Tag: BUHARI

Former president, Muhammadu Buhari, who died on Sunday, at 82 years, would make an interesting piece of painting if Nigerians, were asked to represent him, in technicolour. Taciturn and stern faced, the older generation of Nigerians would remember Buhari, the military general, for his mantra on war against indiscipline (WAI). As a military dictator, Buhari was considered ruthless in the prosecution of the war after he became a military head of state, following a military coup that overthrew the corrupt civilian regime of President Shehu Shagari.

That coup and its aftermath were interpreted in different ways by different interest groups. While majority viewed his actions against politicians as deserving, politically conscious minority interpreted his follow-up actions as discriminatory. One of such was the treatment meted to the deposed President Shehu Shagari who was placed on house arrest, while his vice, Alex Ekwueme, was thrown into the prison, with other politicians. His critics believed the preferential treatment, was because Shagari was of similar tribe and religion.   

But in fairness to Buhari, the war against indiscipline resonated well with majority of Nigerians, who had suffered immeasurably, under the wasteful years of Shagari’s corrupt civilian government. At bus stops, banks, airports and other places where people struggle for spaces, decorum returned as people willingly queued up. To deal a blow to the politicians who many believed had stashed away millions in false pits, Buhari changed the national currency with such a frenzy that many were caught unawares.

While his action resonated with the majority who believed that the politicians deserved their comeuppance, there was the issue of the smuggled 53 suitcases which allegedly contained the same looted funds, belonging to a northern oligarchy. Under his watch, the national economy suffered recession, and experts attribute that the chaotic economic policies he championed. But he remained populist because he cleared the national landscape of the much hated politicians, who were swimming in splendour, while the majority were afflicted by scarcity of basic commodities and untrammelled inflationary pressure on goods and services.

Buhari’s immediate constituency were apparently unimpressed with his frugality, and less than two years after he took over, he was removed in a palace coup organized by Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB). While Buhari’s highhandedness was the reason given by his colleagues for his overthrow, there are tails of other underlying reasons. One was his war against hard drugs, which allegedly affected a prominent member of the cabal that ousted him. But the more plausible reason for some was that he was merely a placeholder, after the overthrow of President Shagari, a fellow Fulani.

There is also the belief that the coup was timed to ensure that a southern president do not emerge after Shagari’s second four years in power. That theory gained traction on the premise that vice president, Ekwueme, whose ethnic tribe fought a civil war barely a decade to his emergence, would be in a pole position to succeed Shagari. After the coup that ousted Buhari, and the house arrest which ironically the political elites celebrated, the Daura-born general literally went into oblivion until Sani Abacha happened to Nigeria.   

Read Also: How Buhari and I were admitted in same UK hospital before his death, by Abdulsalami

Under the regime of Abacha, Buhari surfaced again, as the chairman of Petroleum Task Force (PTF), which was a de facto alternate federal government. Obviously, with IBB and Abacha seen as buccaneers and spendthrifts, Abacha needed a person of integrity, to prove to sceptics that the monies coming from the increase in fuel price will not be wasted. So, he poached forcefully, the retired Buhari. In military style, and devoid of bureaucracy, the PTF became a ministry and parastatals joined together. The agency engaged in massive infrastructure programme across the country, but again, Buhari was accused of concentrating the projects in the north.

Emotionally, and perhaps financially rehabilitated, after his work as chairman of PTF, Buhari joined politics, and amassed a cult following. Through his speech and action, he was able to connect to the downtrodden, especially across northern Nigeria, like Aminu Kano, in old Kano State. He was seen as different from his fellow elites, regarded as leeches afflicting the resources of the country. They referred to him as mai gaskiya, the one who speaks the truth.

But in the south, he was hampered by the adverse image of a sectional leader and religious extremist. Some of his past actions while in office, his statement inferring that the early stunt of Boko Haram was his people, and his stern religious piety, were considered evidence of his religious extremism. But luck smiled on him, when his political part crossed with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the current president. Tinubu’s men were able to cast Buhari in a new persona, as pictures of him wearing bow-tie surfaced, and his positive exploits as a general who could defeat Boko Haram were successfully promoted.

Buhari, went ahead to win the 2015 general election and the next election in 2019 as a civilian president. While he made significant effort to tackle the Boko Haram menace, the insecurity in his northern region remained intractable. A new security challenge, posed by those regarded as bandits, metamorphosed across north west and north central, sending shivers down the spine of hereto safe states, of Zamfara, and Sokoto, the seat of the Caliphate.  Also, armed herdsmen gained heft, in attacks on farmers, especially in the middle and southern part of the country, under his watch.

As civilian president, Buhari did a lot on infrastructure development, and amongst the most iconic, was the 2nd Niger Bridge, considering his infamous slip on 97/5 percent. Buhari, untinctured and unapologetically frank, had said those who gave him more votes would get more infrastructure than those who gave very insignificant votes. For this writer, the claim that he hated Igbos does not hold water, for on two unsuccessful presidential elections, he had Chuba Okadigbo and Edwin Umezoke, as vice presidential candidates.

Sadly, the national economy again suffered recession under his watch. Perhaps he thought that because he had good intentions, the economy would obey his poor economic policies. Notably, he allowed his ministers to borrow unwieldly, to pursue his infrastructure programmes. The Central Bank, instead of remaining the government lender, became a direct lender to all manner of enterprises. With a dubious intent, Godwin Emefiele, his CBN governor, combined his duties with that of the ministry of finance, agriculture and whatever he fancied.

Buhari’s sudden death has made many politicians, who were hoping to ride his back in the 2027 elections orphans. There are already questions, about who will inherit the famous 12 million votes in Buhari’s babariga. Undoubtedly, none of the pretenders to Buhari’s throne has shown his uncanny connection to the masses in the north. As we bid former President Buhari eternal rest, the political landscape of northern Nigeria, will never be the same again.