Criticisms have trailed President Buhari’s short speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, with many describing the 12-minute speech as lacklustre, hypocritical, and distracting.
On Tuesday, after thanking the international community for its assistance in combating terrorism and urging them to provide more support, Buhari had spoken about other issues pertaining to recent international events. These include the plight of the Rohingyas in Myanmar, the Nuclear threat from North Korea, and the war in Yemen.
According to an online News platform, Quartz Africa Weekly, Buhari’s speech is laden with irony because he doesn’t practice similar sentiments with similar events back home. The media site mentioned a skirmish between Nigeria’s military and the members of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a Shiite Muslim group in Nigeria’s north, which saw “more than 350 people,” including women and children, unlawfully killed in 2015.
Quartz also referred to the recent operations of the Nigerian military in the South-Eastern part of the country where innocent protesters were molested and killed.
A Public Affairs Analyst, Alhaji Ibrahim Abdullahi said he expected Mr President to call on the countries harbouring some fugitives who have stolen Nigerian money to repatriate the fugitives and the funds stolen without further delay in the interest of economic development of Nigeria.
PDP chieftain, Femi Fani-Kayode was highly critical of the president’s speech. The activist lambasted the president for not condemning killings in Nigeria.
“You condemn the killing of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar yet you slaughter Igbo Christians and Shiite Muslims in Nigeria and you turn a blind eye as your Salafist Fulani kinsmen and herdsmen butcher northern and southern Christians.
You declare support for the establishment of a Palestinian state yet you reject the idea of Biafra. You condemn North Korea’s dictatorship yet you have proved to be the most ruthless dictator that Nigeria has ever known.”
There were also some criticisms on the social media. On Twitter, social commentator, Kingsley Omose said,
“It was heartening to hear Buhari tell the UN General Assembly of his commitment to democratic values despite military engagements in Nigeria”
Another twitter user said at a time like this that speech can only be described as grossly insensitive and terribly disappointing!