By Reno Omokri
Recently, I was in New York for the #HARASSBUHARI OUTOFNEWYORK protest, which was very successful. Whilst in the Big Apple however, we encountered a counter protest of pro-Buhari campaigners. I was intrigued. Especially as these protesters did not look Nigerian, though they were Black.
So, we did some digging. Turns out that there was a Criagslist Advert offering mouthwatering sums for anyone willing to join a peaceful protest. And it began to fall into place. It turned out that the pro-Buhari campaigners were African-Americans, who had been paid to participate in a rally that they knew nothing about. And we have proof. Cast-iron proof. In the form of a confessional video by one of the ‘protesters’.
It shows you how unpopular Buhari really is. That he could not find people willing to protest in his favour amongst the over 300,000 Nigerian immigrants in America, and felt the need to hire fake protesters shows that even the man himself, and his cabal are aware that the game is almost up, if not up.
But one more thing struck me about Buhari’s New York outing. Whilst the major highlight of Ghanaian President Akufo-Addo’s speech was how his nation, and Africa were able to escape the doomsday scenarios painted about Africa and COVID19, Buhari’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly was beggarly.
He basically reduced Nigeria to a beggar nation before the eyes of the world by using his time in the spotlight to beg for debt forgiveness and also beg for more debt and aid. As a Ghanaian, you would have felt a sense of pride when you heard Nana Akufo-Addo say that the West’s doomsday scenario did not come to pass. You would have also felt well represented to hear him admonish Europe and America for using Covid-19 as a sort of immigration population control against Africans.
The reverse was the case for Nigerians. We saw a thoroughly subdued and cap-in-hand Buhari, begging for vaccines, money, assistance, everything. And even before his UNGA speech, he had given a preview of what to expect at his meeting with Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
His body language at that meeting was so sad. Google the photos from the event. Buhari had his hand clasped behind his back, almost in subjugation. He looked at the floor. He shrunk to a corner. Meanwhile Queen Máxima was looking at him and gesturing.
And then he proceeded to ask her for financial assistance for Nigeria. The funny thing is that Queen Máxima of the Netherlands is not even a Head of State. She is just a consort, as the spouse of King Willem-Alexander, who is the real Head of State.
She is originally from Argentina and has absolutely no role in government. Neither she, nor her husband, King Willem-Alexander, can appropriate or grant monies belonging to The Netherlands to Nigeria or any other country.
Her husband, King Willem-Alexander, is a ceremonial constitutional monarch. His role is more or less advisory. And this is the man whose wife Buhari was begging for aid from. And going back to his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, there appears to be a disconnect that quite a number of people noticed.
And it is this: How can you be appealing for debt relief on the one hand, and on the other hand you are going cap in hand begging for more loans? There is so much unintelligence in Buhari personally, and on those he surrounds himself with that the contradiction is lost on them.
By asking for debt forgiveness, you are invariably saying that you lack the capacity to pay your debt. That is the only basis for which your creditor would forgo the debt – lack of capacity to pay. So, the money request is itself an admission of incapacity.
Now, after you have admitted your incapacity to service the debt that you already have, you are asking the same people, who you just asked for debt forgiveness, to lend you more money.
It does not just show to your lender how unintelligent your are, it also tells him that you think he is as stupid as you. Because if you cannot repay ten, and you want it forgiven, and you are asking for five more, it invariably means that you will soon be asking for forgiveness of fifteen instead of ten.
I was so embarrassed at that silly request that Buhari made at the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations. It just made Nigeria look big for nothing in the eyes of the international community. It was childish and betrayed a regime that is so wrapped up in itself that it does not know that others can see through them.
And the chickens are coming home to roost. Perhaps it was because the then Statistician of the Federation was soon to retire and had little to lose, or perhaps it was sheer bravado. However, after years of denying the obvious, the National Bureau of Statistics last year confirmed that since 2015, poverty in Nigeria had widened to the point of being endemic.
According to the NBS, 40 per cent of Nigerians now live below its poverty line, confirming the 2018 report by the World Poverty Clock that Nigeria is now the world headquarters for extreme poverty, with six Nigerians entering into extreme poverty every minute.
On June 13, 2021, the Debt Management Office released its own riposte, saying that in just three months, Nigeria spent ₦999,5 billion (almost a trillion) servicing (not repaying) debt.
According to the Debt Management Office (which is controlled by the Buhari junta), Nigeria’s debt-to-revenue ratio is approximately 83%. To put this in perspective, Western banks would typically refuse to lend you money if your debt-to-revenue is above 43%.
As it stands now, Nigeria under Buhari is spending more money on debt servicing (again, debt servicing is not debt repayment. Servicing means you are paying the minimum required interest on your debt), than you are spending on infrastructure, youth development or education.
And the man who irresponsibly increased our debt from ₦12 trillion in 2015, to ₦35 trillion today had the guts to say during his fallacious Independence Day broadcast that “No government since 1999 has done what we have done in six years to put Nigeria back on track.”
The above quote may be proof of the cognitive dissonance the President is rumoured to be suffering from. Because, with the abysmal performance of this administration in every measure of the Human Development Index, it beats my imagination as to why Buhari will make a fool of himself with the statement of comparison that he made.
In 2015, when Nigeria’s unemployment rate was below 20% according to the NBS, Buhari said it was unacceptable. Today, Nigeria’s last reported unemployment rate is 33.3%.
So, what is the basis of Buhari’s claims? Has any area of life in Nigeria improved under Buhari? Security is worse according to the Global Terrorism Index. We were the fourth most terrorised nation in the world in 2015. Now we are the third, having overtaken Somalia. The economy is worse, according to the World Bank. And corruption is much worse according to Transparency International, which lowered our ranking from 136 in 2014, to 144 today.
So, of what benefit has Buhari been to Nigeria that he can make that delusional boast?
And how could a man, who has so irresponsibly increased Nigeria’s foreign debt at a time when crude oil sells for $75 per barrel, claim to have done better than an Obasanjo, who paid off Nigeria’s foreign debt at a time when crude hovered between $19 (1999) and $36 (2004)?
And how could a man who has not initiated, started and completed a single school say he has done better than a Jonathan who initiated, started and completed 165 almajiri schools, 13 federal universities?
Buhari could not afford his APC Presidential nomination form in 2014. Now Nigerians, who were rich in 2015, are now extremely poor, and Buhari, who was poor in 2014, is now extremely rich. What kind of destiny switch is this?
In 2015:
– Fuel was N87
– 50kg bag of rice was N8000
– $1 was N150 (N199 in 2015)
– Lagos-Abuja air fare was N10,000
– Bottle of Coke was N60
– Peak milk was N80
Today, can Nigerians even eat? The poor can’t sleep because they are hungry and the rich can’t sleep because the poor are awake and you want me to keep quiet while Buhari destroys my country? Who is safe in Nigeria today? Are you?
It is an insult to the intelligence of every right-thinking Nigerian for Buhari to have said what he said. But how can you expect a man who begs the wife of a ceremonial monarch for aid to have any sense of shame?
Originally published at Thisday