23022018 - Confusion over Yobe girls; angry parents stone gov

VANGUARD, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2018 —17
shame and not come
up with any excuses
and just say sorry to
those he has let down!
A Vanguard reader
has told me off for
voting for Buhari as
follows:
P
R E S I D E N T
Muhammadu Buhari
has been gradually – and
tragically - demystifying
himself since he took over
from ex-President Goodluck
Jonathan nearly three years
ago. I grew up sharing a
widespread belief that he was
an uncompromising
disciplinarian who wasn’t
willing to tolerate corruption
in any shape or form.
Like millions of other
Nigerians, I regarded him as
a super-strict senior soldier
who would save us from
venal, unpatriotic saboteurs
who were undermining our
economy, poisoning our
society and mortgaging our
collective future. Looking
back, I was warned that he
wasn’t the Messiah I yearned
for.
I particularly recall a friend
who had worked with Buhari
when he was in Opposition
saying (after I’d
enthusiastically explained
why I was planning to vote for
him in 2015) that “Buhari isn’t
as tough as you think. I never
once saw him put his foot
down when some of his
followers needed to be
controlled.”
Meanwhile, other critics
accused Buhari of other
weaknesses, including
nepotism and tribalism…and
expressed the view that his
no-nonsense, principled
reputation was undeserved. It
was said in certain quarters
that Major-General Tunde
Idiagbon, the de facto Vice
President, had been the real
strong man and driving force
during Buhari’s famous first
stint as Head of State (1983-
1985).
I was told on numerous
occasions that Buhari would
disappoint me. But some of us
have developed a bad habit
of refusing to take alternative
viewpoints that we don’t want
to hear seriously; and I chose
to ignore these prophets of
doom.
I took the view that there
was nothing wrong with
Shameful and depressing!
giving a candidate the benefit
of the doubt. For every anti-
Buhari voice, there was a pro-
Buhari voice. And as I’ve
pointed out before on this
page, I am not a fortune
teller….and could not be sure
how Buhari would conduct
himself in the corridors of
power.
But guess what?
Within weeks of Buhari’s
return to the top office in the
land, rumours about dodgy
dealings within his
administration were rife. And
he didn’t help matters by
bestowing too many major
appointments on relatives
and fellow Katsinans.
We have constantly been
assured that Buhari and his
team are sincerely and
aggressively fighting the
He needs to pay
more attention to
the anger and
hunger of large
chunks of the
electorate
cancer that is corruption, but
the “fight” seems to be as
much about vindictive
political score-settling as
anything else; and Buhari has
displayed an unfortunate
penchant for overlooking the
•President Muhammadu Buhari
dubious practices of his
favourites. The recent
reinstatement of the NHIS
boss being a classic example
of his blind allegiance to
people who should not be
public servants.
Long story short: Hardly
anyone thinks that this is an
ethical government.
And now a really depressing
bombshell has landed on us
from a respected external
source: According to the latest
Corruption Perception Index,
CPI, released by Transparency
International, TI, on
Wednesday, corruption has
worsened since Buhari stood
up in Eagle Square on May
29, 2015 and assured an
Buhari really needs to act!
BUT leopards, especially
elderly ones who have
had decades in which to
become rigidly set in their
ways, rarely change their
intently listening world that
he would “belong to
everybody and nobody”!
We were ranked 136th (out
of 180 countries surveyed) in
2016; and we’ve now dropped
to 148. New Zealand came
first and Denmark second;
Finland, Norway and
Switzerland shared the third
position.
Other sub-Saharan African
countries that are ranked
higher than Nigeria are
Botswana - whose joint 34
rank is the best in Africa - as
well as Rwanda (joint 48th)
and Nambia (joint 53rd).
If I were in Buhari’s shoes,
I would hang my head in
spots! So I’m not holding my
breath that positive new
winds will suddenly start
gusting from the presidential
Villa.
08036335129
Anonymous
I disagree with you
when you tried to
excuse yourself from
blame for supporting
Buhari during the
election on the
grounds that you can’t
predict someone’s
behaviour. You like
most fanatical Buhari
supporters at the time
of the election never
showed any proper
sense of history.
You allowed
yourself to be carried
away by APC acid
propaganda against
Jonathan without
bothering to equally take a
look at the negative historic
facts which were being
published almost daily about
Buhari. His tribalism,
nepotism, religious
fanaticism, sectionality,
corruption...
Is it too late for him to
salvage his image and
placate folks who are fed up
with him before the next
election? Well, nothing is
impossible. But I’m not
optimistic. He needs to
urgently address concerns
about the escalating Fulani
herdsmen scandal. He needs
to prove that he can be
unbiased, untribalistic and
flexible.
He needs to pay more
attention to the anger and
hunger of large chunks of the
electorate. He needs to show
Southern and Middle Belt
Christians that he can
empathise with them on a
profound level. He needs -
even in his Muslim Northern
heartland - to deliver more
hope and concrete progress.
He needs to sack, with
immediate effect, some of the
hated eminences who are
lurking behind his throne and
ruining his credibility (even
his wife, our dear First Lady,
Madame Aisha, can’t stand
them!).
Responses to:
donzol2002@yahoo.co.uk
or to 0802 747 6458 OR 0811
675 9752 (texts only).
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C
M
Y
K