Shortly
after the coup of December 1983 in Nigeria, in which the seemingly no-nonsense
duo of General Muhammadu Buhari and General Babatunde Idiagbon took over by
force the government of Nigeria from the corrupt and inept Shehu Shagari-led
civilian regime,
I was invited by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to
their Winnipeg, Manitoba radio station to shed some light on the situation in
Nigeria. I was then the President of the International Students Organisation.
One
of the issues put to me was that the people of Nigeria and those of us abroad
at the time are fearful for ourselves or for our people at home because of the
obvious military putsch’s clampdown on freedom. My input to this issue then was
“The ordinary Nigerian has nothing to fear; only the corrupt politicians who
were deposed have to fear Buhari/Idiagbon”.
Now
thirty one years later, I daresay the same applies, or may apply. Only the
corrupt and inept people in government, irrespective of party affiliations, now
need be fearful of Buhari’s emergence as a Presidential candidate of the APC.
But
let us put a few issues in perspective. Mr Buhari has not yet contested and has
not won the 2015 Elections. He might not even win the election despite the
euphoria of his election at last week’s APC primaries. After all, he has run
unsuccessfully for the office of the President of Nigeria in the past – 2003
(All Nigeria People's Party, ANPP), 2007 (ANPP) and 2011 (Congress for
Progressive Change, CPC) - his detractors label him a “septuagenarian serial election
loser”, and his ethnic background is Fulani, and his faith is Islam; a native
of Daura in Katsina State of Nigeria. So how are we sure he’s going to be
fourth time lucky; nay, fourth time accepted by Nigerians?
In
Nigeria, where corruption rules the roost and is a god to many, fighting it is
a damned hard chore and battle; herculean in nature, so when you fight
corruption, as I am sure will be the main policy thrust and appealing agenda of
Buhari’s manifesto, corruption will fight back a thousand times more
powerfully, resourcefully and viciously. We see it every day in our dear
corruption-riddled country, such that if you can’t beat it, you join it. Those corrupt
Nigerians, and their foreign collaborators, who have been engaging in corrupt
practices and have made enormous wealth from it over the decades are not
prepared to down arms and flee or surrender. They will mobilise every
ill-gotten resources, power and weapons to fight back so they do not lose their
illegal source of wealth. So trust these
bastards to be vicious in their fight back.
Mr
Buhari has been labelled with many uncomplimentary physiognomies too, from
being a religious bigot and zealot to an unrepentant ethnic misogynist who
being a Fulani, believes in the superiority of the Fulani over any other ethnic
group in Nigeria. Many unpalatable quotes have been attributed to Buhari,
ostensibly to consolidate the evidences of religious and ethnic intolerance
against him. Incidentally, a deep look into all these accusation will produce
the fact that they are mostly fabricated by confirmed ethnic, religious and
political partisanship who do not have any other things to say to negate
Buhari’s noted honesty and sincerity,
not to talk of his world-renowned stance against corruption in government and
high places in Nigeria.
Allow
me say to say here at this juncture, that I have never been ardent of Buhari;
in fact, I always believe he was inferior to his then deputy, Babatunde
Idiagbon, of blessed memories. I always believe that most of the discipline of
Nigeria attributed to Buhari was the handiwork of Idiagbon. I always believe
the man is humourless and too rigid in his outlook in life, but, as it is I
acknowledge his self-discipline as a man, and that have always been the
endearing ideals I have for him. Even I do not really think he was a good
leader, probably because, I was not in Nigeria during his military rule to
witness first-hand his achievements and secondly because he did not have the
luxury of a long enough time to prove he
is a good leader.
However,
his consequent records in public life were to confirm the honesty of this man,
at least according to the fact available to the public. For example, a 1998
report in New African praised the Petroleum Trust Fund , PTF, under Buhari’s Chairmanship, for its
transparency, calling it a rare "success story. Another plus for his was
the story that he declined to receive the N300 million monthly allocations to
him as a former Head of State, instead opting to receive only 2.3 million Naira
per month. Shame on Shagari, Obasanjo, Babangida and Abdulsallam for still
receiving this huge amount despite the massive expanse of money they allegedly made/stole
while in power.
So,
you will ask me, why have Nigerians suddenly woken up and enthusiastically (at
least from the noise we are hearing) ready to give this “serial election loser”
a fourth shot at the prize, and probably even voting him in and getting rid of
the incumbent PDP and President Jonathan? Like a friend asked me recently, why
are Nigerians euphoric over a “refurbished Messiah”? Whoaa!!
