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A Closing Argument For Buhari’s Case By Ola Idowu

October 17, 2014

The stage is being set for the 2015 elections in Nigeria and the political gladiators have started throwing in their hats into the battle for whom would become president of the country in 2015.

The stage is being set for the 2015 elections in Nigeria and the political gladiators have started throwing in their hats into the battle for whom would become president of the country in 2015. One man who has never shied away from declaring his interest to serve the country as president is Muhammadu Buhari. He gave himself up for service in 2003 and 2007, but failed at getting past the ballot due to massive rigging and fraud in the system perpetuated by the ruling party in Nigeria PDP.

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In 2011, a determined Buhari single-handedly formed the CPC party few months to the general elections and banking on his integrity and incorruptible nature managed to pull in over 12 million votes compared to 22 million votes polled by president Goodluck Jonathan who had all the resources of the state, the advantage of the being the ruling party’s candidate and acting president as well as the votes of the people of the South West to breast Buhari to the winning tape.

Buhari duly learnt from his mistakes and reached out to power bases across the nation leading to the merger of his party CPC as well as the ACN led by astute politician Bola Tinubu to form the mega opposition party the All Progressive Congress (APC). The APC in slightly over a year of its formation, has being able to build up a groundswell of opposition against the poor leadership offered by Goodluck Jonathan and his party since he assumed office as president.

In view of Buhari’s fourth attempt in getting into office as Nigeria’s president, I would like to make some closing submissions in support of his candidacy and ambition assuming the APC eventually field him as their presidential candidate later in December. This is more so, as the PDP and Jonathan administration jittery of Buhari’s challenge have started coming up with all sorts of half truths and innuendos to water down this formidable challenge.

To start with, Jonathan’s administration need to realise that the only reason he won the 2011 elections was due to the fact that he was relatively unknown to Nigerians, and he supposedly cut a figure then of a man who knew where the sole of the shoe Nigerians were wearing was pinching at and could make a difference in their lives. That unknown factor has long disappeared. Nigerians now know who Jonathan is and what he is capable of doing. It would be difficult for him or his spin doctors to come up with any spin that would sell him in a different light from what we know of him.

The question everyone would ask Jonathan in 2015 is what is he going to say to Nigerians different from what he said in 2011 and what we have always heard him say? Respected Nigerian columnist Sonala Olumhense in an award winning four part article titled : A Mountain of Promises, documented all the heap of promises Jonathan made at every single corner, road and state he campaigned at prior to the 2011 elections. He made many of those promises like he had a lifetime to spend in office and not four years at the first instance. Olumhense documented all of those promises and it would be the starting point for voters to grill Jonathan when he starts campaigning for the 2015 elections.

He made many of those promises out of desperation and cheekiness to fool Nigerians, the question is what is he going to say differently to what we heard in 2011? Under the Jonathan administration, corruption has grown to greater heights and we’ve seen a government totally reluctant to fight corruption but rather make a mockery of it.

The government agency in charge of fighting economic and financial crimes inimical to the nation’s growth EFCC would take a month or two in charging a fellow citizen who defrauded someone of N1.5million with the judge sentencing them to 10 years in prison, in some bizarre cases 125 years in prison, but people who clearlydefrauded the nation through oil subsidy scams, failed bank loans, embezzled state funds, pension frauds etc would spend three years going through the charade of a court process just to determine if the court has jurisdiction to hear their case, and by the time they finish with that the judge then delivers a judgement that is a slap on the wrist like paying a fine of N750,000 for corruptly enriching yourself to the tune of N75 billion.

The EFCC has since become a comatose organisation duplicating the functions of the police. In a country where we have the Police, Serious Fraud Unit (SFU), FIIB Alagbon, and state SIIBs what business has the EFCC got with prosecuting someone for a N1.5 million fraud or a fake university agent etc? This is despite the fact that you’ve got serious corruption going on in the country, that is making national development and growth near impossible. That is the state of anomie we have found ourselves as a country under Jonathan’s watch.

