RE: PMB’S CONTROVERSIAL RESPONSE

This is not to cause further controversy by adding to the already existing unpopular drama about the president’s speech. No. Herein I will be speaking the minds of millions. I’ll attempt to place you (the reader) in the seat of the president. So, be my hardworking President while I respond from within the under 30 populace.
I understand fully well that as a human and a citizen of this great nation, you have the inalienable and unequivocal right to hold opinions as well as express your views on certain issues the way you see fit. This is a fundamental human right we both share. Your views (whatever they are and however they seem) are however susceptible to criticisms depending on the circumstances surrounding them and or the state of mind of those listening plus their diverse experiences cum impression of you.
Please note that I’m not hurt by the statement as said or implied. This is because I in no way feel like I belong to the group of persons you directed it to but this is not about me. It is about what was said, why it was said, to whom it was said/referred and where it was said.

Question:
“President Buhari, there is great interest in your thought on many issues, especially on Investment in the North-East, on the Continental Free Trade Agreement.. feel free to take a seat. Would you like to take the microphone and leave us with the final thought from you?”
Response:
“About the Economy, we have a very young population, our population is estimated conservatively to be 180million. This is a conservative one. More than 60percent of that population is below 30, a lot of them haven’t been to school and they are claiming that Nigeria is an oil producing country, therefore, they should sit and do nothing, and get housing, healthcare, education for free,”

The question clearly suggests that your thought is of great interest to the world being the president of the world’s most populous black nation as well as Nigeria’s position in Africa’s market/economy. Bearing this in mind, your response suggests to me that you did not understand the question nor did you seem to know before then what the term Continental Free Trade Agreement meant, how this came about and its purpose. Well if you did, then you must have intentionally given your reply because you felt the need to say what you said not minding how those referred to would feel.
However, saying that a vast majority of more than half of the country’s population do not like to go to school, that the claim about their country as an oil producing one makes them sit and do nothing while expecting to get free housing, healthcare and education is not entirely true. It is not only a false generalization, it is more so, a deviation from what was asked and thus indicates that you probably deliberately wanted to use the medium to call out the youths but misfired. The pointer here shows that you are unaware of the fact that a responsible government is voted in with the mandate to provide the aforementioned. It also points to the fact that you have forgotten so soon that the citizens of any country have the right to demand for the said amenities.
Furthermore, adverse implications abound your answer and all these have relegated the other good things you may have said in the course of your recent voyage to London. Very few persons see and appreciate that you refused to give in to the request to lift the anti-gay law. An indication that the majority of the country’s populace now presume you as one who may never hesitate to sing from the books of lamentation or so it seems, for even after the good things you have done and stand for, the current change in the thinking of the majority of our people suggests that your recent ‘small shit wey don spoil yansh go ooze for your body tey’.
Economically, the vast majority of more than half the population you’ve so described have been painted unattractively before the eyes/minds of right thinking people of the world as your statement posits our youths as unproductive. This brings up the question of ‘who would like to invest or bring his/her investment to a country where those who are supposed to make up the workforce and market are seen as people who do not only like to go to school but sits and do nothing, expecting freebies? If your answer is ‘none’, then be sure that you’ve rid the country off potential investments that would have amounted to millions if not billions of Dollars.
You have also succeeded in scoring cheap political points for the opposition. An own goal for that matter. Now even those who are lacking in integrity feel they’ve been washed clean off their impurities by your statement while as usual, your aides are busy shifting blames, saying critics are the ones influencing reactions surrounding the whole saga to discredit you. Is that really true? You seff think am! Maybe you should ask Yoweri Museveni. He has a lot to tell you.
I don’t know how you see it but given that 2019 is just a stone-throw away, this current happening deals a hard blow on APC’s 2019 ambition. Well, what do I know about politics?
Before I begin to bore you, it will suffice to remind you not to forget so soon your 2015 promises. The 3million jobs per year promise and the other numerous ones. I’m sure you wrote them somewhere. Please go look up the list. Please don’t also forget that the reason for which we employed you has also not been met. We still have insecurity problems, cases of corrupt practices and hunger under your regime. In fact the aforementioned cases have worsened as even Aso villa now seem to be penetrable, making our legislators susceptible to attacks such as the one that played out last Week Wednesday. The lack of transparency surrounding the war against corruption and the incessant loss of jobs due to recession beats my imagination.
Let me draw the curtain on this, that I don’t regret ever campaigning and voting for you given the situation that prevailed. In fact I am happy that for once the vast majority of the country’s populace saw the need to oust out an underperforming government to bring you in as messiah with the remedy. That collective resolve shows that Nigerians will no longer tolerate underperformance.
Thanks for reading. Please do well to share.

__Jeremiah Kadiri