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| *Buhari |
But just may be, there
is still, no cause for despair. The good thing about democracy is that it
teaches people lessons – ask them in Malaysia and the United States – and even when
the people refuse stubbornly to learn – ask them in Syria, Venezuela, and Libya
– the lessons exist nonetheless.
But it is a very bad
thing not just for democracy but the entire society when the leadership elite
ignores apparent lessons and fails the people.
About 23 years ago, we
did a series of editorials titled “To save Nigeria Babylon
I once wrote that
persons who wield power like a whip – a dated military strategy – that is
completely out of place today in a democracy, have surrounded and “captured”
President Muhammadu Buhari. But as we can see, their strategy of alienation has
failed.
This is the biggest
challenge facing this government. Each time their strategy fails them; their
standard response is to say that the President is not “aware” of whatever
transpired.
They have been so adept
in selling this line to the boss, that the President himself once declared
publicly that he was not aware that his Inspector-General of Police ignored,
perhaps modified, or changed his instructions and went on a frolic of his own.
Things have not only
gotten worse since then, the entire country is in a state of shock, and I won’t
be surprised if a funny character shows up before this week runs out to tell
us, again, that President Muhammadu Buhari is not aware that the Senate
President, Bukola Saraki, the Chairman of the 8th Assembly has been summoned to
appear before the Nigeria Police under the authority of the same
Inspector-General of Police who has been having a running battle with the
National Assembly and its members – first Senator Isa Misau, then Senator Dino
Melaye and now Senator Bukola Saraki.
It doesn’t take much
intelligence to figure out the script: what has happened between the Senate and
the office of the Inspector General of Police is much less about the
personalities involved but a lot more about the intra-governmental and intra-party
crisis that continues to pose a threat to the Buhari government.
No other government in
recent times has been this divided and suicidal.
I won’t be surprised
anyway if some vocal, genetic trouble-makers on social media (specially made in
Nigeria since 2015) argue otherwise but let the point be made that President
Buhari’s problems have all been self-inflicted, and his loss of favour within and
outside government and the party have been due largely to the saboteurs within.
And if indeed President
Buhari is not suffering from what Nigerians call “home trouble”, let someone
explain to me…
- why the EFCC is fighting the
Department of State Security and the office of the Attorney-General of the
Federation,
- why the woman who sees the
President first thing in the morning and last minute at night inside “the
other room” is fighting a so-called cabal and has had cause to chide her
husband publicly,
- why the legislative arm of
government has been systematically sabotaging the Executive arm of
government and vice versa,
- why the security agencies
have been busy making enemies for President Buhari, and,
- why the judiciary behaves
like a frustrated arm of government, and civil servants have had to
condemn the government they should serve as obedient servants.
I believe that the
chickens have now come home to roost with the latest attack on Senate President
Bukola Saraki. The drama has reached its climax.
The Inspector-General
of Police has summoned Saraki. It is pubic knowledge that this same public
officer, Ibrahim Idris, publicly shunned the Senate when he was asked to appear
before it. Now, exploiting the powers of his office as the country’s chief
police officer, he has declared that Bukola Saraki has a case to answer at the
police station in a typical my-Mercedes-is-bigger-than-yours fashion, or for
the benefit of those who will remember, if you Tarka-me-I-will-Daboh-you.
Senate President Bukola
Saraki has been called a thief by this administration. He is now being indicted
as the Godfather of Offa Armed Robbers.
When a government
advertises its No. 3 citizen as a thief and an armed robber, whatever happens,
it is the country that loses at the end of the day. It is good news that
Saraki has agreed to appear before the police to clear his name.
It is also good news –
coming in as I write – that someone with some grey matter has quickly
intervened and introduced a face-saving measure to wit: Saraki no longer has to
go the police, instead, the police will go to him and take his statement.
Before that spoilsport
intervention, I was already imagining very ugly optics.
Imagine: Saraki would
have gone to the Police in Abuja
Dino Melaye would have
led the pack and organize placards. He and the dancing Senator Adeleke could
have added a special dance and song to create colour and tragic melodrama.
Without knowing it, the
Inspector-General of Police would have created a popularity contest between
Saraki and Buhari and between the Executive and Legislative arms of the
Nigerian government.
In the eyes of the
world, that will amount to a serious crisis in Nigeria
Somehow, despite the
last minute adjustments, President Buhari’s managers have turned almost the
entire National Assembly against him. The Speaker of the House of
Representatives who has been so far supportive has also been alienated.
The days ahead will not
only be very interesting with the do-me-I-do-you tango that has been initiated
at the highest levels of this government, the developments will have serious
implications for the politics of the 2019 elections.
The
Executive arm of government, for sure, has alienated the Federal legislature;
it has similarly done the same to the judiciary.
The humiliation of
judges and lawyers was meant to be part of the war against corruption by the
Buhari administration but the selective nature of that assault on the
judiciary, and the brazen disregard for the rule of law, has left the entire
establishment bruised.
