The APC Mandate: So Far, So Bad! By Adeola Aderounmu

In about 2 months from now it will be one year since the APC mandate won the elections that brought it to power in Nigeria.

Unexpectedly the story has been very, very sad. So far, so bad!

I know the major arguments in favour of the APC mandate. For example we are quickly reminded that the Jonathan administration looted the treasury.

We are constantly reminded that change is gradual. We are also watching as Buhari is fighting corruption (that so far has excluded the massively corrupt APC-chieftains)

Even my close friends want me to appreciate the war on corruption albeit not perfect. I do. Ese pupo

In previous articles with the banner The APC Mandate, l have stated that there was nothing that was wrong with the Jonathan administration that the APC mandate wasn’t aware of before it took over the mandate of governance.

I have also argued that the APC mandate was aware of these problems before it promised Nigerians change.

I went further to state that considering the backdrop of the APC campaign machinery, APC politicians and tacticians ought to have taken all the challenges that they were about to face into consideration before embarking on a campaign, that now seems to be propaganda.

Today-10 months after winning a major victory at the polls-the APC central government is still mainly without direction.

Summarily, so far, the APC mandate is still a failure. It is just the way it is even if this is not what was intended.

The realities on ground in Nigeria really hurt. In the daily lives of the ordinary citizens, things continue to fall apart.

President Buhari has probably spent more time outside Nigeria than inside of it since he was pronounced the winner of the 2015 presidential election. It is now time to sit down at home and fix Nigeria.

If there is a time in Nigeria’s history when the people need empathy from the number one citizen, it is no other time than now when majority of the citizens are angry and hungry.

The level of hunger and the feeling of insufficiency in Nigeria today are unprecedented in the annals of the country.

We know that change is gradual. We know that monies were looted by Jonathan and his cronies. Who does not know that the looting had been across board since 1960?

No, we were not expecting a miracle from the APC mandate. But no one told us that things will be worse than they were 10 months ago. What did we miss when the APC took to the campaign trails?

Nigerians need to buckle up.

Crime rate may surge in the coming days. People have reached the end of the ropes and tolerance levels have reached an all time low.

The ordinary people are going about with rage, anger and huge disappointment on their faces. They are asking: is this the change?

Frustrations have reached a new high in Nigeria.

By now, it is common knowledge that petrol disappeared from the gas stations. There are more pumps in the black market than at the petrol stations. It shows how bad the government has been in managing patriotism and citizens’ roles in nation building.

The supremacy of the black market in different economic interplay speaks volume of the citizens’ non-adoption of the APC anticorruption struggle. It reflects clearly the rejection of the change slogan. This is simply failure of institutions of governance.

A few weeks ago l wrote an essay titled: We Can’t Go On Like This. I can understand when APC loyalists were quick to run to the defence of their lords. Again reality is what matters to me and today the situation has gone from bad to worse regarding the prices/costs of goods and services.

What worries me is that things are getting worse and l am yet to encounter a national, clear, easy to understand blueprint, known to all citizens on how the APC mandate intends to get Nigerians out of this mess that it inherited and bloated.

Former president, Mr. Jonathan blamed his ineptitude on previous administration before him and wasted 6 years of our lives while he and his cronies emptied the treasure monthly.

The APC mandate is blaming Jonathan and already wasting the remaining days of our lives. Unacceptable! Nonsense and ingredients!

Meanwhile workers cannot go to work everyday. They have to select the days they go to work because of the cost and difficulties of getting to work.

Students of tertiary institutions have expended their pocket monies and have to adopt on-off formulas of attending schools.

What about power supply lately? How many times have we complained about blackout? It is now worse.

I don’t understand why NEPA will be allowed to increase the tariff for electricity when power supply has not improved? It is only in Nigeria that this type of indefensible criminality of government is perpetrated against the people.

How come the APC mandate did not know that there is a need to upgrade infrastructure in the power sector. Was that not already a common knowledge?

Some of us know that the upgrade of infrastructure will definitely take years and when that is done, power supply can be improved. It is at that point that the consumers can be asked to pay more.

Now Nigerians are paying more for darkness.

You don’t have a bakery in your house but you get a bill of N10000 and electricity is not even supplied! The APC mandate is definitely perpetrating citizen defrauding.

Whose plight is not worsened since the last 10 months? Is it the pensioners who have disappeared from the radar of the APC mandate? They are not even paid any longer. Is it the unemployed whose hopes of jobs have faded into oblivion with the mass emigration of companies from Nigeria?

Civil servants now receive salaries sporadically. The calendar dates are inconsequential. Yet the government continues to devise several ways to tax and impoverish the people. It is shocking!

Politicians don’t feel the problems or they pretend not to see at all which is why a fool will conclude that those complaining about the problems in Nigeria are PDP loyalists.

The wahala that continued to brew at the Senate is a discussion for another day. But it is sad that criminals occupy such positions in government. Now they hide under imported religion to tell us that women are slaves in Nigeria and cannot be equal to men.

Whatever happens, the APC mandate owes Nigeria good governance and improvement in living conditions.

The APC mandate owes Nigeria a lasting political solution.

By all means, the APC must begin to discuss how to move the different states in the country away from their parasitic existence. We need a debate on how the country can move forward and regional government and self-determination must be on the table.

There were so many promises that came with the campaigns in terms of what ordinary people will benefit.

Days have turned to months and months will soon add up to a year. If things do not improve, the APC mandate should at least prevent them from getting worse. That much the APC-mandate owes Nigeria.

Nigeria is in dire need of leaders and leadership.

We cannot go on like this..!
By Adeola Aderounmu

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