By Chibuzo Ukaibe
Elder statesman and leader of the Southern and Middlebelt Leaders Forum (SMLF), Chief Edwin Clark, said the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari administration plunged Nigeria and Nigerians, five decades backwards.
Clark, who described the administration as unjust, biased, and nepotistic, added that Buhari failed abysmally as president as his administration was full of insecurity, economic collapse, injustice, religious bigotry and lack of direction.
The Niger Delta leader stated this while reacting to the unveiling of the book “Working with Buhari: Reflections of A Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015-2023)” written by his former special adviser on media and publicity, Femi Adesina.
Clark, in a statement, said, “I watched the public presentation of a book titled “Working with Buhari: Reflections of A Special Adviser, Media and Publicity (2015-2023)” written in five volumes by Femi Adesina and others, chronicling activities/achievements of Muhammadu Buhari during the eight years of his administration as President and Commander-In-Chief of the country, as contained in about 80 pages of the 488-page book.
“What struck me most is the attitude and statement of former President Buhari who eulogised his achievements as President of the country during the occasion. This I must say, is contrary to the assessment of majority of Nigerians of his administration.
“To most of us as Nigerians, Muhammadu Buhari failed abysmally as President. His administration was full of insecurity, economic collapse, injustice, religious bigotry and lack of direction. The eight years of his administration plunged Nigeria and Nigerians, five decades backwards.
Even his successor, the current President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, noted as much in his speech at the time occasion where Buhari was eulogising himself,” Clark said
The elder statesman noted that his current observations are not the first time he has made them.
He recalled that he had written an almost 12-page farewell message to Muhammadu Buhari, on the eve of his exiting as President of the country, May 28, 2023, where he said as much.
Clark, who reproduced the message, had said “Mr. President, as your administration winds up on 29th May 2023, a retrospective rumination of the government’s activities in the last 8 years, vis-à-vis our interactions with the President, the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and other bureaucrats of the administration; the promises made, the dispositions and actions of the administration to the people of Nigeria, lays out sad and irritating realities of worrisome inconsistencies, discrimination, marginalization and neglect.
“The truth is, President Muhammadu Buhari is leaving the nation, especially the Niger Delta region, worse than he met it. He is bequeathing bouquet of unfulfilled promises, divided nation and myriad of critical federal infrastructural projects in shameful states, especially roads, and particularly in the Niger Delta region; in addition to the debilitating state of insecurity in most parts of the country, being perpetrated by the menacing killer herders, Boko Haram and ISWAP terrorists, heinous bandits, kidnappers and sundry criminals; to the extent that a vast majority of citizens, particularly the youths, are gripped by feelings of annihilation, fear and desperation due to lack of adequate protection by the government resulting to the now common “japa syndrome”, where leaving the country has become the aspiration of most active Nigerians.…”
