President Muhammadu Buhari remains at the centre of discussion at different fora in the country. The only problem is, instead of discussion groundbreaking achievements or even at least ways that the government has fulfilled its election manifesto of ending terrorism and sectarian violence and curbing corruption, our nationwide discussions remain stagnated on what the President should have done that he is not doing.

Passing the blame to the Jonathan administration was the norm at the beginning of the Buhari administration. It was inadvisable though it’s expected of a new administration trying to find its footing. However, this has continued unabated as the President has failed to accept responsibility for everything that has gone wrong in this administration contrary to his electoral promises. In one of his 2015 pre-election tweet circulating on Twitter, President Buhari committed himself to accept responsibility for anything that happens and will fix whatever needs to be fixed. Turns out that was a pipe dream.

His New Year speech was a replica of previous ones as he passed the blame for everything currently going wrong in the polity to one group of people or the other. The blame of the trending restructuring debate was heaped on some individuals while he promised to punish oil marketers for the current fuel scarcity being experienced since December 2017. Despite the fact that he is the Minister of Petroleum he chose to blame others.

His delayed reaction to the recent farmer and Fulani herdsmen clash in Benue once again shows “Baba” is yet to accept responsibility for anything. All he did was to commiserate with the governor and people of the state, he never made any statement of commitment nor did he accept wrong for his continued inaction on the Fulani herdsmen killings which has made them the major threat to lives and properties in Benue. If anything, his silence and deflection is stoking rumours that the President and his cabinet are actually complicit in the violence. Not a good look for a president that wants to get re-elected in 2019.

It’s 2018 and President Buhari has failed to accept responsibility once again. This is definitely not what Nigerians want in a leader.

tosin adesina