Has the President Spoken?
The President and Commander-in-chief of the Federal republic of Nigeria is the one who swore to devote himself to the service and well-being of the people of Nigeria.
The President as head of government has the primary responsibility of ensuring that lives and properties of every Nigerian citizen are protected both home and abroad.
When Nigerians are killed one would expect the President to be decisive in the actions he takes, to have a strong worded message out there and above all to speak directly to the people and console the families of the victims while reassuring the Nation that the Nigerian life is sacrosanct.
What do we get from President Muhammadu Buhari? Silence! Deafening silence! Eerie silence! Silence that makes one question the worth of a Nigerian life. Silence that makes others see the Nigerian life as something that can be taken without any consequence. Silence that has made us the laughing stock of the continent.
President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to address the Nation on the Xenophobic attacks citizens of our great Nation have faced in South Africa. This is not surprising but we must not allow it to be acceptable.
A government that kills its own people would have no moral justification to speak to others when it kills its people. A President that has been silent on several killings in the Nation and was not sanctioned for this abnormality which is disdainful of the value of the life of the Nigerian citizen will not have the incentive to start now.
The President has never bothered to hide his disdain for the lives of the Nigerian people. His silence when citizens are killed speaks volumes.
There are hordes of sycophants who are always ready to defend the President. Must he speak is the question they ask. What about his appointees they further ask. My reply to such questions is why did the President not send them to go campaign on his behalf?
He went round the country himself because the votes of the people mattered. He should speak because the lives of the people also matter. It is not acceptable that we have a President who is only on duty during election and as soon as elections are over he goes on sabbatical. This is not acceptable.
Nigerians in true form of people who are in abusive relationship instead of calling out the person in charge of defending the Nation and its people decided to go after individuals who owe them nothing.
If this is a coping mechanism it is indeed a very destructive coping mechanism. The manner in which we leave those given mandate to protect lives and properties and to govern the Nation and make demands on those whom we did not give mandate to is something that seriously needs to be worked upon if we are interested in developing as a Nation. It is an anomaly.
Last week it was easier for many to find people to vilify and rail at rather than calling out the incompetent government that watched its citizens being massacred and looked the other way until the very last minute.
So instead of calling the erring government to order and giving it a stern warning, citizens found their voices calling out some Nigerians who attended the World Economic forum that the government had pulled out of in South Africa. We are always a Nation that major in the minor. We feel good with our indignant anger at fellow citizens!
They are not the ones we voted for to protect our lives and properties nor to govern us but they are the ones we felt most entitled to make demands on while leaving out those we gave our mandate who should be accountable to us. As long as this attitude continues from the people those given mandates would continue to be nonchalant about the lives and properties of Nigerians and they would not have incentive to act in a decisive manner whenever the lives of Nigerians are in danger or when taken.
It is like blaming a customer for the actions of your staff. It doesn’t make sense. We must hold responsible those whom we gave our mandates to and the people they appoint. We must never transfer our demands to people who do not owe us anything while giving enabling environment to those who are not discharging their duties effectively.
While citizens are being killed in south Africa and anger is building amongst citizens in Nigeria and properties have been destroyed including some casualties here at home what we have seen is an uncoordinated response from our government. In the meantime, citizens have exhausted their righteous anger and moved on until the next wave of attacks come and then they will look for who to vilify.
