I wish to congratulate all Nigerians for the successful conclusion of the presidential election.
I pray that the next four years will move Nigeria from glory to glory.
All Nigerians are winners, whether they voted for Buhari or not. There is no democracy that a 100% of the electorate will vote for a candidate. If Donald Trump were a Nigerian, he wouldn’t be President because he lost the popular votes. Today, while he panders to his base in his signature campaign promises, he sees all America as his constituency.
All campaign and election seasons are acrimonious. Friends fall out, enemies are made in the passion of the moment. But once a president emerges, it should be the time to close ranks again and throw the disagreements of the campaigns in the ocean of amnesia.
However, these are a few of my concerns I hope President Buhari will address in the next four years.
I wish to see a President in the mould of a Rodrigo Duterte. Ready to crack some heads but loved by a greater percentage of his countrymen. I want to see a benevolent dictator in the ilk of Lee Kwan Yew, Paul Kagame and Rodrigo Duterte. The international community will criticise him, they will threaten the country. He should however, remain resolute in his plans to move Nigeria on the part to greatness. At 76, what does he have to lose?
I wish to see a President that will address the concerns of Nigerians about the skewedness of his appointments in the last four years. In this wise, he needs to assuage the fears and concerns of the South-Easterners, most of whom feel they are not being well-represented in President Buhari’s government.
The President is now 76 years of age. In four years, by the grace of God, he will be 80. He has lived a good life. He is among the very few that Nigeria has been kind to. In the next four years, he should therefore be more concerned about his legacy.
He should work with people of like minds to leave a better Nigeria than the one he has lived in in the last 76 years.
There are men and women who worked for his victory all over the country and in the Diaspora. He knows a few of them. But there are millions of Nigerians whom he does not know. These men and women, boys and girls, were the unknown and the unpaid campaigners, who drew from their resources and their time to campaign for him.
Many were insulted; many were harangued and harassed but they remained unwavering and resolute in their support for him. These people have hopes and aspirations for a Buhari-led government in the next four years. They want to see a better Nigeria they can be proud of. The President should realise that all these people’s eyes are on him to do what is right for Nigeria and Nigerians. He should not disappoint them.
The anti-corruption fight of the last four years could not achieve much in the trial and conviction of high profile cases. There were accusations of bias in the prosecution of offenders. In the next four years, I wish to see far-reaching judicial reforms, the overhaul of the Temple of Justice and diligence in the prosecution of highly placed men and women accused of corruption.
More resources should be committed to the fight against insurgency and terrorism in the country.
While zoning favours the South in 2023, he should realise that the South-West and the South-South have produced presidents in the last 20 years. He should therefore start grooming a young man from the South-East, whom he will be ready to support in 2023, to have a shot at the Presidency. Mr Boris Yeltsin did this with Vladimir Putin and today, Russia, a country in the ashes in 1991, is rubbing shoulders with the US and China.
The list of my wishes is endless. Let me stop here for now.
Congratulations to the President and a hearty congratulation to all Nigerians, irrespective of political affiliations.
Oludare Taiwo, Magodo, Lagos
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