by Charles Ogbu
Should Muhammadu Buhari fail as president, it will not be because he deliberately set out to fail. Far from it. It will certainly be as a result of the fact that he has one of the largest numbers of sycophants who would gladly urge him on even when it is very clear that he is clearly progressing in error.
This week, President Buhari said in London that Nigerians are known for being criminals and as such foreign countries don’t grant them asylum when they request for it. Nigerians are, understandably upset that their president goes abroad to cast them in bad light. But, guess what, there is this minority crowd of his supporters who celebrate this irresponsible comment.
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Sadly, this would not be the first time Buhari has run down Nigeria and Nigerians while he is one of his many foreign trips.
Are this very unpleasant statements about Nigeria and its people supposed to come from our President? Even if they are not entirely untrue?
Nigeria is like a product and Buhari is its number 1 marketer. A marketer DOES NOT go about presenting some negative facts about his own product before prospective buyers of that same product. If you are too uncomfortable about the negative side of a product you’ve been contracted to market, the reasonable thing would be to severe your contract with your employers.
“Nigerians are corrupt! Nigerians are criminals, and economic migrants!”
And you are Nigeria’s president?!
Excuse me, Buhari, you spent over a decade begging these same corrupt people to employ you as their President?
Since you hold your fellow citizens in such high contempt, why not just resign as the president and seek asylum in a corruption and crime free country?
When CNN described Kenya as ‘the hotbed of terrorism’, President Kenyatta nearly brought down the sky against CNN. He defended his country with all he got. He took it so personal and CNN was forced to do some damage control. Kenyatta wasn’t angry because he believed the description was entirely untrue. No! He was angry because he believed it was and still is his duty to defend his country against any form negative stereotype likely to hurt the image of his country.
But here we are with a President who thinks he is the only ‘saint’ in a country of over 170 million folks. And some well lettered sane folks are defending this travesty?
Charles Ogbu is a social media commentator.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
