Hardship; Buhari’s pleasure and the rest of Nigerians
Abba Dukawa
In disguise, former president Muhammadu Buhari’s coming back to power is Allah’s blessing on him that his blindsided supporters cannot pontificate him as a Saint after returning to his creator. Either making his grave a place of seeking Allah’s blessing. Allah in his mercy granted him power again after being a serial loser for three consecutive attempts at presidential elections.
Let me make the thing clear I have been Buharist since 2003 but luckily disembarked from directionless vehicle in 2017 two years after realizing his administration would not bring much anticipated goodness to the nation. There was no administration in the history of the country that enjoyed citizens’ goodwill like PMB’s clueless administration despite inflicting hardship on us especially those who supported him with their hard-earned money to finance his campaign in 2015.
Against the backdrop, the major reasons Nigerians supported Buhari was out of the belief that as a retired army general and a former military governor, minister, and head of state, he would be able to deal with the challenges of corruption, terrorism, insurgency, and banditry head-long. To the utmost surprise of Buharists and the rest of the population, his administration was the worst government in the history of the country as nepotism and clueless direction took center stage of the administration.
Nigerians can remember his administration for treating corrupt officials with hand gloves and he did not make much difference with other past governments and indirectly Buhari appeasing corrupt officials.
In fairness to justice, the current administration is more willing to fight corruption as a minister, and other officials were suspended from office on the alleged corruption finding the conclusion of the panel investigation committee.
Unlike Buhari’s administration which granted state pardons to convicted corrupt public officials and served them pepper soup and jollof rice under the guise of drawing a line.
Let me not deviate from his happiness with the current situation the country into. His pleasure and the rest of the Nigerians no one was shocked by his utterances because he is an architect of the current situation the country experiences.
Thank God his stewardship for eight years is an eye-opener to his supporters. He is not the messiah as they thought. His envious mind followers thought when he assumed power, he would make them rich and rich to be poorer considering his short sting as head of state where his policies made many rich people destitute courtesy of rigid dictatorship. To another category of his followers, he is always right and does no wrong, and the administration’s enemies are working against the government’s intention to turn the country into a Rome overnight. The last 8 years of his misgoverned making many people overnight billionaires while making his unrepentant supporters remain destitute.
When a short video clip surfaced on the social media platforms in which he expressed his happiness over fuel subsidy removal by the current administration. Because those who disturbed him with the uncalled visit to his county home the cost of fuel would stop them from reaching out to him at Daura.
Nigerians and the unborn will not forgive his administration for destroying the country’s foundation socially and economically. boldly he said he was happy with Nigeria’s current situation when the vice president paid you a courtesy visit to your county home.
Nigerians are not surprised with his utterances he can say more than that and it would be unfair for anyone to criticize the current administration over the country’s economy.
No one in Nigeria will be surprised with his happiness for the hardship the poor people going through in the country. Under PMB’s administration, Nigeria became the world’s poverty capital – 2/3 population now live in abject poverty. It is only a person who is deaf and dumb that will say Nigeria is doing well under 8 years of his miserable administration.
He can be happy with Nigeria’s current situation because he left an empty treasury and ran the country aground to the current administration. Isn’t his administration left behind an N87 trillion huge debt overhang with the debt service to revenue ratio at 98%? debt burden in 2023 as again N12.6 billion country debt profile in 2015, By May 29, 2023, the country was left in such a stranglehold.
Former president Buhari left behind a chaotic foreign exchange system, a weak, badly devalued national currency, and a compromised and politicized Central Bank.
He should be happy after leaving a badly managed economy and handing over a bankrupt country to the present administration.
Logically to me, a former president expressing his happiness on the state of the nation to the face of the vice president who happens to be intellectual is the highest disregard for him and the president at large.
Poor people who were ready to die for Buhari from 2003 to 2015 understand he is not a messiah as they thought. The former president can be happy as his cultish followers and other Nigerians swallow the same bitter pills of the cost of living. No administration in the country enjoyed public goodwill but squandered all public goodwill for ruining the Nigerian economy because he was the perfect clueless leader not as what we called former president Jonathan.
One of the things that Nigerians would remember about his administration is the botched attempt to redesign the currency. Shutdown land border. The administration will be remembered for appointing people with corruption cases to his cabinet. his family’ alleged mess wealth staying in one of the most expensive Dubai homes that contravened best practices by an administration that was so-called fighting corruption and mismanagement.
Nigerians can remember the Buhari administration blamed till the last moment for his administration’s badly managed economy Jonathan’s administration preceded it for its woes. Even when it became clear that the duty of every administration was to improve on the efforts of its predecessor, and that eight years was more than enough to make a difference, Buhari and his people continued to blame Jonathan.
You are behind the current suffering the ordinary citizens face in affording necessities is becoming unbearable. You are happy because we are caught in a vicious cycle where the more we earn, the more we spend to survive, leaving us trapped in a never-ending struggle to make ends meet.
You are happy because the high cost of living has permeated every aspect of our lives. From the soaring food prices that leave families struggling to put meals on the table to the astronomical rent rates that make finding decent housing a distant dream for many, the burden is weighing heavily on the shoulders of Nigerians.
Nigerians can remember PMB’s administration squandered hundreds of billions of naira to support briefcase ABP farmers. Despite billions of naira loaned to briefcase farmers and lucky local rice milling companies rice production failed woefully
Let’s not forget, .
The recent increasing incidences of looting of warehouses and trucks carrying food supplies across the country is a stark warning about the potential unforeseen slide into anarchy if urgent action is not taken to address the growing cost of living crisis affecting the majority of Nigerians. The problem requires a collective effort from the government, industrialists, the same business community, and all stakeholders to address the root causes of such incidents and strive towards a more equitable society.
each passing day Nigerians express their deep anguish and frustration regarding the exorbitant cost of living in our country courtesy of PMB’s rigidity and lack of economic policies
Dukawa writes in from Abuja and can be reached at abbahydukawa@gmail.com
