By Douglas Anele

Supposing a plebiscite or opinion poll is conducted today asking ordinary Nigerians to answer “Yes” or “No” to the simple question: “Has your existential condition improved since the All Progressives Congress (APC) led by President Muhammadu Buhari took over power at the federal level,” majority of them particularly in the south would say a resounding “No.” The reason for that negative response is not far-fetched.

Repercussions of incompetent and mediocre handling of the country’s affairs by the President and his crowd of alleluia chorus boys and girls have reached such a dreadful level that even an increasing number of diehard buharimaniacs whose capacity for objective thinking is still functioning are beginning to complain bitterly because of steep deterioration in the living conditions of ordinary people within a relatively short period.

In the north where the President still enjoys pernicious cult following, for example, several prominent traditional rulers, politicians, academics, religious leaders and others have expressed serious disappointment with the sorry state of affairs in the country under Buhari’s watch.

Of course only those benefitting from the frustrating situation and obdurate optimists still believe that Buhari can still turn things around with less than two years to the end of his second term.

Now, despite mounting evidence of “wobbling and fumbling” in the last six years a handful of  sycophants have the audacity to praise the President for his achievements and try to rationalise or explain away escalating insecurity, asphyxiating economic conditions, and expanding eddies of corruption with the gratuitous claim that Nigeria’s problems did not start with Buhari and, therefore he should not be blamed for what is happening right now.

The other side of that exculpatory nonsense is the irritating blame game played by Buhari and top members of his administration by always looking at the rear view mirror to find scapegoats in previous administrations, especially the immediate past one headed by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.

The obsession with blaming others and refusal to take responsibility is an admission of failure based on the fact that Nigerians have short memories and generally tend to forget things easily. Praise-singers of President Buhari know this and are counting on the fact that the masses will not remember the wide gap between what Buhari promised to do during his electioneering campaigns and what he has actually achieved to date.

Even so, the stupid,incoherent and irresponsible manner some educated Nigerians argue while defending the present government against mounting evidence of poor performance provides ample reason for questioning the quality of mental training people get from our educational institutions.

Typically, they often assert that the country was so bad under Jonathan that replacing him with Buhari was the best option available given the latter’s reputation as a no-nonsense former military head of state who has the courage and iron will to fight corruption no matter who the perpetrator(s) might be.

Others resort to the ridiculous version of the blame game by claiming that the President is a man of integrity with good intentions for the country, and that those around him are the main problem. Of course it is very easy to debunk all this exculpatory rubbish. Nonetheless supposedly intelligent people entertain them without realising that the same silly arguments can be used to defend Jonathan or explain away his failures.

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Frankly speaking, one must accept that overall former President Jonathan was weak and ineffective in some key aspects of governance, epitomised in his unwillingness to deal decisively with those sabotaging his government. However, the situation of things in the country during his time was not as bad as the hawks in APC who wanted him out at all cost painted it.

Without delving into recondite technicalities of economic management, one can say confidently that Jonathan assembled a team of knowledgeable managers of the economy led by Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala that rebased the economy and made efforts not only to save money for the rainy day but also to clean up the stinking fuel subsidy regime that Buhari falsely claimed did not exist.

It is instructive to note that some of the state governors that fought Dr. Okonjo-Iweala on very important issue of saving money at the time, particularly Rotimi Amaechi, Adams Oshiomhole,  and Babatunde Fashola, are among prominent members of the ruling APC who excoriated Jonathan’s administration repeatedly for economic mismanagement.

Concerning the problem of insecurity made worse by Boko Haram, Jonathan’s concerted efforts to deal with it were sabotaged by several prominent members of the northern ruling elite presently occupying important positions in the current administration. Over six years after President Buhari promised to decimate Boko Haram, Nigeria has become the hotbed of killings, kidnappings, banditry and other heinous crimes by terrorist Islamist groups.

And because of his unabashed nepotic approach to governance Nigerians are more divided now along ethnic and religious lines to a degree unprecedented since the end of the Biafran war, thereby fuelling separatist agitations and insecurity particularly in the south. Regarding the fight against corruption, it is now clear to everyone that Buhari’s promise of killing corruption before it kills Nigeria is essentially a campaign slogan meant to deceive Nigerians and his foreign backers in the United States of America and Britain.

In the last six years the tentacles of corruption have continued to spread and deepen beyond what obtained when Jonathan left office, judging by the latest figures for Corruption Perception Index (CPI) released in January this year by Transparency International which ranks the country 149 out of 180 countries.

In that position Nigeria is the second most corrupt country in West Africa behind Guinea-Bissau. Indeed several members of Buhari’s inner circle including his late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari; former Secretary to the Federal Government, Babachir Lawal; former Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution and erstwhile Chairman of the now disbanded Special Presidential Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property, Okoi Obono Obla; former Acting Chairman of the EFCC, Ibrahim Magu; Deputy Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari,  amongst others have allegedly soiled their hands with corruption.

Therefore looking at the evidence one just have to accept that on each of the three main pillars of his presidential campaign promises, namely, improving the economy, combating insecurity, and fighting corruption Buhari has performed below average.

But that is exactly what any reasonable, clear-headed person should expect considering the President’s mediocre formal education, temperamental rigidity, nepotic disposition, and shallow grasp of the fundamental principles of effective economic management and international relations.

Buhari’s weaknesses became well  known after he served as military head of state and, later, as chairman Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund (PTF).Moreover, by 2015 his unfitness for the office of President was made worse by advancing age and the fragile health condition associated with it. So he was not really a marketable candidate for the job. Yet Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Rotimi Amaechi, Babatunde Fashola, and several other politicians from the south did everything they could to ensure that Buhari defeated Jonathan.

That is not surprising to anyone conversant with the ideological and moral bankruptcy of typical Nigerian politicians from the south who always want to ingratiate themselves before prominent Fulani caliphate colonialists, remain politically relevant, enjoy to the fullest the privileges of political office or appointment, and indulge their bulimic appetite for primitive accumulation.

Now, the case of Nigeria’s globally respected academic, dramatist and social activist, Prof. Wole Soyinka, is puzzling. Over the years he had rightly earned the reputation of being one of the foremost critics of military dictatorships in the country.

To be continued…

Vanguard News Nigeria