IN line with the provision of Nigeria’s Constitution, President Muhammadu Buhari will end his second and final term in office on May 29, which is 100 days from today.
Buhari assumed office on May 29, 2015, after defeating the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, who sought re-election for a second term.
He is the country’s eighth and 16th leader (military Head of State between December 31, 1983 and August 27, 1985, and as elected president between May 29, 2015 and May 29, 2023).
The president rode to office on his pledge to tackle insecurity and corruption, and revamp the economy.
The ICIR reports that Buhari inherited a nation battered by insecurity and widespread corruption.
Failure of Jonathan’s government to contain deadly attacks in the North, including Abuja, Kano, and the North-East by the Boko Haram belligerent group, made Nigerians prefer Buhari.
As a former Head of State, many citizens believed he possessed the requisite pedigree to tackle the insurgency and other festering menaces in the country better than Jonathan, branded by many as “clueless.”
Waning popularity
The ICIR reports that given the country’s multidimensional and worsening insecurity, unprecedented division and hardship faced by most citizens under Buhari’s watch, the president’s popularity has dwindled, especially in the North, where he was much loved.
In January 2023, protesters barricaded roads in Kano State and reportedly stoned the president’s helicopter when taking off from the state to Abuja after an official visit. Kano is the hub of socio-economic activities in northern Nigeria.
There had been similar protests before and after the Kano rage.
In October 2020, Nigerians protested the brutality of a department of the Nigeria Police Force – the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).
The protest snowballed into wanton killings, destruction, and looting of public and private property across the country.
The most significant episode of the killings was those reportedly carried out by the military at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos State.
In October 2022, the Central Bank of Nigeria announced the government’s decision to make the old N200, N500 and N1,000 notes cease to be legal tender.
The apex bank was to introduce new notes replacing the old ones on December 15 of that year.
Introducing the notes has, however, brought hardship to Nigerians because the new notes are very few in circulation.
The ICIR reported some of the pains Nigerians face in their bid to get the cash.
Protests have erupted in Lagos, Delta, Ondo, Oyo and other southern states, a few days to the 2023 general elections, scheduled for Saturday, February 25.
Besides, many lawyers believe the Buhari-led government’s insistence on implementing the policy has put the president in contempt of the Supreme Court, which ordered that the old notes co-exist with the new ones in the interim.
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