Now that we have Buhari

For the second time in a little over thirty years, General Muhammadu Buhari is heading another ‘corrective’ government. When he first came in as military head of state on New Year’s Eve 1984, it was to clear the mess left behind by politicians of the Second Republic. For four years, from 1979 to 1983, leaders of the then-ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN), foster-parent of today’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had ran Nigeria like a personal estate, stealing its resources and pushing the country to bankruptcy before they were dispersed by a corrective military government headed by General Buhari.

Events were later to show that Nigerians were not prepared for the attitudinal change the Buhari/Idiagbon administration represented and wished to foist on Nigerians. At the prodding of indicted criminals and their friends in the media, a campaign to discredit the military government was mounted and the people, reminiscent of a Roman mob, began to see the Buhari/Idiagbon regime differently. Credence was lent to reports of gullible Nigerians organising all-night, open-air prayer sessions in supplication to God for a ‘miracle’ when the Buhari/Idiagbon military administration was sacked in August 1986.

It was the gullibility of the Nigerian mob that made General Buhari’s erstwhile deputy, the late General Abdulbaaqi Babatunde Idiagbon, aka Tunde Idiagbon, decide against aspiring for public office. But General Buhari viewed things differently: he embraced democracy, converted himself into a democrat and, to the surprise of fans and consternation of foes, jumped into the shark-infested waters of politics! With the return to democracy in 1999, General Buhari reportedly visited the Ilorin home of his former deputy and failed to get General Idiagbon to reconsider his stand. That must have been the only occasion when the two disciplined officers saw things differently!

This time around, General Buhari is inheriting a conquered nation. As a matter of fact, the Nigeria that General Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo took over last Friday resembles a battle-ground twenty-four hours after a major battle. Many Nigerians who believed it was a fatal mistake for voters to have experimented with the PDP in 1999 watched helplessly as things took a turn for the worse under the bungling Goodluck Jonathan administration. There is scant surprise that moderate voices across Nigeria have joined the call for a probe into the activities of Mr. Jonathan and members of his government.

While we weigh the options, Nigerians cannot help but believe it when the incoming president says he knows many things about Nigerians. For good cause, I believed him when the former Head of State told me and two other colleagues that he was on the same page with ordinary Nigerians, and that it was only treasury hijackers (those were his exact words) who wet their pants at the mention of Buhari, that are afraid of his presidency.

Nothing good comes easy! And, for a country that has been pillaged for so long, change is going to be slow and painful. It is good to hear that, alongside those trekking in honour of the Buhari/Osinbajo administration, many Nigerians have indicated their preparedness to embark on a ‘long march’ to register their displeasure if the administration fails to perform. This is a mark of the confidence that straight-thinking Nigerians have in the incoming administration. The confidence is not misplaced.

General Buhari is not a thief, does not condone stealing and will not celebrate criminals as has been the practice with the outgoing Jonathan administration. As a military governor, a petroleum minister as well as chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a General Officer Commanding, then Head of State and Commander-in-Chief, and later, as chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund, General Buhari could have been the richest retired General today if he had chosen to. Similarly, those who know Professor Osinbajo say the man is clean as a bell. On this rescue mission, General Buhari could not have wished for a better deputy.

President Buhari’s pledge to stop treasury looters from running the nation aground should hold. His vow to effectively secure the nation and properly manage its resources should be sacrosanct. In essence, one of the main tasks ahead for the General is to plug holes deliberately bored in the system to ensure thieves get away with their crime. All General Buhari asks for and all he believes Nigerians deserve is a dedicated, committed and exemplary leadership which he and his deputy, Yemi Osinbajo, are prepared to provide.

After playing the peacock for so long, Nigerians eventually listened to Buhari’s voice of reason when, at his fourth attempt, he won an unprecedented victory. Nigerians sent out two clear messages on March 28: one, they no longer wish, for whatever reasons, to experiment with crassly incompetent leaders; and two, after the experiment of the recent past, Nigerians do not believe General Buhari should end up being another ‘best president Nigeria never had’!

Since Mr. Jonathan was knocked off his peacock throne last March, it has been one case of recrimination after the other and he continues to blame everybody but himself and his okro-mouth spouse, Patience, for running the country aground. It is a classic case of a sore loser crying over spilled milk. Aside recriminatory utterances, it sounds strange that Mr. Jonathan is bellyaching for being abandoned by so-called aides. Is Mr. Jonathan just realising that the goats bolt immediately the barn door is ajar? Is he just realising that he surrounded himself with discredited people and political paper-weights?

Mr. Jonathan’s recriminations serve no useful purpose. Outside the motley crowd of fawning politicians around him, Mr. Jonathan was a complete bore; he never impressed anyone right from the day he mounted the saddle! For the years he wasted the time of Nigerians, Mr. Jonathan never acted as someone with a name to protect or a leader who wished to be on the right side of history. The problem with Mr. Jonathan is that he loved power but was never prepared to discharge its responsibilities. Now that he has apparently been relieved of a huge burden, Mr. Jonathan will never have the time or expertise to become a peace advocate. No; rather, he will have enough time on his hands to indulge in the pastime he so relishes.

At a recent church service, Mr. Jonathan alleged that he and members of his cabinet would be persecuted by the incoming Buhari/Osinbajo administration. Persecuted? Where did that come from? By the way, was Mr. Jonathan in his usual mood when he uttered the word persecution when he may actually have wanted to say prosecution? Does Mr. Jonathan know what it takes and means to be persecuted, or is he playing to the gallery because the guilty are now afraid? Strangely, Mr. Jonathan’s fans who fed the former president with lies are beginning to see themselves as potential victims of persecution!

Nigerians clamoured for change; now they have Buhari and Osinbajo. How lucky could a people be? So, what then, now that God has answered the prayers of Nigerians? It is settled that General Buhari and Professor Osinbajo are two serious-minded individuals who will strive to improve their offices rather than wait for their offices to improve them. Ultimately, Buhari and Osinbajo have no excuse not to help Nigerians to forget their bitter experiences under Goodluck Jonathan. But how far they go will depend on how far Nigerians purge themselves of the counter-productive practices of the better-forgotten Jonathan era.

Now that we have Buhari and Osinbajo, it should not be assumed that things will work if business continues as usual. Things do not work that way! They never!

* Abdulrazaq Magaji is based in Abuja.

* THE VIEWS OF THE ABOVE ARTICLE ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHOR AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE PAMBAZUKA NEWS EDITORIAL TEAM
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