By Tony Eluemunor

Who will tell Jimmy Cliff that when  in 1969 he sang: “It is plain to see we’re in a devil situation” (Suffering in the Land reggae track), it was too early, at least for Nigeria?

He should have waited for 2022. Follow this line of thought rigorously and you will believe me that looking back, the outrage Nigerians expressed against Dr. Goodluck Jonathan’s administration over the failings of his administration now appears puzzling.

Why have those who marched and screamed against thatadministration kept quiet now?

There is this video, two minutes forty-three seconds long, of Nasir-el Rufai, excoriating the Jonathan administration in a Sahara TV interview. Therein, a visibly agitated El-Rufai justified thecondemnations they heaped on that administration, asking if Jonathan and his administration had become so incompetent and terrorism was happening and Jonathan was doing nothing, should they be praising them?

He answered his own question: “Are we supposed to do that? We are in the opposition. Our job is to look at even the good thing they are doing and say that they are not doing well. That is the job of the opposition. We have no apologies for pointing out to Nigerians that this government is incompetent and has failed and cannot provide security. Every Nigerian knows that this government has failed and cannot provide security.

“Are we politicizing it? Fine, fix the problem so that we stop politicising it. If you say that there is terrorism and we are politicizing it, fine— fix the problem so that we stop politicizing it. Are we politicalising breathing of air? Every Nigerian can breathe, so we can’t politicise it because there is no problem there. But if you fail to supply petroleum products and you say we are politicisig it,okay fix the problem so that we can’t politicise it.  If there is terrorism and you say we are politicizing it, eliminate terrorism. Five years ago, nobody (was) talking about terrorism in Nigeria; under Jonathan, it has become an industry. And you say we cannot take advantage of their failings to secure the votes of Nigerians in thenext elections? There must be something wrong with them.”

ALSO READ: INSECURITY: When will Buhari’s marching orders end?

I had to stop the video halfway without even bringing in here the portion where El-Rufai said that the Jonathan administration would stop terrorism if it wanted because an unidentified “we” have given them documents detailing how to it.

I know that the reader would wonder why I didn’t quote that part, after all, that would prove that the Buhari administration also failed to implement successfully the things detailed out years ago in adocument an unknown “we” gave to Jonathan. Some would even wish I added that El-Rufai is Governor of Kaduna state, an epicentre of national insurgency. If you share same thoughts, then you are among those I am asking today to change your agitation.

Nigerians have been shouting to, at and sometimes even against, Buhari for almost eight years but nothing changed. Buhari was even re-elected in 2015. That is the wrong agitation; making jest of him, writing him off in the social media, etc. And that same wrong agitation is on now.

The members of the different groups that rallied in a party called the All  Progressives Congress did not just mock Jonathan and the PDP, they dramatized Jonathan’s failures. They mobilised the populace, no not to march on the streets, or ascend to new heights on the social media, their message was as voluminous as it was insistent; that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had to be voted out and that the messiah was the APC.

That movement had the former University of Ife student leader, Yinka Odumakin and his dear wife to lead the activists and appeal to the “aluta continua” folks in the society. There was Pastor Tunde Bakare, too, leading the sheep out from the proverbial Egypt and into the promised land. Respected anti-corruption lawyers were among the agitators.

Human Rights groups were there aplenty and journalists made populist agitation to be a sign of remarkable journalism, as Premium whatever showed. It was a well-conducted orchestra, adequately oiled.

When Jonathan increased petrol pump price, the members of this new grouping marched—yes, they marched on the streets of Nigeria. No, not the riff riffs of the society; the leaders of the movement cameout to march on behalf of the ordinary Nigerians. One retired Army General marched with them.Last Monday, there was an audacious attack on an Abuja to Kaduna train. By the weekend, the country did not know the number of the dead or the abducted. But to castigate the Buhari administration as some PDP leaders have been doing, is not the answer. To remove PDP from office, the powers behind APC, did more than talk; after that and even after marching on the streets, they sat down and strategised.  They reached out to certain PDP members and drew them to the other side.

So, PDP had no chance in that election. But how many enemies in the PDP have mended fences now? How many former enemies are now friends?If talking is all it would take to defeat APC, then the 2023 election is over and APC has lost it. Please listen to Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC, Kogi West) right inside the Senate:”

Today, Mr. President all ofus are being threatened. Our families, our nations, our states. We need not run away from the fact that more than any other time in our nation, this is the worst instability we are facing. In fact, this is worse than the civil war. We cannot pretend that we are capable of handling the situation that is in our hands. A lot of billions have been voted (to tackle insecurity) nothing is coming out of it.”

So, Adeyemi said this is beyond what Buhari and APC could handle.The publication date of this column is 2nd April 2022. Buhari will hand over power in May 2023. The administration has been in power since 2015. We should look beyond this administration and the APC.

That is why Smart Adeyemi’s agitation and others directed to this administration to solve this problem is faulty. For almost eight years it has shown that it is incapable of solving the Boko Haram insurgencyit inherited, and then the little insurgency tagged Banditry burgeoned into another terror organization, and then the killer herders’ insurgency beclouded both.

The job before the PDP is to champion thismessage, let it sink into the minds of Nigerians that as far as APC and bad governance is concerned “you can’t be wrong and get right, no matter how hard you may try.” Jimmy Cliff sang that in 1975.

Vanguard News Nigeria