The Presidency says that the elite in Nigeria are against President Muhammadu Buhari because they have lost out given the good governance culture that has been instituted by the president.

In a statement issued on Sunday by the Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the presidency said the elite were understandably angry about the new Democracy Day and honour posthumously given to MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election.

The statement read: “In normal times, even before the shocking masterstroke honouring Abiola, President Buhari is a leader who had not been in the good reckoning of a powerful, very vocal section of the country’s elite.

“The reason is basically that they would lose when you put in place corruption-free governance, institute economic growth with special focus on farmers, and a strong drive for inclusiveness particularly regarding women and marginalized sections.

“The Buhari administration has annoyed these groups by putting in place long neglected infrastructure, establishing a social welfare scheme, the Social Investment Programme targeted at the basic needs of the common citizens and has given the country a major jump in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings.

 

“Railways and federal roads are being rehabilitated and new ones, including a standard gauge rail are being put in place to bring better and more efficient transportation services. Power generation and distribution have more than doubled with many consumers reporting 16-17 hours and in some parts of the country, actually enjoying up to 22-23 hours of power supply a day.

“Foreign relations have improved and the awesome investments in defence and security sectors are paying off through peaceful economic activity in the Niger Delta and the on-going restoration of normalcy in the northeast and north central states.

“President Buhari’s journey to the Presidential Villa had been long and tortuous– having contested three times and ended with appeals at the Supreme Court before he was fourth time lucky.

“A candidate many had taken as the unlikely one considering that he had been a man who is separate from the political establishment. That he emerged at the contest as winner was itself enough to rattle the political elite.

“In trying to explain the gush of criticism and increasing resort to blackmail by those who have lost out under this honest man of humble origins, and frank dispositions, who has succeeded so far in running a clean government, it is important to note that these are qualities that only a few Nigerian politicians possess.

“To borrow the words of another writer, ‘bitterness is inevitable for those who have been pampered and coddled and suddenly the suckling tit is removed from them and they become ordinary citizens without anything ‘special’ or appropriating disproportionate political clouts.’

“If you read the history of our country, hardly do we have the top elite joining hands for the good of the nation. While Buhari’s tsunami on June 12 has stoked the anger and the fear of this group, the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day and the conferment of National Honours on MKO, his running mate Ambassador Kingibe and the foremost pro-democracy activist, late Gani Fawehinmi was, in another breath, greeted with great enthusiasm and warmth by Nigerians, most especially on the social media.”

While warning that the intensity of attacks on President Buhari would increase as the opposition parties in the country mount offensives ahead of the 2019 elections, Shehu added:

“Even at that time, it was pretty obvious that the unjust annulment was a huge elite conspiracy, well beyond the schemes and machinations, for which the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida had established a formidable reputation.

“June 12 annulment was inspired and supported in spirit, cash and in kind by high-level citizens who saw an opportunity for themselves and cashed in upon it.

“Beyond the coterie of two dozen or so military officials whose names have been documented as literally having had a gun to the head of their Commander-in-Chief in trying to induce the annulment, there were tens, possibly hundreds of co-conspirators who either forced the annulment in one way or the other, or joined the sustenance of the injustice done to Abiola and Nigerian voters which, from then evolved into an industry of a kind, supplying incomes and conferring privileges of state upon those in the plot.”