There is no leadership vacuum in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari is in charge, the Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has replied to Professor Wole Soyinka.
BMO described the Nobel laureate’s statement that no one is in charge in Nigeria as contrary to reality while inviting him to come to terms with a changing narrative of hope and possibilities for Nigerians arising from the policies and programmes of the Buhari administration.
In a statement signed by Niyi Akinsiju, the group’s Chairman, and Cassidy Madueke, its Secretary, the group cautioned that political leadership, especially under a democratic setting, goes beyond the whip-cracking, school headmaster model where the President bends over to micro-manage State Governors or leaders of other arms and institutions of government with a loud scolding voice to applause.
“President Muhammadu Buhari is fully in charge of affairs of the country and does not need to assert the obvious fact. He came to office with a patriotic vision to change Nigeria and appointed capable men and women into various offices to implement his policies and programmes. The President has a clear mandate from the Nigerian people to lead and that is what he has been doing by delegating power and authority to his appointees and interrogating their performance while partnering with Governors of the 36 States and leaders of the other arms of Government to secure the country and pursue his economic prosperity schemes.
BMO further listed numerous achievements of the administration, including comments and testimonials by global personalities to support its position that not only is President Buhari in charge but his policies have secured Nigeria’s position as an emerging global power with a confident, productive, and empowered youth population.
“It was not by accident that Nigeria was considered as one of the Top Ten Performing Global Economies in second quarter, 2020, ranking, which although affected by the Covid-19 pandemic-induced recession was going strong and resilient. It was not a slip of the tongue when Ms. Helen Grant, UK’s Trade envoy to Nigeria described Nigeria as the fastest growing economy in Africa. No. It is as a result of policy deployment and implementation by the Buhari administration which had, in March, 2020, proactively set up an Economic Sustainability Plan headed by the Vice President and had Governors from the six geopolitical zones and members of the Economic Team.
“It was an unambiguous endorsement of President Buhari’s leadership qualities when the Deputy-Secretary General of the United Nations, Mrs. Amina Muhammed stated: ‘I have to say that there are a lot of protests around this world that have been exacerbated by COVID because, COVID has left people out of work, left people hopeless because of the socio-economic impact. And in many of those protests, we have not seen governments turn around in response as quickly as this government did’.
“The eminent Professor may recall the incidence and fallout of the EndSARS protests and join the rest of the world to salute the astute manner President Buhari brought a delicate situation to an end. The speed and wisdom with which the President responded to the de-establishment of the SARS Unit and the setting up of the Judicial Panels to identify victims of abuse, police brutality, and extrajudicial killings, evaluate evidence on the validity of submitted memoranda, and determine compensation for verifiable/deserving victims and their dependents is a credit to the President’s strong leadership disposition.
“Various fiscal and monetary relief stimuli, as well as entrepreneurship and youth empowerment schemes, are ongoing and millions among our young population are leveraging into them at various levels in all the states and FCT for economic recovery and sustenance as Nigeria preps to exit the Covid-19 recession by the first quarter of 2021
