Ojenagbon: Prospect of a Buhari presidency

NOT one to have taken initial liking to this stern general, the writer has since been bowled over by the appealing conviction of his candidature in the same manner that a come-back kid Abraham Lincoln finally wooed the American electorate to the presidency.

  Since he made his political ambition known, events in the country now tend to gravitate towards him – you are either for him or against him. It was only the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo who enjoyed such a rare privilege in the nation’s history. In the same measure, every issue around him has equally become wantonly politicised by a vicious opponent desperate to hold on to power. For a start, I certainly do not consider him perfect and not even the greatest men in history were, the great Madiba with all his foibles inclusive.  

   But no matter what his opponents say about him, the exalted place of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in Nigerian history is well assured. He is a rare gift to a country that needs him more than he needs the country at this moment of his life. As a septuagenarian at the age of 72, what spoils of office would be driving his motivation if not to salvage his beloved country? What obscene wealth would he accumulate now that he couldn’t have amassed when he was in office as former Head of State, state governor, Petroleum Minister and Chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) among several other lofty positions?

   His conduct while in office is exemplary for a Nigerian leader in a country where corruption is cultured and celebrated that a common local government chairman could become a billionaire over night with several houses at home and abroad to his name, a fleet of exotic cars among other paraphernalia of ill-gotten wealth. He enjoys the cult followership of those who believe in him unlike his opponent whose support stems from those who are either benefiting from him or just don’t like Buhari for one reason or the other.

   Buhari’s lifestyle is austere to say the least, a disciplinarian to the core who brought his good qualities to the fore while in office as a former head of state. Besides the late General Murtala Muhammed whose tenure lasted barely a few months, Buhari headed a military government that was truly disciplined and corrective that many Nigerians of that dispensation wished he had stayed longer in office. As a leader at that time he walked the talk that many Nigerians took to his glowing example as law and order was restored to the country.  

   But for the overthrow in 1985 by General Ibrahim Babangida, the massive corruption and moral decay that set in immediately after lasting to this moment in the Goodluck Jonathan government, the country would by now be a perfect and worthy example for the rest of Africa. Unlike many generals and other influential officers in previous military administrations, he could have helped himself directly to the till or some oil wells even as a former minister of petroleum but he didn’t; which speaks volumes.

    Corruption eats up a country or an organization in the same manner cancer destroys the human body if not checked in time. Under the Jonathan administration, the country has bled profusely from wasteful spending and become broke though they have kept blaming the downtrend on falling oil prices? Under Jonathan, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been finally tucked in as a government anti-corruption agency that very little is heard of these days except when they are running after yahoo-yahoo boys while the real criminal monsters are let off the hook and decorated with national awards as soon they agree to support Jonathan. A country that honours thieves will not make much progress.  

    Goodluck Jonathan’s profligacy and incapacity to check the extravagant spending habits of his ministers and aides are the immediate reason the country is broke and not because oil prices have fallen. Is Nigeria the only OPEC member? How come other member countries are not taking panic measures that punish their citizens?  It is simply because they have been prudent with their resources and not wasteful as our government has been. The ability of any government to stave through difficult economic patches would depend on how well it had managed its resources in the past. Regardless of the record that the Jonathan government flaunts, the economy has been badly managed so much that the naira now exchanges at N200 to a unit of dollar. Similarly, the so-called biggest economy in Africa has not been able to bring succour to the teeming unemployed even as some industries have relocated to other African countries.

    It is not new for generals to come to the rescue of their nations during their most difficult moments in history: Winston Churchill did it in Britain, Charles De Gaulle in France, and Dwight David Eisenhower in the United States just to mention a few. Buhari will do now in Nigeria if he gets the mandate and it would be the best collective decision Nigerians ever made. Nigeria deserves some fresh breath from the chocking and suffocating air that the 16 years rulership and destruction of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has dealt on the country.

   Buhari had been called fundamentalist. It couldn’t be further from the truth because only a liberal Muslim would give out his daughter to a Christian. His personal driver and several other close aides are known to be practising Christians. This fact has also been well acknowledged by his former running mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare, a man of God known for integrity and candour.  

   Some pedestrian critics raise the fuss that he is too old at 72 but it is certainly not about the age. Ronald Reagan became president at almost 70, Mandela become president at 76, it is the state of his mind which is sound and his physical well being – fortunately he is hale and hearty, fit as a fiddle and is capable of taking on the various menaces (Boko Haram, corruption et al) that Jonathan, a much younger man at 54 has been shying away from.

   Even the come-back example of Edo State readily suffices. For over 10 years, PDP then in power ravaged the once progressive Edo State until Adams Oshiomhole resuscitated the state and restored it to the path of progress. It will take a good leader who is a good manager of men and resources to move Nigeria forward, not a waster of resources who has plunged the country into an economic recession. In any case, why won’t a country have economic problems if the presidential fleet has 11 exotic planes that devour a huge maintenance budget among many other economic misdemeanors. 

• Ojenagbon wrote from Lagos.