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By Olakunle Olafioye
President Muhammadu Buhari’s plea to Nigerians over the inconveniences his eight-year administration might have caused the nation appears to have failed to calm frayed nerves as anticipated.
Rather, the palpable good intention of the president is currently generating backlash with critics branding his apology with unsavoury epithets.
The president had made his appeal in the penultimate Friday, at an occasion to mark his final outing as president on the Sallah Day, before handing over, thanking Nigerians for the honour to serve for two terms from 2015 to 2023.
President Buhari said that he accepted all the complaints and criticisms in good stead, knowing it was part of the leadership he prayed and asked from God.
His words: “God gave me an incredible opportunity to serve the country. We are all humans, if I have hurt some people along the line of my service to the country, I ask that they pardon me.
“All those that I have hurt, I ask that they pardon me. I remain grateful to Nigerians, who voted for me in 2015 and 2019, without any monetary incentive, with some trooping to the campaigns, and receptions in states just to catch a glimpse.
“I think it is a good coincidence for me to say goodbye to you, and thank you for tolerating me for almost eight years.”
But reacting to the president’s beg for forgiveness, a Port Harcourt-based renowned security expert, Jackson-Lekan Ojo, described the president’s apology as tantamount to the reopening of old wounds, saying that the move was needless.
According to him, “the handlers of the president did not advise him appropriately. There wouldn’t have been any reason for him to tender any apology considering the monumental blunders he committed. Will his apology bring back thousands of Nigerians that have died of poverty or thousands of Nigerians that were kidnapped, but never returned? Apology over the total collapse of our infrastructure?
«Emotional sentiment will not work in the face of what Nigerians have been made to go through in the last eight years.
“Mr. President should pack his load and leave Aso Rock on 29th of May. Nigerians are eager to see him leave for the incoming president. Buhari apologizing to Nigerians now is tantamount to reactivating the bitterness of the injuries, losses and the misfortunes Nigerians suffered under his administration in the last eight years. Which of his sins was he apologizing for? Is it his ineptitude in fighting insurgency or corruption or in the management of the economy? Is it over his recent Naira redesign that plunged the nation into hardship? You claimed you redesign the Naira which we cannot get and went back to bring back the old notes. His government wasted our resources on the policy without anything to show for it.
“Is Buhari apologizing over energy crisis his government foisted on Nigeria, where so many factories have been shutdown owing to high cost of energy? Mr. President made a huge mistake in apologizing. He should have kept quiet and leave peacefully. Begging Nigerians to forgive you at this time is an insult to Nigerians.”
A Professor of Political Science and former Head of Political Science Department, Babcock University, Ogun State, Abiodun Oni, in his own reaction, said that the president’s apology was in order, arguing that it was an indication that the president was not oblivious of his sins against the nation.
“Nigerians are angry with him because he appeared not to have initiative and not to be in control of his government. He needs to apologize. So, his apology is in order. When he was coming in, the hope Nigerians had in him was very high. However, as things turned out under his government, Nigerians are really embittered because of the disappointments that characterized his administration,” Oni said.
He, however, pointed out that despite apologizing to Nigerians over his past mistakes, the president is still committing more sins.
“Ironically, he is still committing more blunders. You are leaving power in one month’s time and you decided to increase workers’ salary by 40 per cent. Is that not an offence? It is a very grave offence especially when the incoming president is from your party.
“Tinubu won the last election because some of us saw that most of his (Buhari’s) policies were targeted against Tinubu’s ambition. So, Buhari also needs to apologize to his party; not only to Nigerians and he must apologize to Tinubu,” he said.
Also reacting, National President, Arewa United Consultative Forum, Alhaji Ado Dansudu, noted that Nigerians’ anger against the president was justified and queried why the president should be forgiven.
“Why should we forgive him? Does it mean he has just realised his mistakes? Realistically speaking, Buhari committed a lot of blunders. This is a man who retained some of his non-performing appointees despite their obvious ineptitude and cluelessness throughout his administration without considering the plights and cry of the people they were meant to serve. If not, how would you retain someone like the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, up till now despite the woes he caused the entire nation?
“This is a man who came to power on the mantra of fighting corruption and insurgency. But rather than fight this twin-evil, he allowed them to thrive under his administration simply because he failed to weed out the weak links in his government. Buhari ought to have made examples of some of his appointees by exposing them. But now that he failed to do that is he expecting the incoming president to do that for him in order to blackmail him?
“Nigerians have right to be angry with Buhari because of the so much hope they placed in him when he was coming to power. By now, Nigerians expect that our refineries would have been fixed and fuel prices come down. Nigerians expect thriving economy and adequate security in the country. Nigerians expect that under Buhari there would be job opportunities for the jobless and people would be able to feed their families. But which of these parameters can we identify to have been bettered by his government? None! Rather, the prices of everything has gone up by at least 100 per cent.
“So, Buhari apologizing to Nigerians, to me, is meaningless,” Dansudu fumed.
The Executive Director, Civil Liberties Organization, Comrade Ibuchukwu Ezike, in his own reaction described the president’s apology as mischievous.
He called on the incoming government to probe into the activities of the outgoing administration, saying that “I think the man is mischievous with his apology. Which of his sins is apologizing for? Is it his administration’s gross violation of human rights since 2015 that people have been slaughtered like cows? Nigerians are being killed all over the country with their killers roaming all over the forests in the country. Communities in some parts of the country are being evicted from their homes and the president is there seeing all these violations, but finds it hard to bring in a lasting solutions to these killings.
“Why apologizing? I think he is just deceiving himself and his cronies who are mis-ruling this country. Or is it on the latest havoc he unleashed on the Nigerian people through his Naira redesign policy? At the end of the day, the entire process collapsed and nothing could be said to have been achieved with this wicked policy.
“It is very obvious that Buhari lacked the capacity to rule that is exactly the result of what we have seen.
“In which area or areas does he want Nigerians to forgive him? Is it the area of justice system? Can we boldly say we have credible judiciary in this country again? Are our judges not being bought over these days? Most of the rots we have witnessed in this country festered and thrived more under this administration.
“Our education system has collapsed totally. ASUU was on strike for eight months; ASUP did theirs and some other unions. Can his apology reverse all the losses Nigerians have suffered under him? Where has Buhari government done well? His is a hopeless and failed government. Except in the area of unleashing terror on the Nigerian people. He is still borrowing money for the incoming government. The incoming government should ensure those in government today are held accountable for every of their action.”
