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Buhari’s audible silence

By Olufemi Olofinmuagun
05 February 2017   |   3:54 am
President Buhari came in and had us brimming with renewed hope and confidence in his avowed determination to fight corruption and oust it. He sold us the change mantra - and we bought it.

President Muhammadu Buhari

Sir: President Buhari came in and had us brimming with renewed hope and confidence in his avowed determination to fight corruption and oust it. He sold us the change mantra – and we bought it. We fell for his hard face, his strict demeanor and his hard-line public gait. They regaled us with fables of how, they will make one naira exchange for one dollar, but we never asked them how they intended to go about such a lofty economic leap.

Mid-2016 till now has been one of the toughest periods in recent times for the average Nigerian. Things are hard in the villages, as well as in cities and towns. In the midst of mass retrenchment and unemployment, economic recession, skyrocketing prices of commodities, killings and kidnappings, hunger and nationwide blackout, one thing that is the audible is the deafening silence of President Muhammadu Buhari on these salient issues. Nigerians want to hear their president talk and that is not too much to ask.

Buhari came in with the promise to fight corruption to a standstill, but till today we have not heard much about conviction but confiscation. Top politicians and government functionaries who soiled their hands are still walking free. On the contrary, Buhari has been accused of allegedly shielding his close aides who have been fingered in corrupt practices. To an average Nigerian, the anti-corruption fight is a lost battle.

Nigerians are not asking for too much. They just want to be constantly abreast of what government’s policies, plans and steps are, and be always reassured that the presidency is STILL CAPABLE of turning this prevailing economic condition around. Government will do itself a lot of good by always expressly communicating with the governed. It is wrong to keep the populace second-guessing.

• Olufemi Olofinmuagun

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