Emeka Nweze
2019 has been an eventful year, we have witnessed the good, the bad, and the ugly. Unfortunately this list is focused on the bad and the ugly, the disappointments that have made you just want to sell all your belongings, buy a one way ticket and leave Nigeria for good.
From Buhari to DSS and Fayoyinbo here are the top ten disappointments of 2019.
1.Buhari
Buhari has very rarely been in the news for the right reasons in 2019, signs of his authoritarian rule had been evident in his first term, however, since winning the 2019 elections, Buhari invoked the spirit of his military regime with press intimidation, censorship, and blatant disregard of fundamental human rights. More so, Nigeria has failed to see any development with increased poverty, corruption, and worsening state of insecurity. Buhari’s rule has made living in Nigeria a risky business. Big shame.
2. Senator Elisha Abbo
Adamawa North senator Elisha Abbo has been laughably disappointing in 2019, one would think that being one of the few young senators that he’ll look to make a difference. He went from slapping and brutalizing a young woman in an Abuja sex toy to openly supporting the anti-social media bill. Catastrophic shame.
3. Muric
Muric continue to brandish their extremist religious beliefs and continuously try to force it on all of us. This year their problem was with bigbrother naija, a show that clearly advertises for an audience of 18 years and above. Muric went on to petition the federal government to put an end to the show. Of course their request was ignored and they subsequently went back into their hole, looking for another fire to start.
4. Gloria Osei
In October popular entrepreneur, Gloria Osei and her husband, Muyiwa Folorunsho, accused by a twitter user of running a fraudulent company and mistreating their employees. The twitter user went on to reveal her experiences while working at the company as well as the alleged fraud that went on. Twitter was quick to pick up on the story throughout the day Glory Osei trended, as the dragging was endless.
After going under the radar for a month, Glory Osei returned to twitter with a record breaking thread of over 180 tweets that contained some kind of explanation, Read the summary here. The thread did not do her any favours as twitter came for her again with several hilarious tweets.
5. Invictus Obi
Obiwanne Okeke was for years a young successful businessman who had investments in several factors. His inspirational quotes and stories endeared him to young people who aspired to be like him. He appeared on several TEDx forums, fooled everybody including Forbes, who at one point listed him in their 30 under 30 list. Invictus had everyone aspiring to perspire for years until hi indictment by the FBI on counts of fraud. His arrest led to the indictment of over 70 Nigerians by FBI, also on allegations of internet fraud.
6. Biodun Fatoyinbo
Biodun Fatoyinbo, founder and senior pastor of Commonwealth of Zion Assembly (COZA) Biodun Fatoyinbo just does not know how to stay away from controversies and scandals. In what was the biggest scandal of 2019, the pastor was accused by a former member Busola Dakolo of raping her several times some years ago when she was still a teenager. Bukola’s accusation spurred more confessions from other women with similar stories of Fatoyinbo’s predatory acts. Of course, the pastor denied it and thought it wise to handle the issue by issuing threats and intimidation tactics, wiggling himself out of it all.
7. DSS
The DSS has gradually become a tool for carrying out the authoritarian agenda of Major General Buhari. Their treatment of former presidential aspirant and revolutionist, sowore has nothing short of shameful and disgraceful, so much so that it has attracted criticism from the outside world. Sowore remains in the custody of the DSS till date despite a court order for his release. Yet another clamp down on criticism and freedom of speech by the Buhari led government.
8. Social media bill senators
senators Sabi Abdullahi (Niger North) and Mohammed Sani Musa (Niger East) are the brains behind the malicious campaign against democracy and freedom of speech. Both senators are responsible for the hate speech bill, otherwise called the prohibition of hate speech bill and the social media bill, otherwise known as the internet falsehood and manipulation bill which have been a topic of constant debate both in the parliament and all over Nigeria.
9. Nigerian Police
Both the regular police and SARS have been a huge disappointment, these bodies swore an oath to protect the lives and properties of the citizenry, however the opposite has been the case. 2019 has seen a lot of extra judicial killings, unlawful arrests and sham profiling and the citizens have become even more afraid of the police than actual criminals. Despite all that have been done to #EndSars, no strong steps have been taken to stop these criminals with badges. Shame
10. INEC
The ‘independent’ electoral body has not been exactly independent this year and there is no doubt they have failed in delivering free and fair elections in 2019. Both the general elections and the duo of elections held in Bayelsa and Kogi were marred with violence, intimidation of voters and inconsistent results.
