Buhari Please Do Not Worry You Are Exonerated

By

Babandi Gumel

bagumel@btinternet.com

The kind of indiscipline, corruption electoral fraud and other evil traits such as 419 advance fee rigging and name them make every sincere Nigerian lose hope in rescuing the Country from going in the wrong direction. General Muhammadu Buhari is among the few patriotic Nigerians who have been battling and struggling hard all their lives to save the Country from falling into the ditch. Right from the beginning of his career as a soldier when he was appointed the Military Governor of Borno State more than 32 years back  and appointed Minister of Petroleum during the Murtala/Obasanjo Regime he showed to Nigerians that he was capable of  running the affairs of the Citizens without  fear or favour or accused of treachery. His honesty sincerity and above all transparency came to light in 1984 when the Supreme Military Council decided to appoint him as Head of State when the Civilian Government of Shehu Shagari was toppled at the end of 1983. For the first time in Nigerian history two Muslims Muhammadu Buhari and Late Tunde then became what were then to be the President and the Vice President as Head of State and Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters respectively. Immediately the duo assumed power they showed the world that they were really serious and capable of instilling discipline and sense of responsibility on every one as initiated by the Late Murtala Muhammed who became the best known Nigerian hero. This was why they called their Regime as an Off-Shoot of Murtala/Obasanjo Regime at that time. So the War Against Indiscipline popularly known as WAI got underway and Nigerians started to cue in the banks and other public places such as petrol stations and other places. Within two years Nigerians learnt discipline and they started behaving themselves with every one running to clean his environment every Saturday with the introduction of environment sanitation.

It was a kind of inspection like in our school days instilling strict discipline and sense of patriotism on every Nigerian almost every one were praising the duo Buhari and Idiagbon. Nigerians started to feel proud that they were actually Nigerians not wanting to hide their identity as we do so other times for the shame some Nigerians bring to our Country. One interesting thing worth noting as mentioned earlier the two were Muslims but nobody bothered as they were doing their job perfectly well which no body ever ventured to do the same kind of job within a short period of time. Like in every Society you find some few minorities grumbling for nothing, they could not fault the duo with any sort of corruption as they were so transparent the only thing some of those grumblers would be complaining was the two were too strict. Well that is  the usual Nigerian mentality if one is soft he becomes a soft touch when he is a bit hard they complain that he is too strict so therefore one has to tread carefully. Whatever you do you will never please them but one has to close his eyes and continue with whatever he does.

So unfortunately the Military under Babangida the then Army Chief of Staff took advantage of these complaints and toppled the Government of Buhari and put him under house arrest while his Deputy was in Mecca for Lesser Hajj Umra. As principled man whose conscience was clear Idiagbon decided to come back to Nigeria instead of running away some where abroad. He decided to join his comrade as they struggled together so equally they should suffer together the same kind of fate his boss and brother in faith and struggle was undergoing. While under the House arrest Buhari was not allowed to visit his elderly Mum who was sick until she passed away thing which he could not forget. Although he has forgiven his comrades but naturally as part of our weakness as human being it is difficult to forget but yet he tried his best to forget which has now become history. When Abacha became Head of State Babangida was apparently forced to step aside after the annulment of the one of the most free and fair election in June 1992 the installation of the Interim Government of Shonekan and Buhari continued to play a role in that newly installed Government of Abacha.

Despite his short comings Abacha decided to appoint Buhari seeing him as an honest gentleman to look after the wealth accrued from the sale of the petroleum by appointing him Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund commonly known as PTF. Due to his transparency Buhari used the money judiciously in constructing and repairing roads as well as supplying drugs to hospitals and many other meritorious philanthropic jobs carried out by the Fund. It continued to benefit the public until it was disbanded when Obasanjo came to Power as Civilian President in 1999 .An irony of fate as Obasanjo was imprisoned by Late Abacha along with his former Deputy Shehu Musa ‘Yar Adua who eventually died in prison and Obasanjo languished in the Gulag until he was drafted out to contest for the election under PDP and Buhari under the ANPP. In the end Obasanjo won the election in 1999 allowing him to complete his first term. Buhari and Obasanjo again re-contested the election in 2003 and again Obasanjo won but Buhari complained that the election was rigged and took the case to the election tribunal which lasted for more than two years before it was finally decided in favour of Obasanjo. Therefore Buhari accepted the decision in good faith and continued to remain in the ANPP.

Again the ANPP after heated debate decided to give Buhari another chance to contest to contest the 2007 Election this time with Umaru ‘Yar Adua the PDP Candidate who is the brother of the Late Shehu ‘Yar Adua the former Military Deputy of Obasanjo mentioned earlier. This time around every one thought the election would be fairly conducted unlike the 2003,s  election which were marred with rigging though not so much on a scale that was why only Buhari continued with the struggle without the help of the other opposition parties. Unfortunately the recent elections described as shamble, charade was so massively rigged that was never seen in the Nigerian history of election since Independence this is why all the Opposition parties and the International Observers were united in condemning the way the election were conducted which gave the Ruling Party of Umaru ‘Yar   Adua edge over the Opposition the gap was so wide that any objective fair minded person would never believe in the result. The case is now with the Supreme Court for final decision. Now that Umaru Musa ‘Yar Adua has already been sworn in as the new President and Commander in In-chief, so the only advice we can give to Buhari is to continue to exercise patience and restraint as a respected credible candidate. He should accept this in good faith as it was the wishes of Allah to install ‘Yar Adua as the new President.

Alhamdu Lillahi every one has accepted Buhari as one of the most Credible Nigerian Leader who fights for justice equity and fairness equality and above all corruption and other evil vices bedevilling our Society like the Late Aminu Kano. So he would be remembered as an honest transparent leader who was always ready to challenge the status quo without fear of being intimidated or castigated which many Nigerians unfortunately always wanted to maintain at all cost for selfish and other vested interests. In fact  as a good Muslim he is one of the few leaders who practiced this Hadith of the Prophet “ If any one of you sees something wrong he has to change it with his hands if he cannot let him talk and if he cannot do even that at least he should feel it in his heart and that is the low level of one’s faith”.So Buhari has practiced  all the three stages of the Hadith therefore exonerated from the demand of this Hadith unlike other Muslim leaders who unfortunately cannot even feel in their hearts which is so sad. He would go on record as one of the most honest transparent leader who fought against injustice, corruption indolence and above all war against indiscipline which was he insignia that was identified with by Nigerians so therefore he has discharged his duty faithfully and honestly and would not be forgotten for ever. Nigerians would continue to fight on your behalf against injustice corruption and other evil malpractices. So this is why I said do not worry about anything as you have done what you could do and leave the rest with God who is the best Judge. In the meantime Nigerians would ever remain grateful for what you have done for them in your short sojourn as their Leader who showed the sense of direction and set exemplary leadership like Murtala which we hope other leaders will display the same kind of qualities which is expected of a good leader.

 

Wa Akhiri Daawana Anil Hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen