Woodrow Wilson in his famous quote, “if you want to make enemies, try to change something” captured the nature of human reaction to change.
On March 28, 2015, “change” was locked in a battle with “continuity” in Nigeria. About 12,853,162 Nigerians voted against a change of leader as President Muhammadu Buhari emerged victorious with 15,424,921 votes.
The change concept associated with Buhari can be described as bi-dimensional. A new candidate represents a change from the current (or past). More instructively is the campaign slogan of the All Progressives Congress, change.
President Barack Obama rode to power leveraging on the largely untapped and evolving power of social media in 2008. The theme of his campaign was “change”. Could this have inspired the APC or was it the logically appropriate slogan given the decade of unbridled corruption, infrastructural deficit, growing army of jobless youths, insecurity and other malaise that characterised Nigeria?
As it would be expected in any campaign, the promises came in torrents. The candidates tried to “outpromise” each other. From paying N5,000 monthly to the poorest Nigerians to fighting corruption with technology, the promises rolled in till March 28, 2015 when Nigerians exercised their constitutional right to vote.
Repeatedly, Buhari announced the focal point of his manifesto; economy, security and corruption.
Six months into the administration, opinions remain divided as they were in his hundredth day in office. Undoubtedly, Buhari has lost some of his supporters. The faith of some of his subsisting supporters is hanging in the balance. In contrast, the disbelievers in “Buharism” both paid and unpaid have found renewed confidence and vigour in their antagonism. The reason for this is not far-fetched.
There is an ostensible growing dissatisfaction with the performance of the Buhari-led government which has led some of his supporters to jump into regret conclusions.
Indeed, the war on terror has not been won and may be far from being won. Over 1,000 Nigerians have been killed by Boko Haram. No corrupt government official has been jailed to the delight of Nigerians and certainly user experience of Nigerian citizens does not suggest improvement in the economy. The queues have returned to the filling station.
Buhari announced a December deadline to end Boko Haram insurgency. I find this politically incorrect. We are in the month of December and there are no promising signs of victory. The United States has not won the war on terrorism since the infamous 9/11 attack.
Defeating terrorism goes beyond investing in ammunition and improving welfare packages of the gallant soldiers. What more? Intelligence gathering!
The Federal Government should frequently provide Nigerians with details of its continuous efforts to combat terrorism. Also, they must show compassion and offer compensation to victims of terror. With frequent attacks, the government must avoid the danger of losing its sensitivity to the horrendous hardship and trauma that come with every bomb attack. The world stood with France after the attack that cost 150 lives. Compare that with the statistics of casualties in Nigeria and you realise our sense of compassion is dying. No bomb attack should be treated as just another news item.
Beyond what has been dubbed as trial by the media, no remarkable progress has been made to jail looters of our common wealth. Perhaps, nothing is remarkable until the pilferers of our collective heritage languish in prison having coughed up swallowed money. Their jail term is the much needed psychological cleansing needed to gain closure on the trauma being experienced by hapless Nigerians as they helplessly read of politicians and ex-government officials buying choice properties in choice countries, increased private jet by owners of unexplainable income and medical tourism at the slightest provocation.
The Judiciary has attributed the lack of political will to successfully prosecute high profile cases of corruption. While Buhari, a converted democrat, is keen to follow due process, Nigerians are eager for justice.
It will suggest a lack of rudimentary economic knowledge for anyone to expect the Nigerian economy to flourish within six months granted the dwindling oil fortunes. Nonetheless, it will be soothing to know that we have assiduously embarked on the long journey to economic revitalisation.
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