TheCable

Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on media, Garba Shehu, in a response to a statement by Phrank Shuaibu, the SA public communications to PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, said the late submission of handover notes by the Goodluck Jonathan administration was responsible for the late appointment of ministers.

I remember citing the timing of the submission and the voluminous nature of the notes in pleading for patience for President Buhari back then out of a desire to see him succeed. So did a lot of other voices.

But what Shehu needs to know is that as time went on, Buhari’s inaction proved instrumental to writing off his administration as one lacking in focus and direction. A leader who knows what he wants and where he is headed should already have the names of everyone he intends to serve with by the time he assumes office.

That is the ideal practice. Atiku Abubakar has long promised to have his list ready by latest May 29th 2019 if elected. Shehu not only proved to us why he is a better alternative but also helped further his cause. But then Shehu was only towing the path of Buhari,Osinbajo and the entire APC-blaming the PDP for everything. In places where governments are held strictly accountable and pinned to the highest standards, an incumbent government seeking re-election campaigns on the strength of its accomplishments over its first term.

It’s been four years and the PDP’s 16-year misrule is still the APC’s strongest campaign point. While the opposition candidate synonimised himself with jobs and cleared whatever doubts we had with his blueprint; the Atiku Plan which among all things highlights a heavy resort to empowerment by having master craftsmen train a million apprenctices annually. The type of schemes the $324 million Abacha Loot should finance instead of a N5000 ‘chop money’ empowerment.

While the average Nigerian has come to know Atiku to profess a burning desire to revamp our economic fortunes, Buhari and the APC, just less than three months to the 2019 general election, have come to be identified with two things-the ‘Next Level’ phrase and ‘PDP 16 years’.

It is not in dispute that even the die-hard Buharist still can’t pinpoint any part of ‘Next Level’ good enough to drive his candidature. It is important Buhari and his party first correct the notion that people deem them a failure because of their inability to handle the insurmountable challenges the PDP years placed before them.A lot of people like myself support every government at the very beginning perhaps out of a desperation to see a better nation and virtually everthing that has made those people turn on the Buhari government are totally unrelated to the PDP.

The PDP is not responsible for President Buhari’s proclamation of providing dividends along voting lines; 95% will get more than 5% was what he said and that singular act at that time, justified every agitation for a separate state. Things have gotten so bad, ‘One Nigeria’ has become a campaign point for politicians.

The PDP is not responsible for Buhari’s refusal to diligently probe bailout funds issued to states to pay salaries. The Bauchi governor categorically said to everyone he wasn’t obligated to pay salaries with them and Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state ‘commissioned’ his mansion in Kogi while some workers were being owed 10 months salary.

The PDP is not responsible for the high level of insecurity across the country. In addition to Boko aram,we have seen the emergence of a killer breed of fulani herdsmen who have massacred scores of innocent lives since President Buhari came into power.Boko Haram on the other hand has become a bigger and ‘richer’ threat with the UN indicting the Buhari-led federal government of paying millions of euros to secure the release of the kidnapped Dapchi school girls.

The presidency also exchanged Boko Haram prisoners for 82 Chibok girls. The government got back and returned kidnap victims to their families, I commend that. But it has also strengthened the sect with cash and manpower. Now Boko Haram is attacking military bases and killing our soldiers. Technically,the government is sponsoring and fighting the war on insurgency. Add also the sky rocketing of kidnap cases across the country and you have why Buhari has performed worse than any administration since 1999 as far security is concerned.

The PDP is not responsible for Buhari’s insistence on the EFCC boss, Ibrahim Magu, despite an indictment for corruption by the DSS and his appearance on TV with a Buhari 2019 lapel pin on his suit.

The PDP is not responsible for the non-prosecution of Babachir Lawal and Patience Jonathan despite the EFCC having seized her money and properties.

The PDP wasn’t responsible for President Buhari’s clueless dance round critical issues like the banning and unbanning of rice importation through land borders and the removal and reinstatement of fuel subsidy en route a hike to N145. The handling of the fuel crisis was the first real pointer to Buhari’s incompetence. After a merry-go round lasting about six months, they came out to tell us the scarcity was as a result of marketers’ inability to access dollars. What a proactive government would have spotted from the onset. Well, Atiku has promised to revert fuel price to N87-N90.

The PDP is not responsible for the non-prosecution of embattled DSS boss,Lawal Daura. They raided Saraki and Ekweremadu’s residences alongside the police just weeks before the invasion of the national assembly. Aisha Buhari’s ADC, Baba-Inna is also detained without trial. He has been alleged to be a front for the first lady’s extortion of politicians scared of the EFCC hammer. Maybe somebody doesn’t want the world to hear what they have to say.

The PDP is not responsible for President Buhari’s refusal to probe AGF, Abubakar Malami SAN despite an indictment by the senate for his role in the reinstatement of wanted fugitive, Abdulrasheed Maina, back into the civil service. When the bubble burst, Maina practically strolled away from our shores.

The PDP is not responsible for the President not hosting and rewarding the Super Falcons winning the AWCON title in Ghana. After their previous win in Cameroon, the girls had to hit Abuja streets with placards before they were paid their dues. The sports minister’s excuse then was that no one expected them to get this far. Atiku had to bail out the amputee Eagles with N10m to enable them attend the Amputee Football World Cup in Mexico. The government totally turned a blind eye to their predicament. Our sportsmen and women have never been so under-valued and no,the PDP is not responsible for that.

The APC seems to forget that if Nigerians were satisfied with the PDP’s way of doing things and didn’t feel they deserved better,they wouldn’t have voted them in to ‘change’ things. And like Atiku would say,the most critical question is – are you better off than you were four years ago?.

PDP isn’t why Buhari has failed. Let that sink in.

Umar Sa’ad Hassan is a Kano-based lawyer. He can be reached Vi Twitter @Alaye_100 and email:[email protected]