Lawyer asks Buhari and APC to lead by example Read more

Reactions have continued to trail the launch, on Thursday, September 8, of the ‘Change begins with me’ campaign by President Muhammadu Buhari. The event held at the Presidential Banquet hall in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city eliciting reactions from the citizens of the country.

According to reports, the campaign is geared towards engendering a holistic attitudinal change in Nigerians, thereby restoring credible value system, spirit of patriotism amongst others. President Buhari said that the long-cherished, time-tested virtues of honesty, integrity have given way to dishonesty, intolerance, indolence and corruption. However, in a reaction by lawyer and rights activist Inibehe Effiong, the change should begin with the president and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) which promised the country a positive change in 2015 while campaigning for the general election. Effiong, who posted his reaction on Facebook, predicted that, “like previous similar campaigns, this one will not yield any tangible result,” except the president allowed the change to begin with him and other leaders in the country.

“Change does not begin with me. Change should begin with President Muhammadu Buhari and his government. “This campaign is another diversionary tactics by the ruling class to alter the narrative of the leadership failure that has plagued our nation over the years. Just like previous similar campaigns, this one will not yield any tangible result. “Let President Buhari and his government practice the change that they preach and Nigerians will follow suit. The attempt to shift responsibility from the leadership to the followership is unacceptable. “In any case, it was Buhari and his party that promised Nigerians change and not the other way round. “If this is an attempt to distract our attention from the terrible and excruciating economic situation in the country it has failed already,” Effiong said.

But the president may have known that he needs to practise what he preaches. In a series of tweets by his spokesperson, Garba Shehu, there are plans to reduce the jets in the presidential fleet.