WHY is it difficult for us to raise
fresh blood, with fresh and
dynamic ideas to steer the affairs
of this country? I do not know. We
have the Fasholas, Oshiomholes,
Amaechis, Ribadus before he
switched over to the PDP and so
many other vibrant fellows in the
APC party, yet, they have again,
chosen to go the recycled route by
bringing in Mohammadu Buhari as
their presidential candidate. Is
Mohammadu Buhari the real deal?
Going through the book “ MKO
ABIOLA-TO MAKE WHOLE AGAIN”
by Abimbola Awofeso, published
by Update Communications
Limited 1990, from pages 15 to 24,
you will find an assessment of
Mohammadu Buhari’s
administration. By the way,
Awofeso is also a nephew to the
great sage, Chief Obafemi
Awolowo. The chapter is titled;
“All-Round Misery: Retrenchment,
Roll-Back….”
I quote from page 18 “….since the
Buhari administration came to
power, its policy on public sector
spending has resulted in all round
misery: retrenchment of public
sector workers, roll back in social
services, particularly in the area of
health care, the re-introduction of
school fees, the closure of
educational institutions, the re-
imposition of certain obnoxious
taxes and levies and the
suspension of new capital projects.
All these have negative
implications for the country’s long
range development….with such
deflationary policies as has been
put in place by the Buhari regime,
shows that we are headed for
unmitigated disaster. As for the
planned privatization, this is no
more than a camouflage for
concentrating the nation’s wealth
in ever fewer hands……still, it
cannot be said that its attempt at
streamlining import licensing and
foreign exchange disbursement
procedure has been a roaring
success. Racketeering persists and
those who have no business
having import licenses still do so.
The government’s performance in
the area of debt management is
even poorer. Apart from the
questionable wisdom of using over
40 per cent of the country’s export
earnings to service debts, it is
open to question whether the
government has fully investigated
and verified all the outstanding
debt obligations it is now
attempting to settle……In the area
of inflation and distribution, the
government successes, if any, have
been limited. Officially estimated at
about 40 percent the rate of
inflation is still debilitating to the
generality of Nigerians whose
incomes, under the income policy
guidelines, are not expected to
increase substantially (especially
for those in paid employment).
As for distributive trade, the major
actors of old appear to have been
back in business; the Lebanese
and Levantine merchandisers still
control that business with the
result that prices are still high and
scarcities persist…….If there is any
area of public policy in which the
present government has been most
inactive, that area has to do with
the problem of unemployment…..It
is a sad commentary on
government’s commitment to
tackling unemployment that
although it set up a committee
sometime last year to study the
matter, as at this moment, the
report of that committee is yet to
be made public, let alone
implemented..”
The above was the assessment of
Buhari’s administration as
highlighted in the above quoted
book. There is more but due to
space constraintone cannot
highlight more which accounts the
very little sympathies and
resistance when he was overthrown
from government.
That is the man our present day
progressives are trumpeting as the
messiah that will bring the much
needed change for this country.
Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo
once stated publicly that: “You
cannot change a man in old age”,
in reference to the late Adedibu’s
excesses.
The big challenge for this country
is producing the right leadership,
not, a has been, with very obvious
and questionable credentials. What
this country needs now, is a
radical departure from the normal.
We need a youthful, focused,
detribalised, enlightened, idea
filled and go-getter leader who is
able to ‘walk his talk.’
Recycling is bad. It is even worse
when the individual we are
promoting has passed his prime.
That was how Obasanjo was
brought in, the result of his actions
and inactions are still
reverberating till date. Incidentally,
people are still running to him for
directions. Every fault of Jonathan
is rooted in Obasanjo; he planned,
masterminded and executed the
ascension of Jonathan to power.
He also trained him in government,
the PDP way, the platform
Obasanjo instituted, which is the
one the PDP is religiously using till
date.
We are very forgetful in this
country and lazy at recollecting
the past. Our leaders are always
leading us on the path of perdition,
for their own selfish purpose(s),
not for the general interest of the
people. That is the choice the APC
has made with Buhari as their
presidential candidate. One can
only wish them good luck.
