YNaija Editorial: President Buhari’s message to Nigerians in Hausa is ‘unacceptable’

About two years ago at his inauguration, the most quoted lines from the speech of President Muhammadu Buhari was, “I am for everybody, and I am for nobody.” The line which earned him a thunderous applause from the crowd at the Eagle Square, Abuja and got positive reactions across the country was intended to mean that President Buhari was not going to show a bias or favouritism for any group of persons or section for the country.

However, it is difficult to say that the president has lived up to this promise: from the grand presidential blunder of “97% – 5%” shortly after he was sworn in, to his dismissive remark about Nigerian Christians in response to Nigeria joining the Saudi Arabia-led Islamic military coalition and to the curious presidential silence and for a long period, inaction on attacks by Fulani herdsmen militias.

These seemingly biased actions and statements are the result of a politically-incorrect, stubborn personality that has been some of the defining characteristics of President Buhari for as long as Nigeria has known him.

It is also the failure of the team around him to ensure that these things do not happen, either by prepping him properly for interviews or by making the right actions which will go a long way to improving public perception of him.

One of such errors of judgment was evident yesterday when the Presidency put out an audio message from President Buhari congratulating Nigerian Muslims on the successful completion of the month of Ramadan. This is often a routine message from Nigerian leaders at festive occasions – except that President Buhari’s message was in Hausa.

For starters, not all Nigerians and Nigerian Muslims are Hausa speakers, and automatically will feel left out by that message. Messages of felicitations at festive occasions are aimed at the larger Nigerian population and carry words that are hoped will resonate with not just those celebrating the religious festivals, but even those who are not.

Also, such a message aimed at only a section of the country was ill-timed as the first direct communication from President Buhari to Nigerians since he returned from his first medical vacation to the United Kingdom in March.

For months, Nigerians have been requesting that the President address the nation to reassure his citizens of his health, especially to quell rumours of how sick he was amidst the often contradictory statements of his media team. This has also been the request of this newspaper in numerous editorials.

Instead, an audio message in a language that is only understood by a section of the country is what was released. It also did not reassure listeners on how healthy the President is as his voice sounded very sickly.

It is not in doubt that the core of President Buhari’s support is in the North, and especially among Northern Muslims. However, as President, he is not just their President but President for all Nigerians, including those who did not and are unlikely to ever vote for him.

The proper thing to have done was to have released the message in English language either alone or even together with Hausa. But instead, by this action, the message sounded more like an attempt at rallying his support base than communicating with all Nigerians.

The President has defined the expectations that Nigerians have for him – that he will not be biased or show favouritism. It is time for him to live up to his own words.

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