It appears there is no limit to the odium Nigerians would endure in the hands of the Buhari administration because just when the regime seems to have hit rock bottom in governance capacity, it somehow manages to find a further depth in ignominy. The current national outcry is how ruthless, unprofessional and corrupt SARS officers have operated all over the country. Youths have been maimed, raped, tortured, bullied, harassed and extorted with some of them even killed; yet no police officer has been punished for any of these crimes. From the blood, tears, sorrow and ashes of these abuses was born the #EndSARS protests by youths who have taken to the streets not only to protest police brutality; but the overall hellish nature of life in Nigeria. Across the world, leaders address their fellow citizens during moments of national crisis and make visionary pronouncements on the way forward. Last Thursday, Buhari addressed the nation but did not mention the protests even once. The insensitivity was simply mind-boggling and inexcusable. Two days later, presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, in a statement warned that the government will not fold its arms while the protests degenerate into free-for-all looting and vandalism. For a tone-deaf President who has studiously failed to acknowledge protests that have cost the lives of at least 56 Nigerians, the impropriety was pathetic, disgraceful and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. It is a sad comment on the President’s style and an unflattering advertisement of his apathetic approach to his responsibilities as president of the federal republic.
Certainly, no modicum of morality or decorum supports this reckless display of insensitivity, but some pertinent points need to be made. One is that the quality of leadership in Nigeria has been exposed, in spectacular fashion, to the whole world. It also illustrated another poor dimensioning of the stature of presidential presence and the amplification of the absence of good personal leadership example, from the man Nigerians elected to be their president; challenging sundry observers to question Buhari’s character. A majority of Nigerians with a conscience have been left to wonder how the highest levels of their government can be so imprudent.
While the president has maintained a deafening silence over the #EndSARS protests, the militarized response which climaxed with soldiers opening fire on unarmed protesters at the Lekki tollgate last Tuesday, ignited violent protest in Lagos and several cities, consequently leading to looting, vandalizing and razing of public and private property. But to the eternal embarrassment of the nation, the President who has kept mum over the Lekki shooting, claimed last Sunday that he avoided speaking about the Lekki tollgate killings until all the facts were established. This kind of silly excuse is a collective insult on Nigerians. By this singular act of civic callousness, dancing in mockery even as the nation mourns, the Presidency advertised a certain hollowness in morality that dragged the nation down to a hitherto unprecedented low in ethical degeneration. This is an unbelievable shame and Nigerians deserve a full explanation for this embarrassment.
President Buhari also condemned the widespread looting and plundering of public and private property in many states, saying they will scare foreign investors. His words: “A government that has launched a massive crackdown on corruption, brought in strong laws for a decisive battle against corruption, pursues loot recovery at home and abroad, and taken strong decisions against those who thought they were above the law, will not fold its arms when an otherwise legitimate and peaceful protest is turning into free-for-all vandalism and looting… Families must turn back children who bring home unaccounted goods, in the same way wives must ask their husbands to return looted items brought home.”
It is obvious the President’s mind is elsewhere and he ended up wasting a golden opportunity to honestly engage with the Nigerian people, and inspire hope in the youths who have taken their anger to the streets. Buhari missed the opportunity to mobilize and galvanize Nigerians to a higher call of action required to move the nation forward. Little surprise the speech was an anticlimax and the butt of jokes and cynicism by ordinary citizens. Truly, the president’s muddled response to the #EndSARS protests underline the profound dearth of ideas, as well as the lack of strength of character on the part of the man Nigerians elected as their President. Buhari needs to get his act together and seriously address nagging problems facing the country, not run away from them. Or put a gloss over an appalling situation that has passed crisis point.
With the non-fight against corruption, Buhari’s self-congratulation for his anti-graft war is laughable were it not tragic. Most economic analysts forecast that Nigeria would slump into a depression post Covid-19, and much needs to be done to lay the foundation for economic recovery. The economy must indeed be diversified. The current fiscal federalism model where 36 states, with the exception of Lagos, depends overwhelmingly on allocation of dwindling oil revenues from the center on a monthly basis with very little efforts at internally generating revenues is unsustainable. The president should have outlined measures to adopt true fiscal federalism that devolves powers and control over resources from the center to the states and local governments.
The youths are on the streets because they see no future in Nigeria as currently structured. The effects of the current economic recession could have been avoided if other economic drivers had been effectively managed since the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. Fiscal buffers were squandered. Instead of saving for the proverbial rainy day, Nigeria not only depleted the Excess Crude Account, it has continued to borrow to finance conspicuous consumption. Servicing these debts now consumes about half of government revenues. The economic trajectory created by Covid-19 was compounded by policy uncertainties. Under Buhari, Nigeria has been denied the benefits of counter-cyclical policies needed to reflate the economy as CBN policy somersaults and pig-headed monetary policy have further stifled productivity, especially manufacturing. While all the president’s men are essentially in denial of the economic difficulties and the rising misery indices that Nigeria is facing, Buhari’s lethargic approach to economic management as well as his underwhelming economic leadership team has exacerbated the underlying economic downturn leading to the current recession and the ensuing hardship on Nigerians is playing out on the streets.
The President should stop trying to present a different reality from the current situation in the country. It is a well-known fact that corruption pervades every sector in Nigeria and has been the bane of national development. Indeed, under Buhari, corruption thrives with impunity in low and high places. The corruption fighting agencies have been reduced to the notorious routine of police stations from which they were meant to be insulated by their independent existence. Those indicted for corruption walk the streets without any qualm of conscience. Indeed, some of them have even been honored with presidential appointments. The President has not bothered to address the jaw-dropping revelations of monumental corruption and financial recklessness in the NDDC. Therefore, to claim this administration is fighting corruption is a big lie that fosters apprehension in public consciousness and unduly disparages the image of the president as a brazen-faced liar!
By the way, who was so tone-deaf and insensitive to deploy soldiers in combat fatigue at the Lekki tollgate and ordering soldiers to shoot peacefully protesting citizens, while looters were having a field day burning down Lagos? What stops the President and commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria from declaring a state of emergency in those epicenters of the protest in order to protect lives and critical public and private infrastructure? How on earth can Buhari explain his inability to defeat Boko Haram and contain murderous Fulani herdsmen, spreading mayhem and insecurity across the nation, and yet thinks it is okay to deploy brute force against unarmed citizens? Forty-Eight hours after the Lekki tollgate massacre, Buhari was silent. And what did he say when he eventually addressed the nation? Nothing! Mr. President, the country needs to see you, hear you and feel you more in the wake of the monumental crisis currently facing the nation.
Unarguably, misrepresentation of reality in government is a routine, as spin doctors are employed to craft and turn them into political capital. But false claims, once made, translate into nothing and rob the president of the legitimacy required to steer the ship of state. For the ordinary Nigerian who is being dehumanized and socially destabilized by poverty and insecurity and the carnage harvested in the activities of kidnappers, armed robbers and terrorists, the situation at hand does not call for a simplistic ostrich fatalism. The president should own the crisis; and tone down his bellicose rhetoric, so as not to give the impression that all is well. The millions of young people involved in the #EndSARS protests are an important perquisite for a healthy democratic dispensation. Such inquisitive citizens will not only compel responsible leadership by asking questions and holding their leaders accountable, they are central to the building of a truly democratic country. This is what the future of Nigeria is all about.