Mr. Sunny Ikhioya, a commentator
on national issues, wrote from
Lagos.
fresh blood, with fresh and
dynamic ideas to steer the affairs
of this country? I do not know. We
have the Fasholas, Oshiomholes,
Amaechis, Ribadus before he
switched over to the PDP and so
many other vibrant fellows in the
APC party, yet, they have again,
chosen to go the recycled route by
bringing in Mohammadu Buhari as
their presidential candidate. Is
Mohammadu Buhari the real deal?
Going through the book “ MKO
ABIOLA-TO MAKE WHOLE AGAIN”
by Abimbola Awofeso, published
by Update Communications
Limited 1990, from pages 15 to 24,
you will find an assessment of
Mohammadu Buhari’s
administration. By the way,
Awofeso is also a nephew to the
great sage, Chief Obafemi
Awolowo. The chapter is titled;
“All-Round Misery: Retrenchment,
Roll-Back….”
I quote from page 18 “….since the
Buhari administration came to
power, its policy on public sector
spending has resulted in all round
misery: retrenchment of public
sector workers, roll back in social
services, particularly in the area of
health care, the re-introduction of
school fees, the closure of
educational institutions, the re-
imposition of certain obnoxious
taxes and levies and the
suspension of new capital projects.
All these have negative
implications for the country’s long
range development….with such
deflationary policies as has been
put in place by the Buhari regime,
shows that we are headed for
unmitigated disaster. As for the
planned privatization, this is no
more than a camouflage for
concentrating the nation’s wealth
in ever fewer hands……still, it
cannot be said that its attempt at
streamlining import licensing and
foreign exchange disbursement
procedure has been a roaring
success. Racketeering persists and
those who have no business
having import licenses still do so.
The government’s performance in
the area of debt management is
even poorer. Apart from the
questionable wisdom of using over
40 per cent of the country’s export
earnings to service debts, it is
open to question whether the
government has fully investigated
and verified all the outstanding
debt obligations it is now
attempting to settle……In the area
of inflation and distribution, the
government successes, if any, have
been limited. Officially estimated at
about 40 percent the rate of
inflation is still debilitating to the
generality of Nigerians whose
incomes, under the income policy
guidelines, are not expected to
increase substantially (especially
for those in paid employment).
As for distributive trade, the major
actors of old appear to have been
back in business; the Lebanese
and Levantine merchandisers still
control that business with the
result that prices are still high and
scarcities persist…….If there is any
area of public policy in which the
present government has been most
inactive, that area has to do with
the problem of unemployment…..It
is a sad commentary on
government’s commitment to
tackling unemployment that
although it set up a committee
sometime last year to study the
matter, as at this moment, the
report of that committee is yet to
be made public, let alone
implemented..”
The above was the assessment of
Buhari’s administration as
highlighted in the above quoted
book. There is more but due to
space constraintone cannot
highlight more which accounts the
very little sympathies and
resistance when he was overthrown
from government.
That is the man our present day
progressives are trumpeting as the
messiah that will bring the much
needed change for this country.
Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo
once stated publicly that: “You
cannot change a man in old age”,
in reference to the late Adedibu’s
excesses.
The big challenge for this country
is producing the right leadership,
not, a has been, with very obvious
and questionable credentials. What
this country needs now, is a
radical departure from the normal.
We need a youthful, focused,
detribalised, enlightened, idea
filled and go-getter leader who is
able to ‘walk his talk.’
Recycling is bad. It is even worse
when the individual we are
promoting has passed his prime.
That was how Obasanjo was
brought in, the result of his actions
and inactions are still
reverberating till date. Incidentally,
people are still running to him for
directions. Every fault of Jonathan
is rooted in Obasanjo; he planned,
masterminded and executed the
ascension of Jonathan to power.
He also trained him in government,
the PDP way, the platform
Obasanjo instituted, which is the
one the PDP is religiously using till
date.
We are very forgetful in this
country and lazy at recollecting
the past. Our leaders are always
leading us on the path of perdition,
for their own selfish purpose(s),
not for the general interest of the
people. That is the choice the APC
has made with Buhari as their
presidential candidate. One can
only wish them good luck.
Mr. Sunny Ikhioya, a commentator
on national issues, wrote from
Lagos.
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