The streets have become an epistemic community where the mood of the country and the direction of thoughts are expressed, moulded, patterned and structured. When one interacts with the streets, one is able to know who is popular and unpopular, which person governs well and which does not; the streets’ engagement is important in sampling the dynamics of thoughts of the ordinary Nigerian who bears the brunt of present mis-governance. Unfortunately, the leadership of the country is surrounded by sycophants who create the impression that without President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria cannot get to the Promised Land. To this set of people, who thought there is no alternative to Buhari, they must be living in fools’ paradise as the President has never been the best for the country but a candidate of circumstance and protest vote in 2015. The same reasons of ethnic sentiments, religious favouritism and nepotism which made Nigerians reject Buhari in the serial election losses of 2003, 2007 and 2011 have now become real in their consequences. All these elements of his characterisation have played out in governance, fighting corruption and management of the economy.
Nigerians have moved from “It must be Buhari” (Sai Buhari) of 2015 to Káì Buhari! From Sai Buhari to Kai Buhari is how ordinary Nigerians have constructed the social reality which confronts them in present day Nigeria. As a trained sociologist, the society is my laboratory and I get data through constant interaction with it. I had gone to purchase brake pad and shock absorber for my ailing car owing to the deplorable state of roads in my state. The spare parts seller told me the brake pad which I bought last year for around N1000 now costs N2,500. When I screamed, he simply shuddered and said, “We are in the season of change, Oga. Na Buhari time. You know na Kai Buhari we dey now. By next year, e go be Go Buhari”. After hearing the submission, I marvelled at how ordinary Nigerians construct social reality and map out strategies to make their life better for the future. Those who suffer bad policy and poor governance are planning ahead while the horse riders and their cronies think they can continue to ride the horse for life. President Buhari as the proverbial horse rider is a big man who is not on the ground to feel the pains of those being governed. The fatalities recorded as a result of the killer Fulani herdsmen have surpassed the record of Boko Haram. Yet, the Buhari government has been incapacitated by clannish considerations while farming communities are degraded. Buhari and his government have shown that man is born equally but some are more equal than others by not arresting and prosecuting the herdsmen who are stretching the limits of tolerance. A seemingly contradictory government wants One Nigeria while tearing it apart by its action and inaction. Peace eludes settlements where injustice is allowed to thrive. How did we get here?
Read More: Punch
