WHY BUHARI SHOULD NOT BE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA IN 2015

By Orobosa Agbonkpolo

Original Publication: 01/15/2015

Since the All Progressives Congress (APC) announced Gen. (Rtd) Buhari as the flagbearer in the next general election, a flurry of opinions has emerged, many of which are simply unflattering, while others accord him the status of a hero and the messiah that our beleaguered country needs at this juncture.

It is necessary to remember that Gen. Buhari was last in office as a military ruler in 1985, when his regime was overthrown by IBB, nearly 31 years ago. I have since attempted to fit into the suit I wore on my wedding day some 27 years ago. Much as I tried, I could not. My waistline was 30 then, and now it is 33. My jacket was a nimble size 38 and now a 40. The scale recorded me at 154 lbs, and now it says 178 lbs. I am different, I had to tell myself, and I aborted my painful struggle.

In much the same way, Nigeria is much different and more complex in 2014 than it was in 1983.

In 1983, he (Buhari) was a one-person show of draconian rule, and jail or death were the options for any dissenter. His infamous press-gagging Decree 4 dragnet caught Vera Ifudu, Tunde Thompson, Nduka Irabor, Tai Solarin, among others, and without the benefit of a trial, had them languish in jail. Tai Solarin was denied access to his traditional asthma medications even when his medical condition warranted it.

The much-talked-about anti-corruption crusade of his regime was dispensed with disconsolate partiality. While Fela Ransome-Kuti went to jail for currency violation, he allowed 27 crates of currency to be brought into the country by the Emir of Kano. Gen. Buhari sent his personal ADC to arm-twist the customs director at the time.

While dethroned President Shehu Shagari was under house arrest, the VP, Alex Ekwueme, was languishing in prison.

His rigid and intransigent bent was in ample display when three young men were publicly executed for drug trafficking, never mind that the law he promulgated was retroactively applied in their case despite massive national and international pleas for leniency.

Gen. Buhari has demonstrated a troublesome trait of “savior syndrome,” much like Mugabe of Zimbabwe or Mobutu of Zaire. This syndrome permits the afflicted to believe they must rule lest the nation fall apart. The General has yet to address the threat of anarchy he implied would erupt if he did not win in 2011.

There is no other reason for Gen. Buhari to continue insisting on being the presidential candidate of the ANPP (2003, 2007), CPC (2011), and now the APC. There exist many platforms for an elder statesman to engender the progress of a beloved country than being a perennial seeker of the highest office.

Following his ouster in 1975, General Gowon went back to school and earned a Ph.D. in politics. Since his return to Nigeria, he has been magnanimous in his utterances. He has been a true elder statesman in every sense of the word, winning more respect than he ever did as a President. There is no evidence that Gen. Buhari has undergone any serious soul-searching or a sanguine evolution in his perceived role in our body politic.

There are many young, proven leaders in the APC with sterling track records in contemporary Nigerian politics whom the General could have thrown his weight behind to wrest power from the PDP.

Ex-Governor Tinubu and Governor Fashola have a track record of excellent governance that makes the General’s anemic record pale in comparison — whether as Governor of the Northeastern State, as Petroleum Minister, or as Chairman of the PTF (Petroleum Trust Fund). There still lurks a missing $2 billion from the coffers of the PTF under his watch — his denial notwithstanding.

Finally, how can one resist addressing the much-vaunted, singular, and recurrent theme or premise of General Buhari’s qualification for the presidency of Nigeria?

It is the notion that Nigeria’s most pressing problem is corruption, and thus, only an anti-corruption crusader can cure us of this cancer.

I hereby submit that, sordid and foreboding as it may be, corruption is a symptom and not the disease of our country. Corruption is the smoke and not the fire. It is the mirage that we have chased with resounding futility. Any solution based on this faulty assumption will necessarily fail. Anyone whose agenda is to focus on this maladious symptom is ill-advised and will fail.

Pertinently, we must dare to stare these questions straight on:What motivates most office seekers in Nigeria, to bake the national cake or to share?

Why do we have quota and zoning systems, rather than a meritocracy, in the appointments of ministers, chairmen of parastatals, vice-chancellors of our universities, and even the selection of soccer players to represent the country?

Since the amalgamation in 1914, the country has been fissured along fault lines that remain cogent threats to its very existence as a vibrant state.

Ethno-religious fissure lines have existed and have not been addressed with candor and amicability, which would permit peace among the members. The unwholesome outcome is simmering mutual suspicion among the major ethnic and religious groups, as well as a restless and unassuaged minority ethnic and religious population.

None feel safe and assured that their interests will be protected if someone from a different ethnic or religious affiliation is in power.

This is the disease, and a manifest symptom of it is corruption, along with its siblings: fraud, nepotism, etc.

Once in power, every move is made to ensure perpetuation through appointments and the allocation of resources in ways that promote this divide. Thus, a significant proportion of energy is expended in sharing the national cake along these fissure lines, and not in baking the national cake for all to feast on.

Thus have been the cooking of census figures to ensure a bigger take-home of the national cake, since resource derivation is largely census-based. Will it not be appropriate for any aspiring leader to articulate their position on this sensitive and all-important issue, and their solution?

Fifty years later, an Igbo man continues to feel like a stranger in any other part of the country and a ready target for ill-conceived atrocities to his life and property. Ditto the Hausa, Tiv, Urhobo, Edo, etc., once he ventures out of his region.

Should not a man or woman be at liberty everywhere in his or her country to live and practice their religion with no fear of annihilation?

An aspirant to the highest office of the land, who is the custodian of all — should be able to articulate his position on this key matter.

What will Buhari say when he approves the adoption of Sharia laws in old Borno State?

Along this vein of thought, one would like to know what Buhari thinks of Boko Haram, the most significant security matter of contemporary Nigeria, and the solution he prescribes.

On the issue of formula derivation, will Gen. Buhari revisits the subject, knowing full well the aberrant skewing of resources along false census lines? This is the greatest fraud of all time.

How can Gen. Buhari justify the construction of oil pipelines from the distant South, where oil is found, to faraway places like Kaduna? A project universally condemned for its profligacy. What is the economic wisdom of a refinery construction in such a distant place from the source of oil, a project of incalculable waste?

Our country is again at a momentous crossroads in our march as a nation. We need to recognize that, despite the rampant agitation, a nation is built not in leaps but in little forward steps at a time.

The leader must be one rich in wisdom and resolute in principle, able to navigate the complex waters of contemporary politics of the times and have, by the available track record, demonstrated an uncanny sensitivity to the competing, divergent ethno-religious interests of our country.

On this scorecard, Gen. Buhari falls short and should vacate his presidential candidacy and support a more credible player within his party.

Orobosa Agbonkpolo

A mere lover of my country

First Published January 15, 2015