THE Buhari Presidency last Friday, May 29, composed songs of praise to mark its fifth year in office. In a child-like manner, its image-makers taunted perceived enemies and insulted Nigerians who do not think the administration should be celebrated.

I am one of those who see no reason for any celebration in this season of global health crisis, lockdowns, mass job and income losses, economic meltdown with death lurking our hospitals and isolation centres.

Our case is worsened by massive local and foreign loans for mainly non-tangible things; debts this administration is piling up for future generations to pay, or upon which they will be enslaved.

I do not want to waste precious time debating corruption in this government. At least not in this lockdown when Nigerians are told billions of naira have been spent on the School Feeding Programme even before the child at home saw a grain of rice.

I may be more willing to discuss insecurity. At least no honest person can dispute the fact that five years ago, our main security challenge was the Boko Haram insurgency. Today, there is added banditry which has swept through states like Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Kaduna and Niger states.

It is not surprising that there are people in the Presidency who think Nigerians should celebrate; in every adversity, there will be those smiling to the banks, singing victory songs and thanking God. This to me, is a sense of morbid governance.

I do not think we need a national debate when a hunter says the domestic cat he has on the tether is the lion that has been tormenting the community; he sees a lion, we see a domestic feline. The songs from the Presidency could only have been composed by those who eat at the table, or among those the crumbs are shared. A more discerning Presidency would have realised that a hungry person cannot be receptive to any other message but food.

Millions of hungry Nigerians cannot be receptive to the long windy tales of President Buhari’s claimed successes or the delusion of how lucky we are to have him as President.

One concern I have is that after five years in power, the Buhari administration does not seem capable of putting in place a simple conflict resolution mechanism in the Presidency; something a first-year student of Industrial Relations should be able to accomplish. The result is the frequent blowouts in the Presidency with serious negative effects on governance.

I recall that prior to the September 23, 1987 creation of Akwa Ibom State, there were ethnic tensions in the Old Cross River State. In analysing this, a Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calabar was quoted as saying that: “Cross River State is an atomistic society perpetually at war with itself.” That analysis may well be true of the Buhari Presidency.

The newest blowout is that between the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Ibrahim Isa Pantami and the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Mrs. Abike Oluwatoyin Dabiri-Erewa. She was former Chair of the House Committee on Diaspora Affairs and later, Senior Special Assistant to President Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora.