by Gbenga  Sobaike

I pity you for your loss of empathy for Nigerians.

When in 2009 President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua became incapacitated due to ill-health, some power-drunk cabal sought to cling to power in Yar’Adua’s stead by all means and therefore frustrated every constitutional attempt at bringing in Vice President Goodluck Jonathan as the President. Trust Nigerians, they fought tooth and nail to entrench constitutionality. More so because the Vice President was a gentle soul, so calm and self-effacing that someone just had to fight for him. Goodluck Jonathan’s handling of that situation was flawless; he won our hearts and he was inaugurated as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

In 2011, President Goodluck Jonathan contested to remain in the Aso Rock after completing the term of his deceased boss – the entire two year period being an endless streak of excuses for non-performance. His decision to contest somewhat brought some Nigerians hope; hope that should not have been if not for the illogicality of most Nigerians who expected him to perform miracles in the next four years he was gunning for. They forgot that in his entire two years in Aso Rock, our President only succeeded in travelling the entire North trying to pacify the Northern brokers who feel cheated because Yar’adua could not complete his term, and also did not put in place a structure or template to set in motion Nigeria’s development for the next four years.

Mr President, you hummed the tunes of hope, of possibilities and belief. You and your campaign team effectively appealed to the emotions of Nigerians; you told us you had no shoes and that if you could make it, we also could make it – especially those Nigerians who did not just lack shoes, but also lacked good food, shelter and other basic necessities of life. Sadly, they still do.

Oh Mr President, your story sounded so convincing that my younger sister, Yetunde, felt pity for you.  She pitied you because she tried to imagine how terrible it must have been for you to go to school without shoes. She even told me and others who were of voting age in my family to vote you in as President. They all did but me. In the end, only one vote counted for Buhari in my entire ward. I guess that must have been my vote. I voted Buhari not because he was the best man for the job, but because during his time as head of state, he stood for something; he stood for discipline and a corrupt-free society.

I could not however find what you stood for Mr President, instead I found a man who by his words demonstrated a lack of preparedness to take over the reins of power and even though your Transformation Agenda promised us a good life, your disposition, your reputation and your deeds before time sold you out. I saw you promising what you did not have. I also did not like the idea of appealing to pity and emotions while issues of national importance were left undiscussed by you. You did not come up with progressive ideas in your campaigns; rather you only echoed well-rehearsed perennial electoral promises that have done our nation no good in the past. In addition, at that time I had just been taught a topic in Polemics by Dr. Dipo Fashina in OAU. The topic was ‘Fallacy’, and you committed more than one kind of it even though you were absent at the Presidential Debate. That did not go down well with me, so I voted Buhari.

Nevertheless, I agree with my sister; you deserve my pity too. However, it is for a different reason I pity you Mr President. I pity you because you have lost control of Nigeria; you no longer have a firm grip on issues that border on the nation you swore to lead, protect, develop and prosper. Or how else does one explain the brazen display of corruption, violence and wanton destruction that have characterized your last five years in office? By now, reeling out a list of the several atrocities and aberrations that have defined your government sounds more like a broken record.

Nevertheless, I will mention a few reasons why I think you deserve my pity.  I will not however talk about the over 4000 Nigerians – 1300 this year alone – who have lost their lives to the dastardly act of Boko Haram under your watch. Neither do I want to delve into the several unresolved corruption scandals that have become a normal routine in your government, or the epileptic power situation which has gone worse; or even the unabated oil theft which continues to affect our nation’s revenue. I am tempted to talk about your ill-advised decision to increase the numbers of poorly-funded, infrastructure-starved and intellectually-dissipating universities, but I will not. Thanks for creating schools for the almajiris though. As a reminder Your Excellency, the last time I checked, ASUU was complaining about not having received the 200 billion naira agreed upon, and ASUP is still on strike. Oh, how can I forget to mention the unprecedented impunity your government is well known for? I have noticed that officials in your government have an insatiable penchant for disrespecting and disregarding the resolutions of the national assembly (especially the more active lower house). Dear President, I still wonder how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is being funded since the national assembly has refused to approve a budget for the agency, or has it? And when will Diezani stop calling the bluff of the lower house and go and explain her part in the private jet story? By now, Nigerians have become accustomed to your legendary silence and inaction in corruption scandals that involve your anointed ones. Stella Oduah’s saga is still fresh on our minds. And who will ever forget that Rivers state almost became ungovernable thanks to Police Commissioner Mbu who in deference to a more superior power that resides in Abuja had a long-running battle with the elected governor of the state. I remember well that in the unfolding events of the ‘action film’ some people believe you created in Rivers because Governor Rotimi Amaechi had fallen out of favor with you, he (Amaechi) was denied access to his official residence by men of the Nigerian Police. After much outcry, Mbu was removed from Rivers and rewarded with the position of the FCT police commissioner.

I pity you for your loss of empathy for Nigerians. Barely 24 hours after over 70 Nigerians were killed at Nyanya; you flew to Kano to dance at a PDP rally and thereafter proceeded to Ibadan to felicitate with the Olubadan on his 100^th birthday. What a way to show empathy with the dead and their families. What a way to show that you really care. I also find it embarrassing that the British High Commissioner to Nigeria had to school you and our other political leaders on how a great leader responds in such a situation; he donated blood to the surviving victims. Even though, one may be tempted to think that those political leaders who thereafter donated blood to the victims did it to score cheap political points, you cannot deny the thoughtfulness and empathy in their action. Mr President, you did not donate blood to save the lives of your own people, instead you had to go to Adamawa to dance. Nigerians by now know you do not have a clue about solving this Boko Haram problem, but they would still have appreciated a show of empathy on your part. Sir, that golden opportunity as every previous ones was lost on you and your retinue of ingratiating aides. Thanks for reminding Nigerians that our lives and general wellbeing mean nothing to you. Newsflash: the prime minister of South Korea just resigned over the ferry disaster that claimed hundreds of lives in his country. Though thousands have died in Nigeria, I still do not expect you to resign sir, it is too much for you as a typical Nigerian public office holder.

I hear from some quarters in the country that you have done well. I will not controvert that. You have done well in some regards, but you have failed in most. Apparently, you cannot guarantee the fundamental rights of Nigerians to life, good health, quality education and an overall quality standard of living.  This is in spite of Okonjo Iweala’s much vaunted claim of economic buoyancy. My knowledge of economics may be basic, but I also perfectly understand that economic rebasing or whatever jargon and economic indices that do not translate to better quality of living for the citizenry is pure deceit – ‘nonsense’ is actually the apt word here. Nigerians in 2014 are poorer than they have ever been.

Still, I like you Mr President. I like you because you have demystified the office of the Nigerian President. You have made it quite clear that to become Nigeria’s President, you only have to play on the emotions of gullible Nigerians who unfortunately constitute a majority of the voters; and to remain in office and even be endorsed for a second term, you only have to sit by, look on and do nothing while your country slips into anarchy and an utter state of anomie. Thank you Mr President, you indeed deserve my pity.

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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.