TheCable

There’s a lot of chaos in President Muhammadu Buhari’s government already. But the falsehood that has been added requires strong pushback.

This is where I stand: if we don’t want the labour of our past heroes to be in vain, we must stand up to defend Nigeria from harm. Yes, every politician lies, but the trust given to Buhari to govern Nigeria was more than political trust. It was moral trust.

On Monday, President Buhari made a u-turn on his five-prong campaign promises, declaring “three-prong promises.”

“The President also said his administration remained resolute and focused on delivering on the three-pronged promises of securing the lives and properties of Nigerians, halting the pillage of the economy by corrupt public officials, and creating employment opportunities for the youths,” reads a statement by his spokesman, Femi Adesina.

The shame Buhari faced over his inability to bring promised prosperity to Nigerians, and questions facing his administration in a campaign year has forced him to lie to Nigerians about his campaign promises.

Here’s the fact: In a 2015 New Year message, the president promised more than security, economic revival and employment creation.

In a “change is imminent” statement released by director of communications, Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Dele Alake, the president equally promised education and healthcare reform, stating “the APC candidate expressed confidence that the five agenda are implementable.”

But in the statement released on Monday, education and healthcare reform have been cleverly deleted because the government has not kept that promise.

President Buhari’s scrambles for support in the face of growing criticism over slow progress and lack of popular confidence in his re-election bid may have forced him to lie about promises made to Nigerians, reducing his five signature campaign to three.

Candidate Buhari listed a five-point change agenda which he would implement – if elected president. His campaign theme covered security, healthcare, education, economic, and job creation.

For avoidance of doubt, Buhari’s 2015 statement stated: “Now some of you have asked me: what exactly does ‘change’ mean? I have taken time to explain this at different opportunities, but on this special day, let me remind you in five short statements. Change means:

•A country that you can be proud of at anytime and anywhere: where corruption is tackled, where your leaders are disciplined and lead with vision and clarity; where the stories that emerge to the world from us are full of hope and progress.

•A Nigeria in which neither yourselves, nor your parents, families or friends will have to fear for your safety, or for theirs.

•A Nigeria where citizens get the basics that any country should provide: infrastructure that works, healthcare that is affordable, even free; respect for the environment and sustainable development, education that is competitive and outcome-oriented in a knowledge-economy.

•A country that provides jobs for its young people, reducing unemployment to the lowest of single digits and providing safety nets so that no one is left behind.

•A Nigeria where entrepreneurship thrives, enterprise flourishes and the government gets out of your way so that you can create value, build the economy and aggressively expand wealth.

“I have faith that 2015 is the year we shall begin to write a new story – a story of our youth creating jobs and expanding the frontiers of innovation and creativity everywhere from Mavin Records to the Co-Creation Hub; a story of genuine investment in our children and students be they in the University of Nigeria, Nsukka or in the Delta State University, Abraka; a country that finally makes a permanent shift from our debilitating dependence on the free-falling price of crude oil,” he said.

And to accentuate his words, during his inauguration on May 29, Buhari brought the education and healthcare reform to the fore once more, when he said; “For the longer term we have to improve the standards of our education. We have to look at the whole field of medicare. We have to upgrade our dilapidated physical infrastructure.”

Now, with baggage of lies and inaction, my stand is clear on Buhari. It is dangerous to commit another four years into the hands of a president that goes back on promise, especially since we know politicians here hardly work during second term.