Buhari’s familiar lamentations

Source: TODAY NG


President Muhammadu Buhari has always had the misfortune of coming into the saddle at the wrong time. Everybody knows this now. On December 31, 1983 when he overthrew the regime of Shehu Shagari, he inherited a “gurgu” economy because it was standing on one leg.
In his maiden broadcast, he reeled out a myriad of crush barriers that stunted Nigeria’s development, the major one being corruption… the invidious crime which impoverishes the masses.
Under Shagari’s watch, his ministers and their collaborators pillaged the national coffers. Some of them owned private jets. One high profile politician even celebrated his attainment of a billionaire status by importing customised champagne from France.
The tiny clique displayed so much profligacy that when it was said that Nigerian masses were held captive by starvation, one of the serving ministers asked everyone to shut up, and demanded to be shown any (hungry) victim feeding from the dustbin. And none was actually found!
Buhari and his ally, the late Tunde Idiagbon, went to work.

In no time, corruption was caged. Nigerians were also delivered from the spirits of indiscipline, disorderliness and filthiness which did not involve prayers and fasting. Everyone imbibed the culture of queuing in public places. No one had the guts to haul banana peels or corn holders out of moving vehicles not to speak of freely wee-weeing or defecating by the roadsides in broad daylight.
The regime wielded the big sticks, sparing no one. By the time the no-nonsense administration was running into its 20th month, the forces against it had gathered enough strength to throw it out of the Nigerian soil. Corruption then bounced back, and the economy became sickened by it again.
Then came May, last year! After three unsuccessful attempts to stage a comeback, Buhari is back with a bang. This second time around, not as a gun-wielding general but as a politician without weapons, the Buhari regime is confronted with a situation worse than the one that subsisted about 32 years ago. He met not a “gurgu” economy but the one standing on its head. The level of looting was scary.

When oil, the mainstay of the nation’s economy, was going for over $100 per barrel, Buhari was nowhere to be found. Now, the black gold is hovering around $30 per barrel and still tumbling.
During the Shagari era, you could count the number of millionaires/multi-millionaires as well as folks who were wealthy enough to own private jets on the tips of your fingers. Today, the story is different and sickening.
Nigeria boasts of the highest number of thieving billionaires in the world. This was made possible through the misrule of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The party oversaw the squandering of over $500bn by the political class in 16 years!
Only recently, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, stunned the nation when he said that 21 individuals and firms got N54.6bn from the $2.1bn meant to procure arms to fight the insurgency in the North-east axis.

These individuals and companies included high profile clerics, traditional rulers, marabouts, ex-militants. One “jimjim” bishop, dazed by the filthy lucre that fell on his laps, warned Nigerians not to vote Jonathan out of power or he would open the Gates of Hell on the country! It is like the Devil himself was angry with the bishop’s claim to the keys and seized them from him. For, close to eight months after Jonathan was swept out of power, the bishop has not been able to make good his promise to fling the gates open.
I nearly thanked the Devil for shaming him! And by the way, when will the anti-corruption train pull up at these clerics’ doorsteps?
Then, there was another disturbing revelation by the minister that in a period of seven years (2006 -2013), N1.34 trillion was looted by 55 top officials in government and private establishments, more than a quarter of 2015 national budget. Small wonder, the economy has hemorrhaged this badly.
Now, for the president’s lamentations: Speaking on the capture of the Chibok girls at a meeting attended by some parents of the abductees, representatives of the Chibok community and the resilient members of the #BringBackOurGirls movement at the Conference Hall of the State House recently, Buhari said: “I assure you that I go to bed and wake up every day with the Chibok girls on my mind. The unfortunate incident happened before this government came into being….

“In spite of the terrible economic condition we found ourselves in, we tried to get some resources to give to the military to reorganise and equip, retrain, deploy more troops and more forcefully against Boko Haram….
“Securing the Chibok girls is my responsibility. The service chiefs and head of our security agencies will tell you that in spite of the dire financial straits that we found the country in, I continue to do my best to support their efforts in this regard. This is a Nigeria where we were exporting average of two million barrels per day at over $140 per barrel. Now, it is down to about $27 to $30.
“You have been reading in the press how they took public funds, our funds, your funds and shared it instead of buying weapons. That was the kind of leadership I succeeded. That was the kind of economy I inherited. God knows I have done my best and I will continue to do my best.”
Lamentations noted! But that has been his portion. The good news is that this time around, we are in a democratic not military dispensation. So, he has at least four years to try to fix the mess that he inherited. And maybe another four years if Allah so willed for him. As for those who failed to use the arms funds for the purpose they were meant, may they suffer loss of their dear ones as it is being experienced by the parents of the hapless Chibok girls. I did not hear you shout a loud Amen!