Nwobodo, Buhari and the Pitfalls of "Consensus"
By
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi
The
People’s Democratic Party has finally come out with a zoning formula for
public offices and party posts. Conceivably, the list released so far is
interim. Hopefully, we will soon have a list zoning the offices of CDS, Service
Chiefs, IG, DIGs, AIGs, Police Commissioners, Ambassadors, Permanent
Secretaries, Directors, Controllers, Comptrollers, Brigade Commanders etc. But
this is not the place for rehashing old arguments. The nation has to live with
the fact of our being reduced, collectively, from citizens of a country called
Nigeria, to “indigenes” of geographical areas called “zones” or members
of a primary group called “tribe.”
What
is of concern is that Nigerians must be wary of zones going one step further, by
hijacking national offices. It is one thing for the nation as a whole to select
a national officer from a particular zone, and a completely different
“kettle-of-fish” for a zone to impose a candidate on the nation. This is
what seems to be happening, with the nation allowing the South-East to produce a
“consensus” Senate President and the North-West (whatever that means) a
“consensus” House Speaker. The imperatives of a zone are not necessarily
contiguous with national imperatives and a limited electorate is more vulnerable
to manipulation, intimidation and subversion.
Those
Nigerians who find the “Federal character “ or “Quota System” principle
repugnant are often reacting to the manner in which it has been abused sometimes
by accident, often by design. As an “indigene” of Kano State, I know what it
felt like watching Senator Sabo Bakin Zuwo on Network News in the Second
Republic or reading quotes attributed to him in cartoons and comic columns of
otherwise serious newspapers. The whole nation regaled with laughter at the
linguistic acrobatics of this late illiterate Senator (representing Kano
Central) who later became executive governor. It was an expensive joke: At my
expense and the expense of every educated Kano man. I know what it feels like to
be from the same state as a man called Sani Abacha, who selected some people to
fill “Kano quota” in government several of
whom ended up as major participants in the looting of our nation, the
terrorization of its peoples and the enthronement of mediocrity.
I also know that if the nation had a choice, I would have been saved the
embarrassment of being the butt of a national comedy.
From the same Kano, better generals than Abacha, and also better retired
police officers than Gwarzo could have emerged to serve the country. From Bayero
University itself, scores of academics, far better qualified and more competent
than M. T. Liman, could have been offered to head the Ministry of Education. But
the nation had no voice. So Kano has to be represented by thieves, dictators,
and incompetents. It is time for this nation to realize that total participation
of all zones in the selection process is the best guarantee that particular and
general interests will be protected. The nation, in choosing, will settle for
nothing less than the best, and in so doing bring out illustrious sons of whom
their brethren would be proud, sons who will bring to their zones and country
glory, and not shame.
One
does not know where to begin expressing one’s astonishment that a man like Jim
Nwobodo can be touted as a serious contender for the Senate Presidency. Nwobodo
does have some positive qualities. He is apparently detribalized. He has a good
record with sports (beginning with the revival of
Rangers in his days as Anambra State Governor and culminating in the
triumph that was Atlanta ’96). He also seems to be a good “networker” and
“fixer”, qualities that should serve him in good stead in the legislature.
Set against this is his record of corruption and abuse of office as governor in
the Second Republic. Convicted for an array of corrupt practices by Gen.
Buhari’s tribunals, the indictment of Jim Nwobodo by Air Vice-Marshal Muktar
Mohammed and the dressing-down given him for sordid acts of corruption
remain embedded in the memory of those who thought we had “”progressive”
governors in Nigeria. After his release and subsequent appointment as minister
he has been associated with one scandal or the other. The Newspapers were awash
with stories of carted generators from the National Stadium Complex, for
instance.
Of
Nwobodo’s scandalous moments, the
one the nation should neither forget nor forgive was his role at the Maiduguri
convention of the Grass roots Democratic Movement in the twilight of Abacha’s
lifetime. Flying in with members of the party’s executive council and security
officers in a presidential jet from Abuja, Nwobodo ensured that the party’s
constitution was illegally amended, and rammed through the election of Abacha,
who was not even a party member, as the party’s flagbearer in forthcoming
phantom elections (which were designed to succeed phantom coups, phantom
crusades against corruption and phantom external reserves). Nwobodo denied that
small party the chance to produce either Tunji
Braithwaite or M. D. Yusufu as candidates in an election they were
destined to lose, but which would at least show the world that the dictator
had an opposition. Nwobodo let himself be used as the instrument for
stamping out the voice of the conscience of the people, for finally blowing out
the flickering flame that represented the residue of our national hopes thus
plunging us into the total darkness of collective despair. He subsequently
played a major role in the so-called two million man march (the Jamboree of the
Abacha-must-stay acolytes) and remained an integral part of the squandering of
the riches of this country on the dictator’s desperate bid at self-succession.
To
understand the enormity of the proposition of Nwobodo as a candidate, just
imagine where he would be today had God not intervened to take Abacha’s life.