 

This kind of situation clearly calls for a radical approach to governance if Nigeria is ever going to reach its true potential and be a respectable partner in the international community. There-in steps in Buhari as he has clearly declared that his administration would have zero tolerance to corruption. This is no empty boast from the Daura, Katsina born politician considering when he was a military Head-of-State between January 1984 and August 1985 he went after corrupt politicians whom his regime took over from and he displayed exemplary leadership together with his then military deputy late Major-General Tunde Idiagbon.

Theirs was a no nonsense administration with no frills or thrills, and even had the effrontery to stage an operation on British soil in trying to repatriate a corrupt politician late Umaru Dikko who was alleged to have stolen over $1 billion then. Buhari’s administration never admitted to staging the operation but fallouts from events after the botched kidnapping attempt showed his hands in the affair. It led to a diplomatic standoff between Nigeria and Britain for close to two years, but Nigerians far and wide including University lecturers under the aegis of ASUU supported all his decisions and commended him for the way he handled the Dikko affair.

His regime promulgated the Miscellaneous Offences Decree, under which cheating in examinations, stealing or vandalizing public properties owned by NEPA/PHCN, NITEL etc was punishable by 21 years in prison. He started the War Against Indiscipline campaign which was divided into five phases namely : Queue culture; Work ethic; Nationalism and patriotism; No to Corruption and economic sabotage and Environmental sanitation.

He also ran a popular jingle and advert on radio and television encouraging Nigerians not to check out of the country but to stay back and develop their nation. It was tagged Andrew don’t check out of the country. The methods he used in achieving some of the aims of his administration were seen by many as punitive and harsh and the many of his opponents till today even as we head to the 2015 elections would still come up with one story or the other about his less than two year reign as military ruler but everyone has their own opinions.

Fast forward 30 years after, Nigeria is still grappling with the same problems. There is no queue culture in our national life and where you find one it is an half-hearted queue with so called ‘big men’ (money bags and elites) finding it almost impossible to queue anywhere they go in Nigeria. There is virtually no work ethic in our daily lives, as people would rather do little and hope to earn so much. Nationalism and patriotism is difficult to foster in an environment where nothing works and people are openly calling for secession.

 

Our environments are dirty despite the maintenance of the environmental sanitation culture (most states in Nigeria set aside one day in a month to observe it) bequeathed to us since Buhari’s regime. Corruption and economic sabotage is the biggest problem bedevilling the nation till date which the entire international community can bear fact too. Nigerians just like the proverbial Andrew Buhari admonished not to check out of the country are still checking out in droves to foreign countries to just about live a meaningful life.

Its only an insane and wicked human being that would ask what Buhari is coming back for this time around with a more bigger platform to ride on into power. Such is the man’s principle that he divorced his first wife and teenage heartthrob Safinatu in 1989 for collecting financial assistance from Ibrahim Babangida who overthrew his government in 1985 and kept him under house arrest for many years.

Opponents of his in the Jonathan camp are already mentioning his age (Buhari is 71 years old) as a barrier against him running for the presidency, but that again is another cheeky and unenlightened argument they are making. The Prime Minister of Britain David Cameron is 48 years old presently, while his would be challenger and Labour leader Ed Miliband is four years younger at 44 years old, so judging by that kind of standard, Jonathan at 56 years old is too old to be president of Nigeria or seek re-election as he would be way past 60 years old when he finishes another term should he win in 2015. President Barack Obama is only 53 years old and he is in his second term in office making Jonathan even appear much older. In any case age is just a number really and what counts is the experience, integrity, leadership competence, capacity and solutions you bring to the table which Buhari has plenty off. Angela Merkel is doing a brilliant job as the Chancellor of Germany and she is 60 already.

Hillary Clinton hopes to contest the American presidential elections in some few years to come and she is 66 years old. Joe Biden the present US Vice-president and another potential presidential hopeful is 71 years old just like Buhari, and I don’t think any sane American would ever talk about the ages of these seasoned Democrats should they seek election into the White House. There is no way Nigerians would allow Jonathan and his handlers make them appear backward discussing Buhari’s age.

Jonathan’s supporters also try to ensnare Buhari with his own words when in 2011 he promised not to run for elections again in Nigeria, but they conveniently forget that Jonathan himself and as widely reported by Nigerian newspapers on July 29th 2011, promised that he would not stay one day longer in office after May 29th 2011, it behoves on him to keep his promise considering his administration has demonstrated so much incompetence and indecisive leadership.

