Reflections

Is President Buhari Not Aware? https://leadership.ng/2018/01/25/president-buhari-not-aware

IS PRESIDENT BUHARI NOT AWARE?

By Abba Mahmood
Columnist
LEADERSHIP
25 January 2018

There is virtually no part of Nigeria that is peaceful. There is virtually no household that is happy. There is virtually no individual that is not living in fear in Nigeria today. School fees and hospital bills are becoming difficult for most people. Even one square meal is becoming a luxury for most. The value of the Naira against the Dollar is the worst in the history of Nigeria. The cost of fuel, where available, is the highest in the history of this so-called oil producing country. The endurance level of the ordinary people has been stretched to its limit. Is President Buhari not aware of this?

The police are underpaid, undertrained and overstretched. Consequently, the soldiers who are the last line of defence of any nation are now the first, having been drafted to 32 out of the 36 states doing internal security operations. About 70 percent of the federal permanent secretaries were directors of finance who could pay to be promoted to permanent secretaries. They are not trained administrators, consequently, they are not good in either policy formulation or implementation. They are only good in what they know best: making money. Is the president not aware of this?

The verdict out there in the public is that this government, as constituted now with its skewed appointments, is the most provincial, most sectional and most primordial. And no one would have complained if competent ones were appointed, but this team is one of the least competent, thus lacking the capacity to deliver. Thus, an already difficult situation is becoming disastrous, as if reminding us of what Machiavelli said: “the first impression that one gets of a ruler and of his brains is from seeing the men he has about him”. Is the president not aware of this?

If we go down even to our recent history, we know that when Sultan of Sokoto Sir Abubakar III, the father of the current Sultan Saad, was going on his first pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, he left his household in the care of Mr Dike, an Igbo from the South who went to Sokoto in1915. Mr Dike was so trusted that he had access to the Sultan’s bedroom. Dike’s offsprings are still in Sokoto fully integrated. In doing this, Sultan Sir Abubakar III was practicing what his worthy ancestor, Shehu Usman Dan Fodio advised in his book, ‘Bayan Wujub al-Hijra’ where Dan Fodio wrote, “one of the swiftest ways of destroying a state is to give preference to one particular tribe over another, or to show favor to one group of people rather than another, and draw near those who should be kept away and keep away those who should be drawn near.” Is President Buhari not aware of this?

Even the immediate two predecessors of President Buhari, as unexposed to national limelight as they were, tried to have national outlook. Late President Umaru Yar-Adua’s ADC was from Edo state, his Principal Secretary who acted as Chief of Staff when the Office of Chief of Staff was abolished, was from Delta state, his Defence Minister was also from the South, among others, and all his security chiefs were Christians. His successor, President Goodluck Jonathan’s NSA was from Sokoto, Defence Minister from Zamfara, his ADC was from Benue, his Chief Detail was Muslim from Bauchi, while his Principal Private Secretary was a Fulani from Adamawa. They tried to build a national platform as it should be for Presidents. Is the president not aware of this?

In Kano, which is supposed to be the political base of President Buhari, Governor Ganduje is fighting Senator Kwankwaso who not only delivered Kano state one hundred percent to the ruling party in 2015, but came second during the party’s presidential primaries. No one is calling anyone to order and Kano gave Buhari the highest votes. Like Kano, most state branches of the ruling party are in crisis. The All Progressives Congress (APC) controls 24 states, both Houses of the National Assembly and the presidency, yet they seem to accomplish nothing in three years. They are busy fighting each other and the President, as leader of the party, is not giving the required leadership. Is the president not aware of this?

To further compound matters, the appointees of this government are fighting each other as we read in newspapers. Close aides of the President are said to be hardly on speaking terms. Various agencies are working at cross purposes, even undermining presidential authority, with no one calling anyone to order. In any case, most of them are serving their personal interests as they represent no one, but themselves. Most of them were never known to the party or to the people they claim to represent. Consequently, Nigeria is drifting. Is the president not aware of this?

