A View From The Scandinavian

President Buhari: You Don’t Feel Our Pains

For now, people like President Buhari who cannot ask the stinking corrupt politicians under his watch for their resignation letters because in principle, they are all the same and Mrs. Iweala who wants to preach the old testament after the new should please leave us alone and let us deal with our pains with respect.

President Buhari; No, You Don’t Feel Our Pains

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Deceits brought us to this abysmal level in Nigeria.

In my opinion it was an insult to Nigerians for President Buhari to state that he feels the pains of Nigerians whereas there are no public actions or utterances to support the assertion. So what he said was not close to the truth at all.

Nigerians are not fool and they are not stupid.

When people voted for change, it was not as if they were not aware that there were several APC treasury looters and criminally-inclined PDP-decampees that migrated to the APC.

The votes were in trial that there may be a fresh start under our (strange) democratic arrangement. Now, the people are more than convinced that Nigerian politicians are birds of the same feather thriving in different nests

When various allegations of corruption have been levelled against prominent politicians under the APC-Buhari mandate, it became a rude shock to many Nigerians that President Buhari remained camera-shy in condemning the alleged criminals that were under investigation or even attending trials. Together they continue to steer the affairs of a failed country-Nigeria.

It is very sad that under our current statuses of economic recession and personal depressions, the APC-Buhari mandate failed to curbed corruption amongst its own. So the status-quo that we the people feared and put on trial by voting or supporting change is maintained and this government is no longer a trusted one.

Concretely, when the National Assembly’s leadership and membership were exposed for some of their crimes, we the people expected the presidency to make a direct pronouncement and denouncement of the crimes.

How can President Buhari now says that he feels our pain and remain on the same side as alleged criminals? Is party affiliation more important that fairness and justice for all? This is not a military government Pa. Buhari!

How can you feel our pains when you failed to take side with the people even when a rare opportunity finally came in form of a judicial inquest of the National Assembly?

What kind of change did you promise?

For those of us who abhor the inclusion of religion in politics, the pain becomes severe when we see the president lining up with corrupt people on prayer grounds. The bait of religion is the worst form of hypocrisy on earth.

Even when Mr. Dogara, an alleged criminal, added salt to the injury and deeply knowingly insulted 170 m Nigerians by saying that padding was not a crime, President Buhari did not request for his resignation letter. Instead they rolled together in Aso rock mocking the people. What a shame on Nigeria!

No, President Buhari, stop the lie and end the deceit. You don’t feel our pains.

As we continue to groan under the economic hardship in Nigeria, there is still nothing from your end to show that you feel our pains.

No, the APC-Buhari mandate does not feel our pains. When a regime is loaded with confessional, self-made criminals who boast about their loots, their budget-padding abilities and their abilities to twist the law in their favour, it is deceit to state that such a regime feels our pains.

One of the ways that would have been indicative of change would have been to turn a new leaf when the APC-Buhari mandate emerged in 2015. So far the APC government is a failed government.

Rather than address issues squarely, the APC-Buhari has resolved to continue to blame the PDP governments especially the one led by one Mr. Jonathan. But that blame game is only partially correct. We-the people-knew that both the APC and the PDP in various ways contributed to the recession that Nigerians are now suffering.

We knew that Mr. Jonathan did not save for the rainy days. Who else could have reminded us but the finance minister who supervised the wastage and looting until the end?

Now see where we are now, suffering like never before.

Together, they want us to believe that they feel our pain. Where are they-Amadiora and Sango-when you need them?

For now, people like President Buhari who cannot ask the stinking corrupt politicians under his watch for their resignation letters because in principle, they are all the same and Mrs. Iweala who wants to preach the old testament after the new should please leave us alone and let us deal with our pains with respect.

That much we deserved.

These people stole our lives, our common wealths and they are still robbing us of what is left of our common dignity.

How many of the pains in Nigeria does Mr. Buhari feels?

