by Gbemiga Olakunle

I belong to everybody. I belong to nobody.”

That was the golden statement or word on the marble credited to President Muhammadu Buhari in his Inauguration Speech on Friday, May 29, 2015 at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

With that particular statement, among other highlights of his Inaugural speech, the nation that has been put in a reverse gear and in a state of despondency suddenly seemed to be revived and had her hope rekindled that her tomorrow would be better and alright.

But some of us refused to be cajoled by that statement. The contents of our reminder entitled, “President Buhari belongs to somebody”, widely published online and by national newspapers like The PUNCH, say it all. In that article, we debunked that particular statement and remarked that the President actually belonged to the North (especially the Hausa/Fulani) where he hails from the All Progressives Congress (the party that produced him as its presidential standard-bearer). But some Nigerians, found it difficult to be on the same page with us on the views expressed in that article. Although this writer is also a supporter of President Buhari, definitely not a blind supporter or follower. I belong to a section of supporters who still have their eyes wide open and regularly point out the pitfalls that the new administration may not be conscious of. And true to the prophetic insight clearly expressed in our article then, the President has begun to come up with his appointments which clearly show where he belongs: The North.

President Buhari rattled everybody including his party leaders whom God used to work for his good success at the presidential poll against all odds.

The clear cut lopsidedness in the recent appointments into boards of parastatals and key sectors of the economy and the security apparatus has left no one in doubt of where Buhari’s spirit, soul and body belong – the North with particular reference to the Hausa/Fulani. This unfolding scenario seems to have left the ruling APC rattled. No one is sure of the President’s next move. Not even his presumed advisers or handlers from the South-West could predict him. He has clearly shown to them that the statement in his inaugural speech credited to him was just a political statement to cool down the nerves of Nigerians and the tension in the land then. And if anybody still chose to believe that statement, that person might still be living in a fool’s paradise and might have refused to awake and see the realities on the ground.

Consequently, the President’s high popularity rating at his inauguration has begun to drop. And anybody that thinks otherwise must be an Unidentified Foreign Object living in another planet. But for these shortcomings, lopsidedness in key political and military/security appointments, pockets of extreme cases of religious intolerance, inability to find lasting solutions to the Niger Delta militancy/criminality that has spread beyond its region to other geopolitical regions like the South-East and the South-West, the nation would have heaved a sigh of relief of moving in the right direction towards our Promised land where Nigeria will be truly great and occupy her eminent position in the comity of nations.

Despite all these shortcomings, a living dog is still better than a dead lion when this new administration is compared to the one that proceeded it when the economy was comatose and corruption in high places seemed to be the order of the day.

Politics apart, the nation was almost dying before this administration came on board and God has used it to inject some life into it. But having crossed our Red Sea and heading towards our Canaan land, the nation is currently stranded in the wilderness and hoping for a new sense of direction except our current set of Moses and Aaron find solutions to the aforementioned shortcomings and desist from their current policy of sectionalism and aloofness.

Nevertheless, the good news is that God will never leave this nation stranded. He will still come to our rescue as we continue to look up to him.

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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

Gbemiga Olakunle is the General Secretary, National Prayer Movement, Abuja and can be reached via [email protected]