Beyond Buhari’s Victory …Why Most Nigerians Are Impatient

Muhammadu Buhari

Barely a month after the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari, as President and Commander-In-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria, following his victory in the March 28,2015 elections, many Nigerians have started criticizing the government as unbelievably slow in action. They expect quick fixes to national maladies in the military fashion.
These Nigerians should not be blamed. As a party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) held the hope of a better Nigeria, different from the years under the rulership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In fact, the party exhuded so much confidence and knowledge of Nigeria’s problems to such extent that many believed that once elected, they would hit the ground running.
Among the issues Nigerians sought quick answers to were as follows: The Boko Haram inspired insurgency would be brought to an end and the Chibok girls, kidnapped more than a year ago, rescued immediately. APC accused the PDP of bungling the war on terror and did not make sufficient effort in rescuing the girls.
In fact, the Bring-Back-Our Girls campaign, it was later learnt, was inspired by some members of the APC who used the protest to press government for urgent actions. In the process, the APC promised that a Buhari government would, without any foot-dragging, confront the insurgents, identify location of the girls, and indeed, bring them home to their parents.
One month after, insurgent attacks are still common-place. In fact, only last week, 180 were killed in Borno. Even if Nigerian troops are doing their best, there does not appear to be any magic introduced by the new government as distinct from the previous one.
Another is the issue of fuel scarcity orchestrated by the antics of marketers and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The previous government had canvassed the removal of subsidy as a means of eliminating the near frequent cases of corruption in the management and funding of the subsidy regime.
But just when the measures were announced, civil society groups, trade unions and even motor park touts gathered in parts of Lagos, in protest. Buhari was indeed a rallying point for that campaign.
This time around, Nigerians expected a quick-fix different from the removal of subsidy. They  expect urgent steps to be taken towards making the country’s refineries function at full capacity. Apart from the dissolution of the board of the NNPC, Nigerians wanted to bear that a team of experts had been commissioned to brief government of ways to revamping the nation’s refineries and a final decision on the removal or sustenance of petroleum subsidy.
That has not happened. Nigeria still continues to depend largely on imported fuel. This means the government must continue to pay the bills of marketers or risk another round of long queues at filling stations on account of fuel scarcity.
Next to that is the power sector. Nigerians are today made to pay for electricity they do not consume. The new operators under the unbundling of former NEPA and eventual privatization seem reluctant to invest properly and await rewards later. They are keen on making profit over services not properly rendered.
During the campaigns, the APC promised to hold operators accountable and beef up the amount of power generated and distributed for consumption. Instead, the power supply continues to drop, to such disturbing extent that make many Nigerians to wonder if this was the best the new party in government could offer.
Another key reason for Nigerians’ impatience with the government is its inability to handle the conflicting ambitions of its members in the National Assembly. Nigerians expect to see a party with some measure of internal discipline, cohension, and indeed, sense of purpose.
Between when the elections were lost and won, and when Buhari was formally sworn-in, Nigerians expected that a serious minded-party would have decided on choice of members to be President of Senate and Deputy, Speaker of the House of Representatives and deputy, and indeed, all other principal officers of the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly.
Instead, nearly more than two weeks after the swearing-in of Buhari and the eventual inauguration of the 8th National Assembly, Nigerians witnessed the emergence of a leadership of the Assembly not endorsed by the APC. In fact, the deputy Senate president became a member of the opposition  PDP instead of emerging from the ruling party.
Rather than blame itself, for being unable to manage the ambitions of its senators and House members, some APC leaders are blaming the PDP for capitalising on minor divisions within the ranks of the ruling party.
The PDP also suffered same embarrassment when former Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, emerged against the dictates of the ruling party. Tambuwal also enjoyed the massive support of the opposition, particularly those of the then ACN, CPC and ANPP, who later merged to form the APC.
Knowing this as fact, and possible danger, the APC should have done all necessary groundworks long before the eventual directive by Mr President for the inauguration of the 8th Assembly. Instead, Nigerians are still witnessing what seems a ballroom dance, one step forward, two backwards, resulting in long adjournment of the National Assembly to July 21, less than one month after its inauguration.
While the APC leadership continues to insist that the emergence of both leaders of the Senate and House is unacceptable, the affected officials insist that their elections were constitutional. They hold that it is part of the National Assembly rule that President of Senate and deputy and Speaker of the House and deputy must be elected by the general assembly of both chambers.
That means every senator or member of the House has the constitutional right to vote any member of his choice. That, Senate President, Bukola Saraki continues to insist was what happened.
But it would not have been so, if the party had been united, disciplined and cohesive in the choice of their leaders and made such decision count by ensuring that their members supported the party’s choice, if popular.
Such consensus requires extensive dialogue, sacrifice and loyalty to the party’s hierarchy. It’s called party supremacy. Where these are in short supply, individual ambitions go hay-wire and become uncontrollable. That, indeed, was the lot that befell the APC as a party.
Perhaps, the most important is the delay in the choice of ministers. A divided Senate may be a hindrance to quick passage of the President’s list. Conversely, a united APC could guarantee easy passage of such a list, using its numbers.
But with the rejection of the leadership of both chambers of the NASS, by the APC, there is no telling how such a list will be treated by the same leadership publicly rejected by the ruling party’s leadership.
All these have, without doubt, affected the actualization of the speedy change, APC promised, and for which, Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for its Presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
In course of the campaigns, some APC faithful said former President Goodluck Jonathan was not well- prepared for the job of president. They preferred Buhari because he had the experience, and being an army general and former Head of State, was better suited to beat the insurgency to an immediate halt. That has yet to happen. No list of ministers yet. Nigeria still imports fuel. Power supply is still epileptic. Yet, there are no words as to when these will get the government’s attention.
Instead, Nigerians are made to witness froggy leaps and coacks of a divided house, haggling over the choice of National Assembly leadership. And rather than fix it, the APC appears to be busy blaming it on all others, except itself.
My Agony is that the APC does not seem to realize the high expectations of Nigerians for which they granted mandate to its armour bearer in person of Mr President. Nigerians want the change, APC promised them. And urgently too.
Post Script
Once again, from a life-threatening ailment, and from the helplessness of medical experts, The Lord proved why He is Almighty God, and restored my health.
Let’s thank The Lord for saving my life and giving me the strength to voice My Agony, after a long period of near hopelessness.
Welcome to our world, and thanks for all your goodwill and get-well messages. – My Agony.

Soye Wilson Jamabo