Scenes Of Feedback From The People And Endorsement For PMB!!

Scene One was in the morning. I got into the campus to mark an appointment with Oga At The Top. On my way to Oga's Office, I was invited into the discussion of two other Ogas. They called me, "Comrade, what's the latest in town? What are the people saying this time?" I started the Federal Character discussion. There were few logical arguments... Then we sensitized one another as citizens. Then there was a conclusion and agreement based on commonsense: Federal Character should not be our priorities. Politicians and the ruling elite were the only beneficiaries of Federal Character, provincialism, regionalism and ethno-religious politics. We would no longer be deceived. Discussion ended with an applause for Sai Baba's style so far.

Scene two was my visit to a friend on the street. He runs a boutique where he sells very nice shoes and wears. Twas late in the evening. I had not seen him in a while. I guess he hails either from the South-South or South-East. Somehow, discussion started. I showed him pictures of the biggest oil bunkering site so far discovered by the Nigerian Armed Forces on Facebook. He fumed. He was angry. I told him this was perhaps the result of hiring Tompolo and Dokubo or Gani Adams to guard our pipelines. Shey be they are representing the Yorubas and Ijaws, i joked. The sensitization went on and on. We talked about President Buhari's anti-corruption drive. He prayed for Buhari. He even said himself and his people are angry with former President Jonathan. He didn't do anything for their region. He failed to complete the roads that would link their region to other regions in the country and many other allegations. He wished and prayed Buhari would jail President Jonathan and others found guilty of corruption for betraying them. I simply told him that Buhari won't jail anybody, this is a democracy, and only an incorruptible, competent and revolutionary Nigerian Court would do that... We rounded off the discussion with the issue of light and fuel. He explained how much he had been able to save for food to feed his family from the constant power supply and the stability of Petrol price at N87 per litre in all the filling stations.

Scene One and Two were same day before yesterday, Scene Three was with the campus Taxi Driver yesterday. I had hired him to drop me in my destination, I needed to keep up with an appointment. On transit, the conversation began. The campus roads were bad. A man was seen sand-filling potholes on the road. I was shocked...a university of this status? He boasted and assured me that Buhari would soon probe the universities spending. He hailed the idea of the Treasury Single Account the government is adopting. He continue to boast about Buhari, he talked against Federal Character as self-serving. He hailed PMB for the stability in fuel prices. "I buy close to 20 Litres of fuel eveyday for my car. Do you know how much I have saved per litre for the past 3 to 4 weeks now?", he asked rhetorically. He said I should not mind those who are fighting PMB, they are enemies of the people. I kept on nodding in agreement to every of his assertions until I eventually alighted...

These are just few scenes of feedback from the people. For the first time in a very long time, ordinary Nigerians are feeling a fresh air effect of governance. These people did not need to be paid to applaud PMB. It's just all about commonsense. They are not concerned about Federal Character Appointments. All they need is Light (power), food, water, security, cloth, shelter, education and affordable healthcare. Our people do not ask for much. I believe our country is blessed with far more than our people ask for.

If we must sustain this very much little progress, we must be more willing to make sacrifices. While challenging President Muhammudu Buhari to fulfill all his campaign promises at all cost,we should not only ask what this country can do for us, but as well ask what we can do for our country.

God bless Nigeria...

Author: Toba Bankole