Buhari, Please Disappoint Me! By Remi Oyeyemi

For those who have followed my writings, it is not news to them that I have no iota of confidence in President Mohammadu Buhari either as a candidate or as President of Nigeria. It is not news that it has been difficult for me to believe that anything good could come out of Buhari’s Nazareth. My convictions are based on his trajectory on the political landscape of Nigeria. A trajectory of corruption, incompetence, deceit, nepotism and a genre of noxious tribalism are the contaminating clouds characterizing his contoured career.

 But for someone like me, who is an avowed unbeliever in Buhari, it is nothing personal. It is all about the future of my children who despite having several opportunities for being Americans have fallen in love first of all with Ijeshaland, the Yoruba Nation, the unfortunate country called Nigeria and the continent Africa. That is the order of priority in which I have tried to educate them and they understand, or rather I did everything to make them understand, why it has to be that way.


So, because this is about the future of my children, I have prayed ceaselessly and hoped untiringly that President Buhari would disappoint me in his second coming. This is despite the fact that I did not think he would be able to rescue Nigeria. This is despite the fact that I know his second coming is a tragic mistake. This is despite the fact that I know that Buhari is a born –again corrupt military man turned politician dressed in the borrowed robe of integrity. This is despite the fact that I know that he does not believe in Nigeria.


But somehow, you just hope that you are wrong. You hope that the man could have been softened by age and experience. You just hope that at his age he would realize the futility of vanity and would seek to ingrain his name in immortality by doing the right thing and disappoint doubting Thomases like me. You hope that some of your friends and colleagues who bought into him hook, line and sinker would come around to wipe it in your face “we told you so.”


It would have been beautiful and worth it if I found myself in that position. It would not have mattered if President Buhari had disappointed me and performed very well. I would have appreciated it. I would have praised him. I would have been converted to one of his hailers. I would have been shameless about making a u-turn. All would have been worth it for the sake of the future of my children.


But rather than disappoint me, President Buhari further confirmed why I have been against him in the first instance. He cemented his reputation that made Nigerian electorate reject him three times as a congenital failure and incorrigibly untruthful. He continues to prove that he is not worthy of even the fake integrity with which he has been invested by the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s propaganda machine that ensured his election as Nigeria’s president.


Nigerians are wondering why Buhari has refused to act on the evidence based corruption charges against his Chief of Army Staff, General Tukur Yusuf Buratai. And with Sahara Reporters Expo on the current Interior Minister, Abdulrahman Dambazau, Nigerians are perplexed that President Buhari is still silent and not saying anything. But what do Nigerians expect from someone who told the world that General Sanni Abacha stole no money belonging to the country in spite of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary?


What makes Nigerians believe that if evidence did not matter in General Abacha’s case, why should it matter in General Buratai’s case? Why should evidence matter in General Dambazau’s case? Did Nigerians forget so soon how Buhari allowed retired Vice Admiral Murtala Nyako who stole the commonwealth of Adamawa State dry not to be detained? Are they surprised that the case has since receded into the background?


 But for someone under whose nose $2,8 billion disappeared when he was Petroleum Minister in 1978, this ought not to be too strange. For someone who fails to account for the 100 Billion naira Petroleum Trust Fund that he presided over under the same Abacha, this should not be strange. For someone who led Nigerians in a lie that he did not have a house in Abuja when the contrary is true, why should this be news?


Did Buhari do anything on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s fraudulent employment practices that unfairly benefited his family members? Did he not keep silent with the hope that Nigerians would soon forget the monumental corruption? Did Buhari say anything about the murderous Fulani herdsmen rampaging across the south of the country? How could Nigerians forget so soon the trajectory of Buhari as someone inflicted by a dangerous version of tribalism? Have Nigerians forgotten what he did to Shehu Shagari and Alex Ekweme?


How can Nigeria not know by now that Buhari is a recidivous nepotist? Otherwise, how can a man who claims to fight a war against corruption fill his cabinet with corrupt elements and eat at the same table with born again crooks? Have Nigerians forgotten the Kwankwanzos, the Fasholas, the Amaechis, the Fayemis, the Dambazaus, the Dalongs of this world? How can Nigerians expect justice and fairness from Buhari with his history?


For those who still doubt if Buhari has nepotism flowing in his veins, the taste of the pudding is in the eating, according to Kay Gezzy who provided the information below for Nigerians to behold:
a)      “Mamman Daura is President Buhari’s nephew. His father is the elder brother of Buhari.
b)     Mamman Daura has a son. His name is Kabir Daura. He is President Buhari’s Personal Assistant.
c)      Abba Kyari is the Chief of Staff  to President Buhari. He also happens to be the foster child of Mamman Daura.
d)     Hadi Sirika is the Federal Minister of Aviation. He is the son of Buhari’s elder sister.
e)      Hadi Sirika has an elder sister – a niece of President Buhari. Her name is Amina Zakari. She was INEC acting Chairman last year.
f)       Aisha Abubakar – Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment. Her mother is Buhari’s sister.”


In a country of 170 million people, this is what President Buhari is doing without let or hindrance. He has no qualms doing this because he could not see anything wrong. He could not just disappoint me.


Now, let us look at the Security appointments under the Buhari led APC government. According to the PUNCH newspaper the following are self evident:


Army – North
NSA – North
EFCC – North
Defence – North
Airforce – North
Police – North
SCDC – North
DSS – North
NIS – North
NIP – North
FRSC – North
Fire Service – North
NEMA – North
Customs – North
Defence Staff – North
NIA – South
Navy – South  and
If by any chance, you consider the Ports Administration as important to Security of the country – North.


There is a lot of corruption going on under President Buhari. Buhari is the number one obstacle to the war on corruption. Buhari would never allow the war on corruption to succeed. The reason is that he is himself, eminently corrupt and dishonest. He has no integrity. This is why he has no qualms distancing himself from the promises he made during the electioneering campaign.


Buhari is not a man of honour. He has no sense of fairness. This has been evident from his trajectory. It was why I never supported him. It was why I was hoping that he would disappoint me. But as usual, he failed again. He could not even try to disappoint me.

Please, Buhari, if only for the sake of the future of my children, disappoint me and perform. Please.


“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.”
- John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address January 20, 1961


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