‘Buhari, Please Let Us Ask You….’ -By Umar Sa’ad Hassan

Umar Sa’ad Hassan

There are two types of bad Presidents.Ones that erroneously believe they are on the right track and ones that aren’t even on any track at all.The first types are very much concerned with optics while wallowing in their illusion of a ‘better day some day’ because it is the only currency they believe can buy them patience while the second types just go with the flow.Their enthusiasm appears drained by the fact that they know they aren’t headed anywhere and are stuck with a people who are stuck with them (Oh no, we don’t do resignations here).

The appellation-‘clueless’ fits President Buhari more than it did President Jonathan.GEJ might be a lot of things but at least he had the nerve to answer to the Nigerian people.He hosted Presidential media chats at an average of once every 6 months.We didn’t have to believe in his ‘good work’, he always popped up to defend it as best he could.Buhari on the other hand, has hosted just one in about a year and 5 months in office and what makes his situation quite anomalous is the fact that in such short period, Nigerians have had to contend with probably the worst suffering in the history of this country.From December 30 2015 when his maiden media chat held to this day, more questions have constellated than in the reign of any President in recent memory. Nigerians want to hear first-hand details of the confusion and indecisiveness involved in the handling of the fuel crisis.How he removed subsidy and reinstated it before finally bumping the price to N145.

We know to well that previous administrations mismanaged our funds and failed to diversify our economy.As a matter of fact, we are tired of being reminded by Buhari why we voted him in in the first place, he needs to tell us about concrete short and long term plans to walk us out of this mess and not bore us with what the PDP has or should have done.Accountability and Transparency were words that featured prominently in the APC Presidential campaign.

Even if Buhari were one to allow his work do all the talking for him, it has become imperative that he reverts to his mouth because the story his work tells is one of sheer ineptitude and utter incognizance. Nigerians have a lot of questions they need answered.With the current state of things, one would ordinarily expect PMB to go out of his way to create more avenues to interact and reassure Nigerians and not shy away from existing ones.

A leader with a clear vision and mission or at least one under an illusion he is such, would rigorously pursue our patience by any means necessary and ‘Baba Clueless’ doesn’t seem any of the two.

In a nutshell, the President’s relations with us in these trying times go mostly 1 of 2 ways: assurances to rid us of our problems without letting us in on how he intends to do that or heaping the blame on previous governments.

We just can’t become big time agro-exporters and in just a year or two and expect it to replace or viably complement oil, it takes ample time and resources to make that happen.Quite frankly, the talk about agriculture is one every government before his seemed to have being ‘passionate’ about and if he doesn’t lay different plans, he won’t get a different result.

In his trademark confusionist approach to key issues, after reversing the Jonathan administration’s ban on rice importation through the land borders, he has gone on to re-instate the ban.I simply cannot understand how that makes sense at a time when Nigerians are facing untold hardship due to food scarcity.Well, they may be some sense to that but the President hasn’t made himself available to enlighten us.

From where I stand, the PDP may have inflicted serious damage but Buhari seems to be compounding our problems.While I understand his handlers may be wary of his tendency to fumble under pressure, having watched him tell ‘those Christians to go and fight Boko Haram’ when questioned about concerns over his decision to join a coalition of Arab states to fight terror and also shockingly refer to his appointment of Ibe Kachikwu (from Delta State) as a South-Eastern appointment amongst other things, they must understand a ‘disconnect’ will do him more harm than good because it gives the impression that he simply has no solutions to our problems and is scared of being asked questions.For the good of both of us, Buhari please let us ask you.

Umar Sa’ad Hassan is a lawyer in Kano.

Twitter:@alaye26
Email:uhassan077@gmail.com