WHERE IS OUR PRESIDENT? - Enenim Ubon

Today is the eighteenth day since the inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari. After all the fanfare, merrymaking, presidential dinners and congratulatory messages, it appears our president is yet to resume duty. For two weeks and four days Nigerians are yet to understand where the new administration is heading. As a matter of fact, not a few Nigerians are of the opinion that we do not have any leadership in place yet.

For well over two weeks all we have heard are tales of our president visiting various countries for reasons not yet clear, other than the wish list he was asked to submit by and to his 'seniors'; all we have seen are pictures of him enjoying the comfort of the presidential jets, pictures with other heads of states and governments. Even the vice president has been so bored that he had time to call a meeting(meant to settle the national assembly power tussle) of various APC factions. The duo have become like the notorious Marie Antionette, who offered her people cake when they needed bread. So lost is the present administration that it presents Nigerians with pictures and continuous talk, when ALL the people demand is action.

For a man who had spent twelve years seeking to be Nigeria's president, it is indeed shocking that he appears totally bereft of the moves to make since assuming office. It would not be wrong if anyone should assume then, that perhaps he had succeeded in his first presidential quest, the 'snail speed' movement we are experiencing now, would be worse. With all the noise about "hitting the ground running from day one", all we have seen is a president who has hit the ground crawling instead - in the process earning himself the nickname 'crawling president'. After two weeks of not making any significant appointment/s, yet traveling around the world with people without portfolios - spending tax payers money on private citizens for reasons only he(the president) can explain. His senior special assistant on media and publicity(Garba Shehu) has found a way of shifting blame; "the president did say he would hit the ground running, but he has NOT BEEN GIVEN THE CHANCE to hit the ground running". As childish and unbelievable as the above comment is, the 'good' thing about it, is that even the president's man acknowledges that his boss is snoring on duty and urgently needs to wake up to the reality that Nigerians don't have time to waste looking to an absentee leader. Perhaps one is to take Mr Shehu serious, who are the people he refers to? How powerful  are they that they can prevent the president from keeping to his words? How many are they to effectively hinder a man voted in by over 15 million people? Does the president have an antidote to these hindrances or is this the same story we will hear for four years? Is this part of the gimmick to hide incompetence? After-all a governor(whose state the president's party called a model state) accused the immediate past administration of withholding funds meant for his workers salary, with the truth now bare before our eyes, it is obvious his excellency lied. Time will tell if Mr Shehu's explanation is "bobo gist", as I believe it is. Besides the president also told us he belongs to nobody, was he also lying? I am sure majority of Nigerians want to know what these encumbrances are.

Whatever the explanations the president and his team have for us, is meaningless; not when he told us he was prepared for the job. It is unthinkable that almost three weeks after, PMS is still being sold for N120, Nigerians are still dying daily (in hundreds) from the hands of 'fulani herdsmen', that modalities have not been put in place to begin the free school meals program, nor have we heard of any policy meant to ensure N1 = $1, neither have names of jobless graduates been compiled for the monthly stipend promised. Many have argued that it is still early days, but then if the president is finding it so difficult to handle elementary issues, it means issues like fighting corruption(as we already have noticed), reviving/building new refineries etc had better be totally forgotten.

It is time the president sits up to deliver on the many promises he WILLINGLY made to Nigerians. Mr President, the holiday should be offer by now, either you resume fully or inform us in time to give up on your administration.



Enenim Ubon tweets from @EnenimUbon