The north’s selective outrage
Sir: The North had its golden opportunity under the late president, Muhammadu Buhari. For eight years, he presided over the affairs of the country, yet many of the promises made
Sir: The North had its golden opportunity under the late president, Muhammadu Buhari. For eight years, he presided over the affairs of the country, yet many of the promises made during his campaigns eventually gave way to grumblings, lamentations, and a culture of blame. Indeed, it reached a point where the president appeared to turn against the very constituency that had consistently given him overwhelming support. He openly rebuked the poor for their poverty, describing many of them as indolent and unwilling to help themselves.
What exactly then are we blaming Tinubu for?
One of the loudest accusations against Tinubu today is that key positions in government have been concentrated in the hands of his kinsmen and close associates. Yet, the same pattern was evident under Buhari. Most of the critical security and revenue-generating institutions were headed by northerners. The heads of the Department of State Security, DSS, Customs, Police, and FIRS were all northerners, while many strategic ministries, agencies, and parastatals were similarly dominated by northern appointees. Despite this visible concentration of power, the sky did not fall, and many of those who now complain remained silent then.
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Despite repeated assurances, many of the major infrastructure projects initiated during PMB’s administration remained incomplete at the end of his tenure. The much-publicized rehabilitation of the Kaduna–Abuja road, despite billions of naira committed to it, was still unfinished. This was particularly striking when compared to the Babangida era in the 1980s, when similar strategic road projects were started and completed within a far shorter period. Even within the Federal Capital Territory, the four major gateway roads into Abuja: the Abuja-Lokoja, Minna-Abuja, Abuja-Keffi, and Kaduna–Abuja roads remained in various stages of abandonment or slow execution by the time he left office.
Several ambitious national projects that were repeatedly announced never moved beyond rhetoric. The Mambila Hydroelectric Power Project, the dredging of the River Niger, the revitalization of the nation’s refineries, and the improvement of power generation all became recurring promises that yielded little measurable progress. In the end, many of these projects remained pipe dreams rather than transformative achievements.
The painful reality is that many of those who are now quick to condemn the present administration were unwilling to hold the previous one to the same standard. If leadership must be judged fairly, then history demands consistency, not selective outrage.
•Bashir Bello, Kaduna.
