WAKE UP: Why do you criticise your leader for the impossible?

By BASHIR ADEFAKA

You measure a performing leader by his efforts at ensuring security of lives and property, growing the economy for making the nation and the people great and comfortable, building infrastructure for industrial development of the country and, then, ensuring better grounds for free and fair electioneering system.

There was a country of Nigeria when we were told soldiers had no guns matching those of Boko Haram to the extent that our soldiers of Nigeria were reported to escape to neighbouring Cameroon due to overwhelming firepower of the enemies of state they were commanded to face in the theatre of war. That was for the last part of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s 16 years in government mostly 2009 – 2015.

President Muhammadu Buhari, there is no one even his worst enemy who can dispute that he, has made adequate investments in security and defence. If they see nothing at all, they cannot deny hearing about the Tucano planes with which United States nearly scammed us, but we eventually got. We were told that he needed to change his service chiefs only then there would be security. No one has said anything years after the service chiefs had been changed to announce to us that “we were wrong, the problem was not about service chiefs”. God is beyond everyone of them.

Now with all these as listed above, where is the blame befitting to President Buhari? Is it that those who are complaining cannot take a break sometimes to even know that God also has his own calamities that he unleashes to inflict a nation’s people that have chosen the spilling of innocent blood for a trade and look at it as one of the reasons they must stop complaining?

In this country, too much innocent blood has been taken, be it through ritual killings, extra judicial killings across places including security agents, ordinary man in the street recruited into thuggery by political elements like it was rampant in Lagos where were butchered leading to the complaint for the ban of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), drug consumed passenger bus operators and Okada operators, who go reckless, breaking traffick rules and so knock unsuspecting pedestrians down and send them to their early graves. That is about blood spilling.

What about injustice, double standard and high degree of hypocrisy? In this country, Nigeria; a country, where we all came together under the same law that bind us as one nation, one people, to live together and co-exist peacefully with the consciousness that our diversity is our strength not a thing to divide us, the media that has very vital role in ensuring peace of the individual hearts, homes, communities and the general society, because members of certain tribe or region and religion dominate it, has been used to serve a one-sided purpose thereby generating a lot of misgivings and angers in the land. To the extent that we have to take an extra-journalism measure preaching that Islam needs not a Muslim Journalist to get fair representation and that Christianity does not need a Christian Journalist to get fair representation.

Alas! The media in Nigeria has been used to favour only the South and Christianity, the more reason stigma that Muslims and Hausa-Fulani people of this country have suffered until recently when many of the truths hidden against these groups of citizens, we now have some bold, conscious Muslims owned media that uncover them. If not, when did we begin to know in this country that Hausa-Fulani and Muslims are bonafide members of this society and must be allowed to peacefully enjoy their rights to every good thing of life as guaranteed by the Constitution? Have forgotten the case of persecution of Muslims particularly in the South West and East? I personally was a victim, having been virtually sacked because my GEVC, Group Executive Vice Chairman saw that I laid a mat behind the office building and was praying. What saved that job was my Islamic leader. The boss had given me to choose between praying in the office and the job and I was required to report back the following morning to give my answer.

My intention was to return the following morning with my resignation letter but the Islamic leader said, “The company (a company that was getting fat contracts from the Nigerian Government of General Sani Abacha) belongs to them and so I cannot be angry with them. But that I should just go there and say my prayer will not affect my job…” I was then asked to go and give a stapled paper to the Personnel Manager, where I saw him trying to my name from a particular black book. I was so sad. Also we have situation in public schools you cannot practically get your wards admitted simply because those on the management of the schools are non-Muslims. My wife’s antenatal card was thrown aside at a popular general hospital in Ikeja because she, a Muslim woman, did not sing the Church sons and dance they were doing. To register for JAMB, WAEC examinations, even Personal Voter’s Card (PVC), no matter how educated the officials are, they must make the process difficult for Muslims particularly women.

All of these joined with corruption, that one dies not have religion, across religions and tribes. It is in most cases one thing that unites people easily without complaint except one cheats the other. Why does it take a road contractor that government has fully paid too long time to finish up? Why do they subject citizens to avoidable traffick stress sometimes deaths as a result because they are doing road and nobody is asking questions? Why should policeman, given gun to secure law abiding citizen against criminals, use the gun to take the life of the citizen? Why? Why should so called Omonile, who sold a plot of land to one person go and resell the land to another person and now tries the heinous act of eliminating the rightful owner of the land in order that he will not be alive to claim his property, and you still see the same murderer walking free in the street?

