Chimamanda Adichie attacks Buhari

– President Muhammadu Buhari has once again come under heavy criticism from Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie
– Ms. Adichie described the Mr. Buhari’s economic policies as ‘outdated’ and his view of Nigerians as ‘infantile’

Chimamanda Adichie

In an opinion published in published in New York Times, she said; “ His intentions, good as they well might be, are rooted in an outdated economic model and an infantile view of Nigerians. For him, it seems, patriotism is not a voluntary and flexible thing, with room for dissent, but a martial enterprise: to obey without questioning. Nationalism is not negotiated, but enforced.”

“Banning goods has historically led not to local production but to a thriving shadow market. Governmental controls had mangled the economy. Many imported goods were banned, scarcity was rife, black markets thrived, businesses were failing and soldiers stalked markets to enforce government-determined prices,” she added.

“It would be unfair to blame Mr. Buhari for these killings, which are in part a result of complex interactions between climate change and land use. But leadership is as much about perception as it is about action, and Mr. Buhari has appeared disengaged. It took him months, and much criticism from civil society, to finally issue a statement “condemning” the killings. His aloofness feels, at worst, like a tacit enabling of murder and, at best, an absence of sensitive leadership.

“Most important, his behaviour suggests he is tone-deaf to the widely-held belief among southern Nigerians that he promotes a northern Sunni Muslim agenda. He was no less opaque when the Nigerian Army murdered hundreds of members of a Shiite Muslim group in December, burying them in hastily dug graves. Or when soldiers killed members of the small secessionist pro-Biafran movement who were protesting the arrest of their leader, Nnamdi Kanu, a little-known figure whose continued incarceration has elevated him to a minor martyr.”

Reacting to the war on corruption, Ms Adichie said,

“Nigerians who expected a fair and sweeping cleanup of corruption have been disappointed. Arrests have tended to be selective, targeting mostly those opposed to Mr Buhari’s government.

“The anti-corruption agencies are perceived not only as partisan but as brazenly flouting the rule of law.”