This is usually what happens when Ministers who are recognized by the Constitution are subordinated to the Chief of Staff (CoS), which is not a constitutional office. Buhari has centralized everything to the CoS so much that he appears to have abdicated his presidential responsibilities to his CoS, who now looks like a de facto president, as he controls access to the de jure president. Every government policy or personnel is subordinated to that office, so much that those who voted are feeling shortchanged. Is anyone still wondering why this government is stagnant and this country is static? And is the president not aware of this?

In the same book quoted above, Shehu Dan Fodio wrote: “O leader, you have kept yourself secluded from your subjects, by means of Chamberlains and doors and you have set up high mountains before them, while God’s door is open to petitioners: there is neither Chamberlain nor doorkeeper there. A Kingdom can endure with unbelief, but it cannot endure with injustice.” In the same book, Dan Fodio further wrote that: “the crown of a leader is his integrity, his stronghold is his impartiality and his wealth is (the welfare of) his people. There can be no triumph with transgression, no rule without learning and no leadership with vengeance.” Is the president not aware of this?

President Buhari should know that he has squandered enormous goodwill both in Nigeria and outside since he took over about three years ago. He has disappointed so many people. No one would ever think that he will preside over this tragic mess. If he had done the right things, no one would have been talking of the discredited PDP by now. The three or so people who have caged him can’t deliver even one local government to him politically. Is the president not aware of this?

Because he believes in democracy, he should get ready to give account of his stewardship by next year, if he will contest again. Because he believes in God, he should also prepare to account for his deeds, as all of us will surely do one day, in the hereafter. That is the ultimate accountability we are all waiting for. History is on the side of the oppressed.

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Leadership Nigeria Newspaper,
All Rights Reserved.

Read More at: https://leadership.ng/2018/01/25/president-buhari-not-aware

http://time.com/5080099/barack-obama-prince-harry-bbc-interview/

Let the person who has ears hear!

The Unprecedented Level of Patience Shown to Buhari—the ECONOMIST

Nigerians have never shown such level of patience and tolerance towards any of their past leaders for his record and strange policies as that shown to their current leader, Muhammadu Buhari – a former military dictator now self-confessed democrat who said he came to fight corruption.

Buhari, 75, is being plagued with failures across every single sector in the economy, the like as has never been seen before. Less than a year into office, the economy plummeted into recession, an economy which had till then grown at an average rate of 7% in previous years (2011-2014). The nation’s currency lost 70% of its value, unemployment rose from 6.5 to 26%, commodity prices tripled across many quarters and the state-regulated premium motor spirit prices were hiked by 67% without practically anybody batting an eye.

There have been stern opposition to his policies however and to his very personality as well, notably in the South East and South- South regions in the country as they are called, where he both received less than 5% of the votes cast at the last Presidential election and where he has always been sternly unpopular for his history of bigotry against the people, perceived incompetence and dictatorial tendencies. But in many other regions across the country the people have rather resolved to suffer patiently, drawing up excuses for him at will, blaming everyone including his hundreds of political appointees, anything and anybody but never the man himself.

Buhari’s party, the APC, promised Nigerians unprecedented swiping changes in government and the eviction of all corrupt individuals.
One possible explanation for this could be his party’s hope narrative in the 2015 General election where citizens were promised an unprecedented crackdown on corruption and the abolition of all government waste by a man whose financial worth they declared to have been less than N30million ($150,000 then), a historical low for a former top official in the country and most especially a former leader.

In a country plagued by acute corruption problems and with the unremitted crude oil revenue scandal of 2014 still fresh in the people’s minds, many were eager for an abrupt change, the like as never been seen before. He was seen an army general, already experienced in government, with a great strength of will, tough to take on the nation’s cabal of hardened criminals. He promised to appoint only technocrats to head the country’s departments and to see out the lingering Boko Haram insurgency from the warfront. For a nation lacking basic amenities such as power supply in spite of its huge energy resources and with the lingering insurgency crises, the choice seemed easy to many- the general with integrity was the man for the country.

Talk was cheap then but now reality has taken its course. His earliest opponents pointed out to his track record and not to his speech, noting that the last time Nigeria fell into dismal failure, currency woes and commodity shortages was when he had seized power as a military general in 1983 and stating that the facts of that record contradicted the poems of his image brokers.

