By Abdulrasheed Ibrahim
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On 29th May 2023, Muhammadu Buhari completed his eight years’ tenure as the elected President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Prior to his second coming in 2015, he had ruled Nigeria just for twenty months as a Military Head of State along with the late Brigadier Babatunde Idiagbon who till date still being remembered as the most active Second-in-Command in the history of the military involvement in politic in Nigeria. Buhari was sacked in 1985 by his Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) in a palace coup while Idiagbon was out of the country. During that period of 20 months under the Buhari/Idiagbon regime, the War against Indiscipline (WAI) was the order of the day when the spirit of discipline and patriotism was being instilled in Nigerians. At that time there was positive change in the attitudes in Nigeria which development did not go down well with some civilians and military officers who hatched another coup and succeeded in ousting the corrective regime and the rest became history.
With the collapse of Buhari/Idiagbon regime and emergence of the IBB regime with his maradonic style of leadership, the country was never the same again. IBB introduced a prolonged transition programme which ended up in the annulment of what has come to be known as the most free and fair election in the history of Nigerian politics. Rather than handing over power to the person that truly won the election, Babangida deliberately left behind what he called the Interim National Government (ING) later swept away by General Sani Abacha who was left behind by the IBB. Abacha became the new Head of State. He did not stop at that but went further in trying to succeed himself as a Civilian President. He was stopped by death. With the General Abdulsalami Abubakar becoming the new Head of State 1998, he initiated a quick transition programme which led to the handing over of power to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on 29th May 1999 to mark the beginning of a new dawn of democracy in Nigeria. Contrary to the hopes and great expectations of most Nigerians that OBJ would make the country great again and took her to the Promised Land, his eight years’ tenure was nothing much positively to write home about. In my review of his eight years’ tenure captioned: OBASANJO: A MESSIAH THAT NEVER WAS, I had observed that:
“Contrary to the expectations that Obasanjo would proved to be the Messiah being awaited by Nigerians since according him, Abiola was not one, what Nigerians went through under Obasanjo’s Presidency has further confirmed the fact that Nigeria still remains a country in search of good leadership as once propounded by Professor Chinua Achebe in his book :The Trouble with Nigeria. One of the many questions people begin to ask now is why did Obasanjo put Nigerians through such hardship for eight years? Obasanjo during the regime of Babangida as Military Head of State criticized the latter that his government policies should flow the milk of human kindness. But the question now is: Did Obasanjo’s policies during his Presidency flow any milk of human kindness? Obasanjo went through hell under Abacha’s regime and on his coming out of the Prison to the Presidency; Obasanjo subsequently took Nigerians who agitated for his release to hell through his government policies.”
That was a classical on example of how many leaders have been very ungrateful to the Nigerians for entrusting them with power. Muhammadu Buhari came on board to join politics when Obasanjo was battling with credibility .He ran the race for three times and failed to breast the tape. He even wept in public. Luck came his way the fourth time when a coalition was formed by some political parties to become APC that waged a war of broom against the PDP. Obasanjo having earlier failed in his “Third Term Bid” imposed Umaru Yar’adua on Nigeria as President but who unfortunately later died in office. Yar’adua was succeeded by his Vice President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. In all honesty, Yar’adua did well within his very short time in office as apart from admitting the flaw in the election that brought him in, made serious effort to reform the electoral system. I said about him somewhere else that the: “Late Yar’adua was a wonderful leader that came out of the PDP. If not for death, probably he would have been one of the best. He was bold enough to reverse most of the unpopular decisions taken under the Obasanjo regime. The Nigerian history will be very kind to him. May Almighty Allah continue to bless his soul.”
On assumption of office, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as the President came in with his own style of the leadership of transformation agenda. He completed the Yar’adua’s first term and got re-elected for another four years. Thereafter, he attempted to run again for another term. Some members of his PDP particularly those from the North revolted against him and created what they “New PDP or nPDP” whose members later embarked on great exodus to the newly formed APC with the slogan of “Change”. With the unfortunate state of the nation under the leadership of Jonathan’s PDP, Muhuammadu Buhari being seen as “Mr. Integrity” by many Nigerians courtesy of his earlier no nonsense 20 months in power as Military leader with late Babatunde Idiagbon in the 80s had the hope of the country’s survival under his Presidency overwhelmingly voted for him in 2015 against Jonathan who humbly threw in the towel and accepted defeat.
