President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to hand over to Nigerians, a peaceful secured country before he leaves office next year. Is this realizable considering the short time left for him to go? Residents of the South East zone speak on the issue.
It's not achievable, Ohanaeze doubts President
The apex Igbo socio-cultural body, Ohanaeze Ndigbo is very doubtful of President Muhammadu Buhari making good this promise. Ohanaeze said the President spoke as if he did not know the magnitude of the insecurity in the country and the cause.
"For President Muhammadu Buhari to promise that he will hand over a peacefully secured Nigeria before he leaves office is very unreflective, unrealistic and smacks a lack of understanding of insecurity precursors as it affects the country.
"In the first place, there are well known factors that promote insecurity in the country. The major cause being bad governance accentuated by nepotism, corruption, ineptitude and general insensitivity to the plight of the citizenry. "
Ohanaeze contended that insecurity has a direct correlation with poor governance. "On the other hand, insecurity increases in direct proportion with bad governance and that is the bane of Nigeria. Good governance is an exceptional civic virtue that is endowed only to the philosopher kings, those skilled in the art of leadership. So, your guess is as good as mine as to whether President Buhari can in the late hour transform into a governance hercules", Ohanaeze spokesman, Dr. Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia said.
He's the problem--Imo monarch
Speaking on the issue, the traditional ruler of Ihitte Okwe, Eze Barnabas Obirieze said: "You don't give what you don't have. Nigeria will be more secured without him and without his doing more damages".
Also, an opinion molder from Owerri municipality, Mr. Onu Oparaugo,expressed doubts over the president's ability to do this, saying "this administration remains the most unrealistic regime ever in this country. They say one thing today and shamelessly do another thing tomorrow".
It's not feasible, says ADF
Reacting to the presidential promise, the elite Igbo body, Alaigbo Development Foundation expressed serious doubt over the possibility of President Buhari meeting up with the promise, saying it not feasible based in their assessment of how the administration has been operating.
"It is not feasible for President Muhammadu Buhari to hand over a peaceful and secured Nigeria to his successors in 2023. His deliberate sectarian policies and pro-caliphate tendencies helped to inaugurate a divisive and dangerous public policy agenda in the governance of Nigeria.
"He will leave a backward legacy of a failed state, a state where law and order had collapsed and one in which his own Fulani brothers levied violence on the rest of Nigerian ethnic nationalities. The Fulani herdsmen were apparently treated as being above the law and were never prosecuted for their acts of genocide in Benue, Plateau,Mambilla, Southern Kaduna, parts of South East, South South and South West. It is those developments that fuelled other levels of banditry, terrorism and total breakdown of law and order in Nigeria", ADF said through its director of Bureau of Communication, Hon. Abia Onyike.
Also, a former member of Imo State Executive Council, Dr. Goddy Esom Obodo said President Muhammadu Buhari spent close to seven and a half years fighting insecurity without end and wondered how he would perform a miracle in the remaining few months.
"President Muhammadu Buhari has spent the past seven and a half years fighting insecurity without appreciable success. Is it in this remaining six months that he will perform the magic of handing over a secured Nigeria to his successor? He used three defence ministers, three Chief of Army Staff, four Inspectors General of Police without solving the insecurity problem of this country. What else does he want to do which he has not done?
"He has used virtually all the tactics he learnt, both as a military general and a civilian commander, to no avail. All we wish for him is a safe and healthy exit. Let him ensure that he supervises a free and fair election in 2023. This is what will solve the problem of insecurity in this country. A free, fair and transparent election where citizens' vote counts is what Nigerians want. Once this is done, insecurity will disappear, no matter who wins the number one seat of the country".
A community leader in Amatta, Ikeduru Council area of Imo State, Mr. Joe Chikere expressed doubt over the possibility of Buhari meeting up with his promise.
His words: "Please, pardon me for throwing the question back to you. How can this promise of Mr. President be fulfilled, having failed us a thousand times over without remorse to accomplish his previous promises? The people are very skeptical of his current promise. Truly, he has nothing more to offer. We are only waiting patiently for his exit".
The President of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Abia State chapter, Chief Okey Paul Nwankwo said that Buhari's promise to leave a peaceful and secured Nigeria is unrealistic, going by the growing tension caused by insecurity, bad governance and ethnic divisions in the country.
