Dear, Gen. Buhari, I feel duty-bound to write this one more letter to you before the presidential election which is due in only two weeks. My hopes and fears for Nigeria compel me.
You and I can remember that our Nigeria at independence was taking strong steps towards success, prosperity and greatness in the world. Since then, it has slumped and relentlessly declined. And now that we are senior citizens, our country has reached an absolute bottom – with fears that it can implode and disappear. Because I see that your chances of winning this election are good, I believe I have a duty to speak to you.
Honestly, I must say that, ordinarily, I should not be speaking like this to a Nigerian leader from the North. By the time I came into Nigeria’s politics in the 1970s, I had studied and taught African and Nigerian history in universities for years, I had travelled extensively in Africa, and I was well informed about the reasons why Nigeria was declining. Of the man-made factors in those reasons, the most potent was the deliberate design of our northern controllers of federal power at independence to use all and every means to make their own nationality dominant over Nigeria so as to rule Nigeria forever. By the mid-1970s, that design had produced an agenda for using federal public money to corrupt, emasculate and subdue the elites from all parts of Nigeria. I served in the leadership group of the UPN and in the Senate during the Shagari presidency, and I watched this agenda as it virulently weakened other political parties in the National Assembly, fomented division and discord in many state governments, and ultimately destabilized many state governments. I watched it as it inculcated unbridled greed and corruption into our country’s politics and public service – and as it gradually destroyed the moral foundations of our country.
But, in spite of all this, I must, in duty, talk to you. All things about you considered, I believe that you are different in a way that is good for our country; I believe that, in spite of your origin, ethnicity and religion, you are very able to envision, independently, a clear picture of what you believe to be right for our country, and you are exceptionally able to follow what you believe to be right. Very few human beings, coming from your background in 1983, would have dared to take the steps which you took on December 31 of that year – namely, to shut down the Shagari presidency, and to tell the world that you had done it in order to save the ordinary citizens of Nigeria from a boundless corruption that was bringing poverty, suffering and sadness into their lives. Of course, when you hounded into prison folks like me, Chief Ajasin, Chief Fasoranti, Alhaji Jakande, Chief Bola Ige and others who had been fighting the corruption in our own ways before you came, I thought you were confused and I despised you. But even in prison, I could not help wondering that a leading Fulani person had dared to pull down the system of government by corruption which his own people had very adroitly choreographed. I could not help admiring your guts.
Out of prison some months later, and back to my task of studying the affairs of my country, I was not surprised that many among the northern elite (your own people) regarded you as a traitor and an enemy. Many of such persons still regard you as a traitor, rebel, and enemy today – and Nigeria has been hearing trenchantly from some of them in recent weeks. But, happily, in the same vein, the masses of the common people of the North see you as a friend who can revamp their country, and who can give them a chance to share in the prosperity that you can usher in for Nigeria. The pauperized masses of the South share the same enthusiasm for you, and the same hope in you. It is therefore on behalf of these poor masses of Nigerians in all regions of Nigeria that I hereby offer you the following thoughts.
First, I know you will fight corruption. Be assured that you will enjoy very strong support as you do it. But, please be aware that subduing corruption per se would be no more than only a Pyrrhic victory. After you leave the presidency, if the presidency still controls all the limitless powers it controls today, with the limitless financial resources, and the limitless freedom to access the finances, your successor can simply revive the corruption. Remember that after Babangida replaced you in 1985, he simply revived and enhanced corruption – and even constructed corruption into an avowed system of governance.
Secondly, therefore, you must lead our country towards appropriately restructuring our federation. I am aware that some of your most eminent Arewa kinsmen want the federation to remain in its present form, with the federal government controlling all powers and resources, with states too impotent to achieve meaningful development, with the federal government able to barge disruptively and obstructively into any state, with the states operating as clients of the federal overlord, and with controllers of federal power presuming that it is their right to decide election results all over Nigeria and to enthrone persons of their choice in all states. Essentially, what we now have is not federalism at all. Restructuring it should have three objectives – to affirm respect for, and promote harmony among, our indigenous nationalities; to establish strong and development-capable states; and to ensure a federal government competently managing the commanding heights of our country’s economy, defending our country, and managing our country’s relations in the world. I believe that even against your own kinsmen’s objection, you have the strength of character to do this. That strength of character, I repeat, is what is now endearing you to very many Nigerians.
Thirdly, you must lead us to redirect and enrich our economy – by developing dependable infrastructures; and by investing in our common people to build a strong modern economy (through expansion and improvement of education, modern job-related skills, entrepreneurial, small-business, and modern farming development progammes, and promotion of export orientation). As I have written before in this column, we can learn a lot from a small country like Singapore. This expanding economy will nurture a strong modern labour force, create businesses, expand employment, de-emphasize our people’s dependence on politics as a means of livelihood, rapidly increase efficiency, decrease poverty, and systematically help to banish public corruption.
Fourthly, you must lead us to review our governmental system. Our present presidential system, with presidents and governors seeing themselves as dictators, has been a disaster. It is one of the reasons why impunity and corruption have grown so strong in our country. We need to return to the parliamentary system with its principle of shared responsibilities at the top of government. We need to infuse discipline and respect for laws into our politics and governance. And we need to infuse integrity into every department and position in our governments.
In summary, the masses of our people are saying that they hope you can recreate Nigeria for them (and downsize the political barons and kleptocrats). Will you fulfil their hopes?
