Onoh to Buhari: Your 8 years in office were the ‘Las vegas’ of corruption and insecurity
President Bola Tinubu’s former campaign spokesman in the southeast, Dr. Josef Onoh has responded to President Muhammadu Buharis’ claim that Nigeria experienced notable improvements in both its security situation and economy throughout his eight-year tenure.
Buhari made this statement on Wednesday when he hosted members of the Katsina State Correspondents’ Chapel from the Nigerian Union of Journalists at his residence in Daura, Katsina State.
‘We aren’t just a band of blind musicians; we have journalists, teachers and computer…
He stated that Nigeria’s security and economy saw significant improvements during his administration compared to the situation in 2015,
but in a swift counter response, Dr.Josef Onoh countered his claims and said that President Tinubu’s administration is suffering from the consequences of his mismanagement of the economy under his 8 years in office.
Nigerians today accuse Tinubu’s administration of being the worst they have met without knowing that the President chose to be silent and carry his cross alone without shouting or calling names. He continues to navigate the economic mine fields the Buhari administration left behind after they failed to frustrate him from becoming the president.
Under Buhari’s watch, the northeast. North central, south east, southwest, couldn’t go to sleep in peace.
When you assumed office on May 29, 2015, the cumulative number of people killed in Nigeria, according to the NST, was 34,972. But from the day you assumed office, the death figure rose to 98,083 as of May 16, 2023.
Under your watch as President 98,083 killed in 12 years
•27,311 persons killed in your first term in office
•35,800 killed between 2019 and May 2023
Let me remind General Buhari that Nigeria has never witnessed the level of insecurity that was witnessed under his administration, not even during the Civil War. Let me refresh your memory, with figures of Nigerians killed under your watch
2015 5556
2016 5763
2017 4618
2018 6565
2019 8340
2020 9694
2021 10575
2022 9079
2023 2921
Total 63,111
Also, killings between June and December 2015
As of May 16, 2023, may I refresh your memory with the timeline of killings in May 2023
*May 1: Bandits killed two and abducted four in Zaria, Kaduna.
*May 1: Kidnappers abducted three and killed one in Akwanga, Nassarawa.
*May 2: Kidnappers abducted twelve in Owan East, Edo.
*May 2: Gunmen killed one police officer in Aba, Abia.
*May 2: Herders killed three in Boripe, Osun.
*May 3: Gunmen killed a youth leader in Ahoada East, Rivers.
*May 4: Gunmen killed three police officers in Orumba, South, Anambra.
*May 4: Soldiers killed 23 bandits while one soldier was killed during a clash in Shiroro, Niger State.
*May 6: Troops killed two Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA) commanders and “several” other ISWA militants (est. at twelve total) in Konduga, Borno.
*May 7: Gunmen killed one police officer and kidnapped the Taraba local government chairman in Takum, Taraba.
*May 7: Bandits abducted forty from a church in Chikun, Kaduna.
*May 7: Bandits abducted thirteen and killed one in Kagarko, Kaduna.
*May 7: Security operatives killed four kidnappers in Idemili North, Anambra.
*May 7: Communal violence led to one death in Mokwa, Niger.
*May 8: Herders killed three in Guma, Benue.
*May 8: Cult clashes resulted in 16 deaths in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.
*May 9: A cult clash resulted in three deaths in Owo, Ondo.
*May 9: Herders killed six in Guma, Benue.
*May 10: Security forces killed seven gunmen in Nnewi South, Anambra.
*May 10: Gunmen killed two in Mangu, Plateau.
*May 10: ISWA killed three Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Damboa, Borno.
*May 11: Troops killed 11 ISWAP militants in Abadam, Borno.
*May 11: Kidnappers abducted an All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ehime-Mbano, Imo.
*May 12: Bandits abducted fifty in Rijau, Niger State.
*May 12: Communal violence led to 13 deaths in Karim-Lamido, Taraba.
*May 12: A pastor, Daniel Danbeki, and 37 others were killed by suspected herdsmen in attacks on Takalafia and Kwaja in Karu LGA of Nasarawa State
*May 12: The communal crisis between the Amazaba community of East Obolo and ikot Akpab Udo village in Ikot Abasi LGA of Akwa Ibom State claimed four lives
*May 14: A man shot his elder brother and cut off his head and private parts at Ekori in Yakkur LGA of Cross River State.