Nwankwo lamented that the problem of insecurity confronting the nation has left many Nigerians with too many unanswered questions about the future of their country.
According to him, President Buhari's manner of distributing appointments mainly to his Fulani stock to the exclusion of other tribes in Nigeria, particularly, the Igbo, has generated tension and Nigerians no longer trust his administration to bequeath a peaceful nation.
He said: "Buhari's promise to leave a peaceful and secured nation is unrealistic. His actions have polarized the country. There is too much injustice against some component parts of the federation. Some people have been rendered second class citizens in their own country. There is too much pent up anger in Nigeria. And you can see that not much is being done to address these injustices. You can't beat a child and expect him not to cry. Due to bad leadership, the type of democracy we practice is even different from the type practised in other countries of the world. With Buhari as President, is democracy truly the government of the people by the people and for the people? Buhari's presidency has left millions of unanswered questions in the lips of Nigerians. My question, with the kind of anger and grievances among component units, how possible will it be for the President to hand over a peaceful and secured country? "
Nwankwo explained that the only way Buhari can hand over a peaceful and secured Nigeria is to ensure that INEC conducts a free, fair and credible election in 2023, adding that anything contrary would aggravate Nigeria's many problems.
"As his administration winds up in a few months, the only way Buhari can hand over a peaceful and secured Nigeria is to support INEC to drive the electoral process and ensure that they conduct free, fair and credible elections to usher in a new administration. This is the only way he can hand over a peaceful and secured Nigeria".
In his reaction, Chairman, Christian Association of Nigeria, Abia State, Apostle Emmanuel Agomuo said the president's promise is doubtful, and could actually be "the opposite"of what he said.
"I don't see him doing that. I don't think he spoke the truth. So many things are happening in Nigeria but we are praying. I don't think he is planning towards that. I don't believe him. He may just be saying the opposite. So, I want to urge Christians and Nigerians not to relent in their prayers", the clergy said.
A rights activist resident in Umuahia, Paul Njoku, said that Mr. President did not tell Nigerians the whole truth, arguing that if it was difficult for him to keep Nigeria safe and peaceful in the past seven years and four months he had been in power, it would be an impossibility to do so within eight months.
Njoku said: "Mr. President is not telling us the truth. Nigeria is already divided more than during the civil war. There is no magic he can perform to unite and secure the country just in eight months. Under his watch, banditry, kidnapping and forceful disappearance of citizens have been reinforced. The terrorism index of Nigeria is now worse than Afghanistan".
Comrade Goodluck Ibem, the President General of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, wonders the miracle the President would do to achieve his promise. Ibem said it would be very hard for anybody to believe Mr. President.
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"President Goodluck Jonathan handed over a peaceful, united, progressive and economically sound nation to President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, but just within a few months of being in power, he destroyed everything from top to bottom. He destroyed security and brought insecurity; he destroyed the unity in Nigeria and brought divisions; hatred and disunity into the country. The country is now divided along ethnic lines".
According to Emma Onyiocha, a resident of Owerri, "the Buhari administration is a failed government. The only thing that the administration should be doing now is to prepare and go. We have suffered insecurity and nothing has been done, many have died".
Another Imo resident, Chima Ibe said: "They are talking politics and we are familiar with this game now that 2023 politics is around the corner. They are doing everything to justify why we should vote for them. We are wiser now".
Reacting on the issue, Mr. Cheta Iwuchi from Ogbaku in Mbaitoli local government area of Imo, said: "We are disappointed with what is going on in this country. They think we are fools. They do whatever they like. We are watching them. We are waiting to see the President do the magic that he did not do in the last seven years".
An architect in Owerri, Mr. Franklin Nnamere, said the President is marking time and waiting for the expiration of his tenure.
He said: "President Muhammadu Buhari is only marking time and waiting for the end of his tenure. I know he would wish his tenure ended faster so that he could rest.
"How can someone who couldn't make any impact in more than seven years, suddenly perform magic in about eight months to the end of his tenure? That was an empty statement that nobody should take seriously. President Buhari has proven he lacks the capacity to tackle the insecurity plaguing the country. We are waiting and praying earnestly for his tenure to come to an end so that we can open a new chapter".
