THIS DAY: President Buhari and His Legion of Sycophants

According to a THIS DAY opinion piece, President Muhammadu Buhari is being deceived by those close to him.


The biggest problem facing most African leaders is their inability to learn from history. I would have urged our dear President Muhammadu Buhari to watch the soap opera called “The Father and His Son”. This is a true life story of former President Goodluck Jonathan (outside power) and his “father”, Chief E K Clark. The Ijaw chief who was behind most of the actions and inactions of Jonathan when he was in power has suddenly started “exposing” the weaknesses of his “son”. This is the price Jonathan is paying for surrounding himself with mainly sycophants while in power. I won’t bother advising Buhari to monitor the soap opera. He has also similarly surrounded himself with a legion of sycophants. None of them is prepared to tell him to his face that he is dragging this country to the precipice. Those around him are thinking more about their gains; so, they are not prepared to drag him out of his delusion.

Only Buhari and those benefiting from his administration believe he is making progress in the war against Boko Haram, anti-corruption, the economy and other countless challenges facing this country. How can Buhari say that he is making progress in the war against Boko Haram when the situation in the North-east has gone from bad to worse? The earlier he faces the reality of his failure and changes his strategy in the war, the better for this nation.

The last five months have been horrendous for residents of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. Almost 1500 lives have been lost to Boko Haram in 151 days. We have never had it so bad. It is a shame that nobody is telling the President that he is not doing well in this war. The governors of Borno and Yobe states have suddenly become mute. Each time Buhari makes his unworkable trips to Western countries in search of help to tackle the terrorists, these sycophants hail him. They even tell us that junketing round the globe is an achievement.

We are obviously not feeling the impacts of his trips to France, Germany and United States in this war against Boko Haram. So, why is he not looking towards Russia and China? These sycophants won’t draw his attention to all these. Thanks to Allah, South African mercenaries are returning to battle the bastards called Boko Haram. I had spent the last four months agitating for this; those around Buhari were not patriotic to tell him this truth.

This is a President that told us that he would lead the war against Boko Haram from “the front.” Five months after, he is yet to visit our gallant soldiers on the war front. He is not even thinking about directly supervising the war by making himself Defence Minister. Our dear Buhari is thinking more about making himself oil minister. What an irony. As normal in this part of the world, those around him are still saluting him.

The economy of our nation is sliding and nobody around our President is prepared to tell him the truth. Several homes across the nation are struggling to survive. Many homes are sliding below poverty line. Inflation hit a record 9.4 per cent in September. Our Naira is badly battered. Our GDP is sliding. Industrial capacity utilization is plummeting. Companies are throwing out thousands of people into the labour market. Just look around you and you will see millions of jobless youth. There is hardly any home without somebody searching for job. About 60,000 construction workers have lost their jobs in the last four months, so says the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers.

The union’s President, Comrade Amechi Asugwuni, blamed the development on the country’s economic downturn. Asugwuni said: “The economy is slowing and promised infrastructure reforms are taking too long to implement.” An army of jobless youth is a time bomb that may consume this country if the government fails to act appropriately. Governance is not just about making noise about anti-corruption. A good government must create an enabling environment for industrial growth and optimum capacity utilization. Promotion of commercial agriculture is also pertinent.

Nobody is telling our President that all economic indices are on the negative side in Nigeria. The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) depreciated by N489 billion in the third quarter of 2015 as it fell from N11.218 trillion as at July 1, to N10.729 trillion on September 30. Cautious trading by investors has continued to pervade the market as a lot of them continue to watch from the sidelines, awaiting a clear economic direction from Mr. President. The Nigerian Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) recently rated the nation’s economic performance at the end of the third quarter as “low and below expectations” following inability of the federal government to put in place, policy thrusts expected to drive the economy. “It is important to note that what an average Nigerian desire at the moment is for the ‘Change’ they voted for to be translated into a significant positive impact on the real sector and the economy in general,” declared Chief Bassey Edem, NACCIMA’s National President. Those around Buhari would not allow him to read honest remarks like this one from the real sector.

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Story and picture credited to Nigeria Bulletin