BY SEGUN ADEOSUN
For the umpteenth time, the Presidency has explained the factor fueling the constant din of resentment from a certain section of the populace against the Muhammadu Buhari Administration.
Still basking in the euphoria that greeted President Buhari’s political master stroke, last Wednesday, when he awarded the highest honour in the land to the late Basorun M.K.O.Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential vote, declaring the historic date as a public holiday, Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, released an opinion article to the media where he blasted a vocal section of the elite.
In the article, released on Sunday and titled: “June 12 tsunami and the ones who won’t forgive Buhari”, Garba Shehu claimed that the “powerful, very vocal section of the country’s elite” were angry and unable to handle the administration’s successes in catalysing economic growth and providing corruption-free governance.
“In normal times,” Shehu said, “even before the shocking master stroke honouring Abiola, President Buhari is a leader who had not been in the good reckoning of a powerful, very vocal section of the country’s elite.
“The reason is basically that they would lose when you put in place corruption-free governance, institute economic growth with special focus on farmers, and a strong drive for inclusiveness particularly regarding women and marginalised sections.
“The Buhari administration has annoyed these groups by putting in place long neglected infrastructure, establishing a social welfare scheme, the Social Investment Programme targeted at the basic needs of the common citizens and has given the country a major jump in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings.
“Railways and federal roads are being rehabilitated and new ones, including a standard gauge rail are being put in place to bring better and more efficient transportation services.
“Power generation and distribution have more than doubled with many consumers reporting 16-17 hours and in some parts of the country, actually enjoying up to 22-23 hours of power supply a day.
“Foreign relations have improved and the awesome investments in defence and security sectors are paying off through peaceful economic activity in the Niger Delta and the on-going restoration of normalcy in the northeast and north central states.”
Shehu was not done. He recalled Buhari’s long and tortuous journey to Aso Rock Villa, losing election three times and winning only on his fourth shot, and submitted that the political elite were yet to recover from their shock at the 2015 victory.
“In trying to explain the gush of criticism and increasing resort to blackmail by those who have lost out under this honest man of humble origins, and frank dispositions, who has succeeded so far in running a clean government,” Shehu continued, “it is important to note that these are qualities that only a few Nigerian politicians possess.”
Shehu’s article may have targeted ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, who, on the ‘eve’ of an African Union Summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where the continental body inaugurated Buhari as the continent’s anti-corruption ambassador, released a critical letter in which he urged Buhari not to seek second term.
Obasanjo’ss reason? Buhari’s performance, he said, had been dismal; below par; nothing to write home about.
Since then, there has been no love lost between the Presidency and Obasanjo. Only last Friday, the former President raised an alarm that the Buhari Administration was plotting to nail him for some trumped up charges, an allegation the administration described as frivolous.