I
replied, “But who is calling Buhari a Messiah? I am definitely NOT, anyway. All
I can say is Nigeria stands a better chance/change with him instead of what we
have now. We must give CHANGE a CHANCE. That's all we can hope for now, or what
else do you want? Do we stick with the same rot, and continue to mutter curses
on Jonathan and the PDP (and in fact the state governors irrespective of party
alliance) or do we give Buhari (no other credible alternative from any of the
pseudo-political parties parading themselves as opposition parties have
emerged) a fourth chance?
Is
Buhari the best man available to rule Nigeria? No, not by a long shot! As far as I am concerned, I am confident that
I will make a better leader than him, but of course, I am neither interested nor
have been approached nor stand any chance in Nigeria’s brand of politics. So I
concede to Mr Buhari that he is better than all those that have crawled out of
the woodwork laying claim to the throne. If Nigerians perceive or are given a
better choice, I am sure they will discard Buhari immediately.
So
he’s 72 and too old? Who said? I am always for the younger generation to be at
the forefront of nation-building and to be given a chance to govern and prove
themselves, but current evidence indicate that even our youths and their
thinking/mind-set have been hijacked by the older useless and corrupting
politicians and have been influence by the extremely corrupt society which bore
them and which they are growing up in. We can rectify this situation if an incoming
set of rulers look at other ways of engaging the youths by provision and
creation of employment, freedom of speech, opportunities in government and
decision-making, etc.
And
this is where I lament the chances Nigeria and Nigerians lost in denying the
late Chief Obafemi Awolowo the leadership of this country many times, till the
man died, and everybody now wept at his graveside and eulogised him,
hypocritically as “the best leader Nigeria never had”, when it was too late, to
the eternal regret of this country, take it or leave it, depending on which
side of the fence you are, or how truly patriotic and progressively-discerning
you are.
It
seems to me another chance has yet presented itself to Nigeria, after 3 other
failures to grasp the opportunities, to redress the abysmal rejection, get back
on the track to attempting (yes, attempting) to save this country from its
light-speed downward spiral into chaos, self-destruction and uncertain future
for the generations to come.
I
think God has presented us with another chance, after all, we are fond, and
indeed it is a national pastime, to cry to God to come down and save us. I am
one man who is convinced that God will not come down to Earth to save Nigerians
(Nigerians being His only favoured people in the world?) but will rather help Nigerian via a mortal
who will do God’s will. Maybe Muhammadu Buhari, born December 17, 1942, is such
mortal. But then, he’s only a fragile mortal. After all, ex-President Olusegun
Obasanjo was given up to 3 chances, never before done in the history of the
world, and what did he do? He blew it.
Mind
you, I am not calling Buhari a Saviour or a Messiah or a Saint. He’s definitely
not, but this is a man who seems sincerely willing to give it his best shot,
with the right people and resources at his disposal. I always believe and say
that nowhere in world history have saints, Christian or Moslem or any other
religion, ever ruled nations (not caliphates). Saints, messiahs, saviours have
no business or are good in politics or governance. And this brings me to one of
the many little advices I have for Mr Buhari.
The
current APC, of which is the presidential candidate in the coming 2015
elections is not the APC he helped found just a couple of years ago. The
current APC has been diluted and suffused with politician from the crumbling PDP
of doubtful character and intentions. Not only doubtful characters but some of them
are “proven” thieves and corrupt, inept rulers and other public office holders.
Such men are dangerous, as Julius Caesar would have said. And if Buhari allows
the ilk of party men to dominate in any section of the party, and in
government, if he wins the Presidential elections, the will mess him up and
hence continue to mess the country up as they had done before.
I
am not campaigning for Buhari here; that might probably come later when I have
a much clearer picture of what he has let himself in for, and the intentions of
the people in his party too. But all evidence point to the fact that Nigerians
want a change, are desirous of CHANGE for the better and not for the sake of
it.
The
faultfinders of Mr Buhari will say the only selling point for Buhari is that
his desire to lead Nigeria is all predicated on anti-corruption and nothing
else, but how will he tame the corrupt people in his party? I will be honest, I
cannot myself answer the latter, but for the former, I have always believed the
problems of Nigeria are centred on corruption. Tame or manage corruption, and
you have a damn fine country that will realise its full potential within a very
short time. How Mr Buhari will marry the two remains a task that everybody must
be prepared to do. Good leaders do not rule alone; they rule with the support
and cooperation of their people.
I
have always castigated my people that they are insincere and hypocritical when
it comes to wanting change, that we resist change very vehemently while at the
same time desirous of it; but maybe this is the time they truly will vote for a
change. We love dragging our feet, and that was why we let Awolowo slip by us.
Maybe now is the time; maybe now we have a right candidate for Change. Maybe
not, but we might as well give it a shot. We can only lose as much as we have
been losing since 1960, or less.
There
we are.
Let
the Truth be said always.
Akintokunbo A Adejumo
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