Promise of CHANGE or change of PROMISES?

The emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election was received with wide celebrations across the country and beyond. Nigerians were afforded the freedom from a cabal led administration with alarming corruption , high level of nepotism, insecurity in the country, dwindling economy and a host of others. Nigerians voted for change!

President Buhari won the keenly contested election which raised and aroused a lot of emotions not because he has a good academic background, or because of his good looks and even despite his “sins” as a military dictator between 1983-1985, he was forgiven with the popular support he enjoyed through the whole country. President Muhammadu Buhari and his change mantra campaigned with a various promises to be delivered to the populace, the readiness to fight corruption among others. In fact 70% of Nigerians believed the messiah was here

It was with rude shock that I received the news that president Buhari declared on national dailies that his administration had no credible intelligence on the Chibok girls. With no prejudice to the president’s unseen efforts, this is one of the greatest political betrayals in Nigeria’s history. For an administration which wnjoyed wide publicity on social media as a result of its campaign for the release of the Chibok girls through the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. It is now apparent that the APC-led government only pretended to care in order to sway ever unknowing Nigerians.
Boko haram has been one of the greatest embarrassments to the administration because of the unresolved fate of innocent lives being taken in the North-East. The president technically promised that Boko Haram would be defeated within four months of its administration but the reality is the dreaded group is still wielding a lot of power a in more than 10months of the administration.

The federal government took its propaganda to another level when the image maker of the government; Lai Mohammed said the administration had technically defeated the terrorist group in December in other to meet the December 31st deadline by the president. It is never a good idea for politicians to dictate deadlines for achieving g victory in counter –insurgency campaigns. The truism is increasingly apt; more than 200lives has been lost since this “technical victory”. Rather than trying to garner cheap popularity what the administration should have done is to announce the gradual degradation of the Boko-Haram’s ability to territory and a resolve to increase intelligence driven counter-terrorism campaign.

The mystery 2.2trillion that the federal government alleged to have saved in the past six month due to the success of the single treasury account is also intriguing. I will not dismiss the story out rightly as a lie but how does the government which can barely pay workers salary save so much in such a short time and nothing has change in our fortunes? the missing budget saga is another issue that calls for attention because how does the federal govt explain the large sum of money that was “sneaked” into the budget? We need genuine answers based on sincere analysis , not more lies or excuses exonerating themselves against glaring failures.

Rather than continue to peddle propaganda and spread false cheer about the progress we have made, I think it is high time we admitted that Nigeria is warped and our systems are collapsing, unwieldy and unsustainable.

It is my believe as an enthusiast of the success of this change that this administration can get the dashed hopes and can still retreat from its present trajectory of high expectations and eventual disappointment. It must adopt a more realistic evaluation of its deeds and be honest with the Nigerian people. It must communicate with greater clarity, intelligence, sensitivity and integrity.


Solomon Tolulope Ogunbodede writes from Faculty of Law,Adekunle Ajasin University,
Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State.

Truth is, we have been SHORT-CHANGED!

This one is a case of change of promises one chance things

Good Nigerians now speaking up. we can't continue with this suffering and smiling syndrome

Nigeria is defined as a country where mediocrity reigns supreme in most spheres of human live, most especially experienced in the calibre of leaders elected into public office.
In summary, Nigeria is a huge joke.

erunz:
Good Nigerians now speaking up. we can't continue with this suffering and smiling syndrome

You couldn't have said it better bro.