Buhari and the 2nd unfinished ‘bus stop’ commissioning by Ademola Adeoye

Above a year ago, President Buhari came to Lagos to commission an Ultra Modern Ikeja Bus Terminal, shutting down some major roads, making life extremely difficult and thorny for those he did swear to make life easy for. Till this moment, the Ikeja Bus Terminal is yet to commute a singular Lagosian across a route let alone 100,000 of them across 23 routes!

I thought it was terrible enough for the President of the most packed Black nation on earth to have commissioned a project that wouldn’t be in operation for the next one year. The question is; why do we commission projects that wouldn’t either endure or be useful at all—to Nigerians? To achieve what? Is it to show the whole world that things are working here? The truth is; you and I know that nothing is working here yet.


I still do not understand the idea behind project-commissioning. I surmise it is a 3rd world-backward-mindset. To commission complete projects is bad, but to commission uncompleted ones is worse! And it is quite shocking that a whole President of Nigeria would fly out of Abuja to Lagos to commission an incomplete Oshodi Transport Interchange. And it is more shocking that those who are supposed to lampoon both PMB and his host are clapping for them, wearing the mask of the shallow-politics that we Nigerians play here that hasn’t helped us a hoot over the years.


How many projects that were commissioned in the last four years are still serving our people today? Why do we enjoy wasting tax-payers’ money in Nigeria? I expected Ambode to handover the ongoing project at Oshodi to “Sanwo,” but the truth is; there is nothing like continuity when it comes to governance in our clime. Everyone is in power for what to eat. Babajide Sanwo will also come in and not do anything about it, provided much won’t be made from it. Remember, projects are done, not because the people are loved, they are done, because of what is in them for those in the corridors of power. On the condition that Babajide Sanwo is interested in completing the project, he too will still commission the same project, wasting taxpayers’ money!


Thank God it is not Goodluck Ebele Jonathan—who is in Lagos to commission uncompleted projects. If it were him, those who hate him and Nigeria would have gone on CNN to lampoon him for the whole world to know about it. Hypocrisy kills us faster in Nigeria than terrorism. In my little years on earth and in Nigeria, I have seen hypocrites in both high and low places. Those who abused GEJ for a mistake would pat PMB on his back for making a worse mistake. People speak to power, not because they love our country, but they speak to power because they do not like the face of the one occupying the highest office in the land. Buhari hasn’t led Nigeria better than GEJ, but those who protested against GEJ are as silent as a necropolis now. I guess they are now in power, eating what they were complaining about—when GEJ was in power.


When I got the worthless information yesterday that some major roads would be closed in Lagos for PMB, I had to stay back, working from my home-office, to avoid today’s thoughtless and needless traffic-jam. I cannot afford to let those who are not contributing anything meaningful to my life waste my time. Anyone who is not smarter than our imprudent ways of doing things—would not do anything tangible with his or her life till he or she breathes his or her last. Nigeria can destroy one’s life, if care is not taken!


A few days ago, Alhaji Lai Mohammed said that President Buhari has performed well on security! He said Nigeria is now free from Boko Haram and all insecurity issues! What I do not know about is whether Nigeria has a branch somewhere else that some of us do not know about, but the one that has her Federal Capital Territory in Abuja is still helplessly struggling with issues bordering on insecurity. On the condition that our people are not killed by either Boko Haram terrorists, they would be killed by either Policemen or bandits and this happens almost on every-day! I am sure those who have lost their loved ones as an effect of—leadership vacuum—won’t be happy with Lai Mohammed.


Alhaji Lai Mohammed is probably the most insensitive political leader in the history of Nigeria. Non-partisan Nigerians know that Nigeria is not safer today than it was in 2015. The more money we spend, the more insecure we become as a people. The rate at which our people are being killed has made Mr. President to become tired of condemning them. Now, he finds it easier to condemn the attacks on folks beyond the shores of Nigeria than the ones that happen at home, because they have become too many for him to condemn. In fact, Nigerians are now tired of merely condemning senseless killings in Nigeria, we now strongly demand that he stops them. Remember, President Buhari is going to give an account of every soul lost on his watch.


Lastly, it is a thing of dishonor for the President of Nigeria to be commissioning unfinished projects. Most of the African nations have left us behind, because we are not serious as a nation. Have you ever seen the President of Rwanda commissioning unfinished projects? It is an embarrassment for the President of Nigeria to be commissioning projects that would still be commissioned again in the days to come. It is high time we called for a national thinking meeting, because Nigeria is gradually becoming irredeemable.