Unpopular side with Yinka Ijabiyi
Twitter: @Yinkakan Instagram: @oneyinka
It’s 2017.
You are Buhari.
And it’s now two years into your promised “change”.
What would you do different?
So you are the Nigerian President. You campaigned on the mantra of change. You were the hope for the tomorrow of the oppressed and people of the nation stolen blind. You were the beacon; their light, their saviour, their magician, their iconoclast, their turnaround specialist; their babalawo, their pastor, bishop and imam; you are the only reason they still live, breathe and look forward to tomorrow. You were their knight in shiny armour come flying in on a special witch broom made of naira, dollars and pounds to liberate your people from their oppressors. You had the “right” credentials. “Right” here meaning nothing, as in no credentials of any sort other than that you were not the old order. Anyway, you were the one they had dreamed about so much. And you bought their votes. And promised
Two years in, from messiah, you are now meh suya. From advocate of change, you are now enemy of fate. Your promises have turned to your nemesis. Your words are now curses. Sai Baba hailing has turned to Die Baba prayers and prophecies. The people you promised change say they don’t want change again; that the old time corruption is good enough for them. The politicians you got into bed with to unseat their former colleagues are still the same; doing the same thing for which their old partners were unceremoniously unseated. The poor of the land are wondering where this misfortune came to befall them. The rich of the land are also crying. In street parlance, the people feel finished. So, if you were the president, what would you do?
How would you turn this situation around? How do you deliver on your campaign promises? How do you alleviate the pain of change on your people? How do you ensure the people you have surrounded yourself with are not your worst enemies? How do you ensure the impact of your body language is clearly understood by all and sundry including the leeches you have surrounded yourself with? Given that you also rode to power on the wings of the ill amassed financial prowess of thieving politicians who bought the people with as much gusto as the erstwhile ruling party did, how can you ensure that your hands are clean while bathing in a pig sty?
The beginning of a new year is as good as any to take stock, look back into the year past and aim to correct errors and then look forward to the year ahead to define priorities, goals, targets, measures and reports. You have a clean slate offered not by the people directly but by the very mentality that defines the people and makes them believe that 365(6) +1=a fresh start. What will you do with your fresh-start opportunity? Instead of highfalutin speeches, would you bring yourself to their level and tell the nation what yours and the government’s new year resolutions are? Would you help them see that you understand them and what they are going through and are with them every step of the way? Even if it’s true?
If you are the world famous leader of the continent’s famed number one corrupt nation, what would your next 365 days be focused on achieving? If you had the opportunity to affect the lives of Africa’s most populous aggregation of black souls, what would you do differently? What would you focus on because you are convinced that that is what is best for the greater good? Would you listen to the plenty voices of the plenty nay sayers who may be affected negatively by your actions? Would you close your eye to all side distractions and focus on the defined task at hand?
I do not envy President M. Buhari and the crop of amazing leaders he has populated his official, kitchen and other room cabinets with. Uneasy and the head that wears the crown are synonymous. The view at the top is amazing but it is lonely. And dangerous too. It’s like sitting on a window at the edge of space. And you are not Felix Baumgartner.
So, if you were M. Buhari, what would you do differently in 2017? With one eye on 2019. What would you change without thinking twice about it? Who would you humiliate even if you don’t have enough evidence to jail them? Or if because of the smart arsenal of lawyers in their corner, they are almost untouchable? What policies would you initiate? What policies would you scrap? Whose lies would you believe? And whose truths would you discountenance? If you are the President, what would you truly and genuinely change?
