The man who committed peccatum mortale (a mortal sin) against the Nigerian people by refusing to perform the primary duty of government, the protection of lives and property of its citizens.
The President of Nigeria, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) came on board with much hope and enthusiasm freely expressed by a large majority of the Nigerian people. But, within a short period of six months into his first term, it became painfully apparent that Buhari was ill-prepared for the task of leadership. And from that time onwards, it got progressively worse; he singlehandedly renamed the APC, his party, All Promises Cancelled. In other words, every utterance on the campaign trail and the APC manifesto were mere electioneering slogans and therefore of no effect at all.
Much as I do not want to gloat over Nigeria's dwindling fortunes, barbaric acts of terrorism, kidnappings and lawlessness, never experienced before 2015, I should not fail to state that I warned Nigerians several times about the consequences of voting for Buhari, in 2015 and 2019. For all my troubles, those warnings were dismissed as sheer fearmongering. Today, the memorable words of Blaise Pascal ring true: "You always admire what you really don't understand." Well, I hope Nigerians now understand who Buhari really is. The man who committed peccatum mortale (a mortal sin) against the Nigerian people by refusing to perform the primary duty of government, the protection of lives and property of its citizens.
That Buhari squandered the people's goodwill is primarily due to pompous hubris. Buhari's body language depicts a man who always felt he deserved to be president of Nigeria. And the North, especially with the help of Kashim Shettima, whose ignoble role in the Chibok schoolgirls' abduction is well-documented, moved mountains, and threatened hell, brimstone and high waters if Buhari was not elected president.
Ever since he came to power, Nigeria has nosedived into an abysmally low level in all spheres of human endeavours. As I write, Nigerian public universities are on strike and no one knows when their strike would be called off. Unemployment has reached an all-time high, inflation has gone through the roof, corruption institutionalized, infrastructural decay, widespread poverty and penury, endemic insecurity problems, economic collapse, etc.
Of all the aforementioned problems, Nigerians are beside themselves with rage over the problem of insecurity in the country, which has assumed nightmarish proportions. It is now an open secret that the terrorists have threatened to kidnap the president and they are on their way to making good on that threat by encircling the seat of power, FCT, Abuja.
The fact that the terrorists would put Aso Rock and our security forces on notice about their nefarious plan shows the toothlessness of the government.
Now, here are two fundamental questions begging for answers: would the terrorists have been this brazen in their reckless utterance if our president is not complicit in their plot? What do they really have on Buhari?
Whatever our answers to these questions are, we cannot in good conscience deny the fact that the terrorists have for a long time had a field day. During the coronavirus lockdown, they could transport their men, arms and ammunition into our forests unhindered.
With the deliberate creation of Boko Haram, a monster was let loose on the Nigerian people, which led to, and continues to lead to a phantasmagoria of horror and mystery. But today, those who have signed a pact with the devil and ridden on the back of a tiger are in danger of being devoured by it.
However, whoever is conversant with the modus operandi of terrorists knows that they do not discriminate between their sworn enemies and innocent bystanders, and this is particularly true for a primitive sect that wants to establish a caliphate in Nigeria.
We are frighteningly close to losing our democracy. Our country is fast descending into anarchy and chaos, and Buhari as President and Commander-in-Chief is incapable of stemming the tide. Despite the groundswell of public opinion against the brazen and incessant bloodletting, kidnappings and extreme poverty in the country, Buhari is completely unperturbed.
Nigeria is comparable to a terminally ill patient on life support. It will, therefore, be stupidiotic to allow the man who is responsible for her health condition to continue to lead the team of doctors attending to her.
Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, in a speech to his Generals shortly before the start of the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871), said, inter alia, "Much is forgiven those who succeed, the sin the world finds most difficult to pardon is failure." Buhari, as president, failed spectacularly. His nonchalant attitude to governance has sparked something fundamentally incendiary that he must resign.
It is all over the news that PDP Senators have given Buhari a six-week ultimatum to tackle the insecurity situation bedevilling the country or else face impeachment, in a face-saving move to salvage their sagging reputation, is too little, too late. Anyone with a modicum of common sense and whose intellectual batteries are still functioning knows that any impeachment move against Buhari, with the way the National Assembly is constituted, is dead on arrival.
The threat of impeachment is hollow. According to William Shakespeare in Macbeth, "It's a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Well, Nigerians have a moral and imperative duty to wade in if they feel that their country is going to hell in a handbasket.
Therefore, it is high time some highly placed individuals, such as Emirs, Senators, Members of the House of Representatives, et al, went to him, with a simple message: you have done your best but your best is not good enough. Your time is up. You have to go!
And Buhari must go.
David Abu writes from Holland.