[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hen I heard our dear President Muhammadu Buhari was heading to the 70th United Nations General Assembly with 3 Governors from the North; the NSA from the North; and Perm Secretary of the Ministry of Defense – all of them from the North, I convinced myself that “he must be planning to present a case to the global powers about needed support for our efforts against Boko Haram and; more importantly the fate of our internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the rebuilding of the terrorism-ravaged North-East.”
So, I was shocked to discover earlier this morning via a tweet by @bukkyshonibare, a leading #BringBackOurGirls advocate that. “The Nigerian government did not attend the subject meeting as reported by Reuters.“
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This president is, now, beginning to get under my skin – his last trip to meet with President Obama was also laden with governors that were on the trip for photo-ops and nothing more – they had nothing to offer. This disappointment has repeated itself again – twice in as much as 2 months.
Why do you go abroad to represent Nigeria to either appear clueless, embarrass Nigeria with reckless statements or worse off- completely neglect a meeting in which should have been the most important one you were supposed to attend. A meeting that had in attendance those that were supposed to provide you with the support you needed in dealing with the biggest problems your nation was currently facing?
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What is this addiction of maintaining an inner caucus that is apparently incompetent, unexposed, unprofessional, and all without the sound grasp of the responsibilities expected of them?
When will Buhari learn that “running Nigeria Plc is not tantamount to him running Daura Farms Enterprises?”
When we screamed that “you need a competent cabinet and fast” we were told “you are jealous because you lost the poll”. It is now apparent – at home and abroad – our President is taking decisions in the morning and having himself or his tiny staff rescind them overnight.
ALSO READ: #SoundOff: Buhari Is Leading Nigerians In Damaging Our Standing Abroad – @favourafolabi
Buhari goes on his inaugural meeting to the US and rather than seek “economic and military support” he prioritizes suggesting to the world “my nation is the most corrupt ever, we even gave $150 billion stolen and stashed away in your economy!”
I am guessing, Buhari’s spokesmen, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu will find a way to twist this overnight by claiming “the President chose to use the same opportunity to meet with American businessmen that intend to invest $2 trillion in Nigeria” without mentioning their names and of course blame GEJ’s administration for its ineffectiveness in attending this meeting.
Favour Afolabi is a political commentator who runs fbablogs.com in his spare time; and owns a real estate brokerage services company. He tweeted from @favourafolabi.
The opinions expressed in this mail are solely those of the author.