*May 15: Gunmen killed 29 person’s at Kubwat and Fungzai villages in Mangu LGA of Plateau State.
*May 15: Three soldiers were killed, and 10 were injured while repelling an ambush on their convoy by the Islamic State of West Africa Province, ISWAP, terrorists in Abadam, Borno State
May 15: A man killed his stepmother with a pestle in Ihima Obeobe Ebozohu community, Okehi LGA of Kogi State
*May 16: Gunmen killed four US Embassy officials in Ogbaru LGA, Anambra State.
*May 16: 10 persons including a couple and their only child were killed in attacks on Akpanta, Ochumeko, and Ijaha communities in Apa LGA of Benue State by suspected herdsmen
*May 16: An EFCC official was killed by two of his colleagues in Sokoto following a disagreement on custody of items belonging to a suspect.
*May 16: Kidnappers killed one person and kidnapped three, including Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo, immediate younger brother of the Akogun Oyedepo, Chairman, Governing Council of Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti along Ijara-Isin/Isanlu Isin Road in Kwara State.
You rode on the mantra of change but ended up changing Nigeria for the worst, and after you failed, you turned around to blame PDP your continuous self-assessment begs certain questions: could this stance be a political pretence or stem from a genuine insensitivity which has been your trade mark.
In 2019, under your watch Nigeria was ranked 3rd below Afghanistan and Iraq out of 138 countries in the Global Terrorism Index and was said to be the 14th most fragile in the world and the 9th in Africa, according to the Fragile States Index. Unsurprisingly, in the same year our country was also ranked 148th out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index, far below former war-ravaged countries like Sierra Leone (52), Liberia (59) and Rwanda (79).
Under your watch, attacks and reprisal attacks continued in states like Kaduna with accusations of ethnic cleansing and mismanagement of religious and cultural diversity today. Tinubu’s administration has brought peace to southern Kaduna.
Your insensitivity and in effectiveness of your security chiefs were part of the reason for the spread of insecurity that allowed these groups to operate with impunity while you displayed ‘the failure or unwillingness while in authority to address these and other non-state actors and to secure ungoverned spaces, which cumulatively allowed the violence to mutate.
On the issue of economy, your failure to handle insecurity created an environment in which Boko Haram extended its operations’. The heightening insecurity continued to impact negatively on the business environment and business flows of our nation during your tenure.
Credit must be given to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the NSA, he achieved within 18 months in office what the entire Buhari’s 8 years in office couldn’t achieve. In the southeast, although i don’t like his approach to politics and having run for the same office with him in 2022 and i know i would have made a better Governor than him if not for political selfishness of our stakeholders, yet credit must be given to Governor Peter Mbah being the only governor in the southeast that genuinely fought against the ipob sit at home menace, with the cooperation of the Tinubu’s led government they successfully dealt with the Simon Ekpa terror menace something the past governors couldn’t do. Enugu State bled under your watch.
Under your watch One of the biggest fish markets in West Africa, located in Baga near the Lake Chad basin in North East Nigeria, has long been abandoned due to the ongoing Boko Haram insurgency and only under Tinubu’s administration has life gradually started coming back.
Without prejudice, i maintain that any fair assessment of the Buhari’s administration either by himself or even artificial intelligence, he must take these facts into consideration before giving false credits to his elapsed administration or himself, he should always remember these staggering statistics i have provided clearly have a verifiable impact on the direction of investment decisions whether foreign or local. In the end, it affected both the perception of Nigeria globally and the reality of citizens’ livelihoods in our oil-rich country, which today Tinubu’s administration is paying the price of his ineptitude
Finally one of the greatest legacy the Buhari administration left in the minds of Nigeria as it’s greatest contribution to the economy was a success story of a recharge card seller turned billionaire overnight and a serving Central Bank governor running for president from the comfort of his office using public funds.
Your administration yesterday introduced “Ranka ya Dede Nepotism”, today, it’s “Emiloka”, tomorrow it might be “igbo kwenu” and what will be next tomorrow’s catch phrase. Because your 8 years in office was truly the las vegas of insecurity and corruption.