Not even under the
military were the Bar and the Bench so badly treated. It is obvious that
the judiciary is beginning to take its pound of flesh especially at the
appellate courts. What kind of government would go out of its way to
alienate other arms of government?
The media is the fourth
estate of the realm. It has not been spared either. In three years, the Buhari
government has managed to intimidate, harass and frustrate the Nigerian media,
including freedom of expression on the social media.
The relationship between
this strategic institution and the government of the day has been propelled
more by fear and caution rather than respect. Those media houses that used to
be very aggressive under the previous administration have gone into a sit down
and look mode.
I can reveal for free
that although a few sections of the Nigerian media are beginning to crawl out
of their shells, the prevailing attitude is rooted in the belief that the media
will always have the last say, and what we have is a media establishment that
is waiting for the right time to take its own pound of flesh.
Obviously, nobody is
thinking of President Buhari’s legacy and how it will be remembered.
“Making Enemies for the President: How President Buhari Won and Wasted the
Presidency” would probably be an appropriate title for a future book.
Just imagine the number
of enemies that have been made, and how the number increases almost weekly. Do
these guys really want a second term?
In 2015, the likes of
Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who had
contested against President Buhari during the primaries of the All Progressives
Congress (APC) ate the humble pie and supported him.
Today, Atiku has left
the APC. He is a leading critic of the same government and party that he
helped to create and bring to power. Kwankwaso has been declared a
persona non grata in the same state of Kano
In 2015, President and
elder statesman Olusegun Obasanjo wanted President Goodluck Jonathan out of Aso
Rock by every means possible.
He wrote letters,
de-marketed the man locally and internationally and he told the whole world:
anyone else but Jonathan. Three years later, Obasanjo is an unwanted guest at
Aso Rock. The man he helped to bring to power has publicly dissed him.
He himself had cause to
offer Buhari a compulsory reading lesson by referring him to a trilogy: My
Watch written by him.
Buhari’s attack dogs
have warned Obasanjo to keep quiet or he would be dealt with. That is
like asking for “double wahala” because Obasanjo is also obviously ready for a
show-down.
He is leading a
Nigerian coalition whose ambition is to do in Nigeria
what Mahathir Mohamad has done in Malaysia
So, who is left with
President Buhari? Definitely not President Goodluck Jonathan the man who lost
power to him in 2015, and who quietly and dutifully handed over, only to be
harassed and hounded later.
Not the army of
Nigerian youths either who supported Buhari and the APC in the 2015 elections
only to be dismissed as an idle and opportunistic lot.
Definitely not the
social media crowd that carried Buhari on its head as if he was a crate of
eggs. Many are those who have since apologized openly to Jonathan and Nigerians
for allowing themselves to be misled.
And certainly not
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the man who corralled the entire South West into the
APC alliance in 2015, and who has been rewarded with ingratitude, insults and
marginalization.
His relevance in his
own immediate political constituency has just been queried with the rejection
of the results of the recent APC party congress in Lagos State
The APC National
Working Committee has the guts to tell Tinubu that he is a law-breaker, and if
he is not careful, he too will get the Saraki treatment? Really?
The same man who risked
everything to make the APC possible? But he knows what is good for him though;
he has been wisely quiet.
The South East has
since turned its back on the Buhari government. Rochas Okorocha, the pro-Buhari
governor of Imo state has been shown the handwriting on the wall.
Other Igbos having seen
how their region was turned into a battle-field are quietly waiting for 2019,
to use their voters cards in a more informed manner than they did in 2015.
So, really who is left
with the Buhari government? Bukola Saraki, with all the humiliation he has
received would have to be an “ogbologbo
omo ale” (let some twitter trolls translate that for me), to deploy his
political structures in support of Buhari in 2019.
He won’t anyway.
Already, his political group in the APC alliance- the nPDP has declared that it
is no longer interested in any further dialogue with the APC Federal
Government. They have opted out.
As for Tinubu, he
would have to be really naive to go before the Yoruba people in 2019 to ask
that they should vote for Buhari again.
Rotimi Amaechi who was
a leading gladiator in 2015 is still hanging in there, but it would be most
strange if he were to be seen acting as he did in 2015.
Even up North, the APC
is in deep crisis in Benue, Kogi, Bauchi, Kano ,
Adamawa, Kaduna
Last week, in Oyo State
One Jonathanian phoned
me the other day and said this is the God of Jonathan at work! I told him: “I
won’t talk like that, I mean: #se-o-mo-age-mi-ni”.
But I made this point:
that it is the dew that will certainly destroy a house made of spittle; as a
man sows so he reaps, the laws of nature are constant and immutable and the
ways of God are forever mysterious.
Nobody is shaking the
Buhari-APC table. They are the ones who have on their own removed the legs from
their own table.
I have said my own. If
some herdsmen are looking for me, tell them I am currently in Abeokuta
But also tell them that
some of the boys at this table are very angry that Buhari has increased the
cost of beer, water, and “smoke”.
*Dr. Abati was spokesperson of former of President
Jonathan
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