Exactly twenty-nine days from today, President Muhammadu Buhari will be handing over the reins of power to President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. At different times, Buhari has expressed readiness to leave Aso Rock, the seat of power and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
The incumbent’s path to the presidency was tough and tortuous. He made shots at the seat three consecutive times but failed. While holding sway as the President and Commander in Chief of the country as a military Head of State between December 31, 1983 and August 27, 1985, the term ‘Buharism’ was ascribed to his style of governance, which many described as authoritarian.
But numerous Nigerians also agree that some values were inculcated into citizens in that time. His government came to an end via a coup d’etat led by General Ibrahim Babangida Badamosi (rtd).
The democratic journey
Fast-forward to when Nigeria transited to democratic governance and Buhari sought to be the president through the ballot box. He ran for office on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in 2003 and 2007; on the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) platform in 2011. In December 2014, he emerged presidential candidate of APC for the 2015 general election.
Buhari won the election, defeating incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Interestingly, that was the first time in the history of Nigeria that a sitting president would los a general election. He was sworn in on 29th May, 2015. In February 2019, the outgoing president was re-elected, defeating his closest rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, by over three million votes.
His government’s focus
Following his emergence as the country’s president-elect after the 2015 presidential election, to underscore the seriousness of the task ahead of him, Buhari did not smile while making his acceptance on March 31, 2015.
He didn’t mince words when he said terrorism and corruption were challenges facing the country. In his remarks in the capital, Abuja, Buhari bluntly enumerated two scourges threatening democracy: the ruthless onslaught of the Boko Haram militant group and the “evil of corruption,” as he put it. In pairing them so prominently, he appeared to be setting his agenda for the coming months. And in lieu of a detailed policy platform from the incumbent, who did not give details during his campaign, he vowed to defeat the Islamist insurgents and corruption.
The president appeared to have focused more on the challenges posed by corruption than on the dangers of Boko Haram, perhaps indicating a veteran soldier’s disdain for the group as a true military threat. Though the insurgents had killed thousands of civilians and stormed across huge stretches of territory, Buhari was dismissive of them in an interview during his campaign, characterizing their fighting abilities in disparaging terms.
“Boko Haram will soon know the strength of our collective will,” he said. “We shall spare no effort until we defeat them.” More challenging for Buhari was the rot in the army that led to Boko Haram’s ascendance in the first place: corruption at high levels, poor morale, and troops underequipped because much of the $6 billion military budget had apparently been diverted.
“What they have is such an institutional problem, it’s going to take a long time to fix it,” said a diplomat in Abuja. The hiring of mercenaries to defeat Boko Haram is a “short- to-mid-term solution until they can address the other thing,” the diplomat said.
In interviews, Buhari spoke of his anger at seeing foreign troops play a leading role in solving Nigeria’s security problem. Boko Haram led the president to move immediately to the country’s corruption problem, which he said “attacks our national character” and “distorts the economy.”
At Chatham House, in London, Buhari suggested that what he called a “war waged on corruption” would be the first step in tackling the country’s pressing economic problems. The price of oil, on which the government depends for over 70 percent of its revenue, has tumbled. The naira has fallen some 20 percent against the dollar over six months. Foreign currency reserves are dwindling, and an oil-revenue rainy day fund has been ransacked.
“In the face of dwindling revenues, a good place to start the repositioning of Nigeria’s economy is to swiftly tackle two ills that have ballooned under the present administration: waste and corruption,” he said at Chatham House.
Buhari made it clear that, falling oil prices aside, he saw this as the country’s top economic problem. He promised to “end this threat to our economic development and democratic survival.” Corruption, he added, would, “not be tolerated by this administration, and it shall no longer be allowed to stand as if it is a respected monument in this nation,” he said.
Several Nigerian commentators suggested that Buhari’s strategy was plausible as a first step. “The first thing to do is to recognize that there is so much waste in government,” said a leading economist, Pat Utomi. If you cut the graft, you can do things,” he said. “We have a new presidential jet in this budget. Most airlines in Nigeria don’t have as many jets as the presidential fleet.”
Another economist also suggested that Buhari’s anti-corruption stance was critical in a country with, as a recent World Bank paper put it, a “deeply embedded culture of corruption. With the president’s emphasis on “accountability, integrity and transparency,” one economist, Bismarck Rewane, said the “missing piece in the Nigerian economy” would be filled in.
