Beyond the politics of Buhari’s tears
It was not the first time that General Buhari would express this concern, but the depth of his fears for the country was expressed in the tears he openly shed. Initially, I thought he wept metaphorically, by itemizing the catalogue of woes. But the pictures on the pages of newspapers indicated that the General and […]
It was not the first time that General Buhari would express this concern, but the depth of his fears for the country was expressed in the tears he openly shed. Initially, I thought he wept metaphorically, by itemizing the catalogue of woes. But the pictures on the pages of newspapers indicated that the General and former Head of State lost his sense of macho to weep like a baby. It was very shocking.
No doubt, the problems facing the country are enormous. The most painful aspect of it is that the problems are man-made. Over the years, we have seen unbridled corruption, how the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government which has ruled the country since 1999 has continued to encourage corruption, giving the impression that the only way anyone could survive in Nigeria is to join the cult of corruption. At the states, governors neglect the duties of improving the living condition of their citizens. Rather, they engage in the distribution of the monthly allocations among members of the PDP, those they called ‘stakeholders,’ who include Abuja politicians, ministers, traditional rulers, and vocal opposition members. Because of this phenomenon of money-sharing, developmental issues are relegated to the background and the people suffer.
The situation is the same at the federal level where prominent Nigerians (most of them retired from various services), have relocated to Abuja from their country homes. They are also at the Aso Rock Villa, soliciting financial support from government, though they don’t render any services to government. It is for this reason that most traditional rulers, retired government officials and eminent Nigerians from across the country are singing the praises of President Goodluck Jonathan in spite of the fact that Nigerians have not seen the impact he has made in the last eleven months. Nigerians are being lied to that electricity generation is about 4,000 megawatts, the highest in the last 12 years. But we have darkness everywhere. Every day we hear of contract inflation and diversion of funds into private pockets, yet these ‘stakeholders’ continue to sing the praises of Jonathan. This is very absurd and sad.
From the various media reports, it is evident that so much money has been mobilized by government to induce voters, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members being used to conduct the polls, the security agencies, and even some election monitors to manipulate the elections in favour of Jonathan. Nigerians are aware of this, but we can’t blame the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega for all these. We blame government, because if the ruling party and Federal Government are the offenders, what else can INEC do?
General Buhari’s tears speak volumes about the imminent doom facing Nigeria. As long as massive corruption is not contained, and government engages in squandering the earning from the oil resources, then we cannot expect development in this country. You cannot sow corn and harvest yam. Even if Buhari fails to win the presidential election, he has no cause to be ashamed because the process was rigged. The challenge before Nigerians is to resist the corrupt system, expose and discourage corruption in any way they can. Else, the tears of the elder statesman will mean suffering to children unborn.
Usman Okoliko, Commissioners’ Quarters, Lokoja, Kogi State