TheCable

I have said this before and I’d say it again: The major and foremost reason that is likely going to cause Mr. President to lose in the coming presidential election is the breed of people he has chosen to surround himself with. It is either they are not telling him the truth or Mr. President is not interested in listening to the truth. Those who surrounded Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan made him lose the last presidential election. We told him, but he wouldn’t listen. If he is opportune to serve again, I know he would do it differently.

PMB is daily losing ground, because he sits far away from reality. The only thing he probably knows about Nigerians—are the things those—who are on a daily basis feeding from the crumbs that fall from his table—tell him. When President Buhari says that he knows what Nigerians are going through, it is obvious that he really does not know what those who are walking the dusty streets of Nigeria are going through. Most of our people are suffering, but he does not know.

The first reason PMB is daily losing ground is because there is a wide gap between him and those he swore to serve. He is not sitting where they are sitting. And when a leader is not sitting where those within the sphere of his influence are sitting, he would definitely lack compassion and empathy. It is impossible for a President to sit where his fellow citizens sit and not either weekly or monthly talk to them. The question is; when was the last time that PMB spoke to Nigerians? Since he got to power, he has had just a chat with Nigerians!

The second reason Buhari is daily losing ground is because of Leah Sharibu and the remaining Chibok girls that Mr. President promised to rescue before he got to power. If Leah Sharibu is killed this month and the remaining Chibok girls are not rescued as promised on or before January, 2019, I make bold to tell PMB that it is going to adversely affect the outcome of the coming presidential election.

Before going to the last presidential election, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan said if he was able to win that he would work with a different team of people, but it was too late for him. GEJ surrounded himself with those who wouldn’t tell him what he needed to hear, because they were in Aso Rock for what they could get, not what they could give. One of the weak points of President Buhari is that he appointed those he is incapable of laying off.

The third reason Mr. President is daily losing ground is his condescension and disparagement for the rule of law. PMB cannot fight corruption while his administration is clearly ridiculing our constitution. Nigeria cannot afford to be governed by one man. And one of the reasons President Buhari was elected is to strengthen our institutions, not to strangulate them. No administration has ridiculed our Judiciary and Legislature more than the current administration. Courts of competent jurisdiction—both local and international—would give orders and the administration of PMB would disobey their orders. Nigeria cannot afford to run on one leg!

At the last FEC meeting, a few days ago, the new SGF presented to Mr. President what they call “Achievement Compendium of President Buhari’s administration.” It is a very voluminous document, having 1042 pages! Mr. Boss Mustapha said that the “Achievement Compendium” is a summary of policies and programmes implemented by the administration of Buhari—between 2015 and 2017. Also, according to Mr. Mustapha, the document serves as reference point and lends credence to the fact that the administration has fulfilled its campaign promises. The SGF furthermore described the document as a veritable platform to have first-hand information about the performance of the current administration.

It is cheerless and distressing that Mr. Boss Mustapha would be so careless, insensitive and insensate to say that the administration of President Buhari has fulfilled its campaign promises, especially when most of our people are angry with the lackluster performance of PMB. If he has truly fulfilled its campaign promises, why is it that most of our people are still groaning under the weight of poverty and joblessness? Has Buhari fulfilled the promises of state and community policing, ban on all government officials from seeking medical care abroad, including himself, generation, transmission and distribution of at least 20,000 MW, three million jobs per year, eradication of state of origin, replacing that with state of residence to ensure Nigerians are Nigerians first, before anything else, nationwide sanitation plans to keep Nigeria clean, increasing the quality of all federal government-owned hospitals to world-class standard within five years?

How many federal government-owned hospitals has he made to become world-class—within the context of quality? Has he stopped traveling abroad for his own medical checks let alone stopping others from traveling abroad for medical checks? Is he handling all of us equally or he prefers his own people to the rest of the country? Where are the 3million jobs he has been able to create for our people? Nigerians can no longer stand political leaders—who habitually lie to them! Mr. Boss Mustapha needs to apologize to our people. It is someone like him, who makes Mr. President daily lose ground.