by Eze Eluchie
1ST IN THE SERIES OF THE MANY LIES OF MR. PRESIDENT
I will declare my assets, publicly.
- Muhammadu Buhari.
Conscious of the yearnings by Nigerians for greater level of transparency from those who aspire to lead the country, Mr. Buhari, whilst campaigning to be elected President expressly reiterated in his ‘I Pledge To Nigerians’, ‘to publicly declare my assets and liabilities, encourage all my appointees to publicity declare their assets and liabilities as a pre-condition for appointment’.
Immediately upon being sworn into office, drastic changes, amounting to violent assaults on the pledge to publicly declare assets became pronounced. Recourse was had to legalese, subterfuge under contrived protocols and bureaucracy and even direct insults on the sensibilities of the populace, with some of his aides asking Nigerians to ‘show proof’ that any such ‘pledges’ were made.
By his failure to publicly declare his assets upon being sworn into office (and ensuring that his appointee thus far do same), Mr. Buhari has created an enabling environment for monumental fleecing for self-enrichment of the Nigerian treasury, as it becomes impossible for the Nigerian public and interested parties to gauge his assets prior to entry into office and at the expiry of his tenure.
Over 70 days after his ascendance into the Office of President of the Federal Republic, Muhammadu Buhari has failed to publicly declare his assets.
Muhammadu Buhari, on this score, lied!
2ND IN THE SERIES OF THE MANY LIES OF MR. PRESIDENT
There is no office of the First lady in the Nigerian constitution.
- Muhammadu Buhari
In selecting the falsehoods to be highlighted in this series, generous allowances are made for the usual hot balloons emitted by politicians in the heat of campaigns and focus is had merely to lies that give an insight into the character trait of Mr. President.
The need to reduce wastage in governance by scrapping the Office of the First Lady, a scam that had been transformed to a monumental drain-pipe of public funds, had over the years become an ideal dear to Nigerians. To cash in on this fad, whilst responding to questions from newsmen in Kaduna during the period preceding the 2015 presidential elections, Nigerians were unequivocally assured that such an office was unconstitutional and would have no place in his government, if he won the elections.
The Office of First Lady of the Federal Republic is in 'keeping with the pledge', now non-existent. In its place however, is the Office of the Wife of the President, occupying the very same office space as the Office of First Lady of the Federal Republic, serviced by an equal number of Special and Personal Assistants, security paraphernalia and lavish logistic arrangement all at great expense to the public purse. In addition, a ‘pet project’ of the WotP, the main funnel of public waste, is in the process of being unleashed on the helpless masses who had hoped for 'change'.
Muhammadu Buhari, on this score, again lied.
3RD IN THE SERIES OF THE MANY LIES OF MR. PRESIDENT
We will crush Boko Haram within two months
- Muhammadu Buhari
Coming from an uninformed aspirant to political office, the above statement made by President Buhari would not have qualified for inclusion in any serious ‘list of lies’, as ignorance of the intricacies of overcoming insurgencies would have been rightly presumed. Here, however, we have a retired General and former Commander-in-Chief of a country’s armed forces, who is presumed to at the very least appreciate the nature of tackling amorphous, armed entities. More worrisome is the fact that some elements in our military might have been led by Buhari's comments to mistrust the capability of their then C-in-C and his Military Commanders to lead and proceeded, in one instances, to shoot at their commanding officers, run AWOL from their position and generally suffer from a loss of morale. The comments however served to bolster the terrorists.
Well over 2 months after Mr. Muhammadu Buhari was sworn into office as President, Boko Haram has continued to increase in its viciousness and evil, attacking and killing Nigerians with reckless abandon. Early this week, we lost over 40 of our compatriots to a Boko Haram terror attack in Maidugri, Bornu State – and the only response from the Federal Government remains the much worn-out lie that the terror outfit will be ‘destroyed in no time’. Bunkum!
This lie was treacherous and bothered on treasonable felony.
At the swearing in of the new Chiefs of the various services of the Nigerian Armed Forces a few days ago, Mr. President shifted the goal post and ‘ordered’ the service chiefs of ‘destroy’ Boko Haram within 3 months. Not even the President of the United States or any of the international military powers will dare fix a time-frame within which to destroy terror organizations.
Muhammadu Buhari, on this score yet again, you lied!
Pictures: President Buhari, a poster congratulating an appointee to the Office of The Wife of The President and the Boko Haram insignia.
No comments:
Post a Comment