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Politics demands that those who hold public offices should do so in trust for the people. That’s why politics should be seen as a human enterprise. If you are a leader, authenticity of performance is your most precious commodity, and you will lose it if you attempt techniques that don’t fit your strengths. And because people drive political parties, the same rules and consequences often apply. In other words, when a governing party or the President fails to work in the best interest of the country and the people, it’s a matter of time, that party will squander the trust of the citizens. The consequences will follow.
Seven years of the All Progressives Congress in government is like pins on the lips of the people, so painful. It’s no longer an argument whether the cup is half-full or half-empty. It’s completely empty. Anger and disillusionment are telling in all fronts. Today, Nigeria under the APC looks abandoned. When the President admitted last week in his hometown, Daura, Katsina State, that it had been very tough for him, and he’s very “eager to go”, you could see a leader in despair, completely overwhelmed by the challenges of the country. It’s also an admission of failure. Didn’t he realise from the moment he desperately wanted to be President, that the office was not a ‘prize to be won, but a duty to be done’ (to paraphrase Gerald R.Ford)? It’s not unkind to say that Buhari didn’t consider the rigours and demands of the job before he threw his heart into the ring. He saw it as a prize, and once he won it, nothing else matters to him. That’s why Nigeria is in this mess. It’s a lesson in leadership, and how not to govern a nation. It’s also a lesson to those jostling to be Nigeria’s next president. Yesterday’s experience should be a guide for tomorrow. Events in the past seven years clearly have a ringing message: that APC has failed to lift up Nigeria. It has betrayed its own ‘Change’ mantra. The party has brought misery and calamity to Nigeria. Truth is, the desire to leave a legacy, something worth remembering, is a task to be prepared for, an evidence of a hard work of a lifetime. For an elected President, he must, of necessity, have an eye beyond the immediate, unto the future. It’s all about problem solving, and how history will remember you.
Undoubtedly, APC has put Nigeria in a big hole. It’s a hole members of the party dug for the former ruling PDP. But, APC failed to make the hole shallow, they dug it very deep. That’s the hole they have now fallen into. Unfortunately, the party has dragged the country and the people into that hole. How sad! That’s the lesson in hubris. Hypocrites fail the very moment they hold others to the standards they cannot keep. Passing excuses has become a horrible pastime for APC and its leaders. Excuses are the lowest level of knowledge. As former American broadcaster and war correspondent Edward R.Murrow once said, “difficulty is one excuse that history never accepts”. As another general elections draw closer, disillusionment with the APC is growing. The outcome of the Osun governorship poll in which Gov. Oyetola of APC, was roundly defeated by PDP’s Ademola Adeleke could be a foretaste of things to come next year. It’s a hammer blow to Tinubu. I doubt he saw it coming. Or he deluded himself that winning was assured, and other parties would “labour to death”(as he bragged). And I have been thinking how the APC will wage a winning national campaign and convince Nigerians to give it another mandate in 2023. President Buhari will not be on the ballot, but the record of his 8 years in power will resonate. His self-acclaimed morality and decency rest upon only a thin reed of truth. Questions such as these will be asked: what’s APC record of performance to warrant another four years? Any steady progress in the country since it came to power in 2015? Any peace, security and public trust? Any improvement in the welfare of the people? What about the economy, better now or worse? What about corruption? In short, any record of progress/performance that anybody should be proud of? It’s like Nigerians were conned and dragged into “one chance bus”. No doubt, the stakes are much higher this time round than they were in 2015 and 2019 elections. It’s not unkind to say that the last seven years of APC represent an awful lot of misery never seen before at least since after the civil war. Reality bites, but this is the truth. It’s the sad story of millions of Nigerians under the leadership of APC. The issue is poor leadership, incompetence and ineffectiveness in the management of the country.
By any measure, Nigeria is worse off today than it was seven years ago. The ruling party is in desperate political trouble to hold on to power. Its leadership is like clouds without water. I am waiting to see what kind of campaign strategy the party will develop, the theme and record it will run on, what realistic objectives it will emphasize for the next four years, and of course, how it will convince and ‘convert’ new voters to cast their ballots for the party again after squandering their trust for this long. Of course, questions will be asked: how have we faired as a people? The economy is wobbling. It’s like a company under receivership. Records show that the national grid has collapsed more than 140 times since 2015. For many people, it’s like midnight in Nigeria. It is no longer a nation of our fathers’ dream. If Nigerians are ready for the truth simply spoken, about how our lives have been badly run these seven years, we need a change of leadership. The only conceivable way forward for APC is to go on the offensive with cocktail of lies and as usual blame all the misery in the country on the PDP and the Labour Party Presidential candidate Mr Peter Obi who is now rave of the moment. Playing fast and loose with the facts as it did in 2015 and 2019, won’t work in 2023. Nigerians are now wiser. Again, the result of Osun guber election says it all. In 2023, voters will demand performance, not promises, specifics, not platitudes. In all the areas that APC made promises, it delivered little. Literally speaking, the party promised the moon, but delivered cheese. On corruption, Nigeria has gotten the worst global corruption ranking since 2015. On security, things are much worse now than they were in 2015 and 2019. No one feels safe anywhere in the country anymore. Unemployment, inflation and poverty are surging. Check out the facts: According to data on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on May 29, 2015, President Buhari inherited a foreign reserve of $28.6bn. The Jonathan administration also left a total of $2.2bn in the Excess Crude Account (ECA). In May 2015, President Buhari inherited an economy that was a preferred destination for investors in Africa. Back then, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) described as the preferred destination for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa. It stood at $35.25bn. What has happened now? It declined to $11.55 between 2016 and 2020.
Naira weakened last Friday to its lowest level ever, falling 1.34 percent against the U.S. dollar. This implies N5.71 devaluation. At the parallel market, it fell N620/ $1. It was N199/$1 in 2015. Unemployment is now over 35 percent; headline inflation has surged to 18.60 percent, the highest in five years. Poverty rate is at its highest level in over 23 years. According to World Bank’s new report titled “The Continuing Urgency of Business”, at least 7 million more Nigerians will fall into extreme poverty by the end of 2022. This is one million more than its original projection. External debt stood at $7.73bn in 2015. Today, it’s $41.5bn. About 48 percent are bilateral and commercial loans. Domestic debt servicing has risen to about N5trn yearly. Is this the ‘Change’ APC promised Nigerians?
