On Tuesday, December 23, 2020, General Muhammadu Buhari made what has perhaps become the most irresponsible speech of his presidency when he said, inter alia, that “we share more than 1,400 kilometers of border with that country (Niger), which can only be effectively supervised by God”.
And the sad aspect of this is that his official spokesman, Femi Adesina, included that line in an official statement of the President’s audience with former Vice President, Architect Namadi Sambo, who heads ECOWAS Election Mission to Niger Republic.
That is a display of gross incompetence on the part of Adesina. If I were in his shoes, I would have omitted those words from the statement. It is the job of a spokesman to anticipate the likely consequences of any utterance by his principal.
This is the type of thing that happens when you surround yourself with incompetent sycophants, because they tell you what you want to hear. If not for Adesina’s ill advised statement, the nation would have been none the wiser about General Buhari’s cluelessness in securing our territorial integrity.
It is either Femi Adesina is inept, or he is a saboteur. Or perhaps he is both.
In any other country, when a President publicly admits that he can no longer police his nation’s borders, he will resign or be removed. Every nation that is, but Nigeria. How can a President, whose main job it is to protect the territorial integrity of a nation, abdicate that responsibility to God?
A government that admits that they cannot effectively ensure the territorial integrity of the nation they govern is like a a boat that cannot protect you from the sea, or take you to your destination. Such a boat must sink.
When he was campaigning in 2015, Muhammadu Buhari did not tell us he was an imam or pastor that would refer all problems to God. He said he could and would secure Nigeria. He said it at home and at Chatham House. He promised to lead from the front.
His exact words at Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs) on February 26, 2015, were as follows “If I Am Elected The World Will Have No Reason To Worry About Nigeria.”
Today, the international community is more worried about Nigeria than at any time since the civil war, leading the Financial Times of London to say on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, that under Buhari, “Nigeria is at risk of becoming a failed state.”
And obviously, if it has come to the point whereby we have to depend on God to police our borders, then we are not at risk of becoming a failed state, we are already one. Because the textbook definition of a failed state is “a state whose political or economic system has become so weak that the government is no longer in control”.
And that is precisely what General Buhari did by admitting that his government is not in control of Nigeria’s borders.
I have said it before, and it hears repeating, that Abubakar Shekau is more in control of his territory and forces than Buhari is in control of Nigeria’s territory and her armed forces.
Shekau will not tolerate in his domain and from his fighters what Buhari tolerates in Nigeria and from his service chiefs.
Killer herdsmen attacked and killed hundreds of Nigerians in Benue and Buhari said he was “shocked”. They moved to Plateau and Buhari called for “prayers”. Boko Haram killed almost a hundred farmers at Zabarmari and Buhari asked Nigerians to support him. Then why is he drawing salary and a ₦3.2 billion annual travel and feeding budget? If he knows he cannot do the job, then he should vacate the villa and check in your a retirement home.
I mean, do those statements sound like a man who is in control of his government? Buhari has completely abdicated his responsibilities. Under him, Nigeria has become the world headquarters for extreme poverty, the global capital for out of school children, and the world centre for cancer causing fuel. Having no government is better than having Buhari in government, because if a country has no government, the United Nations will step in and help restore order.
Now, if you relatives hear that you plan to drive from Abuja to Kaduna, they may start sharing your worldly goods and property an hour into your journey, because a trip on the Abuja-Kaduna road is almost tantamount to a journey of no return. I am not joking. This is not hyperbole. This is the sad reality of life in Nigeria under General Buhari.
That is why I feel sorry for Governor Zulum of Borno, because the man has now been reduced to crying in private, and praising Buhari in public. Zulum may perhaps want to take a cue from the Governor of Gombe state, who was honest enough to publicly proclaim that “Nigeria is facing the worst security challenge in its history.”
How can Nigerians and the international community empathise with Zulum when he is still playing politics with the terrible conditions of life in Borno? Speak the truth sir. It will not kill you. Buhari is completely clueless and unable to provide security in Aso Rock (remember the shootout there involving Aisha Buhari and Sabiu, Buhari’s nephew?). If he cannot secure his residence, is it Borno he will secure?
Even his latest boast of rescuing the Kankara Boys has been proven to be a lie. On Wednesday December 23, 2020, the Wall Street Journal revealed that they interviewed the released boys who told them categorically that a ransom was paid for their release.
What greater evidence of abdication of his responsibility could there be than these? Because, as long as there is impunity for such crimes and the government continues to pay ransoms, these abductions will continue to occur.
Even Scripture says: “When a crime is not punished quickly, people feel it is safe to do wrong.”-Ecclesiastes 8:11.
Let us face it-the Financial Times was very kind to Nigeria. If it were some other papers, they would have described Nigeria as a failed state. And as long as Buhari continues to hold sway at Aso Rock, Nigeria will continue to fail, because a pyramid does not start to collapse at the bottom. Always from the top. Always from the top!
Nigeria allowed herself to be fooled by a so called no nonsense General. However, a brute is not brave. He just has more power and energy than those he bullies. Once the brute is confronted by a power or force matching or greater than his, he will cower.
We saw the brute in Buhari when he was dealing with the Indigenous People of Biafra, and Niger Delta militants, and Shiites.
Now, we are seeing the weakness in Buhari as he squares up with killer herdsmen, bandits, and Boko Haram.
We have a absentee leader at the wheel at a time when we need a brave heart at the helm.
I just feel incredible sympathy for whoever will takeover from General Buhari. The man has made such a big mess of Nigeria, and the sad thing is that he is yet to wake up and smell the coffee, because on December 24, 2020, this man, who should be ashamed of himself, was beating his chest.
Hear Buhari: “Our social intervention measures and other economic policies are already yielding positive results.”
This is rich coming from a man who met Nigeria as the third fastest growing economy in the world, and has given us two recessions in five years.
Buhari should not think Nigeria has forgotten his ‘social intervention’ at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, 2020. #EndSARS was a turning point. The scales have fallen off the eyes of Nigerians, and we all can now see clearly that the emperor is naked. Not only is he naked in body, he is also naked mentally.
Reno’s Nuggets
Money can’t buy happiness. But poverty can’t buy happiness too. Therefore, make money, because money can buy comfort and you are more likely to be happy when you are comfortable, than when you are uncomfortable. Poverty is very conducive to enmity. Go to ghettos. You will always hear fights and quarrels. You will hardly find such in highbrow areas. What is behind the ghetto quarrels? Poverty. What is behind the highbrow bliss? Prosperity. Make money. Make it legally!
#FreeLeahSharibu #RenosNuggets
Credit: Reno Omokri