₦airaland Forum

It bears repeating that President is a different kind of leader, who just happens to be a victim of the tyranny of high expectations.
— Garba Shehu (@GarShehu) August 14, 2016

Cabinet members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration may now be listening to the incessant cries of Nigerians en masse. Recently, the Presidency confirmed that “the last couple of weeks have witnessed the heaviest public criticism of the Muhammadu Buhari administration since he came to power.” More than a year since the citizens voted for change, many people believe that the only thing that has changed are the electoral promises, as the government fails to meet up with many of its set deadlines. Why is it then, that the people are being likened to tyrants who are expecting too much?

On Sunday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, rose to defend the president regarding claims by many Nigerians that they are not seeing the change they voted for. The presidential media aide even went as far as making a case for the present government, stating that Nigeria is doing what the “combined strength of Europe and America have failed to do” – ‘victory’ over the Boko Haram sect, when the world leaders “are still at work trying to contain the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, ISIS, which threat sadly continues to become more potent.”

Garba Shehu is a veteran journalist and a former newspaper editor. He has been the media handler of the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar. Prior to his current appointment, he served as the Director, Media and Publicity for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council. His previous position pitches him as someone with a robust knowledge of the campaign promises of the APC. As expected, Shehu, being a part of the core component of the present government, is a lesser critic of the Nigerian government.

Before this time, in what now appears to be a new trend, the Minister of Information Lai Mohammed said: “I believe that my only sin is talking too much before the elections and now I have to pay the price.” His reaction came in response to questions on the performance of the government, last June. One issue this is highlighting is whether Nigerians are for more than what they were promised or if they (Nigerians) were the ones that set those deadlines for the government. Although some of these promises, on which the mandate of the present administration came, have been denied by those who made them, the citizens are now speaking up about the current state of the country which is now worse than it was, in many terms.

Even though the campaigns that ushered in the present government may be hilarious in retrospect, Nigerians know that change is not an event, rather a process. Nevertheless, the people should be able to see the direction in which the country is being driven. The economic policies by the government have been widely criticised as too rigid and archaic, implementation is slow and priorities are not properly set. From the unfulfilled promise of wiping insurgency out of the North-East before the end of 2015, to the failing promise of making 1 Naira equal to 1 dollar, Nigerians can only hope that the next 3 years will be better.

Until then, the Nigerian President and his administration need to understand that Nigerians are neither tyrants who expect too much, nor people asking for things they were not promised. They are only innocent citizens who feel deceived and some supporters of the government who can no longer hold their breath concerning the way events are unfolding in the country. Buhari is just a prisoner of his own promises, which he must fulfil to justify the confidence of the masses reposed in him.

Heromaniaa:
He is a victim of gross incompetence and a total lack of human sympathy. Resign and let someone else steer the ship.