As Valentine’s Day quickly approaches, the love affair with the change administration of President Muhammad Buhari appears to have crashed for the majority of Nigerians.
Buhari who was sworn into office on March 29th 2015 amid much fanfare and high expectations and hopes of Nigerians, according to a poll conducted by THE HERALD seems to have disappointed many Nigerians as he approaches his second year in office.
The Commander in Chief who is currently on a medical vacation to London, days after the Nigerian Air Force dropped three bombs on Internally Displaced Persons in Borno killing scores of Boko Haram refugees, human aid workers and injuring numerous others does not seem to be perturbed by his disapproval rating.
In usual form his cabinet continues to blame the outgoing administration of Goodluck Jonathan, even as his Minister for Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed attributed the logistical error admitted to by the Air Force top brass to the former President.
According to the poll, 33% of Nigerians disapprove of President Muhammad Buhari’s performance whilst 39% strongly disapprove, stating that the “President must go”. The leadership of the National Assembly, with their own corruption sagas hanging over their heads are in no position to impeach the former General, whose track record under the democratic dispensation is akin to his record as a military leader. In 1985, Buhari was sacked from government amid similar poor performance and low approval ratings by the General Ibrahim Babangida (retd) military regime.
The report card of the President is especially poor as concerns power supply, and economic welfare of the citizenry.
Speaking to The Herald via telephone, Charles Ajah, a social activist said, “The mystique is over. The President seems to be only concerned with the welfare of his family, marrying his daughter Zahra off to an oil block billionaire who was reported to donate $900,000 to a university in Florida and has vast reserves of cash is just the tip of the iceberg.
“The Naira continues to fall. The genocide in Southern Kaduna has gone without consequence. And the President continues to be selective in his anti-corruption war, targeting political opponents, whilst corrupt officials in his own cabinet go unpunished.”
Also recently, President of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Alhaji ShettimaYerima, said northerners are only good at grabbing power but don’t use it to develop their region.
He said “History has shown that the northerners are only good in grabbing power and playing politics but at the end, they do not know what they do with the power, and it is the southerners they appointed that are ultimate beneficiaries of the power, as they use it to empower and encourage their people in their regions. Out of 56 years of independence, the North has been in power for about 38 years, while the Yoruba and few others held on to power for that remaining years.”
With approximately two years remaining in office, it remains to be seen how the Buhari administration expects to shore up its approval ratings with Nigerians, some of whom seem hell bent on kicking this government out.