Police welfare. Why the problem to the extent that some members would be pushed to wanting to do the unthinkable – police strike? Why is the xxxxxxx between the pay of a police officer and others in the security sector? And why is killing innocent for not giving N100 at checkpoint the best way a policeman can think of due to bad working condition?

Many things have gone wrong but we look at the leaders especially President Muhammadu Buhari, whereas the leader plays his own role and performs his duty but you the public only rely on demanding for your rights along while you can go to any length to destroy anything for not being able to get those rights as at when you expect.

All of these have got their consequences, which are now biting us seriously. They are the same globally, reason the world is in conflict. How can one country go and cause crisis among people in countries not its domain so that when the crisis starts, he now, instead finding peace among them, it begins to supply dangerous weapons to the conflict country for the conflict to continue? More saddening, the same supplier of weapons to government forces is the one that still goes behind and supply weapons to the criminal forces challenging the corporate existence of the state.

These are the problems. But instead for us to go and rather gather together and pray, begging the Creator weeping profusely and praying fervently for forgiveness of these deeply rooted sins and crimes against the Lord and humanity so that our condition can change for better, no, people want to eat their case all the times and have it. They draw calamities upon themselves, the country, the entire global community and they now can only find the cause of the problems to be their leader, who they blame with a stupid claim that, “anything that happens, it is the leader that must be asked and blamed.” That is stupidity.

Instead for them to think straight, they go online and physically on ground defending the United States of America praying for that country while destroying their own country Nigeria, sending fake news of incitements to their own country causing, with it, the many killings that we have had. Nnamdi Kanu is one of them. Do they not think? Imagine that when Nigeria did not make it to World Cup in Qatar, they cried. But University lecturers have destroyed education system in Nigeria under the guise that government has an agreement of 2009 (was Buhari President in 2009?) it is not fulfilling. What agreement, they can’t explain. Are you owed salaries, they say no. Are you owed allowances they say no. Then what? No explanation until Buhari now again did TSA – Treasury Singular Account and the salary system, IPPIS, which they kicked against. How can you go on strike because the chief executive of the country gives direction as to how he wants to run the country successfully, economically? Now, in addition to lack of job for students you teach, after school, even to finish the school on time now is difficult. Some of us are subjected to taking our children out of Nigeria to school and it is not easy. ASUU! That category of Nigerians did not cry about this but they cried about Nigeria not making it to World Cup. Sad. There are more.

Things you criticise your leaders, particularly President Buhari, for are simply the impossible. You have insecurity that Buhari met, he was fighting the Boko Haram, Niger Delta Avengers (avenging what?), Biafraud also developed to IPOB/ESN, so also were other criminal gangs including the militia created, allegedly, by governors of Benue and Taraba. These were the insecurity he was fighting. Amidst all of these, some lawyers, media and other activists were directing Nigerians to different side of the space, raising human rights issues while criminals were being dealt with.

Repaired refineries were being bombed by Niger Delta militants, those activist lawyers and writers were saying it was human rights abuse for President Buhari to send soldiers to stop them. All of these have now come back to bounce on them, it is not only they but all of us that are suffering for those evils they did. They still cannot think straight and well. It is not the place of somebody like Baba Olusegun Obasanjo, who led coalitions upon coalitions without success to change the government since Buhari came to power, to say the government is overwhelmed.

Some Nigerians are not looking at this, they are adding to the sins of the country by going to take sides with America in Ukraine because of the volume the Dollar can give to them in exchange for their own should-have-been-most-loved currency that is the Naira. What manner of Nigerians are they?

We must change our attitude, if we truly want a better change. The government of Buhari is not your problem. You are indeed the problem of yourself. If not, what would make you either attack a just revamped railways system killing passengers on it, injuring some, kidnapping some? What could have made you attack Dangote Refinery in Lagos if truly you believe transportation and petroleum are major problems of your lives as Nigerians and if you truly mean that lack of job is part of the issues? We must thing straight from now and do good to Nigeria so that Nigeria can bless us.

*Bashir Adefaka is an Isolo, Akure South Local Government Area of Ondo State, Prince, and Lagos based Journalist. Email: omope72@gmail.com