Buhari, don’t bother fighting for the poor by Ademola Adeoye

Mr. President stylishly threw a ballistic missile from Daura to the roof of Audu Ogbe — wherever he was a day ago — when he said that he would appoint a minister who is knowledgeable and will know how to promote interest and investment in the sector. Buhari did not say he would appoint a knowledgeable minister like Ogbe! He only said he would appoint a knowledgeable minister. I conjecture Ogbe was one of those people that baba did not know, but ended up serving with him during his first term in office. I presume Audu was forced on baba by the APC!


Just like Daura people are currently enjoying 24hours electric power supply, because Buhari is at home for the Sallah break, my people and I would love to enjoy same thing. After baba finishes his holidays in his home town, he should please come and greet us in our community, too. It is eye-service that is destroying virtually every fabric of our national life. Is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria more important than the poor people of Nigeria? No! On the condition that there is anyone who should sleep in ‘darkness’, then it should be Buhari. True leaders serve, they are not served!



A day ago, while in the company of his people in Daura, baba was so in high spirits—to the extent that he promised (as usual) to fight for the poor. Every president who served before baba also vainly promised same thing. Before the second presidential election that returned PMB to the seat of power in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), those who campaigned for him took on everyone who said our people are swimming in the pool of poverty with back float-style. They said baba had made everyone rich in Nigeria. One thing I do like about Buhari, he does not desire stooges as citizens. Each time they lie on his behalf, he has a modish way of calling them liars. Thank you Mr. President for admitting that our people are truly poor!



If baba would need to publicly promise (as usual) to fight for the poor, then it’s probably not true. Those whom truly fight for the poor do not say it. It is the results they deliver that speak for them. Promising to fight for the poor as far as I am concerned is correspondent to playing to the gallery. Nigerians are sick and tired of empty promises. What Nigerians need now are results.



In fact, Nigerians can fight for themselves. Baba should not bother fighting for them. If baba wants to truly fight for the poor, he would have appointed at least some of them as his ministers. Each time I hear politicians say that the poor of Nigeria brought them to power, I do laugh. I do laugh because I do know that it is not true. When appointments are being made, those who truly voted them into power usually would become clear to all and sundry. Those are the people baba is truly in power for.



PMB should not fight for the poor. He should make the country conducive for them. The poor people of Nigeria want to move freely from Kano to Kogi and from Oyo to Keffi. The rate at which our people are being daily kidnapped is becoming a thing of national ignominy. When we can no longer protect our people, we are clearly sending the wrong signals to the global community.



Also, the poor people of Nigeria desire to enjoy twenty-four (24) hours power-supply like Buhari’s people are enjoying (because he is at home) without needing to visit them. Before China and other serious climes banned importation of things they weren’t producing in those countries, they first made their electric power supply stable. Their security was rock-solid and their roads were world-class. Before ordering Mr. Godwin Emefiele not to give “a cent” to those importing what we are—not producing—or not sufficiently producing, let us first solve our obvious internal problems. How many of our people can work on their farms today without being terrified of either being kidnapped or killed by either Boko Haram or Bandits?



How can we interdict some food items while our political leaders still go abroad to treat stomach-ache? How can we veto and prohibit what we are not sufficiently producing when the children of those in the corridors of power travel abroad in search of education? How can we outlaw milk when we are still importing petrol that we are having in abundance? How can we disallow milk when we are still importing generators? To show that this administration is truly serious, I counsel that baba should proscribe the use of generators in Aso Rock! Until this is done, power-outage would forever remain with us as a stamp would remain with an envelope.



As I begin to coast home, the poor people of Nigeria may not be able to access a cent from the governor of Central Bank, but the rich folks have a way of getting their things done. The truth is; if we pump money into food production, importation of food items would fizzle out on its own. Lastly, baba, do not bother to fight for the poor, just return Nigeria to what she used to be. In Nigeria of yesterday, you would not need to know anyone before getting things done in the corridors of power. Today, you cannot become anything tangible without knowing someone who knows someone who knows someone. Until the children of the poor can access the same kind of jobs that the children of the rich are accessing through the back-door, we will never have a true country.