. This is most unconscionable and insensitive, as it is lamentable; it is vexatious and Buhari has no excuse. It gives the impression that Buhari is idle and has so much time in his hands. A president should identify with the people in their greatest hour of need.
On Friday, Buhari was welcomed at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua International Airport, Katsina by Governor Aminu Bello Masari, the Deputy Governor, the Speaker of the State House of Assembly and the Chief Judge. The Emir, Alhaji Faruk Umar Faruk led district heads and traditional titleholders to receive the President, who is expected to return to Abuja on Tuesday, according to presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu. Elsewhere, leaders devote absolute attention to domestic affairs, especially when the nation is in crisis. But, on the same day that Buhari travelled to Daura, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) announced that the number of Covid-19 deaths rose from 1173 on November 29, 2020 to 1578 on January 31, 2021, representing about 34.5% increase in two months. Still on Friday, gunmen killed 13 people and injured many others when they raided Katsina, Plateau and Zamfara states. This followed an earlier attack Wednesday at Unguwar Sarki, Shema village, in Faskari Council of Katsina, where gunmen killed nine people and injured dozens. Again, on that same Friday, Boko Haram terrorists attacked Dikwa military post, forcing residents to flee the community for safety.
Gunmen abducted about 26 people along the Kaduna-Kachia road and Kugo village, in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State. While 21 of the victims were, reportedly, kidnaped along the Kaduna-Kachia road, five women were abducted at Kugo village, near Godani Railway Station, Chikun LGA, on their way to the farm. Both incidents occurred Friday while Buhari was in Daura to renew his APC membership registration. And while the president was fraternizing with APC governors, the Kwara Command of the Federal Road Safety Corps confirmed the death of 20 people, in a crash along the Bode Saadu- Ilorin road, in the early hours of Saturday. The National Bureau of Statistics revealed that about 50,000 commercial bank employees have lost their jobs, because of Covid-19; the Joint Action Committee of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non-Academic Staff of Universities (NASU), recently embarked on a warning strike barely a month after ASUU suspended its own nine-month strike; many forests across the country have become safe havens for criminals, bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers, cattle rustlers and ritualists. And the list goes on and on. Given that the country is yet to fully contend with the menace of the Fulani herdsmen across farmlands nationwide and the unemployment they create among farmers, the implications for the level of poverty and insecurity in the country would be overwhelming. The economy is comatose and presidential leadership is required to ensure all hands are on deck to get the country back on track. But where is Mr. President?
In addition to the unjustified expenses incurred during his futile and meaningless trips to his village, the president is also known to travel abroad for reasons that seldom have any bearing with his position. This should not be the case in a country bedeviled by a myriad of life and death challenges. Given the myriad of socio-economic and security challenges facing the nation, Nigerians have every reason to question the frequency and attending cost with which Buhari has been traveling abroad even at the most inconsequential invitations. Recall that when Fulani herdsmen invaded Benue State and killed over 400 people in the Agatu community, Buhari was nowhere to be found, but in the intervening period, he travelled to the USA and China. In 2017, a Nigeria Air Force jet accidentally bombed a refugee camp in Borno, killing nearly one hundred people including soldiers and aid workers of the Red Cross and Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF). Despite the national shock, sorrow and anger over the tragic incident, it beggars belief that Buhari did not pay an emergency condolence visit to the area; rather he proceeded on vacation to London where he received treatment for his ear infection!
Definitely, the bombing was an error, avoidable though it was. Such accidents are part of operational hazards in war and by no stretch of the imagination could anyone claim it was deliberate. But the President needed to lead the nation in mourning and his failure to show leadership and compassion in that case exposed him to criticism of insensitivity, reinforcing public perception and the growing concern that he is out of touch; and not up to the challenge of his office, and merely relishes the ceremonial aspects of his job. Even just for reasons of public decorum, of self-respect, a sense of propriety and consideration for his suffering countrymen, Buhari should have resisted the temptation to travel to Daura to participate in some meaningless APC party ritual and save from public denigration, his person, the office he holds, the institution of the Presidency which he heads and all Nigerians as a people. It is doubly insulting that the President; who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and who, in the first instance, should be responsible for his troops, would be distracting himself with political trivialities at a time the nation needs his attention.
Apart from being a deliberate squandering of public funds and sheer misuse of quality work-time, many of these trips have been made unrewarding by sometimes, demeaning events like APC registration and revalidation exercise in Daura. Buhari could have delegated someone to represent him at the event. The office of the President is a tough, thoughtful, burdensome and sacrificial position that demands self-discipline, gumption, prudence and political sagacity. Personal weaknesses and private inadequacies are challenges that any president must continually battle as a human being, but these should never debar him from carrying out his constitutionally defined functions. As President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Buhari must feel the pangs of responsibility in a clear display of focused leadership and must never condone in his actions, the public perception of converting in his office into a platform to advertise his indolence and personal weaknesses. His frequent travels at a time of great national peril and uncertainty amid a resurgent Coronavirus pandemic, is a telling sign of a weak governance culture. It does no good to the image and reputation of the President and the country as a whole.
