By
Ikechukwu Amaechi
Let me make a
confession from the outset. I have always been a fan of President Muhammadu
Buhari and I didn’t hide my admiration for him.
On the four occasions he
contested for the Presidency, I voted for him except in 2007. And that was
because I left the country late 2006 for my Chevening Scholarship programme at Cardiff University , United Kingdom and returned after
the 2007 polls. Had I been around, I would have voted for him.
Not only did I vote
for him, I wrote articles extolling what I thought were his unassailable
qualities.
*Buhari
Yes, no man is a saint and
I never deluded myself that Buhari was one. In any case, angels and saints
don’t populate this space with us. They populate the outer space called heaven
where, we are told, they are in perpetual camaraderie with God.
But if there was any former
Nigerian leader I thought was inherently a good man, it was Buhari. I saw him
as a man of integrity, incorruptible – and a man who believes in Nigeria and the
greatness it can aspire to and, in fact, achieve if all its potentials are
harnessed and aggregated.
I believed Buhari when he
said he was a changed man, a democracy convert who has no place in his heart
for vendetta. I looked forward to a man who would be president of all Nigerians
and not president of only those areas where he got his fabled 95 per cent of
the votes by hook or crook.
I looked forward to a man
who would transcend the limitations of partisan politics, who would stop being
the presidential candidate of a political party with all the shenanigans, to
being a statesman, president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and father of
all.
His age, 72, qualifies him
to be exactly that – father of the nation.
I expected so much from
Buhari, not the least a man who would govern Nigeria and deal with fellow
citizens on the basis of equity, justice and fair play. But I must confess
again that Buhari has greatly disappointed me.
Today, I am convinced that
the man does not have the capacity to be broad minded. He has absolutely no
capacity to see Nigeria
beyond his Northern enclave.
He is too provincial,
cliquish, narrow and insular in his worldview. That is a very dangerous prescription
for a country in dire need of statesmen.
In this column on August 9,
I admonished Buhari to see the entire country as his constituency and not
perceive himself as the president of only the “constituencies that gave him 97
per cent” vote.
I advised him that feeling
obligated to make only those who voted for him feel the government will be a
betrayal of the Pan-Nigerian mandate that brought him to power.
I concluded in that
article, titled, “Buhari , Nigeria is your constituency,” by
saying that “it will be too sad if Buhari, by his actions and inactions, proves
right those who believe that a chameleon can never change its spots.”
Did I really expect Buhari
to hearken to my advice? Not really! To so believe will be presumptuous, to say
the least.
But nothing prepared me for
the shock I felt over the brazenness and absolute lack of tact and sensitivity
that characterised the appointment of members of his “kitchen cabinet” on
Thursday, August 27.
Buhari approved the
appointments of Babachir Lawal as Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Abba Kyari (Chief of Staff), Hameed Ibrahim Ali
(Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service), and Kure Martin Abeshi
(Comptroller-General, Nigerian Immigration Service).
All these four vital appointments
were made from the North. Lawal is from Adamawa, Kyari (Borno), Ali (Kaduna ) and Abeshi
(Nasarawa).
Senator Ita Enang (Akwa
Ibom) was also appointed Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on National Assembly
Matters (Senate) with Suleiman Kawu (Kano) completing the pack as SSA on
National Assembly Matters (House of Representatives).
There was an instant uproar
in the country. Even those who had given Buhari the benefit of the doubt before
now became convinced that he does not give a damn about public opinion
(apologies to former President Goodluck Jonathan).
He is self-conceited and
thinks he knows it all. I am convinced that Buhari is impervious to advice.
Ironically, these
appointments were made the same day (August 27) 30 years ago when General Ibrahim
Babangida and his co-travellers overthrew the military junta led by Buhari.
Even more significant is the reason given by Babangida for overthrowing Buhari.
“Regrettably, it turned out
that Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was too rigid and uncompromising in his
attitudes to issues of national significance.
“Efforts to make him
understand that a diverse polity like Nigeria required recognition and
appreciation of differences in both cultural and individual perceptions only
served to aggravate these attitudes (emphasis mine),” noted the coup plotters.
The way Buhari is carrying
on in governing the country is very scary. Foisting an agenda of exclusion on
the polity is a disaster waiting to happen. You don’t need to be clairvoyant to
know that the road he is treading leads to nowhere.
Even societies that are
culturally, religiously and linguistically homogenous consciously run inclusive
governments; not to talk of Nigeria .
It will be the tragedy of
our time if at his age and experience in public service, and if despite all
Nigeria has done for him, Buhari still perceives the intricate art of
governance and the inevitable battle for the soul of the nation from the prism
of ‘we and them’.
Some people had argued that
it is too early in the day to worry over Buhari’s style. Some others have also
said he should be allowed to choose men of integrity who will help him deliver
on his electoral promise even if they all come from his neck of the wood. My
answer is no. It is not too early.
The president needs to be
called to order before we have a full-blown dictatorship on our hands in the
name of democracy. Some of the appointments he has made so far and the
processes adopted in making them violate the spirit and letter of the laws of
the land.
He cannot surround himself
with only men and women from his ethnic stock to run the government with
resources from areas he despises and holds in contempt.
Again, even if Buhari is
looking for men of integrity, character and competence who will help him
deliver good governance, my question is, when did Northerners become exemplars
in good governance?
By insisting that he is
taking his time in making these appointments in order to ensure that only men
without blemish come on board, and by appointing mostly Northerners and nobody
from the South East, the president is wittingly or unwittingly profiling the
rest of the country as peopled who are dubious, incompetent and inept men and
women. Can this be true?
Some Buhari apologists have
also argued that he can only rule with those he knows.
Really?
A man who only knows people
from his own part of the country and has not been able to build bridges of
friendship across the nooks and crannies of the country at the age of 72, and
despite being a military officer and former head of state, has no business
being the president.
Some urge Buhari to
continue treading this boulevard of insensitivity by reminding him of how
popular he is in the North and how he can govern Nigeria with the exclusion of the
South East and South South.
But my response is, what
stopped him from being president in his first three attempts when he swept the
polls in the North and failed in equal measure in the South?
My advice to him is simple.
I don’t know what informs his actions but politics of exclusion is a recipe for
national disaster and it is not too late for him to retrace his steps.
*Amaechi former Editor of Daily
Independent, is the
Editor-in-Chief/Managing of the TheNiche; ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com
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