DOES BUHARI KNOW HOW BAD THINGS ARE?

DOES BUHARI KNOW HOW BAD THINGS ARE?

A few days ago, I was on an Arik Air flight to Port Harcourt on my way to chair the launch of the book, "the Circular Road" by the great thespian and fantastic writer, Victor Nwokocha. It was a soul stirring event. I had a bit of my primary school education in Port Harcourt in the area that used to be called "Town" and I still cherish every visit to "Pitakwa'.

Sitting on the same row with me on the flight to P.H. was His Excellency, the former governor of Rivers State and present Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi. On the same row was Amaechi's paddy, the effervescent Dakuku Peterside, the guy who gave Nyesom Wike a big fight for the governorship of Rivers State.

They were nice and we all exchanged pleasantries and spoke for a while about the evolving political scenario and agreed to speak some more in Abuja. I am still waiting for Amaechi's call.

I have written in this column before that I like Rotimi Amaechi. He has courage, convictions and is bold. To my mind, all the significant developments in the world have been made by men who are not scared to go where others are terrified to venture. Like Rotimi Amaechi or hate him, he is bold.

I believe that the jury is still out as to who between Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi did more to finally give Muhammadu Buhari the one thing he had craved and craved for a long time, the elected presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I have written elsewhere that the brouhaha between Rotimi Amaechi and Patience Jonathan was the beginning of the end of the Jonathan presidency. At that point, the cake was baked. The departure of Amaechi from PDP with his many friends and their coalition with Tinubu just made a very bad situation worse for Jonathan.

In this column, I had begged GEJ to write a book so we can understand how his mind was working through those crazy days of Orubebe, Jega and co. He has just done it. I have read excerpts. I intend to read every comma and full stop and say my piece about the book. But nothing in the book however will change my mind that it was Rotimi Amaechi that packed Jonathan's bags and baggage out of Aso Rock.

Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has been given the job to re-install l Muhammadu Buhari at Aso Rock. I understand that he is once again Director-General of Buhari's presidential campaign. As I spoke with my guy a few days ago, I wondered how he plans to do it. I have tried and tried to do the same mathematics that convinced me three years ago that Buhari would be president. Nothing is adding up.  

In 2015, Amaechi sold a mystical candidate to Nigerians. The Nigerian intelligentsia bought Buhari, hook, line and sinker, adopted him and campaigned for him. We wanted change. I know a lot of my friends who were ready to go to war because of their faith in PMB. There are those who have blamed me for what they consider the PMB misadventure. I may have made a mistake but it was a mistake made by millions of other Nigerians. Simply put, Buhari has let us down. I hope that PMB will one day write his own book and tell us how we got it so wrong and the falcon stopped hearing the falconer.

I wonder whether in the Buhari camp, they understand that the ground has shifted significantly and nothing can be taken for granted anymore. In a world driven by communications, our President simply does not communicate and appears to be disconnected much of the time. Take it or leave it, his team has been so badly out communicated.

I am so sorry, the Buhari mystic we bought in 2015 is gone and gone with it is the Nigerian intelligentsia that fought for Buhari everywhere. That is why stupid stories like Yusuf, the Sudanese man in Aso Rock and the certificate matter can gain the kind of traction they are getting. The adversaries of our president are turning him into a joke. You think it does not matter?

I have wondered who has the ears of the President. Does he know the extent of the injury and trauma that the rearing of cattle in Nigeria has caused? At the times when he has been accused of nepotism in his appointments, did he understand the sensibilities? He seems to have just doubled down, making it difficult for those who used to defend him to even bother.

I have also wondered whether the Buhari Presidency was hijacked by little men during the period the President was ill or did he always lack the ability to manage such a complex enterprise as Nigeria? I have spoken to persons I consider friends who are supposed to be part of the government and they all appear lost.

As I travel and talk to people around the country, I cannot but feel it that our President is gasping for goodwill. There is angst in the land. This has been seriously exacerbated by the endless in fighting within the APC. APC is beginning to look like sheep without shepherd.  I am finding it more and more difficult to understand who is in charge. Buhari? Tinubu? Oshiomhole? Amaechi or the motley of paper tigers that the President appears to surround himself with. The madness in Owerri and Abeokuta and almost everywhere else cannot make things easier. How is Amaechi going to do this?

In the last days of the Jonathan government, I felt very sorry for the guy who is otherwise pretty likeable. He was trying very hard to conquer the mighty Nigerian nation when the birds had already flown away. The people he trusted had let him down. They did not tell him the truth. Suddenly, GEJ was everywhere at once with bags of money trying to woo Afenifere, OPC, MASSOB, Ijaw Boys, Nollywood and everyone else. It was too late. Sorry, money could not buy him love.

Are we soon going to be watching a repeat performance of the same movie with a different cast.? Does Buhari really know how bad things are? Has my guy Rotimi Amaechi been given a job that is doable? I intend to ask him if he calls.

See you next week