The streets have become an epistemic community where the mood of
the country and the direction of thoughts are expressed, moulded,
patterned and structured. When one interacts with the streets, one
is able to know who is popular and unpopular, which person governs
well and which does not; the streets’ engagement is important in
sampling the dynamics of thoughts of the ordinary Nigerian who
bears the brunt of present mis-governance. Unfortunately, the
leadership of the country is surrounded by sycophants who create
the impression that without President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria
cannot get to the Promised Land. To this set of people, who thought
there is no alternative to Buhari, they must be living in fools’
paradise as the President has never been the best for the country
but a candidate of circumstance and protest vote in 2015. The same
reasons of ethnic sentiments, religious favouritism and nepotism
which made Nigerians reject Buhari in the serial election losses of
2003, 2007 and 2011 have now become real in their consequences. All
these elements of his characterisation have played out in
governance, fighting corruption and management of the economy.
Nigerians have moved from “It must be Buhari” (Sai Buhari) of
2015 to Káì Buhari! From Sai Buhari to Kai Buhari is how ordinary
Nigerians have constructed the social reality which confronts them
in present day Nigeria. As a trained sociologist, the society is my
laboratory and I get data through constant interaction with it. I
had gone to purchase brake pad and shock absorber for my ailing car
owing to the deplorable state of roads in my state. The spare parts
seller told me the brake pad which I bought last year for around
N1000 now costs N2,500. When I screamed, he simply shuddered and
said, “We are in the season of change, Oga. Na Buhari time. You
know na Kai Buhari we dey now. By next year, e go be Go Buhari”.
After hearing the submission, I marvelled at how ordinary Nigerians
construct social reality and map out strategies to make their life
better for the future. Those who suffer bad policy and poor
governance are planning ahead while the horse riders and their
cronies think they can continue to ride the horse for life.
President Buhari as the proverbial horse rider is a big man who is
not on the ground to feel the pains of those being governed. The
fatalities recorded as a result of the killer Fulani herdsmen have
surpassed the record of Boko Haram. Yet, the Buhari government has
been incapacitated by clannish considerations while farming
communities are degraded. Buhari and his government have shown that
man is born equally but some are more equal than others by not
arresting and prosecuting the herdsmen who are stretching the
limits of tolerance. A seemingly contradictory government wants One
Nigeria while tearing it apart by its action and inaction. Peace
eludes settlements where injustice is allowed to thrive. How did we
get here?
With the woeful performance of Goodluck Jonathan, and the new
found alliance with the regional godfather who needed mainstream
relevance, a lot of money was pumped into presenting a different
narrative of the man, Buhari. Note that the same political
characters had branded Buhari bad in three general elections which
he lost. In Buhari’s Chatham House 2015 Speech, before his
electoral victory, he presented himself as a converted democrat
“who is ready to operate under democratic norms”. And for me, rule
of law is one of the norms constantly flouted by this government.
Many court rulings have been disobeyed. Personal affairs such as
health and the accident of his son get jet-speed attention but the
health, education needs, unemployment and electricity needs of
Nigerians, and carnage of farming communities by Fulani herdsmen
get the country’s unification consideration and setting up of a
committee and no arrest. He only begs the victims to accommodate
their fellow countrymen. Such an approach to national issues is
unpardonable as he had promised Nigerians in his packaged 2015
Chatham House speech never to allow problems to irresponsibly
fester. Hear him: “Let me assure you that if I am elected
President, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as
it has had to recently; that Nigeria will return to its stabilising
role in West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian territory will
ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to
the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service; we will give
them adequate and modern arms and ammunition to work with; we will
improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke Boko
Haram’s financial and equipment channels; we will be tough on
terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a
comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural
development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected
areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to
irresponsibly fester.”
While successes have been recorded in the area of reclaiming
territories from Boko Haram (that still kills) and recovering parts
of the looted funds, Buhari has failed to switch on the inner light
of his vehicle which accommodates political complicits and
untouchable tribal comrades. He should know that those who purport
to clean a dirty town must start from within. Unlike Boko Haram
that is restricted to the North-East, Fulani herdsmen are present
widespread nationwide. Yet, the President and associates want
colonies established for herders noted for killing, raping and
destroying livelihoods.
As a criminologist, the spread of Fulani herdsmen in virtually
all the nook and cranny of the country portend security threats
going by their activities in the last decade. Accumulation by
dispossession has become their trademark while they sabotage the
economy of others to sustain their livelihoods. I should also warn
that increasing distrust in the capability of the state to secure
lives and property allows people to resort to self-help. This
should not be allowed to happen.
In the area of economic governance, we can’t celebrate either.
The economy has grown on paper while the masses get choked to death
in the same economy that favours the rich. To know if there is
development, we should ask the President the same question he asked
Goodluck Jonathan then: What is happening to poverty? What is
happening to unemployment? What is happening to inequality? As the
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Buhari has failed to ensure
governance and accountability in that sector. Today, Nigerians buy
petrol at N180 per litre or more owing to an unfulfilled promise to
fix our refineries. What this implies is that Buhari is not the
messiah we are looking for. He can only do his bit while others
continue from there. Therefore, Kai Buhari underscores the masses’
period of agonising and warning to Buhari. Certainly, the lice of
unresolved problems of unemployment, health, education, economy,
Fulani herdsmen terrorism continues to stain our hands. A
Presidency that approaches public issues with jet-speed, and
bridges inequality gap is desired. But can the leopard change its
skin? 2019 presents the opportunity for voters to either say káre
Buhari (welldone Buhari) or Go Buhari as my spare part seller
rightly puts it.
