Two years of APC change

About two years ago, the chants of change from All Progressives Congress (APC) and their fanatical supporters in Nigeria could be deafening. Such chants of change can pull down walls and even cause traffic jam. The shouts of change were so tremendous that alternative viewpoints were drowned in the cacophony of change riotous and combative crowd.

They chanted and shouted change without defining the form and shape of change they are promising Nigerians. In their bid to take power from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the APC chanters promised Eldorado and even heaven on earth. And the gullible Nigerian voters believed them and gave them their mandate.
But now, those that voted APC to power are full of regrets. They are wailing more than the original ‘wailing wailers.’ They are weeping so inconsolably like small babies forcefully deprived of their mothers’ breasts. They are cursing the day they cast their votes for the party in power.

And they have many reasons to do so. Their lives are much more wretched now than they were two years ago. Their businesses were better two years ago than now. The steadily rising inflation and high cost of living have killed their businesses and considerably reduced their standard of living. The economy is in shambles. Workers are suffering. Pensioners are suffering. People are committing suicide on a daily basis.

They are all weeping victims of aborted or arrested change in whichever way you want to look at it. Having secured power on the altar of change, the APC Federal Government has provided everything but change to Nigerians. Their first 100 days in office did not record any achievement worth mentioning.

They considered the first one year in office as honeymoon period. Now, almost two years after the change administration took over from the PDP federal government, its handlers are making excuses that two years is not enough for a change regime to make significant impact. Even the party’s leadership was reported as saying that even eight years will not be enough for APC to make impact.

Very soon, they may even say that 16 years which the PDP spent in power will not be enough for it. Nigerians are getting used to APC excuses and they are getting sick and tired of a party that came to power on a lot of promises of change but poor in delivering such hefty promises. Nigerians believe that two years is enough for APC to make appreciable impact. Two years of APC has left Nigerians much poorer than where the APC met them.

APC came to power when the exchange rate was below N200 per one US dollar. Today, the exchange rate is between N400 and above per one US dollar. APC may beat its chest that it has decimated the insurgency technically speaking and worked for the release of over 100 Chibok schoolgirls through prisoners’ swap and hefty ransom payment in foreign currency, which the government has stoutly denied.

It may even beat its chest on its war against corruption. Regardless of the politics of these modest achievements, let’s give credit to the APC government on those three areas. How many jobs has the government created since assumption of office two years ago? How many industries have folded up since two years ago of Buhari administration?
How many Nigerians have Fulani herdsmen killed since Buhari came to power? What of kidnapping and armed robbery? They too have intensified and the kidnappers seem to have found love in kidnapping school children for ransom in Lagos and Ogun states.  Despite the claims of technically defeating the Boko Haram insurgency, the sect still has the capability of harassing Nigerians with occasional suicidal and deadly bombings. Their new target now seems to be the University of Maiduguri campus, which has witnessed series of bomb attacks in recent times.

There are also reported threats to bomb Abuja by the sect. All these are stark pointers that the war on terror is indeed far from being over as the APC government wants Nigerians to believe. Even the war against corruption where this government is overrated for its success has not escaped accusations of bias and selectivity.

The war has tilted against those in the PDP camp more than those in APC camp. The friction between the executive and the legislature has stalled governance in some instances. It took more time to pass the budget and more time to clear nominees for some political appointments.  The separation of powers between the three arms of government is not working well in this dispensation. The legislature and the judiciary are called names by the executive. There is in-fighting among those in APC over power and who is in charge. We did not witness such politicking with the PDP.

The APC handling of Buhari’s ill-health in terms of giving Nigerians regular updates is not satisfactory. The transfer of power between the president and his vice whenever the former is away should be seen as normal but not so with the APC government. Otherwise the politicking over ‘acting president’ and coordinating acting president’ should not have arisen if the APC is intact.  Since the president and the vice president have joint ticket, the division being created by some power seekers between them is not healthy. It is natural that the vice president will act on the president’s behalf whenever the president  is not available for duty. Nigeria’s case ought not to be different. We should try to do things the best way.

We should not circumvent the situation because we do not like the face of the person involved. The allegation of the existence of a cabal in a government of change is bad enough. It is worse when the cabal is apparently dispensing a power that it does not have. We have heard of cabals before but it appears the present cabal is more virulent.

Two years of APC government is not good for majority of Nigerians. The change has not translated to positive change in the lives of most Nigerians. They are suffering now more than when the PDP was in power. That is the truth the APC and its vociferous handlers must be humble enough to admit. The government has failed in bringing change to Nigerians.
Their change is not good enough. They should stop acting as a judge in their own case. The APC should use the next two years to redeem its image by fulfilling its numerous promises to Nigerians and stop thinking of 2019. In 2019, Nigerians will decide which way their votes will go. Nigeria is far greater than the PDP and the APC. Nigerians should determine their future in 2019.