by Kelechukwu Uzoka

Where did we go wrong Nigerians? Where? The All Progressive Congress made all the promises and not me. The APC, and not me, have always been the proponents of the ‘Change’ mantra, so why should PMB tell me to change? Besides what do I need to change in me? Should I go from wearing my Aba made cloths to Okirika, or should I move from my brick house to a mud house? I never went round Nigeria promising those 3 million jobs, 780,000 immediate jobs. I did not tell Nigerians that subsidy payment is a fraud. I did not promise one free meal a day to Nigerians. I never had a campaign poster that said Kelechukwu Uzoka for Change. I never said “If anything goes wrong, I will take responsibility, and I will fix it. That is what it means to lead”. PMB these were your words. There have been plenty go lows in this administration but last week saw the depths of it with the #ChangesBeginsWithMe re-orientation campaign. Instead of PMB coming out to address the hunger in the land he came out to tell Nigerians to Change!

A friend of mine who watched the launch of the #ChangeBeginsWithMe campaign noted that he was convinced that PMB finds it difficult to understand the problems of Nigerians from within Nigeria – he only understands us from afar and may only understand the current recession when he travels out again. Besides, the launch of this new campaign was an outright waste of scarce resources! In the course of a conversation with another friend on the ineptitude of the present administration in crises management, the fine gentleman noted that it would appear that PMB foresaw our present situation and increased the budgetary allocation for his feeding Ten Billion Naira to ensure that he keeps feeding fat with his family and the ‘Aso Rockers’.

Before we decide whether or not to succumb to this new regime of change, can PMB authoritatively tell us one thing his administration has done that has positively affected the citizenry? Even the very word change has been given a negative connotation by PMB’s attitude towards governance. It is now “change” where you are tagged an opposition because you ask the right questions which this government is supposed to answer, but cannot; it is now‘change’ where common things are becoming scarce ; it is now “change” where the Fulani herdsmen take over and continue, as a going concern, the genocidal business of Boko Haram with little or no reaction from the government; it is now “change” where feeding becomes a luxury; it is now “change” where there is a panic capital flight and massive divestments on account of government’s uncertain body language, inconsistent policies, and mismanagement of functional policies put in place by previous administrations; it is now“change” where loyal public and government officials feed fat while civil servants are owed salaries “back-to-back”. Dear PMB, we are not deceived by the slashing of your basic salary or the other mini gimmicks you employ to sway the uninformed. If you want to be serious, kindly slash the allowances by 50%, slash your budget and spending by 50% including those of your cabinet members. Reduce the presidential fleet and convoy, let the law apply equally to all.

PMB it was you and your APC that promised us Change during the campaigns, the citizens never promised you change. Please do not change the rules in the middle of the game. The Change has changed everybody except you, your party and your government. Stop singing Shaggy’s ‘It wasn’t me’ when citizen try to hold you accountable to your campaign promises. Do not throw the broom at us.

A Message from the Streets

If you can do nothing about the current economic situation and hardship in the country, please return us to how you met us pre May 29, 2015, when we bought a bag of rice at N9,000, a bag of fertilizer at N3,000, a bag of cement at N1,200, then we even had a functional and Independent electoral umpire unlike the ‘Inconclusive National Electoral Commission’ we have now. If Goodluck Jonathan is with all of our money, why did you not collect it from him when he came for the Council of States meeting last week? Maybe you should start handling your personal twitter handle @Mbuhari personally, you will feel the streets from there, or better still disguise yourself and go shopping or walk the streets and seek the opinion of those you claim to lead. Continue laughing at the cartoons while Nigeria gradually grinds to a halt. Let me expose one truth, PDP 16 years is better than APC one and half years economically.

You can fool the people sometimes, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.

#BuhariBringBackOurNigeria

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Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

Kelechukwu Uzoka is a Lawyer, Political commentator, Social activist and Legal consultant.

He tweets via @kcuzoka

Mazi Emeka