The issue with Abacha’s government was not, as some would have us believe,
limited to the annulment of the June 12 elections or even the jailing of M. K.
O. Abiola. On the contrary, we were dealing with the looting of our
national treasury on an unprecedented scale, the complete erosion of the value
system of our nation, the impoverishment of our teeming masses, the decimation
of our prodigal youth and the subversion of all the key institutions of
our national polity. It is a sad commentary on us as a nation that a person like
Nwobodo who played a key and public role in the diabolical schemes aimed at
perpetuating this state of affairs was actually candidate for the presidency of
Nigeria and is now said to be gunning for the presidency of the senate. Rumour
has it that he is the choice of the president and vice-president elect which, if
true, would be a complete shame. If such a man emerges from any kind of
“consensus” arrangement in his zone, the nation will be the loser. More
important, the South-East will lose, by offering the nation, not its best (like
a Chuba Okadigbo or an Ike Nwachukwu), but a man who will be a liability, like
Abacha and his group are to us, in Kano, today.
Meanwhile,
in the North-West, it seems the front-runner is a young man by the name Ibrahim
Salisu Buhari. There have been a number of advertorials
and comments on the young man, but his own advert seems to have at least
partially redeemed his hitherto soiled image. He comes across as a somewhat
decent fellow, his CV seems somewhat more realistic, and the language (though
not quite impressive) is certainly far from the mumbo-jumbo previously
attributed to him. Still, I do have my doubts about him, and certainly do not
believe he is the best-qualified even among those who have indicated their
interest in the job.
The
first thing that strikes you about Buhari’s CV is his claim to being an astute
business man, who after Youth Service with a construction company quickly rose
to the position of its General Manager. What the CV fails to mention is that the
Construction Company, Standard Construction, is owned by a Kano businessman,
Alhaji Sani Buhari, who has a brother called Alhaji Salisu Buhari who I believe
is Ibrhahim’s father. In other words, his business achievement is limited to
having risen to management levels in his uncle’s company, (unless of course
his father just happens to share the same name and surname as the company’s
Chairman’s brother). As for all the other companies listed, all you need to do
is to drive on zoo road, Kano, to the Head Office of the Buhari group of
companies and you would read several of them off as part of the group. I do not
believe a man whose working experience has not been away from the apron-strings
of his family is the best the North-West can offer this country and the
nation’s idea of a business magnate is definitely different from Buhari’s.
The
second thing that strikes you is that he spent two years at A. B. U. and
acquired a diploma in accounting after finishing from King’s College, Lagos.
Those of us who went through A.B.U. know for a fact that the diploma programmes
are never the first choice of good students. Just like in other universities
these programmes are usually fall-backs for those who fail to meet the entry
requirements for regular degree progammes. I also attended King’s College,
Lagos (although admittedly sometime before Buhari since I finished in 1977).
Even allowing for deteriorating standards a Kings’ College boy from the North
who fails to meet requirements for a degree programme in a northern University
must be pretty daft. King’s College is one of those remarkable institutions
which seem to produce automatic qualifiers into universities. Where students of
other schools have to work hard to pass it seems that the average KC boy who
fails must have worked for it.
I
do not know any of the candidates for speakership in person and never heard of
them before this time. But if I were a member of the House presented with
Buhari’s credentials and those of, say, Yar’ Adua who is competing with him,
I would vote for the latter. He holds a master’s degree in humanities and is a
Ph.D. candidate. He is an experienced journalist who has worked in a variety of
organisations and gained an exposure.
If
the nation left the decision to the so-called caucus of self-appointed elders of
the North-West the best candidates could be convinced or intimidated into
“stepping-down” in the interest of the “North”. This “interest”, of course, is nothing but the interest
of those who wish to have a candidate through whom they can remain relevant and
“pull strings” in the incoming dispensation. A highly educated,
independent-minded, progressive northerner interested in the empowerment of our
people and their liberation from the darkness of
illiteracy and the shackles of feudalism is, by definition,
“anti-north”. It is time for us to stress that the interest of the north
lies in producing the best candidate for this country. At stake is the integrity
of the north as a political unit,
the dignity of the northerner as a person and the survival of a whole heritage
and legacy. It is time to put a stop to this enthronement of mediocrity by
“consensus” and allow Nigeria to decide who will hold national offices. Let
all elected PDP members come together and vote for one of the candidates after
an open campaign in which all their credentials are exposed to national
scrutiny. The same should be done for the senate, and for every major public
office. There is no argument on the
need for reflection of “federal character”
in our national polity and economy. But let us not sacrifice merit on the
altar of diversity especially since
the two principles are not mutually exclusive. Every part of this country has
Nigerians capable of competently holding any office.
May the best man win.
You can read more about my article from my web page at http://www.gamji.com/sanusi.htm
RETURN TO GAMJI HOMEPAGE