How Nigerians saw Buhari
Due to Buhari’s attitude to corruption as military ruler in 1984 and 1985, many Nigerians hailed his election. A lawyer, Chiedu Nweke maintained that his emergence was to reset Nigeria. “It is an extraordinary reset! A milestone! A phenomenon! It is a turning point. It is the first time the merger of small opposition parties has been successful in Nigeria. It is the first time the opposition has won a presidential election. It is the first time such a momentous election has gone without violence and the first the defeated candidate had conceded victory and congratulated the winner. It has opened the vista for new opportunities. A new reset for Nigeria!
Slowness in appointments
During his first term in office, experts criticized Buhari for failing to appoint key government functionaries and political aides. However, few days into his presidency, he announced the appointments of some. Among them were: Lawal Kazaure (State Chief of Protocol and three media aides: Femi Adesina (Special Adviser, Media and Publicity), Garba Shehu (Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity), and Laolu Akande (Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo).
They said the vacuum weakened the day-to-day operations of the different ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), while coordination of important government policies and programmes were not properly being implemented.
For the lull, he was nicknamed ‘Baba Go Slow’. Commenting on the absence of a Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), a source said: “In the absence of the SGF, there has been no one coordinating and pushing for implementation of the resolutions, decisions and agreements from those meetings and visits for the government.”
But presidential spokesman Adesina countered: “Business need not be grounded at MDAs because the permanent secretaries and other technocrats are in place to take decisions. It is the prerogative of the President to make the appointments. He will make them (appointments) at the fullness of time”
Reacting to the outcry over his inability to make some key appointments, Buhari in July 2015, during his Eid-el-Fitr message to Nigerians, said: “I was very aware of your high expectations when I assumed office and I reassure you, my fellow citizens, that since my inauguration on the 29th of May this year, I have been working with utmost dedication to meticulously plan and tackle the many national challenges which we identified and promised to resolve.
“To succeed however, I need your continued support, understanding and patience. I also share the feelings of those who think that we should be moving faster. But I urge them and all Nigerians to trust that my commitment to real and positive change in our nation is as firm as ever.
“There is indeed much work to be done, but we must do it well and carefully to ensure that the great opportunity which we now have is not lost to the “business as usual” group who selfishly or shortsightedly prefer a status quo that panders to their personal or group interests.”
Some hinted that political intrigues were responsible for the delay. However, by November 11, 2015, six months after the government had taken off, Buhari unveiled his ministers. Later in 2019, he hinted on some of the maneuverings that prevented him from early unveiling of his ministers in 2015.
Illnesses and medical tourism
The Nigerian leader, who coasted to a historic victory in 2015, took his first vacation only eight months after coming to office. He spent six days in London between February 5 and 10 in 2016. His second medical trip came on June 6, 2016. He travelled for 10 days to England, seeking further treatment for an ear infection.
The president extended his trip by three days before coming back on June 19, 2016. By January 19, 2017, Buhari wrote to the Nigerian Senate, disclosing his intention to travel abroad on a 10-day vacation and that he would hand over to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
Although the letter said he would commence the vacation on January 23, 2017, it was reported that, Buhari departed Nigeria on the same day he wrote the lawmakers.
On March 10 of that year, exactly 50 days after his departure, Buhari returned but was unable to resume official duty immediately. Less than two months later, the president again went on another trip to London for another medical checkup.
As several rumour was making the rounds on the nature of the president’s illness at the time, his aides would not confirm what he was being treated for, they urged Nigerians to pray for him. He returned after 104 days. A year after his longest trip yet, Buhari travelled to London in May 2018 for a “four-day medical review.” Towards the end of March 2021, he was in London to take “a short rest” – one that lasted for 15 days and which the presidency had earlier described as “routine medical check-up.”
Also amidst the longest industrial action by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) in 2022, the president jetted out to London on a medical holiday for an undisclosed ailment. Nigerians from all walks of life decried the incessant foreign medical trips undertaken by him. Some, however, disagreed, saying it was within the president’s right to seek medical attention anywhere in the world.
Osinbajo as Acting President
Buhari sent a written declaration on May 9, 2017, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker, House of Representatives on his decision to embark on a medical trip. The letter was read that day at a plenary Assembly of both the chambers. The acting presidency was conferred upon Vice President Osinbajo during President Buhari’s medical leave.
On 6 August, 2018, Osinbajo fired the State Security Service Service boss, Lawal Daura, for illegal invasion of the National Assembly by armed and masked operatives of the department. Daura was replaced with Matthew Seiyefa.
It was believed that the Acting President’s action angered some power brokers in the presidency, hence the decision never to hand over to him again to serve as acting president.