Dr Tade, a sociologist, sent this piece from Ibadan via
dotad2003@yahoo.com
The streets have become an epistemic community where the mood of
the country and the direction of thoughts are expressed, moulded,
patterned and structured. When one interacts with the streets, one
is able to know who is popular and unpopular, which person governs
well and which does not; the streets’ engagement is important in
sampling the dynamics of thoughts of the ordinary Nigerian who
bears the brunt of present mis-governance. Unfortunately, the
leadership of the country is surrounded by sycophants who create
the impression that without President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria
cannot get to the Promised Land. To this set of people, who thought
there is no alternative to Buhari, they must be living in fools’
paradise as the President has never been the best for the country
but a candidate of circumstance and protest vote in 2015. The same
reasons of ethnic sentiments, religious favouritism and nepotism
which made Nigerians reject Buhari in the serial election losses of
2003, 2007 and 2011 have now become real in their consequences. All
these elements of his characterisation have played out in
governance, fighting corruption and management of the
economy.
Nigerians have moved from “It must be Buhari” (Sai Buhari) of
2015 to Káì Buhari! From Sai Buhari to Kai Buhari is how ordinary
Nigerians have constructed the social reality which confronts them
in present day Nigeria. As a trained sociologist, the society is my
laboratory and I get data through constant interaction with it. I
had gone to purchase brake pad and shock absorber for my ailing car
owing to the deplorable state of roads in my state. The spare parts
seller told me the brake pad which I bought last year for around
N1000 now costs N2,500. When I screamed, he simply shuddered and
said, “We are in the season of change, Oga. Na Buhari time. You
know na Kai Buhari we dey now. By next year, e go be Go Buhari”.
After hearing the submission, I marvelled at how ordinary Nigerians
construct social reality and map out strategies to make their life
better for the future. Those who suffer bad policy and poor
governance are planning ahead while the horse riders and their
cronies think they can continue to ride the horse for life.
President Buhari as the proverbial horse rider is a big man who is
not on the ground to feel the pains of those being governed. The
fatalities recorded as a result of the killer Fulani herdsmen have
surpassed the record of Boko Haram. Yet, the Buhari government has
been incapacitated by clannish considerations while farming
communities are degraded. Buhari and his government have shown that
man is born equally but some are more equal than others by not
arresting and prosecuting the herdsmen who are stretching the
limits of tolerance. A seemingly contradictory government wants One
Nigeria while tearing it apart by its action and inaction. Peace
eludes settlements where injustice is allowed to thrive. How did we
get here?
With the woeful performance of Goodluck Jonathan, and the new
found alliance with the regional godfather who needed mainstream
relevance, a lot of money was pumped into presenting a different
narrative of the man, Buhari. Note that the same political
characters had branded Buhari bad in three general elections which
he lost. In Buhari’s Chatham House 2015 Speech, before his
electoral victory, he presented himself as a converted democrat
“who is ready to operate under democratic norms”. And for me, rule
of law is one of the norms constantly flouted by this government.
Many court rulings have been disobeyed. Personal affairs such as
health and the accident of his son get jet-speed attention but the
health, education needs, unemployment and electricity needs of
Nigerians, and carnage of farming communities by Fulani herdsmen
get the country’s unification consideration and setting up of a
committee and no arrest. He only begs the victims to accommodate
their fellow countrymen. Such an approach to national issues is
unpardonable as he had promised Nigerians in his packaged 2015
Chatham House speech never to allow problems to irresponsibly
fester. Hear him: “Let me assure you that if I am elected
President, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as
it has had to recently; that Nigeria will return to its stabilising
role in West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian territory will
ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to
the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service; we will give
them adequate and modern arms and ammunition to work with; we will
improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke Boko
Haram’s financial and equipment channels; we will be tough on
terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a
comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural
development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected
areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to
irresponsibly fester.”
While successes have been recorded in the area of reclaiming
territories from Boko Haram (that still kills) and recovering parts
of the looted funds, Buhari has failed to switch on the inner light
of his vehicle which accommodates political complicits and
untouchable tribal comrades. He should know that those who purport
to clean a dirty town must start from within. Unlike Boko Haram
that is restricted to the North-East, Fulani herdsmen are present
widespread nationwide. Yet, the President and associates want
colonies established for herders noted for killing, raping and
destroying livelihoods.
As a criminologist, the spread of Fulani herdsmen in virtually
all the nook and cranny of the country portend security threats
going by their activities in the last decade. Accumulation by
dispossession has become their trademark while they sabotage the
economy of others to sustain their livelihoods. I should also warn
that increasing distrust in the capability of the state to secure
lives and property allows people to resort to self-help. This
should not be allowed to happen.
In the area of economic governance, we can’t celebrate either.
The economy has grown on paper while the masses get choked to death
in the same economy that favours the rich. To know if there is
development, we should ask the President the same question he asked
Goodluck Jonathan then: What is happening to poverty? What is
happening to unemployment? What is happening to inequality? As the
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Buhari has failed to ensure
governance and accountability in that sector. Today, Nigerians buy
petrol at N180 per litre or more owing to an unfulfilled promise to
fix our refineries. What this implies is that Buhari is not the
messiah we are looking for. He can only do his bit while others
continue from there. Therefore, Kai Buhari underscores the masses’
period of agonising and warning to Buhari. Certainly, the lice of
unresolved problems of unemployment, health, education, economy,
Fulani herdsmen terrorism continues to stain our hands. A
Presidency that approaches public issues with jet-speed, and
bridges inequality gap is desired. But can the leopard change its
skin? 2019 presents the opportunity for voters to either say káre
Buhari (welldone Buhari) or Go Buhari as my spare part seller
rightly puts it.
Dr Tade, a sociologist, sent this piece from Ibadan via
dotad2003@yahoo.com
Read more https://nairalaw.com/from-sai-buhari-to-kai-buhari/