Punch Newspapers
By Sonala Olumhense
In a strong editorial two days ago, Daily Trust lamented Rtd.Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s incessant yet fruitless foreign travel.
It cited his December 1 travel to a Dubai exhibition, to which he was accompanied by an entourage which included 10 ministers and the heads of Nigeria’s security agencies.
Pointing out that that visit came a few weeks after rapid trips to Saudi Arabia, Scotland, France and South Africa, Daily Trust said, “In all, of the six years that he has been in office so far, President Buhari has travelled 130 times to 36 countries altogether, spending about 308 days.”
As poor as that picture is, the Abuja-based powerhouse further lamented that while Buhari finds easy reasons to embark on foreign trips, “he almost always needs to be persuaded to visit the states and communities within Nigeria that are deserving of his presence.”
Worse still, “It has been observed that on the occasion he visits [Nigerian] states, he hardly stays long enough to make them meaningful to the people.”
The newspaper encouraged Buhari, in what remains of his tenure, to “turn his attention inwards and undertake visits to states and communities in the country and engage with them more,”stressing, “The country and its citizens require his attention.”
I fully agree with Daily Trust, but I disagree with its conclusion because it does not flow productively from its analysis.
If Buhari, even when he is in the country, is reluctant to serve his country, the answer is not to turn around and pretend to love them. If his preference is for the glitz and glamour of the executive jet, towards events where he reads written speeches and enjoys the fake adulation of diplomats and dignitaries, the answer is not that he drag his supercilious presence before poor Nigerians and critical audiences. That is show business.
Let us examine the evidence.The charges against Buhari are on the front pages of every newspaper in the land—including Daily Trust’s—murder, arson, mayhem, death, destruction,kidnapping, ambushing, beheadings, abductions, easy violence, cheapened life, tears. Each in increasing measure.
This dystopia is in the security sector alone, which is the first job of any government. It is in the face of this assault on every known measure of security, that Buhari travels and pleasures himself around the world.
The answer, therefore, here in his seventh year, is not that he learn to respect and serve his people. That is too late, too far-fetched andtoo unrealistic.
The productive conclusion is that Buhari never cared for the reality of governance and should step aside. He is a ruler, not a leader, and does not understand the content of leadership at all. This is the reason why, with 18 months left for him, he needs to be reminded of his job, which is that “the country and its citizens require his attention.”
Let us be fair, but clear: Buhari did not create the jungle that Nigeria is. It was, however, because of the jungle that he obtained the chance he sought to lead Nigeria. He has said so himself. He did not fight four electoral contests so he could drive Nigeria deeper into that jungle. But that is exactly what he has achieved through his leadership or lack of it, through acts of commission or omission, through terrible policy or lack of policy.
I do not make this call casually. One week after he took office in 2015, as it was clear there major decisions…