Muhammadu Buhari came in with bags of promises raging from adequate security of lives of all Nigerians and the economic prosperity. On the 29th May 2015, he declared: “Having just a few minutes ago swore on a holy book, I intend to keep my hope and same as President to all Nigerians .I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody”. For about six months after his assumption of office as President, he could not appoint his Ministers. When he eventually did, it became apparent whether he truly belonged to everybody and belong to nobody. Apart from being the President ,he retained for himself the position of the Petroleum Minister. The question being presently asked by many Nigerians is that: Why are the Nation’s Refineries refused to function under the Buhari’s eight years regime as President despite being the Minister in charge of that Ministry? In that sector, has a Nigerian (Dangote) not succeeded in building a refinery where the Federal Government under Buhari failed woefully?
Everything that has the beginning must have an end. Muhammadu Buhari reign that started on 29th May 2015 came to an end on the 29th May 2023.While many of those that served under Buhari have scored him pass mark particularly in the area of infrastructures, he himself had asserted that he had run his course and left Nigeria better than the way he met it. That he was going to Daura, his home town to attend to his sheep and cows that are more easy to govern that the Nigerians. This inconsistency was coming from a former President who had some months earlier admitted that his best was not good enough and that Nigerians were not praising him .The same leader whose wife had earlier apologized on behalf of her husband for disappointing Nigerians. Can you see how leaders take Nigerians for granted? This kind of attitude is not new in the history of Nigeria. After unleashing bad leadership on Nigerians, you would see some of the associates of such leaders coming out to ask for forgiveness on behalf of their bosses .When Obasanjo was leaving the other time, late Dr. Ahmadu Ali, a former National Chairman of PDP did similar thing as was done by Mrs Buhari.
The best way to test the validity of Buhari’s assertion that he was leaving Nigeria better than he met it is to simply ask him and his associates: what were the prices of the various essential commodities at the time he came in as President and their respective prices when he was leaving? In the alternative, they can be asked what was the price of a Dollar to the Naira, when they came in and when they were leaving or what was the debt profile of the country when they came in and when Buhari regime was leaving? These are the determinant factors to ascertain the truth of such assertion. On the state of security, the insecurity throughout the nation particularly in the North where the former President comes from is very disheartening. The madness of Boko Haram, Banditry and Kidnapping became the order of the day where people were being kidnapped and killed like ordinary animals. Buhari , a former Army General was not willing to deal decisively with the terrorists as earlier promised by him. Mallam Nasir El-Rufai put the record straight:
“In 2017, I requested the Federal Government to designate the emerging banditry as an insurgency and to unleash on bandits the full weight of the military .Sadly, this was not done until 2022, acting upon the declaration of the Federal High Court…It is a matter of regret that the Federal Government did not appreciate the gravity of the problem until banditry had wrecked so much havoc on lives, liberty and livelihoods of so many people. Although coordinated military action began later in 2022, the job remains incomplete.”
