From Uzonna Ononye, Lagos
Delay in the appointment of ministers and other functionaries may seem important to many people but the real concern is that President Mohammadu Buhari has made lots of mistakes within the less than two months he has been in power that those who care about his performance and believed he will bring Nigeria out of the woods should be worried now.
First of all, his stand of non-interference in the National Assembly politics would have been fantastic if he was President of another country that is not Nigeria. Applied wisdom suggests that no principle enjoys unchecked application everywhere. What one does must be situated. In Nigeria, that was a wrong move and not many people will disagree with me on that.
When President Buhari struggled to convince Nigerians that he met an empty treasury, it was a sheer waste of time. Objective Nigerians know that under President Jonathan, Nigeria spent a lot of money on sustaining the false impression of a large and booming economy we created. But the observers never thought it worth taking the time of Mr. President. In any case, has anyone admitted to have met a lot of money in the treasury? It is a copy and paste comment by anyone who gets to power so deal with the issues, that’s why you were elected.
President Buhari has made pronouncements that he will come back soon after to alter. One example is the order to remove military road blocks across the country. Few days after, he began to amend it. There is nothing wrong in one retracing a wrong step one may argue so what about the “no bail out for states” position? A week after, state governors bullied him to submission, to the extent that the empty treasury began to conjure billions of naira.
The release of 186 suspects with Boko Haram links seems a bit hasty and ill timed. From the moment he was sworn-in as President, Boko Haram began to rediscover their zeal and bile. Imagine, they are coming out again from the North East venturing into Plateau (North Central), Kano and Kaduna (North West). Three days back to back, three suicide attacks in three states with dozens of lives lost.
These mistakes suggest that Mr. President needs people around him; real experienced people that have names to protect, not political jobbers or those who will be seeking rehabilitation from government.
Many Nigerians are still hanging-in there believing the retired General will wake up from the slumber. I hope he does too because there is only one Nigeria for us all.
