A concerned Nigerian, Yemi
Adebowale, has expressed his concerns about
the way President Muhammadu Buhari has
kicked off his reign as Nigeria's no 1 citizen in
the next four years. The article was published in
the This day newspaper.
Articles Highlights
– He is supposed to hit the ground running
considering the mirage of problems facing this
nation
– Buhari should be reminded that a forward-
looking leader like David Cameron of the United
Kingdom announced his cabinet with 48 hours of
emerging victorious
– My humble suggestion is for Buhari to quickly
go after Atiku Abubakar and collect his
comprehensive blueprint on how to tackle crisis
in virtually all the sectors of our economy
This article expresses the author's opinion
only. The views and opinions expressed here
do not necessarily represent those of
our editors.
It seems President Muhammadu Buhari doesn't
know that elections are over and it is time to
start actualizing his promises. The first few days
of a new President in office matter a great deal.
Acting authoritatively within 24 hours of being
sworn will send the right signal to all that he is
ready to implement change. Buhari has already
failed in this regard. He is supposed to hit the
ground running considering the mirage of
problems facing this nation.
The new President simply hit the ground and sat
down there. The cabal controlling Nigeria has
already ringed him. He could not appoint a
Secretary to the Federal Government, seven days
after his inauguration. He could not even
appoint a Chief of Staff. He is struggling with his
list of ministers. So many interest groups within
his ruling All Progressives Congress are holding
him by the jugular. Ogbonnaya Onu and Rotimi
Amaechi are battling for the position of SGF.
Buhari should be reminded that a forward-
looking leader like David Cameron of the United
Kingdom announced his cabinet with 48 hours of
emerging victorious.
Our dear Buhari could not even appoint a
spokesman. He ended up appointing
spokesmen. I have never heard of this in any
sane society. He has Femi Adesina and Garba
Shehu appointed as spokesmen just to satisfy
diverse interest groups. Ever heard of leaders
like Barack Obama or David Cameron operating
with spokesmen? This is an agenda for chaos in
the media management area.
I can't understand why Chief of Defence Staff,
Alex Barde and Army Chief, Kenneth Minimah
are still in office. If we are talking about change
and wiping out Boko Haram, the men in charge
of the war's Command and Control ought not to
be in office by this time. Buhari obviously has no
blueprint on how to handle Boko Haram. These
bastards have killed over 300 people in the last
seven days.
The President has directed that the defence
headquarters be moved to Maiduguri. There is
clearly no sense in this. Buhari simply wants to
jeopadise the Command and Control Centre. The
United States did not move the Pentagon to the
Gulf region during the Gulf war. Yet, they
decapitated Iraqi forces. United Kingdom did not
move its defence headquarters to the Falkland
during the war with Argentina over the Falkland.
Buhari's directive is an archaic military strategy.
This is obviously unnecessary in modern
warfare. Obviously, our dear President has no
blueprint for tackling the Boko Haram problem.
All he did during the election was to excoriate
Goodluck Jonathan's security failure. He had no
plans of his own.
The next thing the President did was to dash to
Niger and Chad to talk to their leaders about
curtailing Boko Haram. Yes, this would help in
shortening trans-border terrorism. But how will
this stop ongoing suicide bombings inside
Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states by the blood-
thirsty Boko Haram? The suicide bombers are
obviously not crossing into the country from the
neighbouring countries.
They are within the country, manufacturing and
using Improvised Explosive Devices. They are
using petrol and gas cylinders, all obtained
within the country, for suicide bombings.
Intelligence gathering and technology are key to
detecting and curtailing the deadly activities of
these suicide bombers. We need to put our
internal security in order before running to Chad
and Niger republics.
I am also surprised that heads of failed
government departments and agencies that have
done collateral damages to this country are still
in office eight days after Buhari's inauguration.
How can the leadership of the Customs and
Excise still be in office by this time? Why should
the leadership of the NNPC and the NERC still be
in office? The leadership of the FIRS is still in
office, yet we are talking about change. Change
in this direction should come within 24 hours.
We are still waiting for our dear President to act.
Buhari response to the power crisis in his
inauguration speech was also appalling. How
can the President say that, "careful studies are
under way during this transition to identify the
quickest, safest and most cost-effective way to
bring light and relief to Nigerians." So , the
President did not do a thorough study of the
power crisis and the way forward before
campaigning to take over from Jonathan? So, the
President has no blueprint on how to tackle the
power crisis? So, Buhari is just about
assembling a team to decide on what to do? That
should have been in his bag already. It is part of
what is called hitting the ground running in
governance.
I hope we have not entered a one chance bus? I
guess that was why Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo
sent him his own blueprint on the power crisis.
My humble suggestion is for Buhari to quickly go
after Atiku Abubakar and collect his
comprehensive blueprint on how to tackle crisis
in virtually all the sectors of our economy. A
better-prepared Atiku commissioned a very
reliable team to do this during his campaign for
Presidency. But the APC painfully denied him
their Presidential ticket. It is a pity that a well-
prepared Atiku may never become the President
of this country because we always celebrate
mediocrity.
Buhari has also left many bemused by his
refusal to make public his asset declaration.
Garba Shehu said, "President Muhammadu
Buhari has declared his assets to the Code of
Conduct Bureau as required by the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If anyone is
interested in knowing details of his asset worth,
such a person can avail himself or herself of the
use of Freedom of Information Act to seek the
information from the bureau." What an insult.
One of Buhari's key campaign promises was
public declaration of assets and liabilities. How
can he now do this to Nigerians? Late President
Umaru Yar'Adua made public his asset
declaration after submitting to the Code of
Conduct Bureau. Clearly, Buhari has something
to hide.
The National Secretary of the Labour Party,
Kayode Ajulo was right when he accused the
President of failing to keep the covenant he had
with Nigerians to publish his assets publicly.
Ajulo said: "The promise on the declaration of
assets made to Nigerians was to woo voters.
Now, the voters have fulfilled their part of the
agreement. It is left for Buhari to fulfill the other
part, failure of which is a clear violation of the
social contract he had with millions of
Nigerians."
Now, the President has approval for 15 Special
Advisers. What does he want to do with all these
men? These Special Advisers will also have a
retinue of special assistants. They will also need
to maintain offices and vehicles. So, where is the
belt tightening which our President promised in
this scenario? On removal of fuel subsidy,
Buhari is still shivering, eight days after
inauguration. May Allah help Nigeria.
Source:Naij
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