Buhari’s Valediction

 By Amanze Obi

President Muhammadu Buhari has begun his valediction. He is making all manner of statements that point to his imminent retirement. He is imagining that his attention will be needed by Nigerians when he leaves office.

*Buhari

He was quoted the other day as saying that he would move far away from Abuja in order to avoid the temptation of interfering in the affairs of the new government that is to come. He even added, for effect, that he would leave Daura for Niger Republic, if there is pressure on him in his Katsina home. Before then, the President had made a broad appeal to Nigerians. He asked those whom he may have offended in the course of his presidency to forgive him.

These are permissible indulgences. They are normal in situations of valediction. Buhari, for instance, is free to ingratiate his ego by telling himself that he would be sought after by Nigerians after his tour of duty. Such feverish imaginings are part of the stuff nostalgia is made of. They are suggestive of what happens to people when they are about to leave their comfort zone. Buhari, l think, is already beginning to experience symptoms of post-power syndrome.

The President is in a state of self-consolation. He wants to make a potentially bad situation look light. That is why he is talking about running away from interference. Who told this man that anybody will allow him anywhere near the seat of power? He should learn from the experience of his predecessors.

As for apology, that is the easiest thing to do in circumstances like the one he faces at moment. There is no more room for tough talk. No braggadocio. No steeliness. The reality of the President’s situation is that he has to join the rest of us in the real world. A world without immunity. A world where the instruments of coercion and suppression are not at your beck and call. He is about to come down from the high horse of power.

Beyond all this, the President has been talking about his stewardship. He believes that he has done well in office. Some of his lieutenants, particularly the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, have been reeling out his achievements. They are painting a rosy picture of the President’s tenure. They want Nigerians to believe that they have never had it so good when in actual fact the country is reeling in death throes. They are talking to us as if we are strangers from Mars. But we know the truth. And the truth is that the Buhari era was a bad dream. We will devote a little more space to this shortly.

We probably would not have bothered about Buhari’s self-adulatory excesses, if he had not made reference to the most embarrassing blight of his presidency. The President has just told Nigerians that his proudest achievement was the 2023 presidential election. In other words, the President did not just score himself a pass mark in that exercise, he believes that the election was credible and exemplary.

Herein lies the problem. Our President has just told the people the very opposite of what they know and feel about his presidency. Contrary to Buhari’s declaration, the 2023 general election was the lowest point of his administration. It was the darkest blot on the face of his eight-year misrule.

The President, generally speaking, has a poor record of performance. Under him, insecurity grew wings. Every available space in the land is controlled by bad elements. Nigerians can no longer trust their next-door neighbour. Everyone is a suspect. No territory is safe. It is so much so that life has become cheap in Nigeria. The sanctity of human life has been thrown to the wolves. This is most ironical because, if there was anything that Nigerians thought Buhari would do for them, it was that he would wrestle insecurity to the ground. 

Sadly, insecurity castrated the people as the President watched with astonishing detachment. The people could not connect between the promises of yesterday and the sad reality of today. How did a former army General become such an impotent ash in the face of security assaults perpetrated by non-state actors? The degeneration on the part of Buhari is still a subject matter of confused discourses.

We will not bother about the economic downturn that the country witnessed under Buhari. Should we talk about the value of our national currency? What about the prices of goods and services? There is no need recounting anything here. Suffice it to say that Nigerians are thoroughly amazed at the turn of events under the Buhari presidency. The people would have wished that it was a dream. But it is not.

The ugliness that the outgoing government represents has remoulded Nigerians. The people have become experts in hard liberty. They are now propelled by a certain sense of urgency. This has led to their yearning for a new order. They want a quick end to the bad dream. They have been resting their hopes on democratic change of guard. That was why they looked forward to the next election with eagerness. The prospect of a new order offered them hope. 

Their hope was buoyed the more by the promise of President Buhari that he would bequeath to Nigerians free, fair and credible elections. For a man who failed his people in all indices of governance, the people were pleasantly surprised by the promise of credible polls coming from the President. They believed him. Such belief was soul-lifting. It would free them from feelings of despondency. It was with this sense of hope that Nigerians approached the 2023 general election.

The elections have since held. But the people woke up the next day to see that they had been scammed by the President who promised them all. They were even more perplexed to discover that the President and the chairman of the electoral commission that he appointed were united in the mischief to mislead them. Both men fooled the people knowingly and sardonically. They plotted against the people’s will. In all, they gave the country the worst election in its history. Nigerians are, more than ever before, stupefied. They cannot believe that the President that promised then credible elections will give them the most fraudulent election in the history of their country.

This is the sad reality of the Buhari era. The people are still battling with this ugly chapter in their nationhood. Then came the bombshell. As if to mock them to their very face, here they are, being told by the man who fooled them that the 2023 elections was his proudest achievement. What a mockery of pride. What a reification of reality. What  an unpardonable callousness. By that declaration, Buhari has, in the final analysis, splashed mud on the faces of Nigerians.

*Dr. Obi is a commentator on public issues