Buhari: The Born Again Democrat!

By

Babatunde Adenodi

New Jersey

tadno2000@yahoo.com

 

 

General Muhammadu Buhari has never called himself a democrat. Even while running for president in 2003 as well as in the last election in April, he never pretended to be a democrat. It is only a nucleus of his followers who insist that he has become a democrat; a democrat in their own mould. So, for the purpose of this article, and because he, on occasions, has given the impression that he would operate under the rules as set by the country’s 1999 federal constitution if he won the presidency, we will assume he had indeed become a democrat. And he will be held on the same level that a real democrat should be. Moreover, he has been going around whipping up emotions in the aftermath of the election of Yar’Adua as Obasanjo’s successor.

 

First of all, I assume that Buhari, and for that matter, Abubakar Atiku, had participated in the electoral process in order to make a point. There is no way they could honestly have imagined that they would win the elections against Obasanjo’s and for that matter, any incumbent’s formidable manipulative machinery. Anybody who thought he could defeat Yar’Adua under those circumstances was living under an illusion. Obasanjo did not know whom to hand over to until the last minute. And once he decided it was Yar’adua, he put all machinery of government in place to ensure Yar’adua’s victory.

 

As for Atiku, it was illusory of him to think he could win the election. And if indeed he won, it was even more unimaginable that he would believe, in his wildest imagination that Obasanjo would hand over to him! Both of these men knew better.

 

Alhaji Shehu Shagari had taken over as civilian president from General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1979. He had frittered away all 13 Billion or so US dollars painstakingly accumulated by Obasanjo in foreign reserves. He had also gone into debt to the tune of 30 Billion US dollars all in a matter of four years. Besides, the economy took a downturn. Letters of credit were not confirmed in international trade with Nigeria. Soaps, detergents, cooking oil and et cetera were hard to come by. And when available the average Nigerian could not afford to buy them. The little foreign exchange available was spent on rice by Shagari’s points-man, Umaru Dikko. With this background, Shagari was angling for a second term as president.  And Nigerians were sure change was inevitable. But when indeed change did come, Shehu Shagari, inspite of his landslide victory, was swept away and Major General Muhammadu Buhari became the Head of State.

 

As Head of State, Buhari had enormous powers to correct all the mistakes of Shagari. He declared, and please note this; that all political parties rigged the elections to the degree of resources available to them! So, if any one thought that he would address the concerns of the opposition who thought they were betrayed by the electoral system, those people were seriously disappointed. He thought Nigeria’s problems stemmed from only one national problem: Indiscipline. And he was determined to stamp it out.  To achieve this, he turned the entire nation into a giant military barracks and bellowed orders to the hapless citizens in rapid time. He jailed Tunde Thompson and Ndukar Irabor for telling the truth. He arrested three drug couriers and enacted a retroactive law to execute them. He jailed opposition politicians several lifetimes while holding government officers in mere house arrest.  Most importantly, he did not allow any discussion about democracy.

 

As Head of State and Commander in Chief of Nigerian Armed Forces (some people called it Northern Nigerian Armed Forces), all important command posts were headed by northerners and muslims. The Chief of Army Staff, Naval Staff and Air Staff were all northerners. The Inspector General of police was a northerner, the minister of Federal Capital Territory, the minister for Internal Affairs and all major positions in government were headed by northerners.  Indeed, under Buhari, the nation’s affairs, particularly the meetings of the Supreme Military Council could be held and were indeed rumored to have been held on numerous occasions, in Hausa.
 

By 1985, the nation had had enough of Buhari and heaved a sigh of relief when Abacha announced his ouster.

 

This, in brief, is the historical background of Buhari’s democratic credentials.

 

Then Abacha tried to rehabilitate him by appointing him as the head of the task force on petroleum. At that post, he did his best to help only his kinsmen above the Niger River. Eighty four percent of all projects executed by him were sited in the North and sixteen out of eighteen directorates under Buhari were headed by northerners! More importantly, by taking up such a position under Abacha, had Buhari not lost his moral credibility in terms of corruption which was the hallmark of the Abacha presidency? Was he not an important integral part of the Abacha’s rapacious governance? Had he not given his blessing to the Abacha rampage? Had he not taken part in the suppression of the June 12 Abiola’s electoral victory?

 

Then came the Obasanjo presidency. Obasanjo had pandered more to the interest of his northern power brokers during his first outing as military Head of State. He had preserved, in tact, their unearned privilege and power. And they thought he was fool enough to continue to do so as president during his second coming. When Obasanjo did not follow through, Buhari became the arrow-head of northern dissatisfaction with his government. And naturally, he began to propagate only the interest of his northern constituency to the extent of declaring that muslims should vote only for muslims. He declared his support for Sharia in the northern states and would not mind if that Islamic jurisprudence extends far beyond the northern states into the south.

 

Unfortunately, Obasanjo made a mess of the last election. It is known that Obasanjo’s PDP could still have won convincingly at the first ballot had he allowed the election to have been transparently honest. Neither did Buhari, nor Atiku have a chance of defeating the incumbent party if the elections were free and fair.
Yar’Adua could not have won on such a large scale. But he could still have won anyway. Thus, Buhari’s popularity of lack of it, may never be truly known.

 

In 2002 or thereabouts, on the pages of Gamji website, in an article titled, “Run, Buhari, run”, I wrote in comparing Buhari and Babangida as follows: “Buhari slapped your face and dared you to cry, but Babangida would slap your face, beg you, slap it again and offer you a shoulder to cry on”! These two people are the same. They are flips of the same coin. Only methodologies are different. They are born again democrats. And being born again implies that one had been hitherto different from what you claim you now are.

They are wolves in sheep skin. They cannot be trusted with power again!

 

Yar’Adua’s brother, late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, was the first northerner to broker a true coalition with people of the west. This was in 1983. This coalition was heading for victory in 1983 when Sunday Adewusi, the then Inspector General of Police, with the help of Shagari’s Ovie-Whiskey, halted it. Prospects of victory by that coalition scared the hell out of the likes of Buhari. Let this Yar’Adua be.