So, what’s Buhari doing differently?

Arguing against a man with two eyes and who has resolved to express criticism without being perceptive is an exercise in futility. These days, an egregious band of critics daily seek an answer to a seemingly innocuous question: what exactly has President Muhammadu Buhari done differently to warrant the wave of logic-defying cult-following that has greeted his presidency. My sincere answer is: nothing. In fact, for the first time in the history of this great country, the present generation of Nigerians should thank their stars that they have a 72-year-old do-nothing retired military officer as a leader. Buhari’s sit-on-the-hand governance tactic is so damn ineffective so much that quite a number of influential leeches of our warped system are scampering for safety in strange lands even when no one is pursuing them. This old man’s crying ineptitude sends shivers down the spines of those who once exhibited their passionate love for our well-being by holding tightly to our testicles and blindly raping the national till.

For a man who has barely spent a little over 100 days in office with less than 5 per cent of projected key appointments to boot, it is not surprising that those bent on hanging him in the sun to dry fault the grinding slowness of his change mantra. Left for the remnants of the usually noisy hawks at the headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party, Buhari should be hung on the crucifix ad-infinitum. They argue that he has been busy wasting time on getting to the root of the licentious larceny that ordinarily should be consigned to the dustbin of history instead of jetting off with the speed of light in effecting change. They said his fixation to the past might ruin whatever vision he projects for the future. For them, it would be more statesmanlike for the President to allow the past to live in the shadows of the present. That’s their understanding of a new beginning which, unfortunately, runs against the governance strategy of the Buhari era.

Do not get me wrong. The government stands to reap some positives from even the most bile-filled criticism of the present administration. Like someone noted, it would be better for the Buhari government to remain open to the kind of criticisms that call it to order than a praise singing that would ultimately spell its doom. That is why it should not treat with kid gloves the angst over the obvious ethnic slant in recent appointments of the President’s kitchen cabinet. Here, I align with those who argue that it is an insult of no mean feat for a President that enjoyed widespread support across the nation to keep on appointing his ‘trusted’ aides from a particular section of the country. It is even more disheartening that the same President has given an assurance that some sort of balancing would be made in subsequent appointments. In plain language, that’s some bunkum balderdash. With over 40 appointments already announced, someone within the inner caucus of the Buhari team should be bold enough to tell him to put an end to his irritating bumbling error. He should be reminded that competent hands abound in every geo-political zone of the country if only he had taken time to look beyond his white Babariga. The shape and form of his appointments to date simply stands logic on its head and that is sad. Nothing could be more imprudent than listening to otherwise smart persons playing to the gallery all in the name of political correctness. Buhari needs to be told to take a careful look at himself in the mirror and decide whether he feels cool warped string of appointments!

Having said this, there is an urgent need to separate informed criticism from the herd mentality whereby some persons spew illogic to paint Buhari as operating the same system of lethargic spinelessness that became the befitting epitaph for his predecessor. How could anyone with the slightest pretence to loving this country have suggested that the current administration should ignore barefaced looting reportedly perpetrated under the nose of former President Goodluck Jonathan? If indeed it was a needless distraction, then this is one distraction should be on the radar that truly desires to set a new template of accountability and sustainable governance for a serially abused nation.

To my mind, if the PDP could go on a chest-thumping marathon regarding the unbelievable number of billionaires it empowered at the expense of the rest of us during its 16 years’ stay in power, it could as well boast of the ‘unequalled vigour’ with which it fought corruption and hence, it should be properly placed to defend all manner of corruption charges the Buhari government may bring against it or the party members. That is why I find it curious that some ex-ministers in the immediate past regime have constituted themselves into some sort of union, subtly threatening Buhari to stop what they termed a media trial of loyalists of Jonathan. Rather than tell us how Buhari or the agencies charged with the responsibilities of unravelling corrupt practices have trampled on their rights, they resort to the emotive rant of being proud to have served under a regime that is viciously being portrayed as “corrupt and irresponsible.” They even accused a do-nothing Buhari of claiming credits for the improvements noticed in some sectors of the economy whereas they were latter day “products of solid foundations laid by the same Jonathan administration.”

Indeed, we are living in interesting times. Sometimes, you cannot help wondering why people cannot see the folly in peddling mischief. So, they are yet to witness the difference between the General Buhari of those days of War Against Indiscipline (WAI) and the one they feared would pack all of them into prisons as soon as he takes his oath as a democratically-elected President of Nigeria? In the past, would Buhari have tolerated the rigour of our laws in which suspected looters are being invited by the relevant authorities to defend allegations of graft? Has Buhari ordered the arrest, detention or even torture of anyone linked with the brazen looting of our commonwealth other than reiterating his determination to ensure that culprits face the full wrath of the law? Are these persons saying that the APC-led government should close its eyes to the mind-boggling revelations of a $2.2 billion-arms scandal; the detection of a $6.9 million mobile stages fraud allegedly perpetrated by the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to former President Jonathan; or even a N2.5 billion-scam involving the renting of house boats?

Are they asking Buhari to ignore documents linking the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation with the withholding of N3.8 trillion out of the N8.1 trillion earned from crude oil between 2012-2015 or that nothing should be done to find why $2.1 billion from Excess Crude Account (ECA) grew wings without any trace? Is it really wrong for the government in power to seek explanations into why the Department of Petroleum Resources fail to remitN109.7 billion royalty from oil firms into the Federation Account or even seek an insight into the loss of $13.9 billion proceeds of 160 million barrels of oil between 2009 and 2012? Has Buhari trampled on anyone’s right by asking affected individuals to come forward to defend allegations of ministerial looting to the tune of $6 billion in the Jonathan administration? Was anyone with a jot of brain expecting a post-military era Buhari to close the files on the $15 million botched arms deals with the South African government; the $13 billion Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) dividends mostly unaccounted for; the N30 billion suspicious waivers granted to rice importers and the N183 billion unaccounted for at the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC)?

Well, that would be taking the joke on a do-nothing President Buhari too far. Democracy allows for free speech and the strict adherence to the rule of law. So far, Buhari has operated within those binding principles and that is why some persons are enjoying the rare liberty of throwing the most despicable muck at him. At least, we now know that the days of the military jackboots are gone. What has replaced that is a man bent on prosecuting a war against corruption and corrupt practices employing the instrumentality of the laws of the land. As long as his critics relish the idiocy of trying to make a despot out of him, they should have no problem with answering for their misdeeds in a court of competent jurisdiction when the time comes. In any case, why should anyone with untainted record in public service fret over threats that lack substance?