Opinion: Buhari, three months after. By Pius Oyeniran Abioje
SIR: When a highly respected person suggested to me to join the Buhari Support Group, I declined to avoid handcuffs. The Yoruba say once a person eats dodo(fried plantain), he or she can no longer s'ododo (tell the truth); it's a play on words; so cute. The former President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan fed Drs. Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe with dodo; the same way the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua fed Prof. Dora Akunyili (now late) with dodo, by appointing her as Communications and Information Minister, to defend indefensible governmental policies and actions. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fed Prof. Maurice Iwu with plenty of dodo, and he perpetrated stunning electoral wuruwuru (fraud) for the party.
A virtual or actual member of the Buhari Support Group (BSG) spoke on Radio Kwara, Ilorin, recently. He said the President Muhammadu Buhari is justified in giving all the key positions to the Northwest, which is Buhari's zone, because what matters is honest and competent persons. He said southern Nigeria has discredited itself with the corruption allegations leveled against former Governors Raji Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi. Abati will shudder to see that he was using the same type of logic to defend Jonathan. Because Fashola and Amaechi are suspected of corruption, everybody in southern Nigeria is corrupt; implying incorruptible persons can be found only in northern Nigeria, with particular reference to Buhari's Northwest.
Buhari has demonstrated that he is prone to imbalance, not just in his appointments, but also in the way he described jihad wars as a "great civilisation" in his inaugural speech; and in spite of what he called "empty treasury", he sold dollars cheaply to pilgrimage-makers without even attending to the instability in fuel price at that point. Buhari has also not demonstrated balance in his lip service to dialogue with the Boko Haram rebels. They are rebelling, let's give them a voice. Why are Nigerian rulers running away from listening to the grudges of the rebels? They are saying Nigeria is violating Islamic order as they understand it. Allow them to speak if you are sure of your own positions and actions.
Every time the rebels call for dialogue, even when they wanted Mama Sarah Jubril to midwife the connection, they were shunned. What is fishy? And how can it now be said that all those who said Buhari was not the expected Messiah were wrong? Nigerians were yearning for change. They were tired of bloodshed and mass abject poverty. They were tired of political instability. What steps is Buhari taking to stop bloodshed and stabilise Nigeria politico-economically? None. His war with Boko Haram is futile, and he will keep pouring Nigeria's human and material resources into it.
After three months in office, Buhari has nothing concrete and definite to show. Be patient, be patient - the butterfly is flying away into the jungle.
Pius Oyeniran Abioje, PhD,
University of Ilorin
Cloud Tag: What's trending
Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.
Kazeem Gbolagade Shuaib Jawondo Bashirat Bola Bello Mary Arinde Muhammed Taofeeq Abdulrazaq Kolawole Akande Idris Garuba Ishola Moses Abiodun Ariyo Doyin Awoyale Mopelola Abdulmaliq-Bashir Iyabo Dupe Adekeye Memunat Monsuma Oluwole Dupe Kwara Central Dunmade Micheal Imodu-Ganmo Road Harmony Holdings Hakeem Lawal AbdulGafar Tosho Usman Yunusa Sarakite TESCOM 2025 Femi Ogunsola Reuben Paraje Centre For Community Empowerment And Poverty Eradication Samuel Olusegun Adedayo Mohammed Yisa AbdulRasaq Abdulmajeed Alaro Olusegun Adeniyi Danladi John Mayokun Dada JAAC General Hospital, Offa Olaitan Buraimoh Ita-Nmo Market Wahab Femi Agbaje Aasiyat Bello Oyedepo Iyeru Grammar School Saidu Isa Ilorin Like-Minds Kwara State Governor Haliru Dantoro Abdulrosheed Okiki Ajibike Katibi Bayo Onimago Quranic Recitation Competition Hajj Kwara State Television Plat Technologies Ubandawaki United Nigeria Congress Party Gbenga Awoyale Abdulfatai Ahmed The Herald Yusuf Lanre Badmas Salman Alada Tanke Road Baba Issa Awoye Fatai Olodo Yoonus Kola Olatinwo Mohammed Danjuma Yaman Afonja Kwara 2023 Aisha Ahman Pategi Ayobami Akanbi Ramat Oganija Clement Yomi Adeboye Laduba Rihanat Ajia Kayode Issa Ayobola Ipinlaiye NITDA Elerin Of Adanla NULGE Code Of Conduct

