Fellow Nigerians, let me confess that I
do not envy General Muhammadu Buhari at this moment. I will explain what
I mean very shortly and briefly. The People’s General, as I love to
call him, is a victim of his own popularity. What ordinarily should have
been an asset has almost become a liability, or put another way, a
blessing turning to a curse. From all empirical data as well as
mathematical calculations, General Buhari looks set to create a major
upset on March 28, or whenever it pleases the gods of Abuja to hold the
elections. A game of abracadabra is still playing out while the world is
watching our shenanigans with pity or amusement or both.
The ruling party has chosen to engage in
a political Russian roulette while the country speeds dangerously
towards the abyss. Who are we to challenge those who see power as the
beginning and the end and are incorrigibly committed to fighting to
retain what they got on a platter of gold. At any rate, I am one of
those subscribing to the permutations of a General Buhari victory no
matter how tall a dream it seems. As a matter of fact, I’m willing and
ready to place a bet that the election is not going to be as closely and
keenly contested as many people think. I foresee a landslide that would
make it difficult for troublemakers to practise their trade. The Buhari
Movement has finally ignited and spreading at the speed of sound.
My simple and straight-forward
projection is that both President Goodluck Jonathan and General Buhari
would obtain and satisfy the mandatory 25% votes in two/thirds of the 36
states making up the Federal Republic of Nigeria (plus the Federal
Capital Territory of Abuja, the ultimate seat of power). This translates
to the fact that the two leading candidates must work assiduously at
locking down 24 states each while battling hard to close the game with
some blistering majority votes. I believe this is where Buhari would
have a towering advantage.
If you consider my optimism a mirage,
please cool temper for the D-day is at hand. By this time next week all
us would have fixed our gaze on Saturday May 28, 2015. How time flies!
When the elections were postponed, from February 14, 2015, it was as if
the new date would never come. But blessed are the patient at heart for
they shall inherit the earth. The PDP no doubt has regained some
momentum and they have now had ample opportunity to bulldoze their ways
into earlier impregnable fortresses with the whiff of money. But the
effect is not yet palpable.
What is certain is that APC has sparked
the panic mode in PDP. This seems to be their time. I’ve never seen
President Jonathan work as frenetically as he’s being doing these past
weeks. It is certain President Jonathan is under no illusion that this
is going to be an easy task or mission. In fact, this is going to be a
fiercer election than any we’ve ever seen in the past. The battlegrounds
would most definitely be in the North Central and South West. General
Buhari will lock down the North West and North East most categorically
while President Jonathan will secure his traditional catchment areas, in
the South South and South East. However, let me note that General
Buhari is likely to make some incursion into President Jonathan’s
territories than vice versa. The President today does not control a cult
followership in any part of Nigeria while General Buhari enjoys some
Rock star status in many parts of Nigeria where he has become the icon
of change.
This fact was revalidated only yesterday
in the presence of no less a witness than the Special Assistant to the
President on Social Media, Mr Reno Omokri at the Transcorp Hilton hotel,
in Abuja. I had entered a packed lift as the Hilton was teeming with
activity as usual. As soon as I sauntered in, I was instantly hailed by
most of the guys for supporting Buhari. The shout of “change” resonated
and boomed in the lift. There was a white lady who appeared fascinated
by the almost carnival-like atmosphere. Mr Omokri and I alighted from
the lift same time and the gentleman of God requested for a selfie with
me which I gladly obliged. I wished other Jonathians were as humble as
Reno. I had always admired the man who had the incredibly difficult job
of selling the image of an unpopular President. In recent time, he’s
landed himself in trouble while trying so hard to make a success of a
thankless job.
Anyway, the Transcorp Hilton encounter
was only one of so many others during my short visit to Abuja.
Everywhere I turned, the talk was about change. I am very certain that
most of those supporting Buhari today are not members of APC. I’m not
even sure many of them are his rabid fans. What I found common to them
is their personal frustrations with a party that has been in power for
16 years with little to show for the support garnered from Nigerians.
Some have openly confessed that Buhari is a candidate of necessity
forced on them by limited choices. This is the thrust of my epistle
today.
To whom much is given, much is expected.
General Buhari is thus expected to be the Lamb of God who must be
prepared to carry the sins of the world. He must possess the power of
optical illusion in order to perform instant magic in a nation on its
bent knees. First, Nigerians will hold him to the promise of killing
corruption when the time comes. The cynics insist this is impossible and
dismiss his most avowed credential as an anti-corruption crusader as a
mere ruse and bloody hypocrisy. They point at the seemingly rampaging
horde of politicians around him and wonder how he hopes to handle them.
They are right and wrong. They are right
in as much as there are no saints in government anywhere. It is
virtually impossible to win elections in Nigeria without huge sums of
money for logistical and practical purposes. Everyone knows that the
General has loads of integrity but no money. How then does he hope to
tackle some of his supporters who may have profited from the proceeds of
crime and corruption? A tough nut to crack; or so it seems! But I have a
fair answer.
I have had the privilege of interacting a
bit with General Buhari and his disciples and can safely confirm that
he has what it takes to reduce corruption to its barest minimum allowed
in decent societies. Trust me, the fear of Buhari is the beginning of
wisdom in his camp. He regularly tells them not to treat him as robot.