Unlike the expected re-enactment of the serious war against indiscipline and corruption of old which are the factors hindering the progress and development of the country, it was unfortunately the business as usual to the dismay and disappointment of many Nigerians with good conscience. Under the Buhari’s eight years, Federal universities’ lecturers incessantly embarked on strikes and at a time the universities were under the locks and keys for nearly a year without the former President’s personal intervention. If the likes of Femi Adesina being accused by Farooq Kperogi of going about parading himself as an holder of fake Ph.D honorary degree, as well as Garba Shehu and Lai Muhammed among others have awarded Buhari’s regime with exaggerated pass mark for his eight years of governance , many other Nigerians did not see it that way . To his associates, Buhari was the best thing that ever happened to Nigeria and as such to them the history would be kind to him. If Buhari’s associates considered his tenure as very positive, there are other Nigerians that have vehemently disagreed with their assessment but of the view that Muhammadu Buhari’s reign was in negative and a grand failure. To them, Buhari did not meet the positive expectations of Nigerians. Two Shehus from the North buttressed this point by given serious add knocks to Buhari’s regime. According to Shehu Sani, a former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria:
“He (Buhari) led the country without any economic direction .He presided over a Government that failed to secure the lives of of Nigerians, 63k dead, 3m IDPs & 366k refugees in the neighbouring countries .He failed to restructure as he promised. He granted waivers to the rich & impoverished the poor .He closed the boarders for those who import bags of rice on motorcycles and permitted those who use the ships .He built magical pyramids that disappeared after three days. He left uncompleted project with huge debts to service for decades. He enabled, enriched & reinforced a cabal for 8 years .he appointed & retained failure and reward them with extensions .He was weak in taking decisions & runway when it’s tough. He has no house in London but made London his home.”
To the other Shehu from the North by name, Mahdi Shehu, a very controversial politician, he said to Buhari, YOU FAILED WITH DISTINCTION and went further:
“In your 8 years of disaster, you elevated nepotism to the highest level, you were visibly selective in fighting corruption, you destroyed the economy ,the polity and cohension .You are living (leaving ) us more disunited than you met us .You mortgaged our future…Through crazy and wicked borrowing.64,000 were killed under your watch .You destroyed businesses of all categories. You sent 134 million into avoidable poverty .Corruption became celebrated institution under you. Worst of all, you are living in denial. YOU ARE FAILURE.”
The lamentation was not limited to the North; Chief (Dr.) E. K. Clark , an elder Statesman from the Southern part of the country also added his own voice:
“The truth is President Muhammadu Buhari is leaving the nation, especially the Niger Delta region, worse than he met it. He is bequeathing bouquet of unfulfilled promises, divided nation and myriad of critical federal infrastructural projects in shameful states, especially roads, and particularly in the Niger Delta region,; in addition to debilitating state of insecurity in most part of the country … A vast majority of citizens, particularly the youths, are gripped by feelings of annihilation, fear and desperation due to lack of adequate protection by the government resulting to the now common ‘japa syndrome’, where leaving the country has become the aspiration of most active Nigerians..”
Buhari’s parting gift to Nigerians towards the 2023 General elections was very astonishing and painful with the introduction of new currency and deliberate fuel scarcity which policies were sufficient enough for a government in power to lose re-election. He brought in the policies he dared not introduced when asking for the second term all in the bid to stop a particular candidate from winning the presidential election but Nigerians endured the brainless policies and voted for the candidate of their choice on which Buhari had no option but to eventually abide after the failure of the conspiracy hatched by those Nigerians now referred to as the “Aso Rock Cabal”. The cabal was not interested in the unity of the country unlike the El-Rufai and some Northern Governors who stood their ground that the power must go to the Southern part of the country.
Buhari’s second coming was not without great lessons to be learnt from it .It proves the vanity of putting trust in human being rather than the Almighty God who is the most trustworthy. When Buhari was coming, Nigerians thought he could be trusted with the leadership but his 8 years proved otherwise. Another lesson is that when it comes to the issue of good leadership, integrity may be a factor but it is not enough. A man may be considered to have integrity but if he lacks vision and wisdom, he cannot be a good leader as seen in the last eight years. By 29th May 2023, Nigeria has practised democracy for an uninterrupted period of 24 years out of which 16 years was equally shared by Obasanjo and Buhari who were both former Military Heads of State. During their years in power as elected Presidents , they actually showed their true colours which have rendered useless the wonderful virtues they used to be held for in high esteem during their military years in power. Those virtues that counted in their favour for their second comings have proved to be ruse and the greatest scam of all times. Their respective second comings were greeted with great hopes and expectations by Nigerians but they left Nigeria with great disappointment. What a big disappointment to their respective admirers with good conscience? May Nigeria be great again!
NOTE: Anyone is at liberty to disagree with my above submissions as I will surely appreciate a balanced, fair and objective rebuttal.
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4th June 2023
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