No politician in recent history has ever gained unprecedented popularity, admiration and reverence in Kano, like President Muhammadu Buhari, who out of commitment, doggedness and sacrifice was able to win the presidential race at the time people had the belief that it will never be possible for a camel to pass through the eyes of the needle without much ado.
He contested and won the presidential seat, not because he had the financial wherewithal to woo voters nor because of his generosity, he simply won as pundits in Kano posited, because the people were desperate to change the status quo and do away with the past government.
His rise to political stardom pundits concurred was not without a price, given the degree of frustration he had suffered in the hands of his political foes, who saw this as a threat to their ambition to maintain a perpetual dominance on the nation’s political landscape.
He had undoubtedly came on board as all odds, at the most critical stage of the nation political and economic period and a time the spectre of Boko Haram insurgency was rocking the nation, especially, the north east of Nigeria.
He was sworn into office at the time when Kano people were reeling in the throes of the ferocious attacks of Boko Haram, with the commercial reputation of the ancient city almost reduced to naught, making customers patronizing Kano markets to boycott business, for fear of the unknown.
His firm intervention in fighting the Boko Haram elements with sincerity had inspired the confidence of the Kano people that they had never regretted voting for him, having made them to heave a sigh of relief.
His political popularity continued to soar in the face of the ground swell of public opinion in his favour which he continued to enjoy despite the recent hike in the price of petroleum products and the hyper- inflation that is currently biting hard all over the country.
It was however the peoples’ contention that Buhari had proven his mettle and kept to his promise of keeping the unity of the country sacrosanct in addition to fulfilling his promise of jettisoning the cabal of corruption wreaking serious havoc on the nation, without paying credence to national interest.
There was however a discordant tunes currently greeting the two year stunning score card of the Buhari administration given the changing tide of events, with the present recession and economic hardship rocking the boat.
According to a renowned APC Chieftain, in Kano and Senior Special Advisor to the president on legislative matters, Alhaji Sulieman Abdulrahaman Kawu Sumaila, Buhari is fit to run for the presidency in 2019, in the light of his sterling accomplishments in just a period of two years, despite the grueling obstacles against his leadership.
He said the issue of insecurity, had been properly addressed with the threat of insurgency almost nipped in the bud adding that the president has the capacity to lead the country in the year 2019.
Sumaila maintained that those criticising the president had failed to see things beyond their noses, since they had proven to be myopic, given the degree of inflammatory remarks they were meting out to him.
He called on Nigerians to pray for his quick recovery in London stressing that with consistent prayer and total supplication to God, his predicament would become a thing of the past.
Expressing a different opinion on Buhari’s two- year score-card, a prominent PDP Chieftain in Kano, Alhaji Hamisu Cediyar Kuda, said the present economic recession bedeviling the country had almost put on hold whatever gains the administration had achieved in the last two years.
He said Nigerians are becoming fed up with the way and manner they were stricken by wanton huger, deprivation poverty and squalor insisting that the administration had taken no measures to address the nagging poverty affirming that the issue of food security must be guaranteed before an administration is given a pass mark.
He however stated that there was no way one can convinced cynical Nigerians to believe that they were let off the hook economically since they are still in the fog of misery and the inability to survive hunger.
He pointed out that fighting inflation, is the best way to make life easier and affordable to the common man and wondered why the economy should be allowed to drift without adopting palliatives to cushion the difficulty.
He stressed that he was still not convinced that Buhari is fighting corruption, given the manner he is shielding his cronies and acolytes, who in the face of the allegations of financial impropriety slammed on them, were allowed to breath without being sent to prison on account of their misdeeds.
But the overriding opinion in Kano is the fact Buhari as a President had successfully walked the tight rope and cross the thorny Rubicon of his political career, since he was able to effect a positive paradigm shift in checkmating the excesses of the Boko Haram elements whose act of debauchery reached an alarming peak.
His two year score-card according to political pundits in Kano had proven his stellar performance on the parlance of credible and selfless leadership which successive administrations had woefully failed to achieve over the years.
In the words of one of the leading political gladiators in Kano like Alhaji Musa Dan Birni, the Buhari administration started on a sound footing by addressing the insecurity confronting the nation since the past administrations, but failed to address the prevailing economic predicament which has put the lives of Nigerian citizens into atrophy.
On the dismal plight of the abducted Chibok girls, the PDP Chieftain stated that from whichever way one looks at it, the Buhari administration deserved a pass mark for its ability to free some of the abducted school girls from the bondage of the Boko Haram elements stressing that without firm resolve and commitment, achieving the feat would have ended disastrously.
He pointed out that the war against corruption is still facing a heavy snag given the taciturn posture adopted by the presidency in allowing some apologists of corruption in the president personality cult to hold sway, adding that it was only when such questionable members of president’s cabinet were shown the way out that the administration can the government be taken seriously.
The Buhari’s administration, he further stressed has faltered from the onset for its spectacular failure to appoint ministers and members of boards to run an effective government, affirming that the misunderstanding between the legislature and the executive arm has greatly impeded the speed of development and progress in the last two years.
It was however the overriding opinion of political observers in the state that whatever the shortcomings of the Buhari administration in the last two years, it has instilled some sanity and prudence in the way tax payers’ money was spent, stressing that addressing the persistent issue of insecurity is enough to score the Buhari-led administration high.