In my immediate environment, l have complained of the river of sewage flowing on the streets and nearby roads for years. I have written openly to his man in Lagos, Mr. Ambode and  many people told me l have to call out Abuja to reach FHA or even Mr. Fashola. People are dying of diseases everywhere and l have to personally run after the state and the federal government to see the reason. Who is feeling my pain?

In my state of birth and residence, the Apapa area generates income that helps to sustain the entire country. The federal road that leads to the Apapa-wharf area is an eye sore. It continues to lead many to their graves. I feel the pain, we feel the pain, and the federal government takes the money!

Do we all see the villages and towns that are spread around the Niger Delta area? What about in the North-Eastern part of Nigeria? The people living in these regions are in pain. Their environments have been destroyed. The government of Nigeria at all levels does not feel the pains of the ordinary citizens. It is only the ordinary people that feel the pains. No one feels the pain of the farmers and fishermen who have lost their means of livelihhod.

Even the militants and the terrorists don’t feel the pain. They have been fed over the years under different aegis and acronyms by a corrupt system that would rather select and deal with a handful of people rather than address problems holistically once and for all.

The story of our pains are endless. Which of them does President Buhari shows empathy for by keeping the company of budget padders?

Education that ought to be free now cost a fortune. Where is the money? Soon, ASUU will go on strike. The children of politicians and other people doing very well are attending schools abroad. How can they feel our pains?

How many of our pains does President Buhari feel? Unemployment? High cost of essential commondities? Bad federal roads everywhere? Flood after rain? Absence of compulsory education for children? Insecurity? Lack of public health care?

If President Buhari actually travelled abroad to fix his ear problems and l have spent all my life living with 2 defective ears, how does he feel my pain?

If president Buhari, other Nigerian politicians and big men can fly private jets to wherever they want to go and the local airlines cancelled and postponed my trips because of the nonsensical way the country is managed, who is feeling my pain?

I can count in more than one thousand ways why president Buhari and the rest of Nigerian politicians both in APC and PDP do not feel or share our pains. They are all liars and budget padders.

Beyond our pains is what would become of the future of this country Nigeria.

We cannot shout enough that a political solution will invariably lead to economic resuscitation of the country. It will take time but it appears to be the best option that has a life-time durability.

What APC hopped upon in the last 18 months was a fire brigade approach to fix the economy and so far they have failed with all the trials and errors. The failure is to the extent that the APC has started re-adopting some of PDP’s policies that it discarded when the APC-Buhari mandate emerged.

In any case, Nigerian politicians needs to act before it is too late. We all need the political will to pursue a long lasting political solution. It is a national patriotic call.

The people who go to Abuja for politics are doing so for personal benefits. The risk they take is getting more expensive. One day, they may return home and find that nothing is left. With the way things are going out of hand in certain parts of Nigeria especially in the North-East and in the Niger-Delta area, there will not be a better time than now to sit down and fashion out a political solution to Nigeria’s problems.

National debates will avail much. It is time to reason along the line of a system that will for all time be the basis of the economy of the regions and states of the federation.

The wasteful spending of the federal government of Nigeria in keeping all the current unnecessary and jargonistic unitary structures of government does not reflect that the federal government feels the pain of the people.

The waste is huge for a system that has never worked and that will probably never work.

As a result of their selfishness, Nigerian politicians are living in a world of their own. They exist in their own bubbles of delusion. The people are suffering and dying in thousands daily. The people are in pains that no one in Aso rock can ever feel or imagine!

It is impossible to feel the pains of Nigerians with a myopic view. Let’s take our eyes off the crude oil for a while. Let’s take our eyes off the proceeds of the Apapa Wharf for a while. Let’s reason together and build something that our children and children’s children will be proud us before we destroy everything totally.

In the meantime, as the law continues to fail to serve justice, we the people demand that the criminal politicians who are rubbing shoulders in the local, state and federal government institutions should stop padding budgets and stop stealing of what is left of a country in deep recession.

aderounmu@gmail.com