As Buhari hands over to Buhari

On June 6, 2015, after President  Muhammadu Buhari’s now infamous quote of “I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody” at his first inauguration as an elected leader, this writer had published a piece with the above title, setting some sort of targets for the man from Daura. Now, don’t ask me if he met my expectations or whether he scored above average in my estimation. In the same fashion, I had waited, with impudent impatience, for his speech during his second inauguration last Wednesday at the Eagles Square, Abuja. Unfortunately, the ceremony was at its lowest low, not just because it was shorn of the typical pomp and panache, but because it was eerily silent on speeches – no historically significant acknowledgements, no line for patriotic stirrings and no quotable quote! Nothing. Beyond the ritual of the administration of oaths by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Tanko, every other thing was done in hushed tone. It was an inauguration ceremony wreathed with an ambience of confounding solemnity. Some say it was part of the low-key swearing-in promised by the government. Oh, is that so? Well, whatever it was, that was a redefinition of low key. Sadly, such formal historical procedure was laid bare of any magical moment. It was too dry with quite a number of the spectators wearing mournful looks, if you ask me.

Be that as it may, Mr. Buhari can still take some lessons from the nuggets of the 2015 piece as he settles down to be the difference he ought to be. The piece, with some modifications, reads:

Today, the mantle of leadership has changed hands and Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Army General and disciplinarian is the man of the moment. He has taken the oath of office and oath of allegiance like he did some four years back. Party over, Buhari needs to sit his bum down to tackle the accumulated multifarious challenges that continue to cripple the Nigerian nation. Clearly, he would be deluding himself and putting his reputation up for a bashing if he thinks Nigerians would exercise endless patience for him to plot his way through the landmines planted by the outgone government of President Goodluck Jonathan. The exit of that administration sets the alarm bell for Buhari to hit the ground running and not panting for solution in the dark. The populace has gone far beyond listening to any tendentious excuse about how bad the situation was before the May 29 handover date. All they want to see are visible nuggets that stand as roadmaps to recovery, especially by an administration that rode into power singing the change mantra. It may be tough, yet it is Buhari’s cross to deal with!

No matter how awry things have gone, excuses are simply not enough. Expectations are high that Nigeria’s real Mr. Fix It (that was the assumption some four years back) is in the saddle to bring the much-needed relief and put a smile on the faces of the long-suffering masses. Regardless of the humongous $63bn debt profile contained in Jonathan’s handover notes, the public expectation remains that Buhari would find the magic wand to revitalizing the critical sectors of the economy. Chief among these is the energy sector, which has inflicted the gravest pains on the psyche of Nigerians in spite of the multi-billion dollar investments. There are also the nagging issues of institutional corruption and infrastructural decay.

Now that Buhari is President again in spite of all odds, he cannot afford to fall into the same potholes that eventually swallowed Jonathan’s second term bid. Thankfully, Buhari is not a neophyte, neither has he given anyone the impression that he is one to be swayed by the genuflections of palace wannabes. See, one can’t really put one’s money on this again with what happened in his first tenure. Yet, with his age and experience, he should know what he was walking into when he decided to – once again – have a shot at the presidency. To demonstrate that capacity and understanding, he told a group of editors in a recent interview in the Sunday Trust that he was prepared to be his own man and find a way out of the exotic ‘cage’ that the Aso Rock Presidential Palace was to Jonathan. “I asked for it (to be President in Aso Villa)’, so whatever I meet there I cannot complain. I know, of course, that there is a lot of work to be done. The important thing is to make sure that the structures on ground are made to function; people are made to do their work and develop the capacity to supervise,” he had said.

Some have suggested that Buhari may not nurse a second term ambition. Well, you never can tell with politicians. (And I was dead right, abi?) Whatever happens, the fact remains that on his lean shoulders lie the future and fortunes of the ruling All Progressives Congress in subsequent elections. His four-year tenure offers a make-or-mar opportunity for the APC. No one is saying that it is going to be an easy task battling entrenched interests in a queer political system. It is just that Buhari has no option other than to walk his talk. There is no better time for him to display that courage, competence and capacity than now.

Good enough, he has started on the right template by insisting on being his own man. That’s my reading of his ‘everybody’ and ‘nobody’ statement. However, Mr. President ought to understand that being his own man would surely come with a price even right within his own inner circle. His success would largely depend on how he employs wisdom in dealing with both the centripetal and centrifugal forces within and without. That, by the way, was the cage reality former President Jonathan was talking about. This subsequently beclouded his ability to stop the systemic rot.

Now that Buhari is President again, the buck stops right on his desk. When he points the finger at Jonathan’s People’s Democratic Party for being an economic and political disaster in the first 16 years of our democratic journey, I just hope he understands that the remaining four fingers point right back at him. Therefore, he needs to, in the next four years, display the strength of character that would bring drastic change in the state of the economy and infrastructural development. In that Sunday Trust interview, he said his focus would be on education, healthcare, security, infrastructure, fighting corruption and blocking the various leakages, which resulted in the multi-billion dollar losses that found their ways to personal pockets of our rapacious, fleecing elite. Good talk. But then, didn’t they say talk is cheap? Is there really anything new in this that Jonathan did not vow to confront when he was inaugurated on May 29, 2011?

Now, Buhari is waltzing lyrical and sending waves of romantic sound bites into our ear lobes. We know about his legendary Spartan living and we can vouch for his stance against corruption. What we really do not know is if that would still be applicable immediately he gets giddy with the allure of that exotic cage. We really cannot fathom how he handles the pressures and sweet-coated offerings of the men in the corridors of power. Like I once admonished in an earlier piece, Buhari needs to hold himself to the mirror because he does not have the luxury of tendering excuses for any failure. Nigerians voted for good governance and not good luck. They heeded his call and it is now time for him to remember his promises. For the avoidance of doubt, I’ll list the some of the promises he made in 2015: He told us of his strategic plans to ensure that we now enjoy constant electricity; tame the cabal in the petroleum sector and reduce petrol price; return the naira’s lost glory against foreign currencies; give one free meal a day in all public schools; open a vista of opportunities for Nigerians to access better living conditions; create employment for the millions slapping the streets in dejection; fight corruption head-on and ensure the safety of lives and property. Surely, Buhari could not have forgotten so soon that daily foraging for bread and beans has become such a hellish reality that the citizens’ patience could not stand another bumbling whining from any government that is long on canticles and short on delivery.

Now that Buhari is President again, the time ticks for him. He should rest assured that no one wants to hear his lamentations about his experience in the gilded cage called Aso Rock. Let him fix his gaze on the voices from the market place – the ones whose hopes and votes earned him an indisputably popular passage to the highest position in the land. That, by the way, is the constituency that he belongs. He is definitely not an island of everybody and nobody! We just hope he remembers, hopefully! And it is my prayer that he remembers all this even in his speechlessness last Wednesday. It is his call. Let him grapple with it as he settles down for his final four years in office. History beckons!!!