Page 36 It is shocking that almost 72-hours after a tragic explosion shook Abule Ado area of Lagos State, killing and maiming innocent Nigerians, our dear President, Muhammadu Buhari, who rode to power on the mantra of ‘NEXT LEVEL’, is yet to visit the scene of the incident, to sympathise with the people.
It is rather more shocking that on Monday, the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, jetted to Abuja, instead, to brief President Muhammadu Buhari about the Sunday accident, and showed him photographs of the unfortunate event.
Why is President Buhari always on the wrong side of the fence, anytime tragedy hits the nation? Is President Buhari avoiding Lagos, because of the coronavirus? Or is it another Baba Go Slow moment we are witnessing as a nation?
Thousands of thoughts I may say are running through my mind right now, as I pen down this piece. What could Goodluck Jonathan, a former President of Nigeria, have done, if he was presently in Buhari’s shoes?
There was an explosion that killed many people, including school pupils, on Sunday, and Buhari is yet to visit the site.
It is on record that Buhari has always been criticised for not showing empathy with Nigerians, in periods of disaster.
Until he visited in February, critics had accused the President of not visiting Maiduguri, and other parts of the North-East, even as residents witnessed incessant attacks from the Boko Haram terrorists. The same was said of the people of Zamfara State, and other parts of the North-West, where bandits have killed thousands of Nigerians.
On Monday, when Sanwo-Olu announced that he took photographs of the scenes to Buhari, in Abuja, many Nigerians continued to pillory the President.
I could recall, that Demola Olanrewaju, a Twitter user, described the development as inappropriate.
“You think you have seen enough silliness across the rank and file of the party in power, then they dig and find another low to bring us to: what is the point of taking pixes to Aso Rock, is Sanwo-Olu dumb to explain verbally, or Buhari deaf to listen? And they released the pixes.”
Henry Shield, another Social Commentator, pilloried Buhari on his Twitter handle, saying that the journey is just forty minutes away.
He tweeted: “The blast occurred 40 minutes away by flight, from where the President resides, but Governor Sanwo-Olu had to travel to Abuja, to show Buhari FREAKING PICTURES? Your citizens died. Little kids were involved for heaven’s sake! Pictures! I am just tired. I am tired!”
@Segalink, another twitter user, wrote: “This is even funnier. If he is afraid of coming to Lagos, for fear of infection, did Sanwo-Olu tender any test result that shows he is free from the infection, before visiting the President without maintaining social distance? Is he not coming from the same Lagos? Okay now.”
A career Coach, Dipo Awojide, noted that it was disturbing that the President did not visit Lagos. He wrote: “Sanwo-Olu should have sent pictures to Buhari via Whatsapp? lool. Why could Buhari not fly to Lagos to see for himself? That would have been the right thing to do. More so, the pipelines are Federal assets.”
Another user, Tosin Olugbenga, described the President as the “worst” Nigeria has seen. He wrote: “This is the worst President Nigeria ever had, with zero empathy for human lives. A strategic city like Lagos, experiences such a magnitude of disaster, Buhari sat in Aso Rock, and Sanwo-Olu flew to present him pictures of the devastating damages. Shameless!”
