By: John Danjuma Omachonu
Mixed reactions have continued to trail Buhari’s apology to Nigerians who may have been hurt by the outgoing regime’s policies as they claim that most of the pains inflicted on Nigerians were avoidable.
Specifically, the respondents From The Street, (FTS) argued that issues like the Naira redesign, tardiness in appointments, with the attendant negative consequences were avoidable if the president and his appointees were alive to their responsibilities.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in the Sallah message pleaded with Nigerians who may have been negatively impacted by his administration’s policies to pardon him.
Acknowledging that as a human being, he was bound to make mistakes, the President sought for forgiveness.
With about 38 days to leave office, Buhari also thanked Nigerians for tolerating him as their president for almost 8 years, adding that he is counting days and echoed his desire to hands off party politics for a while as well as stay away from Abuja.The President made the apology when he spoke on Friday at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, during his final Sallah homage by residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) led by the FCT Minister, Mohammed Bello.
Buhari hailed democracy as the best form of government, saying that without it, he could not have become president after already serving as military Head of State.
He said he considered the Sallah celebration as a good coincidence to say goodbye and to “thank you for tolerating me for eight years.”
Continuing, he said, “I am counting the days. Democracy is a good thing otherwise how can somebody from the other side be a president for two terms? My hometown to the Niger Republic is eight kilometres.
“I think this is a very good coincidence for me to say goodbye to you and to thank you for tolerating me for more than seven and half years now.
“I assure you, I have deliberately arranged to be as far away from you as possible not because I don’t appreciate the love you’ve shown to me, but because I think I’ve gotten what I have asked and I would rather quietly retire to my hometown.
“Having been a governor, minister and the president twice, I think God has given me an incredible opportunity to serve as your president. And I thank God for that.
“So, please, whoever feels I have done wrong to them, we are all humans. There is no doubt I hurt some people and I wish you will pardon me. And those that think that I have hurt them so much, please, pardon me.”
Jide Ojo, political analyst, who featured on the Channels Television’s program, Politics Today, on Friday said while the president performed well in infrastructural development and a few other areas, they were areas that his prompt intervention would have prevented the untold hardship experienced by Nigerians.
He listed those areas to include, the Naira redesign, massive oil theft, insecurity and unnecessary delays in appointments and reappointments.
According to the analyst, simply listening to the criticisms of the naira redesign and the judgement of the Supreme Court could have reduced the hardship.
The much criticised exercise, according to him, led to death of many Nigerians, closure of businesses and livelihoods.
“How do you explain the situation where the country experienced the largest level of oil theft and even unable to meet her OPEC quota under a military general as president and the man who had served as Petroleum minister some decades ago and even presently?” he asked.
He also picked holes in the tardiness in either appointing or reappointing Nigerians who may have completed their tenures.
Beside the lack of oversight supervision of his appointees, he condemned a situation where government waited till expiration of tenures of some appointees before starting to scamper for replacements, thereby creatingbunnessary tension resulting in needless enlongation of their tenures.
John Agbo, financial analyst also acknowledged Buhari’s sincerity of purpose but said he lacked the courage or political will to execute some policies that could have impacted positively on the citizens.
According to Agbo, insecurity and banditry would not have attained the notoriety if culprits were dealt with even if to serve as deterrents to others. But what we witnessed most times, were arrests and escape, through jailbreaks.
Even the alleged economic saboutuers were not adequately punished as Nigerians kept hearing of list, even those identified by foreign countries were not prosecuted.
Not even spirited effort by presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu, who alluded to the fact that most of the crisis were worldwide and that there was no way Nigeria could have been exempt from, but most respondents saw the defense as spurious and self serving.
Shehu, who also featured on the Channels Television’s program to throw more light on the resident’s apology claimed that Nigerians could have been worst of, if Buhari had not come on board.
Reminded that figures from government’s Statistics Bureau, (NBS) have been at variance with successes claimed by government, he insisted that most of the infrastructural development created jobs for Nigerians, while government’s interventionist programs in agriculture has made food items, particularly rice available to the citizens.
But according to another respondent,
“There is no way Nigerians would forget the injuries and hardship being experienced upto the last days of this administration in a hurry. A situation where the gap between the haves and haves not widened to the extent that only those either in government or its appointees were living good life, with others living below one dollar a day cannot be said to be an oversight. ”
A middle aged man who simply identified himself as Mr. Jerry queries, “what has Nigerians gained from the long and intimidating curriculum vitae and decades of appointments to sensitive positions from the outgoing president. As the substantive Petroleum minister, how many times was the pump price increased compared to what we experienced during the previous administration, how about appointments to key positions, that could have impacted positively on Nigerians if right persons were put in right places and in time; but what we witnessed was appointments based on who the president either knows or trusts. How do you expect a country to witness peace and development where everything is at the whilms and caprices of Mr president who was perceived as Mr. Integrity who does no wrong and makes no mistakes.?”
But Mrs Victoria Peace acknowledged the fact that the president tried his best with some kind words Buhari, Insisting that the president tried his best and that since human being is perfect, then, he should not be harshly judged.
“I think president Buhari tried his best and besides, he has identified and acknowledged his short comings as a human being. Considering his age, could not have done otherwise.
However, while most FTS respondents were unanimous in their submissions that Buhari’s apology was a mere rhetoric and normal farewell comments, devoid of any deep feeling and as usually given by most leaders and politicians and therefore not acceptable to them, others say, ‘it is human to err but devine to forgive’, and as such he should be left to history for judgement.
