Balarabe’s judgment of President Buhari faulty, jaundiced, unfair — Media Group

Comments made by former Governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarebe Musa, criticising the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is faulty, jaundiced biased and unfair.

According to the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO), the former Governor was so blinded by his emotions and biases, that he failed to see the obvious strides the President Buhari administration has made so far.

In a statement sent to The DEFENDER and signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke, the group stated that contrary to what Balarebe Musa had said, President Buhari had done “not just very well, but over and beyond expectations in all areas of governance, including the economy and security.

“Alhaji Balarebe Musa’s comments were unfortunate — he should have known better if he was being honest. We find serious faults in his remarks about the insecurity in the country, as they do not take into account what the country was five years ago, and what the situation is now.

“Take for instance in Kaduna State, both the Federal Government and the State Government have deployed massive human and material resources to deal with the crisis in that State.

“For a Kaduna State indigene, and one who held the prime position of Governor, decades ago, Alhaji Balarebe Musa should know better than the several decades-old issues that confront Kaduna, have never received this much attention and seriousness to resolve the crisis, up until the last five years, under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and current Governor Nasir El-Rufai.

“Members of the Armed Forces, from the Nigerian Army to the Air Force, to the Police and the DSS – have been deployed in their thousands to the warring zones in the State to combat the insecurity there. This, Alhaji Balarebe Musa has chosen to turn a blind eye to, because it does not suit his ill-intents and ugly narratives.

“In fact, the recent interventions, engineered by the government, of traditional leaders is yielding results. Peace agreements are being signed. If Balarebe Musa meant well for Kaduna, as an elder statesman, instead of being the voice of imbalanced criticism, he should be at the forefront of leading peace and reconciliation.”

On President Buhari’s management of the economy, the group responded to the former Kaduna State Governor stating that the President has provided the most exemplary, decisive, people-driven and integrity-backed leadership from the first day he assumed office, adding that he, in fact, showed exceptional captainship during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Those without a jaundiced outlook, in the international community and locally, have time after time affirmed President Buhari’s stellar leadership to the country, and in fact, to the West-African sub-region. The unfortunate pandemic has equally been managed by this President with people-driven strategic policies that have seen the country sail through the storms better than most.

“This administration put up an Economic and Sustainability Plan and set it off with over 2.3 Trillion Naira; it has also made, and continues to make intervention funds available to the tune of a total of over a trillion Naira to various industries, businesses, households, among others during this pandemic.

“The consequent results have not been complex to understand nor intangible to see: while developed countries had their economies shrink by unprecedented values, Nigeria stood among those very few countries whose economies shrunk the least despite the global economic meltdown. Our country has not faced any food shortages even at the peak of the meltdown. The country did not collapse, neither did its health system which faced an unprecedented upsurge in health cases.

“This President works for the average, everyday Nigerian. And Nigerians will tell you that things are better, notwithstanding some challenges.

“Elites like Balarebe Musa, beneficiaries of the hitherto imbalanced and convoluted system that favoured the elites against the ordinary Nigerian people must begin to see things beyond their personal interests and act like statesmen – and not be opportunistic noisemakers.”