The spokesman for Nothern Elders Forum (NEF), Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, says the next president to be sworn-in on May 29 will have the most difficult job to handle in the world because of the poor performance and the insensitivity of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to Nigeria’s diversity.
Baba-Ahmed, who stated this in a statement titled “Buhari’s legacy” on Wednesday, insisted Buhari had failed to fulfill its promises to Nigerians.
Speaking on the development, Baba-Ahmed claimed the Buhari-led administration used the policy to inflict more pains on Nigerians.
He added that the incoming President would have to win the trust of Nigerians whom he claimed had been disappointed by the Buhari-led administration.
Baba-Ahmed wrote: “Buhari had lowered the bar on good governance so effectively it will be difficult to see how it can be made lower. It would take a generation to retrieve bits and pieces of the nation that have drifted apart owing largely to incompetence and insensitivity in managing pluralism. The transition from him to the next good president(s) may test the nation’s resilience, and its surviving the stresses from recovering lost ground may reveal whether its foundations have been irretrievably damaged by the pure poverty of ideas that was the hallmark of the Buhari administration.
“Buhari inherited a ship suffering from a bumbling captain and a demoralized, thieving crew. He locked himself up in the captain’s cabin and let things sort themselves out. His last two years may win an award for the fastest deterioration of a nation in distress.
“We became a nation in a queue, where the cost of existence rose literally by the day. When you were not joining the legion of a-meal-a-day, you were running or dying from killers who had the run of the country, or staying at home when criminals said so. Breathtaking theft of public assets, scams and impunity across the country from top to bottom alienated particularly younger Nigerians from the idea that there was any good in being good.
“The pains inflicted by the Naira reprint policy are far removed from Buhari, who appears to believe that removing pains from lives of citizens is not his responsibility. The worst legacy Buhari will leave behind is contempt for the rule of law, which is captured so tragically in his refusal to comply with the judgement of the Supreme Court compelling the use of old currencies until end of the year.
“The President to be sworn-in on May 29 will have the most difficult job to handle in the world. Imagine coming through one of the most serious challenges to an election in the courts, only to confront a nation with very little trust or respect for leaders or each other. His biggest challenge will be to win some trust. No leader anywhere can achieve anything of value unless he can get enough citizens to believe that he means well, and he respects them. The next president will have to build his own foundations of good and accountable government, because President Buhari will leave none behind.”
