To what do Nigerians owe this punishment?

Those who had argued that Muhammadu Buhari was incapable of taking responsibility may be right after all. He has stylishly washed his hands off the pain that his naira redesign policy brought on Nigerians despite promising to lead from the front and to take responsibility for anything that went wrong. And this has been a signature of his outing as President.

He refuses to accept that the buck stops at his table. As far as he is concerned, someone else must take the blame for every policy failure. That is classic Shaggy – It Wasn’t Me! With that, he presents himself as never in charge of his government and never responsible for its decisions. Many people believe that he has never been in charge. For me, that is just about creating excuses for him and giving him the leverage he needs to bask in his failed salvific mission.

He is leaving office as a man who came with the intention to salvage Nigeria “from the 16 years of PDP”, but ended up leaving it worse than he met it in 2015.

As it is, there is nothing to justify the pain and anguish that his government has visited on Nigerians since he allowed the implementation of his very badly manufactured and produced policy on the naira swap. Sadly, this is coming in the twilight of his days in office. This should actually be a time for him to make a reflective review of his journey and thank God for chastising Nigerians with him. At this stage of his time, Buhari ought to be visiting Nigerians with his goodbye package in appreciation for letting him ride them like a donkey these past seven years and 10 months.

He ought to be visiting his talakawa and beloved almajiri with stories of how his time in office positively changed their lives and to, at least, prove that, indeed, he is their Mai Gaskiya. This should be time for him to enjoy a thank-you flight around Nigeria to bid the people goodbye. I expect him to begin a tour of the world to say bye to those world leaders who always cajoled him with tales of how he is the finest thing to happen to leadership in Nigeria since the amalgamation. He should be taking stock to assess how his time in office has turned Nigeria around to become one of the worst places to live in on earth because, literally, he has nothing left to offer.

A look around the streets of Nigeria brings one face to face with the Buhari imprimatur boldly written on the faces of hapless Nigerians who can no longer find the cash to finance their lives. Point of sale (POS) operators, who suddenly sprang up at every street corner as an enhancement of banking services, have all folded up.

So many small businesses, including motorcycle transport operators, tricycle, taxi and commercial bus drivers, are at the receiving end of the pain. Petty traders are off the streets. Many marketwomen and men, some of whom were cajoled with his Tradermoni deceit, are off the tracks.

The N10,000 loan they each got vanished with hyperinflation. Farmers, who he gleefully boasted of enhancing their businesses through loans, cannot make repayments. Many are unable to transport their produce out of their farms to the markets.

Even people who have huge cash deposits in banks cannot access them for essential needs, including medicine and food. Some have died because of a lack of access to cash to pay for life-saving needs. Even persons who are moved by pity to assist beggars on the streets can’t find the cash to do so.

Interestingly, Godwin Emefiele, the I-Too-Know (ITK) Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor drives to and from work each day seeing a crowd of helpless Nigerians struggling to access their deposits in banks that have no cash to dispense. Yet, nothing concrete is being done to ease the pain, which was marketed as a necessary evil to curtail the influence of cash in elections. But as it turned out, the elections could have even been better with cash inducements than they eventually turned out to be.

So, what legacy really is Buhari leaving? Pain? Gnashing of teeth? Frustration? Anarchy? Is he subtly inviting a revolt? Is he setting Nigerians up against themselves? What exactly does he intend to achieve with this cash blockade? Even when it has been lifted, the effects on personal and family economies will take months to abate. So, why pay Nigerians with such a coin at a time when he should be seeking avenues to make them forget the disaster that his leadership has been?

On March 3, Nigeria’s apex court made a reasonable decision to permit the use of the old naira notes, alongside the new ones, with a December 2023 deadline for the final withdrawal of the old notes. This is an order of the Supreme Court. The Buhari government ignored the decision, with impunity, until March 13.

Ask, how does Nigeria intend to develop when its leaders, beginning with the President, flout its laws and show a remarkable disdain for respecting the decisions of the court? The Nigerian government is notorious for disobeying court orders. It is, therefore, not impossible that it is from the government’s scorn for the rule of law that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) copied its aversion to the Electoral Act and guidelines.

That behaviour may have also given impetus to arguments that INEC is not obligated, in any way whatsoever, to mandatorily obey the Electoral Act but can do so discretionarily.

That is akin to logically arguing that the legislation, which outlaws military coups, need not be mandatory and as such ought to be discretionarily punished upon violation.

The reason these things happen is simply that Nigeria has been dangerously broken by its leaders. People get away with almost everything because there are no consequences. Employees of the state ride roughshod on the law and nothing happens. Impunity against the law is not punished. Collectively, everyone makes a jest of the country and its rules.

As it stands, the laws of Nigeria are designed to be active against the weak, the poor and the unconnected. And that is a stanza in the developing story that could set the country on the path to mass revolt. I am not a prophet and do not intend to be one.

However, I believe that the stage is being set for another edition of youth protests across the country. This time, the police and the military may turn their guns into sickles to pluck their leaders instead. Pray that Nigerians do not drive Nigerians to that point.