CAMPAIGN IS OVER. IT IS HIGH TIME MR PRESIDENT MOVED

March 28,2015 happened to be one of the dates that will forever remain in the hearts of the people of Nigeria. It was a date of liberation to many from the shackles of PDP. Many quarters were not comfortable because they thought it would remain business as usual. Only few could think of its possibility but in the end, the power of the thumbs proved many wrong including the international community. The choice of an elder of over 70 years old to rule over a nation of over 170 Million showed the level of desperation for change by the people. This caught the PDP unaware. And it is still a shock up till now.

In one of the statements credited to the former PDP chairman Bama Tukur in response to the Merger of the four political parties, CPC, ACN, ANPP and APGA, he said and I quote “If you go for a contest, you have the striker. You know Lionel Messi?,” he asked. “PDP is Messi in that contest.We will dribble them like Messi. Tell them chairman said PDP is the
Messi” “We believe that by these measures only shall we restore our dignity and position of pre-eminence in the comity of nations. This is our pledge.” Wow...They were that confident. Until they met the resilient will of the people.  All of a sudden the word “Change” campaign was in the air. It all started like a mere slogan. Until it started gaining ground. Only few could agree that the merger would work as we had always had in the past. Selfishness has always been the bane of any good merger in the country. But all is story today.

What are we changing into? was one of the questions emanating among PDP followers. But that question made no sense to a man who was dying of hunger and deprivation. The inflow of some rogues into APC from PDP did not bother the people even though this concern was raised but what just mattered at that point in time was just change. Some even said, once the head is fine, the body will take shape over time. Election campaigns suddenly moved from being issue based into personal attack on personality and a lot of our media houses suddenly became partisan, our security apparatus began to play to the gallery.  The so called clueless president suddenly became a magician. The war against terrorists became tensed as BOKO Haram were chased towards Sambisa and Gwoza and communities recovered . It was that bad. In the end, Prof Jega lived to expectation even with the aggression of Mr Orubabe. Change won. And the people were ready to face the consequences of their decision either good or bad.

The celebration took a while with pleasantries here and there. The President gave one of the most astonishing inaugural speeches of all time. “I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody” was a quote that shook headlines the next day and the long awaited change started.

So, Mr. President, here we are to see what you truly have in place for us. Election is over. No more propaganda if there was any during campaigns. It is 40 days as a President and 100days counting from March 28. I read a comment on a twitter handle yesterday by someone and it stated "it was those who shouted change the most that are not patient again for the government” And I responded by saying “how would tell a woman whose husband and sons were slaughtered right before her eyes by Bokoharam to remain patient with the government all because she shouted change? Of cos, his reply confirmed my guess. ‘Silent”. Mr. Japheth Omojuwa made a remarkable statement in one of his recently published article and I quote "every day we excuse the government under the guise of “give them time to settle in,” we stand the risk of forgetting that those who get killed by Boko Haram will not be here to enjoy the fruits of a settled government”.

Mr. President, your job may be enormous truly but Nigerians expect a higher and encouraging speed. This security issue must be completed once and for all. Every life lost cannot be restored no matter the strategy being put in place afterwards. Giving us 5000 Megawatt on a yearly basis and 20,000 Mega watt in four years is not a child’s play. N5000 for the 25 Million unemployed graduates is a big task no doubt. One meal per day for our school children “no bi garri” and many more.

The perceived silence or slow pace moving especially in the area of grand stand policy and statement seem to be having a great impact on the whole economic indices. The Naira is all time low against the dollar. Retrenchment of staff is currently on going at CCECC due to the Federal government silence on Capital projects. The continuous menace of Bokoharam is now on a daily basis and it is beginning to spread. Yesterday, they showed themselves in Jos. Today was in Kaduna. North must not go down this way. Something urgent and drastic must be done now and I mean now. Whoever needs to be sacked must be shown the gate now.

Even though it was a good move to bail out states who’s some of their governors do not deserve to be there in the first place but sustainable machinery must be adequately put in place that will prevent these governors from returning for another bail out in the nearest future. 

The appointment mode and style of the President so far also brings to question the methodology engaged. It is skewing towards the North at the moment. It may be too early to conclude on this but I think it is good to be raised now so that the President does not fall into that temptation. I do not think Nigerians should have challenges with that as long it is done in utmost good faith. Competency must override tribalism. This is what we want in our quest for national development especially in the long run. But at this moment of our sociocultural development and reasoning, I will suggest these appointments are balanced. Because it will be so difficult to tell the world that you could only find one out of 9 worthy office holders in the South where the first best 15 universities in the country reside with Profs and business opportunities. I think this really needs to be looked into. Wisdom is highly demanded here. It will be a bad assumption for the President to assume or think everyone will follow along that line of thought that your appointment decision was strictly based on competency and not tribalism. Whoever is giving him such an advice at this time of our sociocultural development is not a good friend. 

Pls for now, let the sleeping dog continue to sleep. Perception is key for the President to succeed in this government. He must have the bias of your people to win in this game. His predecessor was not as terrible or clueless as he was tagged. But perception finished him even though I would not ignore the aspect of sophisticated sabotage.

I wish the President all the best as I join the numerous Nigerians to put him on his toes. No excuse will good enough for failure..

God bless Nigeria

Tunde Adenuga

@tunde_adenuga