After 103 days holed up in London with a mystery illness, President Muhammadu Buhari returned on Saturday announcing he will address the country on Monday morning. Nigerians waiting for anything of substance from the absentee and part time president (when he is in the country) would have been as disappointed as they have been in the two years of this administration.
The speech, just like his administration, was the same story of promising so much and delivering so little. At least it wasn’t broadcast in Hausa. Buhari said: “I am very grateful to God and to all Nigerians for their prayers. I am pleased to be back on home soil among my brothers and sisters”. He didn’t even bother to address what was wrong with him that warranted the prayers. His attitude to the people that footed the bill for his extended stay was “my condition is none of your business even though you paid for my treatment”. The arrogance and disdain for the people he is supposed to serve were staggering.
Then his fake mask as a “converted democrat” slipped as he spoke of being “distressed to notice that some of the comments, especially in the social media have crossed our national red lines by daring to question our collective existence as a nation. This is a step too far”. Who determined those “red lines”? Why is he more bothered by comments that cross fictitional “red lines” than actions by Fulani herdsmen and his military, to name but two, that have painted several communities with red blood?
In a democracy, people are free to question any existence as long as it is done in a peaceful way. His long stay in the UK should have informed the president, if he had any intellectual curiosity, about Scottish aspirations for independence. Many in Northern Ireland are committed to leaving the UK to form a united Ireland with the south. There are secessionist movements in Spain and in the US. Nobody is making threats about “red lines” to those separatists.
Buhari then tried to legitimise his empty words with reference to the late leader of the doomed Biafran secession, Emeka Ojukwu, whom he said “came and stayed as my guest in my hometown Daura. Over two days we discussed in great depth till late into the night and analyzed the problems of Nigeria. We both came to the conclusion that the country must remain one and united.” He added for good measure: “Nigeria’s unity is settled and not negotiable. We shall not allow irresponsible elements to start trouble and when things get bad they run away and saddle others with the responsibility of bringing back order, if necessary with their blood”.
Buhari seems unaware that his and Ojukwu’s opinions are just that of two people. They have no right to impose such opinions on others. In a democratic setting, you should try and convince others that your opinion is the
