By Afolabi Gambari

Critics would not let President Muhammadu Buhari be; the more to cause distraction than to press for good governance. The opposition continues to reell out allegations upon allegations against the President, some of them phantom right from the surface. The President himself had appeared to be too wary of the opposition. He continually called out the preceding administration especially on issues that bordered on probity and accountability. Up to this moment, opposition has mounted with some hardliners insisting that Buhari has “nothing to offer” and only revels in giving excuses. Whether this opposition can stop his re-election in February 2019 remains to be seen, however. Nigeria prepared for the FIFA Russia 2018 World Cup in June as if the country was attending the finals for the first time, even as it was the sixth appearance since it debuted at USA ’94. Although officials at the Football House in Abuja kept assuring that ‘all is well’, the ground was well prepared for the Super Eagles to experiment how far they were ready to take on the best in the world. Were they ready? After suffering defeat to Croatia in the opening group game, the Eagles bounced back with a victory over Iceland, only to capitulate to bogey team Argentina on a day that just a draw was enough for Nigeria to advance to the next round of the competition. So much for the country’s poor outing in Russia! The appearance of Nigerians on the social media during the year has been a matter of grave concern, especially to those who preach moderation in what people post on the Internet. Insults, abuse, outright lies and deliberate misinformation continued to take hectares of space. Hate speeches did not cease, as fanning embers of discord and disunity did not. Every national issue that broke, especially on impropriety of public officers, was hardly seen as opportunity for the citizens to unite for a common purpose as discussions on the issue soon resulted to arguments and debates that tilted towards ethnic and religious considerations. Public officers were also tried, convicted, acquitted or discharged on the social media, depending on their affinity to those who ‘put them on trial’ or had something to say about the various subjects. There were no profane words that were not deployed by Nigerians on the social media against one another as they expressed themselves, no matter how unnecessary. The more it distracted attention from governance which tended to hand a leeway to the political leaders to proceed on their cruise to perfidy with disastrous implication for the country. With Nigeria having contributed the largest number of African migrants into Europe at 387,739 (according to December 2017 estimates), it was unanimously reasoned that the European Union should focus more on Nigeria, especially with the West African nation’s key position in Africa, in the areas that would help the government improve the lot of its citizens. One such area is to help strengthen Nigeria’s institutions, particularly the election and electioneering which would ultimately ensure that the right persons are put in key posts that can guarantee good governance, which Nigeria has lacked in recent years, across board. As expedient as this looks to all discerning watchers of world affairs, it did not appear to cut any ice with the Nigerian government. In one instance suggesting that the enormity of the emigration did not weigh on President Buhari, he stated empathically that whoever among the Nigerian citizens that felt the country was no longer conducive for habitation was free to relocate. Not a few believed the statement put a lid on any effort by the government to stem the embarrassing tide of illegal emigration by Nigerians to foreign lands, particularly Europe. The President has however in recent times, moderated his views on this matter of illegal emigration. It was a huge relief that the menace of murderous herdsmen in northern Nigeria has ebbed considerably in recent months. Whether the herders sheathed their swords, as it were, or they became wary of the security agencies’ resolve to crush them, something must have forced the bellicose to calm down at this time. However, although the infernal Boko Haram insurgents in the north-east had been said to be technically defeated a couple of years back, their resurgence in 2018 has been bolder and more brutal. It just had to be taken that the Army’s response to the recent Matete attacks that left scores of the Nigerian officers and men dead with arms and ammunitions carted away would be sustained. Otherwise a bloodier year could well be in the making in the war against insurgency. Meanwhile, as another election year comes upon us, the country can ill-afford the blood-letting it witnessed in 2018.