Buhari, fixing the many wrongs of the past

- By Omogbolahan Babs

I recall in 1999, the then president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Aare Olusegun Obásanjó had made a promise to rebuild Jesse, Delta State following an inferno that wrecked so much havoc with over 5,000 persons losing their precious lives. He promised to rebuild the structures same way FESTAC '77 was rebuilt. Guess what? Obásanjó throughout his 8-year tenure did not mould a single block, let alone building the entire structures. He lied!

In 2002 came another catastrophe! This time, in Lagos State, Ikeja Military Cantonment. Multiple bombs had exploded killing as much as above 1,000 people. Properties worth hundreds of millions were lost to the orgy experience. As usual, the Federal Government under the ascendancy of the Chief Letter-Writer of the federation, Olusegun Obásanjó came on national television and announced its readiness to rebuild the structure same way FESTAC '77 was. But for 13 years, Obásanjó and the People's Democratic Party, PDP delivered 'sakamanje'!

By 2016, when the first term tenure of the Buhari-led administration was barely one year in power, President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the construction of new structures in the same cantonment (Ikeja, Lagos) ravaged by bombs 14 years earlier. Today, a total of 288 new flats have been built, with plans to do more in subsequent months. These buildings were delivered only few days back by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Col. Tukur Buratai. One can only appeal to the military authority to enlighten its personnel on the need to imbibe good maintenance culture. Our security forces can be very funny when it comes handling government-provided facilities.

The naysayers may not see anything commendable with the Buhari-led administration. They are misanthropes with cynical mind. Their heart is eternally programmed to vilify and traduce whatever Buhari does. Like the Yorùbá proverbial cliché, 'òtá eni kìí pa òdú òyà' - one's adversary does no good before their victim; they only relish their oppugning or gloating of their perceived foe. Carefully but meticulously too, the Buhari-led administration is making history of fixing the many wrongs of the past. Even his opponents do not see anything good in his leadership, the common man on the streets know Buhari is working for them.

The rot of power, he is fixing it. The rot of abandoned roads, he is fixing it. The rot of rail transport, he is fixing it. The rot of education, he is fixing it. The rot of the health sector, he is fixing it. The rot of the aviation sector, he is fixing it. And of course, the appalling rot of the economic sector where the few privileged continue to be stupendously rich while the less privileged are continually penuriously devastated, he is fixing it. Albeit this may appear slow, but steadily, we shall get there. Fixing a humongous rot of over three decades will not come over night. It is a painstaking effort of studious approach.

Omogbolahan Babs (ÒGBÉNI CZAR™) writes from Abuja.