By Dapo Akinrefon

ALHAJI Yerima Shettima is National President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum. Shettima, a human right activist, in this interview dissects resident Muhammadu Buhari two years administration and opines that the administration is a monumental disaster. Excerpts:

NIGERIA is celebrating 18 years of unbroken democratic rule, how has the country fared?

Sadly and unfortunately, we have not fared well at all. It has been a case of jumping from frying pan to fire. The rule of law is the soul of democracy anywhere in the world, but the reverse is the case in Nigeria. The government of the day contravenes court orders with reckless abandon.

Take the cases of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu and former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd) for instance.

Thank God Kanu is now out of prison, Dasuki is still there after several times of the court granting them bail. In Akwa Ibom State, Bassey Etim who went to court to contest his election loss was declared the authentic winner of his senatorial election.

Yerima Shettima is National President, Arewa Youth Consultative Forum…this is not what Nigerians expected

The court ordered the Senate to swear him in immediately and also ordered the wrong person at the Senate to step out and refund all the money he has wrongly received at the Senate. As I am talking to you now, Etim has not been sworn-in while the wrong person there is still parading himself as the authentic Senator.

Flagrant disobedienceto the rule of law

Worse still, some people who are supposed to be in jail for corrupt practices are still walking the streets free. These mentioned instances coupled with other flagrant disobedience to the rule of law by this administration have made mockery of our so called democratic experience. And that is too bad. It is not yet Uhuru for the country and regrettably, the way we are going, there seems to be no silver lining at the horizon.

How would you assess President Buhari’s two years in the saddle?

It is a monumental disaster to say the least. The man as a person means well but his undoing is that he surrounds himself with some characters that are supposed to be behind the bars. Some of these characters hold sensitive positions in his government, a situation that gives them opportunity to mislead the president.

Worse still, some of these characters that grounded Nigeria while in the PDP are already in the APC haven. Anytime they are exposed, the next thing they do is jump from PDP to APC and their sins would be forgiven! How long are we to tolerate that? In addition to that, the situation of his health is another setback for his administration.

But in 2019, we, with the assistance of other well-meaning Nigerians, we will put such characters in check. We will put machinery in place towards attaining a new order because our beloved country desires a new order. We will make sure that a new order that will put an end to ‘the business as usual’ is put in place. Without that, Nigeria will still continue to be groping in the dark.

Do you think the APC-led government has lived up to the expectation of Nigerians?

No, not at all. I am not really comfortable because it is clear to everybody in the country that the hope of the citizenry has been dashed by this government. This government at inception enjoyed a lot of support and goodwill from the people who were hoping that we could get an alternative and headway if we could get a new government in place. And that was why they trooped out en masse to give the APC the kind of support and mandate it got against the ruling party. And the opposition party won an election the kind that has never happened in the history of this country.

Eventually we had a new government in place but the hope of the people has been dashed. The hope has been destroyed completely. So, the state of the nation under APC-led government has not been satisfactory. Economy is comatose.

A lot of things are not just normal. Truly this was not what Nigerians bargained for. And so, in essence, a lot of Nigerians are not really happy. I mean every section of the country and this is totally uncalled for.

In fact, Nigerians are disappointed. Sincerely speaking, this APC-led administration is a failure. It is a total and monumental failure because this is not what Nigerians expected when they were giving the party their mandate in 2015.

Do you see prospect in the Buhari administration?

Not really because unfolding events in Nigeria today give room for concern and worry. Over and over, we are good in hoping; and every problem of yesterday becomes insignificant compared to what will happen today. It has been a case of our yesterday being better than our today. And the problems, rather than decreasing are regrettably increasing. And if care is not taken, the country would be run aground.