For almost about one hour or more, eyes were glued to AIT yesterday and I must confess that PDP has really tried in their campaign against the opposition. After so many shots, this looks like one final lethal blow, except of course they are not done. Who can blame them? They have enriched themselves well enough to afford the airtime.
So that aside, let's react to the gist they threw in our faces yesterday. I'd give my honest opinion by listing the (1) Bad things he did (2) Good things that he did but have been painted in a bad light (3) Good things he actually did.
Bad things
1) Jailing some 'alleged' innocent politicians.
2) Jailing journalists and activists based on a decree he enacted.
3) Stepping on human rights in a bid to enforce change. No freedom of speech. Strikes were disallowed. Unions (like NMA, NANS) were proscribed.
4) Pardoning Shehu Shagari (his former boss) as he kept him in house arrest while he jailed others.
5) Suspension of the rail project (which I later found out was due to the fact that the money being used for the project was being borrowed and he was bent on paying off Nigeria's debt)
6) Disallowing Monarchs from travelling outside the country, an act many saw as a disrespect to traditional customs.
7) Chasing away illegal immigrants. The same is still done in developed countries though. You can't just reside in places like UK, US... without formal documentations and stuff.
.(± feel free to add & subtract)
Summary: His brief military regime was a draconian rule that made life hot for many.
Good things painted bad
1) WAI: Enforcing discipline with regards to work, sanitation, conduct on roads. This was done the military way and swept Nigerians off their comfort zone.
2) His statement (as the commentary claimed to quote him, as there was actually no video of him saying that) that FG should stop killing his people (northerners) and that instead Boko Haram militants could be given amnesty like the Niger delta militants. Hold on, before you judge at surface value. Reports from Amnesty International and the satellite images that showed the devastation in Baga have collectively proved to us one thing: our soldiers killed thousands of innocent northern dwellers (some in very horrific ways) in the name of fighting insurgency. That was why US raised eyebrows about human rights violation in the North if you can still recall. So Buhari probably has a point but unfortunately the amnesty program that the FG tried didn't work. What he said, he said in good faith.
3) Attempted extradition of Umaru Dikko, one of Nigeria's most corrupt politicians as at then. The PDP in their documentary successfully painted the hilarious method through which Dikko was packaged in a suitcase that was labelled with a diplomatic pass..lol..and the embarrassment attached to the story, but here's the thing they never said...Umaru Dikko deserved to be jailed like the other thieves in his time. People steal little things and get punished severely, some even die. A public official steals billions and you empathise with him when he should have gotten a much more severe punishment. That says a lot in comparison about our justice system today.
4) Drug traffickers were killed. I don't even know why PDP are lamenting about this. In Ghana today, robbery attracts a death penalty and trust me, this law has reduced criminality there. In China, if a politician is caught looting funds or getting involved in any form of corruption, he or she will be executed. My opinion is simple, if you can't do without stealing or going against the law of the land, you can leave. You have nothing to fear if your hands are clean. PDP is simply appealing to the desire in people to be free to do as they like without laws to guide them, but we must not forget that unguided freedom comes at a cost.......CRIME!
Summary: He came to unsettle Nigerians from their relative comfort zones of indiscipline (@public places) and laziness (@work).... and this didn't really go down well with many people. Strict legislation dominates his idea of effective and progressive governance.
.(± feel free to add & subtract)
Good things
1) Jailing corrupt politicians. That's a good thing for me except you're happy when people embezzle public funds.
2) Eradication of Jihadist group (Maitatsine). We've heard that several times but a few times from his critics.
Other good things they didn't mention in the video
3) 1 dollar = 2 naira... which sparked some irritation from the West. The oyinbos felt it was annoying for the currency of a black nation to be that strong. Foreign politics played a role in his removal later on, for obvious reasons.
4) Cleared the debts of the nation and refused to borrow from IMF despite serious urging from the external community. Part of the reason the rail project was 'suspended'.
5) Nigeria was processing her crude oil...and the price was stable.
6) He's a plain person that does what he says (good or evil). I'd rather deal with plain people than the hypocrites in the incumbent government. Even his political opponents can't take that away from him.
.(± feel free to add & subtract)
Summary: He ruled roughly for about one and a half years and his major approach to transforming Nigeria from the state that the corrupt leadership of Shagari left it, was through laws. He believed that a lawless nation where people are just allowed to litter the streets, treat work with levity, loot public funds...etc., could not move forward.
That's my analysis. .(± feel free to add & subtract)
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