Drifting polity and mounting calls for the President’s resignation

“…it would appear that much of the goodwill enjoyed by the president six years ago has been completely frittered away. This is apparent in the fact that the same president Buhari who ascended the presidency in a blaze of glorious popular support, is now facing a groundswell of calls for his resignation or impeachment…”

IN less than two weeks, it would be exactly six years since Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and his co-travelers in the All Progressives Congress (APC), captured the Nigerian Presidency.

In the historic 2015 presidential election, Buhari defeated the then incumbent, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, making it the first time an opposition politician would floor a ruling party and its president in a political contest for power at the federal level. Expectedly, the triumph raised high hopes that the Buhari presidency would hit the ground running and put Nigeria on the path to national stability.

The outpouring of goodwill was also apparent in the loads of support the president was getting from different interest groups across the country. Many Nigerians were willing to help the president settle in, and they gave him the benefit of doubt when he demanded that citizens should make sacrifices in the interest of the country.

A good number of citizens lapped up the president’s epigram when he declared that: “I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody.” That particular soundbite served to calm the many frayed nerves, including those who feared that the president could go after those who offended him in the past.

Within a few months however, the president had started to lose the popular pan Nigerian support, which heralded his presidency. This was the case because in the first place, the president took six months to appoint his cabinet.

With the country languishing in the throes of social and economic challenges, Nigerians were largely in a state of disbelief that it would take the president half a year to appoint a cabinet. Such a feeble approach, which gave the impression that Nigeria was being governed by a sole administrator ran contrary to the concept of popular participation, which is the backbone of the democratic process.

When the cabinet picks were eventually announced by the president after half a year’s wait, many citizens saw the list as a perfunctory rehash of the same political operatives who drove the president’s election. The question, which then followed was: if these were the people the president wanted to appoint all along, why did he take so long to bring them on board? Although many citizens were miffed by the tardiness, which characterised the approach of the Buhari presidency to governance, they tried to stomach the anomalies that were beginning to emerge.

However, the more the people tried to stomach some of the grotesque realities manifesting in the government, the fresher unsavoury realities emerged. Citizens could see through several contradictions and hypocrisies, which underscored the lack of commitment to chart a radically different part for the country.

For instance, the same people who sold to Nigerians the story that there was nothing like subsidy, came into government and gave it a different name. As a political party, the APC which had promised Nigerians that they would kill the corruption in the oil and gas sector, which they promised would bring down the pump price of fuel suddenly got into government and began to hike the price of the same fuel.

The contradiction became so glaring that the Buhari presidency, which met fuel at N97 per liter, has hiked it to the point that it is now selling for N165 per litre with plans for further upward review. A similar fate befell the promise to kill corruption before it kills Nigerians. As things stand however, the corruption scandals assailing the government have put in bold relief the chasm between rhetoric and execution.

As such, it would appear that much of the goodwill enjoyed by the president six years ago has been completely frittered away. This is apparent in the fact that the same president Buhari who ascended the presidency in a blaze of glorious popular support, is now facing a groundswell of calls for his resignation or impeachment. Things even reached a precarious extent recently when a senior lawyer, called on the president to consider relinquishing power to the military.

Many analysts and close watchers of political developments in Nigeria have wondered how the same person moved so quickly from being a widely supported president to one who is now facing open calls from statesmen and opinion leaders demanding his resignation.

AT the last count, the Senate minority leader, the Northern Elders’ Forum, among other leaders have made pointed calls on the president to step down or get kicked out via impeachment. Even Buhari’s erstwhile staunch supporter, the Catholic priest and Director of Adoration Ministry, Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka declared he had seen enough, and decided to break ranks with Buhari by calling on him to step down.

For much of those who gave the president the benefit of doubt, what changed the game is the spate of insecurity and wanton bloodletting across the land. Many of the president’s backers who thought his background as a former army general would put him in good stead to deal with the security challenges, have been miffed by the fact that insecurity rather worsened on his watch.

Many citizens who have watched in horror as fellow Nigerians are abducted, killed or maim seem to have come to terms that the president has failed in his primary task of ensuring the country is safe and secure. This is even as there are indications that since 2015, the current government spent the whooping sum of N10trillion on the security sector with no commensurate results in terms of the security of lives and property.

The natural reaction therefore is that there is a groundswell of voices calling on the president to exit the stage and allow someone with the capacity to lead the nation of out of its security woes take the helm. Whether the president and his handlers will heed those calls is another matter altogether.

Just like there are those calling on the president to quit, there are also voices, especially within the government which believe calling on the president to quit, is not the answer to the problem of insecurity. Those with this contrary perspective are quick to point to the case of the former service chiefs, who faced an avalanche of calls for their sack. Although they were eventually eased out, their exit has not led to better security outcomes. As such, those who hold this view believe Nigerians should stop focusing on individuals, but should look at the security system and the inherent gaps, which have made it challenging to secure the country.

In the end, whatever side of the aisle has its way, the reality remains that the country is fast falling apart on account of insecurity. Nigerians therefore need urgent and very decisive solutions to restore peace, law and order across the land.