APC, Buhari treading a perilous path

By Oladele Oguntimehin

To many, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari have achieved different feet. Some are of the opinion that the president has not really lived up to the expectations of the nation rather have engaged in a one sided anti-corruption campaign.

The campaign which seems to focus on their predecessor allies (People Democratic Party) have created a gravity of imbalance, plummeted economy and planting seed of both social and political conflict.

During the 2015 election, the nation hope of a desired change was grappled with a good campaign agenda set by APC to solve the menace in the economy, in terms of corruption and improvement of Nigeria standard of living.

However, the president faced his daunting task of ethical leadership, fairness and a consolidated democracy after coming into power  but all seems faded after one year as the president has unconsciously turned his back on these goals.

As Nigerians are trying to give Buhari the benefit of doubt, things are becoming worse than they were before, ranging from high rate of unemployment and insecurity down to inflation of commodity prices.

As there are many paths in developing the nation, in terms of providing jobs, strengthening the security, putting an end to insurgency, the president sorted out the arena of fighting against corruption as a way to develop the country which has not been successfully carried out in a balance platform.

An overview of the actions thus far taken by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the law enforcement agency tasked with investigating financial crime pointed out that since January this year, the EFCC has either arraigned or arrested 124 individuals, including prominent government officials who have been implicated in a range of financial crimes and of these documented cases, only 4 percent involve individuals affiliated with Buhari’s APC.

Facts shows that Nigeria routinely ranks among the top 10 in the world in terms of cumulative illicit financial outflows signals a more pervasive problem. Research has proven that in Nigeria, corruption is now so entrenched to the extent that anyone hoping to do any kind of business with the Nigerian bureaucracy must take it into account. Some government officials are alleged to bribe one another to get government business done.

In the political arena, Nigerians has found it difficult to prove corruption and also impossible to prove its absence. But the president has been able to prove corruption practices in the political sector but is failing to make it balance and fair rather one sided.

Researchers and political analysis has come to a conclusion that it is impossible for corruption and related financial malfeasance to be relegated to a single political party or group of individuals in Nigeria.

The one-sided affair currently being conducted by the Buhari government may ultimately plant the seeds for both social and political conflict. The focus and mindset of practising a balance anti corruption campaign should be enforced in order to set the country right and hope of a desired change.

As the problems of the nation is heterogeneous in nature, it is however been classified into three part; greed, bad governance and religion. In Nigeria, we have seen many situations were political parties fight one another because  they like to rule for many years without giving up power and instead of not winning the political position, they rig the election to see that power comes back to the ruling party.

The present administration is been urged by the people to concentrate on other areas in moving the nation forward and not that of anti corruption campaign alone. Biased targeting of certain political parties and turning a blind eye to malfeasance in his own is not a good trend that could lead to the consolidation not of democracy but of entrenched power around a single man and party.

The people are reported to be in search of a political leader that is serious about building a modern state structured on the principle of rule of law, respect for human right and good governance. As they are in doubt whether Buhari will be able to be the man or will he fail like the rest, the look of things are not encouraging rather becoming so ardent.