The almost surreal respect they have for him helps to whip everyone in
line. And no one wishes to test the sharpness of his double-edged sword.
General Buhari recognises the fact that
he has to carry saints and sinners along in party politics and a
democratic setting. As a game of numbers, it would be foolhardy to be
holier than the Pope. All the pontificating therefore must be measured
and tested without rocking the boat entirely. He has learnt tremendous
lessons and gained exceptional insight into how Nigeria works. He knows
that as a civilian President, he will never be able to wield draconian
powers like he did during his first coming as military dictator. History
has a way of mellowing people down. The General Buhari that I see today
is a man with a hard interior and a softer and more relaxed exterior.
He would have to manage a delicate balance as a born again democrat. I’m
sure he can do it.
The second challenge ahead of the new
government, if Buhari wins as many expect and anticipate, is how to
handle and ameliorate the intractable problem of mass unemployment. The
General himself has confessed to this daunting challenge repeatedly. He
says the first step is to stop the leaking economic sewage and block the
drain pipes of unbridled corruption. A new regime of disciplined fiscal
planning would have to be introduced pronto. Vocational training would
have to be encouraged and recommended for the multitude of naturally
endowed Nigerian youths. Nigeria is in dire need of technical expertise.
Many artisans currently indulge in trial by error. Their income would
improve once they can gain the confidence of clients and consumers.
Politicians, especially our elected representatives, would have to
downgrade on their atrocious remunerations which have become so
controversial and unsustainable. It is hoped that General Buhari would
be able to convince our political office holders to have mercy on the
rest of us. The era of over-inflated contracts would have to be
jettisoned for a more reasonable and accountable process.
The collapse of education is not less
important. In fact, it must form the bedrock of all developmental dreams
and goals. No nation can advance to a developed status without
correcting the anomalous and embarrassing state of our institutions from
primary to tertiary level. The modest achievements of the Obasanjo
administration have been wasted and truncated by subsequent governments.
What makes the situation terrible is not just the fact that we are
producing glorified illiterates in many institutions but the fact that
the exodus of our kids to foreign lands in pursuit of the proverbial
Golden Fleece has now become a major waste of our foreign exchange
reserves. It is sad that many of the smaller and poorer countries around
us have taken advantage of our cruel and retrogressive attitude to
education. How General Buhari reverses this debilitating trend remains
to be seen.
It is no longer a secret that our
economy has been run aground by a most profligate government despite the
pretentious grandstanding that ours is the largest economy in Africa.
Many states are unable to pay salaries. The Naira has been in a free
fall after nose-diving in a most cataclysmic manner. There is no way
traders would not be wishing for a quick miracle before our businesses
perish, especially those dependent on foreign exchange. The General and
his crew must urgently tackle the over-dramatized issue of
diversification of our resources to generate much needed income. We can
no longer over-emphasise the importance of finding alternatives to oil
which seems to have exterminated our thinking faculties. For a country
reputed to be one of the largest oil producers, it is disgraceful that
we are not able to refine most of our crude; we still flare our gas, and
quite simply prefer the easy route to cheap money rather than invest in
the creation of sustainable wealth.
Another crucial area for General Buhari
to deal with is power, the generation, transmission and distribution of
which seems to have become an impossible mission. It is so bizarre and
inexplicable how the more investment we pump into having stable
electricity, the lesser the result. Even with the much privatisation of
this sector, we have had no joy.
The last and probably the most critical
issue that the General will have to tackle and resolve quickly is that
of the security of the nation. A nation may be rich, corruption free and
peopled with citizens who are well educated and in suitably
employment. However, this will count for naught when their lives and
property are not secure. This is where the General’s military
experience and his past antecedent as the scourge of another terrorist
religious group, the Maitatsine Sect, will come into play. It is not
just Boko Haram that we are worried about though. Although largely
unspoken, because of the fear and support they are receiving, the
country is being held to ransom by terrorists referred to as ‘militants’
simply because they come from the same area as the President. It is
not just because there is open plundering of our wealth through the
large-scale, unbridled stealing of the nation’s oil but the thieving
buccaneering spirit they engender means that others feed into their
frenzy. Hence, the spate of kidnappings and resort to use of
sophisticated weapons and equipment by armed robbers remains largely
unchecked. Our people, indeed our leaders as well, live in constant
fear. But for now they dare not speak. I am convinced from what I have
seen and heard that the People’s General will deal with this issue of
security in a decisive, efficient and effective manner.
I must add that it has been rightly
observed by some people that General Buhari has not offered a solution
to our apparently intractable security problem. The answer is simple!
The right security policy in the hands of the wrong leader will lead to
further disastrous consequences. I need say no more.
You can now see why no one should envy
General Buhari. The cross he would have to bear would be a heavy one. I
believe he has what it takes to take on the demons plaguing our country.
He would have to step on some fat toes. However, it won’t be strange
act to a man known for his no-nonsense approach.
With so much rancid rot refusing to leave us alone and in peace, we certainly need a General Buhari now more than ever.
I can’t wait.
- This Piece was written by Dele Momodu/Thisday
No comments:
Post a Comment