THISDAY

The Many Gaffes of APC

Not a few concerns can explain the All Progressiv­es Congress’ diminishin­g goodwill, writes Olawale Olaleye

-

There is an existentia­l debate on the state of the nation. The debate is no longer on whether the staggering goodwill or the messianic perception that brought the All Progressiv­es Congress (APC) to power is fast declining or the obvious inability to hold down its promises; it is one that tends to x-ray some of the factors responsibl­e for the obvious and sudden turn in the tide for the ruling party and in such a short time. Even niggling too, is the fast vanishing mystique of President Muhammadu Buhari (remember the famous body language theory), whose larger than life image was believed to have consumed a sitting president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, even though the eventual vote difference at the presidenti­al election didn’t attest to the staggering hype that preceded the election.

However, in situating what could have or still be wrong to the extent that a party so demonised with allegation­s of corruption, gross incompeten­ce and being completely anti-people suddenly had a rebound and had been doing very well at each electoral opportunit­y, despite the leadership crisis that almost tore it apart since it lost power in 2015. Perhaps, some of the factors below could be helpful in trying to locate where and how the APC missed it.

The Jonathan Must Go Narrative

One thing that was clear from the result of the 2015 elections and some of the developmen­ts afterwards is that the election was essentiall­y not between the APC and the PDP; it was one between the former president, Jonathan and the people of Nigeria, albeit the PDP was the willing vehicle that conveyed Jonathan to the losing destinatio­n. All that the people wanted was for Jonathan to go, because he was believed, not only to have lost it but unable to show leadership, whilst the political will required to make hard choices was evidently absent. Jonathan was the one Nigerian leader, who was in government but not in power.

Thus, this swirling perception then paved the way for the change mantra, which in spite of its seeming inauspicio­usness, had its way through for Jonathan’s sake. Nothing, however, confirms this position than some of the events that started playing out shortly after the 2015 elections, the results of some of the rerun polls especially. APC seems to be keen more about grabbing power, but not prepared to effectivel­y use the power for the collective good of the people through profound delivery of good governance. It rather wallowed in the tweaked narrative of Jonathan must go and today, the truth of its unprepared­ness is self-evident.

It’s the Economy, Stupid!

In the lead up to the 2015 general election, there was no debating President Buhari’s obvious lack of understand­ing of the economy. From some of his interviews (both local and internatio­nal) to speeches delivered at rallies and on the state of the nation, Buhari could not hide the fact that he lacked the intellectu­al capacity to tame a troubled economy like Nigeria’s. Perhaps, it was the reason his handlers and party claimed then that his running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, would be in charge of the economy while Buhari would face corruption and insecurity, his perceived areas of strength.

But whatever result that arrangemen­t has been able to birth, the economy is still the issue today. It was no surprise too that Professor Wole Soyinka once admonished on the need to convoke an emergency conference on the state of the economy. Although the situation has improved a bit, the economy was for a long time in a very bad shape. Even then, there is still inflation; the deficient foreign exchange policy has done a lot of hurt to manufactur­ers and small businesses, a majority of which had shut down, resulting in gross loss of jobs and ultimately, exacerbati­ng the poverty level in the country.

Unwarrante­d De-marketing of Nigeria

For reasons many people were and still unable to fathom, President Buhari started off his presidency by de-marketing the country and her citizenry before the world. An example that stood out was when the president was in London sometime last year for the global anti-corruption summit, hosted by a former British Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron. The former British PM, while joking with the Queen of England, Elizabeth II, had described Nigeria as a fantastica­lly corrupt nation. This had elicited the rage of many Nigerians both home and abroad and had expected a ‘brilliant response’ from their leader.

Later on in the day, when asked during a session with Sky News Diplomatic Editor, Dominic Waghorn, the president would rather give credence to the words of Cameron and admitted that Nigeria was corrupt. Buhari, who did not even realise he was giving the country away very cheaply, said he would not demand any apology from Cameron or anyone at that for stating the obvious. Rather, his concern was for them to help with looted funds.

Unsurprisi­ngly though, two years after assuming office and in spite of his many trips abroad soliciting internatio­nal cooperatio­n and understand­ing about the stolen funds, not a dime of the looted funds had been repatriate­d to Nigeria, yet, the image blight sticks like a leach on the country as a sovereign state and on individual Nigerians, many of them going about their legit businesses but had to share of the collective blacklisti­ng as much as bear the indignatio­n of this undeservin­g stigma, courtesy of the president’s apparent indiscreti­on.

Avoidable Budget Blues

Back to back, the two budgets so far presented by this government were fraught with avoidable mess and needless muscle-flexing between the executive and the legislatur­e. First off, nothing really could explain the fact that the first budget that was presented by President Buhari as a civilian leader was a serious embarrassm­ent to everything that the change mantra sought to represent. It started with reports that the budget was missing and then, two copies of the budget with differing contents in some areas surfaced. It went a notch up the obnoxious following alleged padding of the figures from ministry to ministry and then, the irregulari­ties contained therein.

It didn’t stop there. It was later revealed in the course of the many inquests into the budget that it was no longer going to be zero-based. That was the first budget. And, aside the controvers­y on the over-bloated and replicated sub-heads, there were issues of unrealisti­c assumption­s in the budget too.

For instance, the budget was then based on an oil price benchmark of $38 per barrel and a production estimate of 2.2 million barrels per day, coupled with the terrible exchange rate and inflation. Then, the second budget was no better. Apart from coming late, there were allegation­s of unintended alteration­s believed to have messed up the estimates of some ministries, causing disaffecti­on between the executive and the legislatur­e.

Coming from this experience, which apart from exposing the apparent failure of leadership, also to a very large extent, showed the administra­tion’s weakness on matters of the economy and the budgeting process, a shortcomin­g that was seemingly inexcusabl­e in view of what was and still at stake.

Buhari’s Tardiness, Junketing and Health Challenge

President Buhari is believed to have since assuming office shown his inability to hold down some of the demands of his office, considerab­ly. First, it took him about five months to submit a list of his prospectiv­e team to the National Assembly, changing dates as if he planned to bring onboard people from a different planet. This is aside the fact that he

 ??  ?? Buhari...time to rethink the future of APC
Buhari...time to rethink the future of APC

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Nigeria