Pray, Mr President, what should Nigerians understand?

President Muhammadu Buhari, while speaking with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, last Thursday, after observing the Eid prayer marking the end of the Ramadan fast, said he expected Nigerians to show more understanding on the state of insecurity in the country.

According to a statement put forward by Garba Shehu, his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, President Buhari said, “I expect Nigerians to be more understanding on the issues involved, looking at time and available resources.

“For example, when we came in, in the North-East, ask people in Adamawa and Borno states and the South-South in terms of security.

“Without security, you can’t do anything. Our big surprise and disappointment is what is happening in the North-West and we are dealing with it.”

I am at a loss what the President wants the people to understand. Should they understand that insecurity is unconquerable or that the President is incompetent?

What should the people understand, is it that the problem of insecurity is overwhelming or that the President is underperforming?

What should we understand, Mr President? Is it that we overrated your ability to solve the problem or that you are deliberately looking away from the problem for it to fester?

What should the people understand, is it that the President has failed woefully in his primary task, which is securing the whole nation, or that he does not care whether Nigerians live or die?

What should the people understand, is it that you failed to deliver on your promise to protect them and their children or that they now sleep with their eyes open?

What should we understand, President Buhari, is it that despite the huge amounts of money voted for the purchase of arms and ammunitions, our military men are ill-equipped?

What should we understand, is it that the Nigerian military that enforced peace in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cote D’Ivoire can’t replicate the same feat in their own country?

Mr President, what do you want the parents of students of Greenfield University, Kaduna, who were abducted and killed by bandits to understand? That they were wrong to enroll their children in school or that they were born into a wrong country or that they elected a wrong leader? What exactly should they understand?

What should the people of Benue and Plateau states whose relations have been killed, farms destroyed and houses burnt understand? That they belong to a country that does not value their lives and properties?

What should the people of South West who can no longer go from one town to another for the fear of being kidnapped or visit their farms due to the menace of killer-herdsmen understand? Should they understand that their country has failed to ensure their safety?

What should the people of Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna understand? Does the President want them to understand that bandits are more powerful than the state or what? What should those in IDP camps understand? That they do not matter to those that are holed up in Aso Rock?

What should the people of South-East and South-South understand? Is it that they are hated by their country or that they are loathed by their leader? Is it that their country does not care whether they live or that their leader does not give a damn whether they die? Is it to understand that nobody cares even when their cities have become killing fields and their streets a shooting range?

What should the people understand? Is it that the President has run out of ideas or that his strategy has failed?

Rather than sit up to solve the insecurity problem, President Buhari right from the onset has been doing one of two things. He has either been blaming his predecessors or making excuses. Neither of the two can take the country out of the current situation. Blaming past governments will not solve present problem. Looking for excuses on why the problem is not going away will not produce the required solution. The President has to shake off his lethargy, get off his seat and get to work, otherwise the current problem would consume the country and Aso Rock Villa would not be spared.

Leaders don’t give excuses for non-performance. Leaders don’t look for cop-outs. Leaders don’t build alibis around difficulties. Leaders, great ones, either find a way or make one. While there is no doubt that the security challenges are daunting, Nigerians didn’t vote for Buhari to fold his arms and lament the situation. He promised to secure the country and he was given the job to do. So, he should just get the job done, until he does that, there is nothing to understand.

Since we don’t understand what the President thinks we should understand, maybe we should make him understand what we understand. What Nigerians want to understand is anything that would make their country safe.

While addressing a press conference on insecurity in Daura, his home town, back then in May 2013, General Muhammadu Buhari, said since the president at the time, Goodluck Jonathan, had failed to perform his primary function of securing Nigerians, he should resign.

Now that President Buhari has found himself in the same situation in which his predecessor, Jonathan, was in 2013, can we also call on Buhari to step aside if he cannot step up his game and ensure that every part of the country is safe?

We have had enough of his lamentation. He should swing into action and stop the killing, maiming and wailing in the land. Until that is done, there is nothing to understand.

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