Many however just wanted “change” as it was then called and so voted the General and sat to wait for the sung promises. But from the onset of his government, the course was as his critics had predefined: Incompetency, bigotry and dictatorial tendencies plaguing the country.

He ignored the newly born genocide in the middle belt of the country perpetuated by the Fulani herdsmen of his kindred against the Christian communities in Benue, Plateau and later on Kaduna. He breached the Central Bank’s 2007 Act of Independence, telling it to suspend forex disbursements to steel importers and other manufacturing sectors in a bid to defend the Naira, a disastrous action which kick-started a spiral of recession.

He took 3 months to appoint his Chief of Staff, 6 months to appoint a cabinet and now 23 months and yet counting to appoint heads of agencies and board members he was so eager to fire upon his assumption into office and rose import duties on the most basic of commodities in a bid to raise government revenue.

And as for the corruption fight, the facts on ground do not show any one at all. Apart from a few officials harassed or imprisoned without court order, the country is yet to witness the first victim of the said campaign at the court stands.

Government waste is on the rise, officials publicly caught in graft acts were swiftly excused, the 2016 Budget year passed without implementation and most worrisome, the Central Bank’s foreign reserves were being shared among unknown Bureau De Change operators at variable rates at the detriment of critical manufacturing, business and banking sectors.

The government continues to praise itself but the people seem to be increasingly tired of the paraded self-righteousness. The President’s recent illness was greeted with cheers by many. Many are just tired of the government. But the remarkable level of patience shown so far has been unprecedented and many a times the general reactions towards acts of constitutional violations was one of calmness or insensitivity.

If the Change narrative of the 2015 election and the songs of man of integrity are to account for this, then Nigerians may have just certified themselves on the world map as a nation easy to fool with propaganda. An adult should be judged on his track record not on his tongue.

Culled from The Economist

Whosoever came up with these words is wise, whosoever reads, retains and reflects the wisdom in these words is made wiser!

1. ARROGANCE is just insecurity dressed up in a tuxedo trying to make others believe it’s something it’s not.

2. ARROGANCE takes a king from hail to fail… from the crown to the ground… from the throne to alone… but humility increases his name.

3. ARROGANCE is just Idiocy with muscles.

4. ARROGANCE and Ignorance are a lethal combination. It should be illegal for Proud & Dumb to share the same address.

5. ARROGANCE can’t learn, because it thinks it already knows.

6. ARROGANCE in a season of success almost guarantees humiliation in the season that follows.

7. Never let ARROGANCE intimidate you. May it teach you what you should never do.

8. ARROGANCE most times is simply Low Self Esteem in Kingly garment.

9. Confidence is when you think you’re right. ARROGANCE is when you think you’re the only right one.

10. ARROGANCE in attitude is as a result of a deeper stench in the soul.

“Listen with curiosity. Speak with honesty. Act with integrity. The greatest problem with communication is we don’t listen to understand. We listen to reply. When we listen with curiosity, we don’t listen with the intent to reply. We listen for what’s behind the words

— Roy T. Bennett,

Very true words. Often we listen from an adversarial position, not to learn but to counter, to pick holes and to pounce even on the insignificant flaw, all in our efforts to floor our supposed adversary, a position of folly if you ask me!

I saw this on the BBC and thought you should see it:

North Korea: Trump and Kim call each other mad – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-41356836

Na wa for wahala.

All unpalatable facts are lies

Time flies, dry thyme flies

evidence that time and thyme

not only rhyme but co-exist as equal

facts

All contrary evidence in my diction

is fiction

Conviction results from faction

for in faction and through faction

a feather load of fiction and fantasy

weighs twenty times

more than a tonne of RCT facts

We like omelette but condemn egg shell breaking.

Our hero is Mandela but we want him without the suffering on Robben Island.

Marcus Garvey, Steve Biko, Che, Castro……all our heroes but we condemn any and all who want to walk the rough road they chose to trudge,

We must consider them fools, raving lunatics

Since knowing the consequences of the choices they were making and still made them,

their insanity brought them pains

and give us the gains we now sip in our tall cocktail glasses