Insight:- BUHARI; THE TRAGEDY OF A PRESIDENT - Ikenna Oodo

BUHARI; THE TRAGEDY OF A PRESIDENT -  Ikenna Oodo 

Buhari and his kingsmen are spearheading the worst reign of terror in Nigeria.

Oodo Ikenna with President Buhari

Nigeria has lost the bearing and fastly grinding to a screeching halt. The political

gladiators of the nation are stabbing it with impunities. The praise-singers who see rampaging evils and canonize it are catalyst to the organized mass carnage. All of us, except those who have ganged themselves up against the rest of us under the cloak of politics to decide our fate in this country are helpless and hopeless at a go.

Buhari and his kingsmen are spearheading the worst reign of terror in Nigeria. They have not only succeeded in pulling Nigeria from the pannicle of fame to abyss of shame, but has equally gravely mired in the effluvium of pilferage and profligacy of resources, pillages of debts and gerrymanderism. With political subterfuge and blame-games, insecurities and economic putrescence replacing good governance. 

The uncertainties in market prices robs us sleep. A product is sold this rate today, tomorrow it goes for a higher rate, next tomorrow it skyrockets, and the trend continues. We are all living witnesses to when a paint of garri was sold 350 naira. Today, that same paint of garri is sold 1500 naira. How about paints of rice and beans that were sold 600 and 700 respectively? they are 4times the former prices now. 

Nobody is talking about buying bag of rice or beans and myriads of other stuffs again. They are now luxury afforded by those overseeing the destruction of the affairs of their fellow Nigerians. How do we begin to explain to people that Buhari has turned the basic needs of man to luxury? How much is the minimum wage? How many states pay the minimum wage? When last were the civil servants paid? Situation keeps deteriorating on daily basis without a glimmer of hope. How long shall we continue to endure?

This is a nation overwhelmed with human resources and natural endowment, enough to go round but the wickedness and deliberate mismanagement of its leaders and purposeful refusal to rise to responsibility has reduced the giant of Africa to big-for-nothing. The avoidable continual inflation in the cost of living is worrisome. This is a matter of national concern. It Is enough to make all of us loose sleep. 

Many years ago, the former US Ambassador, Carrington said the following about Nigeria "at Independence, Nigeria was among the most richly endowed nations of the world in resources. Today, Nigeria is one of the world's leading oil producing nations. But like the cobbler whose children often go without shoes, it frequently, is unable to supply its own people with fuel. Inspite of its vast potentials, it is today ranked by the United Nations as one of the fifteen poorest countries in the world. Its wealth has been squandered and many of its best and brightest, in frustration and fear, have chosen to live in exile"

There is an obvious conspiracy of eloquent silence in the country. Men and women have buried their conscience in the dung heaps.

While the state is in delirium tremens; the rest of us, particularly those who have nothing except monetary largesse to loose if they speak up are aloof, watching the ship capsize. 

Has anybody in Nigeria whose voice could be heard and heeded a good reason to keep silent in the prevailing economic situation? You might feel you are free from the crushing economic realities of the country because you are well placed. As thoughtless as that maybe, I remind you the anthems of Juan Arias "I am free when I feel ashamed at the enslavement of my neighbor. I am free when my voice contributes to shaping the course of history"

This organized taciturnity in the face of government high-handedness is drilling irreparable pains in the masses and future generations, who as the victims of criminal neglects will have no alternatives except mass drift to anarchy and wallow in the ruins of destruction and criminalities to keep life afloat.

The nation is what it is today because of the failure of its leadership. Its not that our leaders do not know how to do it better, they are just consciously wicked and deliberately chose to be profound failures because they take special delight in seeing the masses suffer. 

In 1963, Achebe said that the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility.

© Oodo Ikenna 

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