My attention was drawn to one article by Femi Adesina, The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Mr. President by some of my friends on Facebook where he had acknowledged me as among the staunch supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari from the South East extraction and of which I later confirmed when some people call to commend me when they see my write up in newspapers which I may not be aware.
I remain among patriotic Nigerians who supported the coming of Muhammadu Buhari as President under APC looking at their good and expedient promises to reinvent Nigeria for greatness! However, the question in the lips of some Nigerians now is what happened to those promises now with increase in so many things with fuel price they promised Nigerians they will bring down and sell cheaper? It is no longer news that commodities especially food stuffs are now so expensive beyond the reach of poor Nigerians in the markets.
God forbid Nigeria ends up with Kwashiorkor citizens! Despite that the PDP has since left the scene people are still crying and yearning for change! Oh yes I still remain a Buharist but with a difference. With a difference in the sense that I could still criticize where I feel government has failed or where they are not doing enough especially to fully liberate the citizens from poverty, massive corruption among our leaders, insecurity, human rights abuse and among others. And where the government has done well I would not have hesitated to commend the Government of President Buhari! In due course Nigerians will begin to see more how I was filled with joy that Muhammadu Buhari has come to wipe out our tears and make Nigeria better for all Nigerians and banish all corrupt leaders! However, while I look at the emergence of President Mohammed Buhari with its achievement so far, it is saddening that at every instance of our independence celebration, it is always of misgivings and lamentations.
The people are not talking of achievement because we the people feel our leaders are not doing enough to address our problem as a nation and this is largely because we still lack visionary leaders like our founding fathers as present crops of leaders are more interested in what they can get from our common wealth with increase on stomach infrastructure by buying the people over to support their miss-governance with massive corruption and selfish leadership that are still embedded in our political system.
How can the country break away from lamentation of dwindling economy with no meaningful development in improving welfare of poor Nigerians when cost of governance is still high with the political class going home with jumbo pay and live pension without much for the people as masters who always elect them into power? So if we must move away from lamentation and leave out from crawling, back to giant of Africa Nigeria we were, it is time the people themselves insist in electing only servant leadership.
People who are passionate to serve for the good of the nation and the people and not really coming for corrupt enrichment as we are still witnessing even though we still have Buhari as president. This must no longer be allowed. No zero tolerance for corruption as some leaders still find it difficult to step aside if found corrupt as they hang on to insist on their innocence as if nothing has happened but when investigation start peeping into their bank accounts by detective of anticorruption bodies, they are nothing but crooks and thieves elected or appointed into power and what we hear later will be freezing of their accounts and yet they would not step aside! These corrupt leaders still found themselves contesting elections and winning and even getting appointment.
Sad! Well, the only achievement still here and now is our remaining as one indivisible nation without any military incursion and a sign the country can be great again if our leaders use the opportunity to do what they need to do to make the country better through restructuring APC government promised before they took over power as 2023 election beckons! And effort for massive infrastructural development which had led to massive borrowing is still continuing and hope it is not going to be used to steal from the people as is the tradition with some of our Opinion Expectations of the citizens: The coming of Mohammed Buhari with Nigeria @ 60 political office holders where there has been massive fraud in NDDC now with off the mic slogan and nothing much is now being heard about it again because some of our lawmakers are not in any way innocent with indictment from those who accused them of compromising their position! How sad?
Nigerians have the right to protest and criticize where their expectations have not been fully met if we fast forward promises the APC came with before the people to win power. And those more critical of APC led government of President Muhammadu Buhari do not hate Mr. President as all they are asking for is good governance and those who are not in tune in telling Mr. President the truth about the need for him in changing approach to realize what APC promise the people for the betterment of Nigerians and Nigeria are the one being hypocritical with the truth because of their selfish interest.
Although, I still maintain that I refuse to regret the coming of President Muhammadu Buhari as it opened our eyes to massive corruption that has been ongoing since 1999 and even till date we got democracy. With #EndSARS protests that has been ongoing in the nation with effort from Nigerian youths, I hope our leaders now realize power do not belong to them but to the people! We also need End Jumbo pay! End live pension for past leaders! End unemployment! End insecurity! End killings! End hunger! End poverty! End Corruption! And End fake promises! This is a resolve that Nigerian youths are ready to rescue themselves from clutches of bad governance and selfish leadership in our political system!
I Hope Nigeria youths will be ready to use this kind of energy to rise against oppression and corruption to vote wisely and contest against thuggery, for we welcome only responsible, responsive and servant leadership as 2023 beckons! Finally, to fully get it right, the people must not only have power to vote but participate and remind their leaders where they have failed to deliver. The people must stop selling their consciences during election but vote for the right people!
• Emeka Anozie is campaigner for good governance, social crusader and founder/ National Coordinator – Ubani Nigeria Solidarity Youth Movement (UNSYM) and ex Private Secretary to Otunba Tos Benson, SAN, CFR, First Federal Minister of Information of the blessed memory.