But for me I believe the biggest reason I make a case for Buhari is because of the Generation Y in Nigeria or the ‘Born-free’ generation as they call them in South Africa. In the rainbow country, this are the generation of South Africans born after 1994 when Nelson Mandela became president and apartheid was abolished. This are the generation who never witnessed anything called apartheid - a weird form of racial discrimination against Black South Africans - and are tagged the ‘Born-free’ generation.

This ‘Born-free’ generation or Generation Y different from the now rested predecessor Generation X, also abound in Nigeria. They are the ones born after 1995 who were too young to experience a military regime, especially those born after 1999 at the advent of civilian rule in Nigeria. This ‘Born-free’ generation in Nigeria have never seen a military dictator before and grew up knowing Facebook, Twitter, GSM, Smart-phones, Internet, Premier League matches, Satellite TVs etc. This Generation Y are the ones who see members of their generation in Britain, USA, South Africa and everywhere around the world asking their government, parents, teachers etc. questions.

My generation and some before me rarely asked questions, we did what we were told to do and when politicians robbed us of our future and our destinies we rarely asked questions. This ‘Born-free’ generation are different, they always ask you why? They demand answers and are too impatient to listen to excuses..Daddy, Mr. Governor, Mr. President why don’t we have good roads, steady electricity, good education, why do you keep going to Germany for medical treatment, why is there insecurity across the land and why is stealing not the same thing as corruption?..Ermm..Actually..To begin with..Its because of people who promised to make the country ungovernable for me..Its 1960s, Azikiwe and Awolowo..Gowon and Ojukwu..Balewa and Akintola..IBB and Abacha..thats why we don’t have good roads and steady electricity. This Generation Y won’t understand all those stories.

The ‘Born-free’ generation are the ones who cannot withstand pain. Life has been too easy for them (Facebook and Twitter era, emails, internet, phones, globalisation etc.) they can’t stand pain. If they get pregnant they would deliver through an Epidural procedure, Cesarean operation and Ice bath birth etc rather than go through agonising hours of labour (I mean why should they when advancements have come in science and medicine). This Generation Y in Nigeria are blessed of God and they cannot be held captive or have their destinies destroyed. When some of them were captured six months ago in Chibok, over 57 of them escaped despite the risk to their lives and some insisted many more of them would have escaped on that fateful day in April if not that they mistook the terrorists for the Army.

Its testament to the fact that God wants that ‘Born-free’ Generation always free and not held in captivity that made the 57 escape at great risk. They just would not be held captive. The longer they are in captivity, the more curses this government brings upon itself and the nation because it is against God’s will. This Generation Y or ‘Born-free’ generation are the ones we need a Buhari to come preside over in 2015, so as to show them exemplary leadership and a life free of corruption and evil.

 

That you don’t have to belong to occult societies to rule over Nigeria, you don’t have to be a believer in idolatry, a corrupt and wicked leader, that we can have a queuing culture and high work ethic in our national lives. That 15,000MW of electricity and more is possible in four years (South Africa plans to generate 27,000MW by 2018 to add to existing capacity of more than 43,000MW), that corruption and stealing can be banished, that nationalism and patriotism can be encouraged and people can stop dreaming of Biafra and silly tribal enclaves and that they can hold their passports and travel the world like their fellow Generation Y colleagues across the world and still return back home to Nigeria without being forced to do so.

If the wicked generation of our grandfathers, fathers, and uncles (including Jonathan) fought, stole and did wickedly to waste their own generations and that of Generation X, should we sit back and allow them also waste this Generation Y the ‘Born-free’ generation? We need a Buhari who has proven to be a shining light from Jonathan’s generation to come rule over this ‘Born-free’ generation and show them the incorruptible path to follow, they are the ones (Generation Y) who would help make Nigeria move from a mere geographical expression into a nation or if we fail them again they would help break-up the whole fraud called Nigeria once and for all as they are born to be free!!

Ola’ Idowu a Management Consultant and Researcher writing from the UK. He can be emailed at: [email protected]

 

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