By Chidiebere Nwobodo
The day of reckoning is here. The die is cast. The stage is set. The much-awaited judgment day has arrived. Those who thought that hiding Buhari in the Villa; shielding him from Nigerians could cover his incompetence to provide leadership, have been finally disgraced, stripped naked before the daylight. They have been caught in their own web of conspiracies. Buhari’s cluelessness has been laid bare to see. There’s no where to hid again. The world can see that Nigeria has been left without adequate political leadership in the last three and half years. If the APC is in tatters, imagine what the entire nation has been through.
What happened in Ogun State APC Presidential Rally yesterday, was not only ignoble, perfidious, shameful but pathetic. It put to rest all the speculation why the nation has been struggling heavily since the emergence of Buhari as president. That President Buhari was blatantly stoned together with the leadership of the ruling party in a live event, is not even the real jist here. The bone of the contention at the rally, was Buhari’s inability to show leadership to his party—in crisis, and his insufferable hypocrisy cum acute selfish disposition in abandoning those who brought him to power in political winter. Anyone still searching for the reason why Buhari’s government failed to deliver as promised, please look no further. Here is the answer: An irresponsible father who is playing ostrich when his children are fighting each other with dangerous weapons, the entire house is thrown into a state of chaos and pandemonium, can not be expected to provide leadership to the entire community as a king.
President Buhari has displayed unprecedented level of incompetence as national leader of the APC. How then do we Nigerians expect him to give what he does not have as president of the country? A president who failed woefully to stabilize his party, can never revive the economy, provide security, create jobs, unite the country, empathize with the impoverished and sympathize with the beleaguered. He simply cannot lead—not because he does not want to, but he is bereft of the willpower to show visionary leadership and be father to all. This explains why Nigeria under Buhari is like a rudderless ship that has lost its compass; things are simply falling apart because everything rises and falls on leadership. From the economy to security, it is the same story of an airplane on autopilot. Nature abhors vacuum. Even before the polls, the APC has lost two states of Rivers, Zamfara and now Cross River. It will take political miracle for the ruling party to retain Imo, Ogun States, Oyo and Kano, Bauchi—all thanks to the excesses of the mafias in the party and Buhari’s indecision cum cluelessness.
Many discerning Nigerians have wondered in the past why President Buhari is so parochial and lopsided in his appointments and method of governance. Look no further again. Just take a look at how he has handled the protracted crisis of the APC. President Buhari is an extremely selfish personality. Everyone can go to hell provided his own interests are served. Imagine a sitting president of a party telling his aggrieved party faithfuls, who are looking up to him to bring the party together, to vote for him on Feb. 16 and “vote across party lines on March 2”; the day for governorship election, of which is tantamount to encouraging anti-party activities. He said it in Imo State recently and disgustingly repeated the show of shame in Ogun yesterday.
President Buhari is the first president since the advent of fourth republic to endorse the governorship candidate of another party (APM) in the Villa. Ironically, he later raised the hand of the APC governorship candidate in Ogun State for the same position—in the same Aso Villa. Arguably, he was playing chase game using Tinubu and Gov. Ibikunle Amosu of Ogun State as pawns. The same flawed tactics he is using on Gov. Okorocha and Sen. Hope Uzodinma in Imo State. It has backfired. Who does that? President Buhari was trying to avoid the problem instead of solving it, thereby postponing the evil day, which has finally arrived. What else do one expect party loyalists to do when the supposed leader of the APC has thrown his two hands into the air in utter confusion cum cluelessness? Resort to self help? Yes! Where there is no hierarchy, there is bound to be anarchy.
President Buhari subtly told the APC members that he is only interested in his own election, that you guys “can stab yourselves to death for all I care”. This is the height of recklessness and irresponsibility on the part of the president. He abdicated his fatherly role as an arbiter in the party, thereby outsourcing his responsibilities to the cabal. Adams Oshiomhole as national chairman, did not help matters at all. His desperation to satisfy Tinubu at all costs, has set the fractured party on the infamous path of destruction. President Buhari has shown himself as an insufferable hypocrite and irredeemable egocentric personality, who is ready to throw any leader of the APC under the bus hence his own selfish proclivities are preserved, even if it is at the detriment of the cohesiveness of the APC. I was not surprised when Buhari was stoned together with Oshiomhole, Tinubu yesterday, because he brought it upon himself. You can’t sow irresponsibility and reap respect and honor.
If aggrieved the APC members could be this outraged and enraged to stone President Buhari at a live program, imagine the tempo of anger burning in the hearts of non-partisan Nigerians; let alone the opposition, who have bore the consequences of Buhari’s clueless and gross incompetent leadership that has cost thousands of Nigerian lives, businesses and millions of jobs both in the formal and informal sectors. What happened yesterday climaxed the beginning of the end of Buhari’s ill-fated presidency. Millions of Nigerians who have lost their jobs and loved ones under this administration due to clueless economic policies and ineffective security strategies, will not go to the APC rally to display their rage. They’re waiting in the works. The real ambush, protest and proper “stoning” will happen coming Saturday when we will “stone” a failed president with our highly “charged” PVCs. Never again shall we reinforce failure as a nation. Someone who cannot manage his political party has nothing to do in Aso Villa as Nigerian president. Never again!
