Mr. President, make us believers

SIR: For too long, Nigerians have been dispirited with the running of government. Nothing that could make sense to a civilized mind seems obtainable. The conscience of the leaders is warped.

Foundation of the nation is caving in and the citizenry scamper like mental patients seeking deliverance in an adoration ministry. If after four years in office all President Buhari’s administration achieved was reversing the march to oblivion by the nation, we have lived to see the dawn of reason.

I may be considered to be suffering from low expectation and I will surrender to isolation with that opinion. One rarely confronts in a lifetime the magnitude of recklessness that prevails in our nation. If what is being reported in the news about the money supposedly appropriated for purchase of arms to fight insurgency in the Northeast is proven to be true, the perpetrators have committed treason. The tendency exists that these leaders fuel the aggression of the Book Haram sect to justify allocating money to stop the crisis.

Meanwhile, families are dying and they are diverting money to their private accounts.

To the extent that the backbone of security of the country is knee deep in the exploit of sabotaging our society dashes one’s hope of recovery. The armed forces are trained to be disciplined. But investigation has shown some officers to be involved in buying faulty and obsolete equipment to make selfish gain at the cost of the lives of patriotic soldiers. It is hard for us to believe anymore.

Complexity of the Nigerian situation may warrant some citizens to be sentimental about parading of certain political personalities before the criminal justice system. Fear that political calculations and ethnic victimization could be employed to achieve a parochial agenda by the leadership cannot be factored out from our reality. We hope that President Buhari understands the weight of responsibility that history has thrust on him at this stage in his life.

The future looks bright if I may indulge myself to swim in a shallow stream of optimism. A restructured government that functions under the discipline of law and order is of an immense gain to the nation.

• Pius Okaneme,
Umuoji, Anambra State.