Now and again, you read things about the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), that contradict the persona sold to Nigeria.
One of such is the media report alleging that he asked governors of the All Progressives Congress to allow him to choose his successor. This claim wasn’t part of the official statement issued by his spokespersons but none of the parties at the meeting has denied it. If the presidency cannot set the record straight, governors, some of whom also have a dog in this fight, should speak up and reassure Nigerians that Buhari will not impose on the party.
APC rules allow a consensus option but what this report suggests is not consensus but selection. A consensus approach means everyone involved in the process comes to an agreement but that’s not what is happening here. Buhari is blackmailing the governors (who are mostly wimps anyway) into surrendering the rights of millions of party members to him! And that is not just immoral, it is also ungodly. Yet, we have always described him as a godly and spartan. What he reportedly asked of the governors on Tuesday contradicts this image. Why do I say so?
Governors do not fight tooth and nail to choose successors because they love their states. They only seek pliable people who will cover their backs (given that most governors are tin gods who deploy and appropriate state resources as they like) and continue to take instructions. They seek a third term by proxy. Buhari must know the sinister motive behind this desperation, so, to acknowledge it and even use it as a bargaining chip is a new low in the president’s politics. While we cannot say that Buhari desires a lackey, weaponising this untoward strategy at this moment is disappointing.
Amongst other things, the president and his minders portray him as a lover of the common man and respecter of democratic ideals but this plan, if it is true, runs against every democratic norm. How can one person, even if he could, choose a leader for 200 million people? This does not just trample on the rights of Nigerians, it is also a desecration of the democratic values that President Buhari should strive to hand over to Nigeria. If he cannot improve the country’s democracy, he would at least ensure that it is as valuable as what he inherited in 2015.
However, the most important question is: Does President Buhari know who and what is best for post-2023 Nigeria? Eni tò mà dá aso fùn ènìà, to orùn rè lā n kókó wò so says a Yoruba adage. This means that if a man promises to take you shopping for luxury clothes, you must first look at what he has on, the taste of the pudding is in the eating. What has Buhari done for Nigeria, which gives him the confidence that he understands the country’s challenges and can identify a worthy successor?
For instance, the most easily identifiable challenge Nigeria faces today is the mismanagement of its diversity. It is hard to recall any time that Nigerians have been so divided and disillusioned about their country as now, yet the president does not understand this. Rather than providing leadership and showing a sense of justice and fairness to all, Buhari is of the firm belief that rolling out military tanks and invoking the legal weight of the state on agitators is the way to go. Unfortunately, this strategy has deepened the gulf amongst Nigerians (especially as it is not served evenly). Therefore, tribe, tongue and religion, rather than competence and love for the country, are now the leading consideration in the choice of leaders. So, how does a man with a confused idea of what the country needs hope to chart the course for the future?
Buhari promised to secure Nigeria but seven years on, the country is literally at war. On Tuesday, the Prelate of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Samuel Kanu-Uche, told a stunned country that the church paid N100 million before he was released by the abductors, who seized him on Sunday. Kanu-Uche, snatched by the hoodlums alongside the chaplain of the church, Very Rev. Abidemi Shittu, and Bishop of Owerri, Rt. Rev. Dennis Mark, said they were threatened with death and presented with decomposing bodies of past victims as evidence of what their captors were capable of.
In some bush in Kaduna, there are scores of captives from the March train attack. Amongst these innocent Nigerians are a newborn, aged people and members of the same family. On Wednesday, there were attacks on the Kaduna/Abuja expressway but President Buhari is on another continent attending some inconsequential event.
Despite his promises, corruption and the fight against it are things that seem to confuse the president. The malaise stares Nigerians in the face in a mind-blowing fashion. As we speak, the Accountant-General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, is under investigation for mismanaging hundreds of billions of naira. Revelations show Idris operated on a ring that include other people in government. Last week, the Economic and Financial Crime Commission arrested and charged Senator Rochas Okorocha to court for mismanaging over N2 billion of Imo State funds when he was governor.
President Buhari also thinks grand and political corruption are the only problem Nigeria has but things are worse than that. Petty corruption, evidenced by low- and mid-level public officials who abuse their power in everyday interactions with ordinary citizens trying to get basic goods or services in places like hospitals, schools, police stations and everywhere, is rife. What about political corruption where political decision-makers abuse power by manipulating policies, institutions and rules of procedure for personal interest? Does that not remind one of the number of cabinet members who preferred to run for office and remain ministers? Does it bring up questions about how they paid the outrageous sums dispensed for expression of interest forms? What about the blatant bribery and manipulation of party primaries lately? What about the corruption of values, where money is now the first love of many compatriots, who will do anything for it?
The regime is, of course, likely to brag about the arrest of its officials but this is where they miss it. Fighting corruption is not so much about arrests and prosecutions as it is about tackling root causes and forestalling occurrences. The recent mind-blowing discoveries should show the president that he has done little to stop the abuse of office.
This president does not understand that poverty is behind most of the country’s problems. Politics seems to be the only thriving industry in Nigeria and those who make money from it flaunt it with abandon. When they do, a community of paupers swarms on them, and they soon find out that there is nothing they earn from those offices that take care of their needs and those of the multitude of hangers-on surrounding them. The temptation to use what we must to get what we want sticks to every Nigerian like wet cloth on the body!
And what are we doing about poverty? Nothing but lip service. Nigeria’s economy is in its worst state ever, with its oil and gas sector almost run down and manufacturing prostrate. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation no longer contributes to national earnings. From N307 billion in 2015, there are projections that Nigeria may pay N6 trillion on subsidy this year, even as public debt may rise to about N51 trillion. Things have gone this badly in Nigeria under the watch of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), yet he is asking to single-handedly choose his successor. Shouldn’t we be worried?
Twitter: @niranadedokun
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