‘The Daura man is very clever’

This week’s topic is indeed the conclusion of the whole matter I began three weeks ago on a thematic area: ‘Why Buhari is a man of the decade (1&2)’. It has been part of my periodical Buhariwatch. I just want us to reflect on where the rains have been beating us in this country of anything is possible. I want all the knowledgeable ones to come with me to a point where I want us to have some understanding that this Daura strong man, our current leader is not as clueless and ignorant, after all, as most of us have been portraying him.
 
In other words, I have a gut feeling that most of us who have always been pontificating on the vision and strategy of the Daura man in Nigeria are the ones who are actually clueless about the dynamics and use of power – in a country we hardly understand. I mean a country where the power elite does not have a consensus about what they want their country to be. I appreciate the opinions of my brothers and sisters who have been outraged about mere rhetoric on President Buhari being suggested as a ‘Man of the Decade’. But I mean it. The Daura lanky man is my ‘Man of the Decade’. I would like people to understand that Buhari, our leader at this time, is the man the iconic Chinua Acbebe actually calls “the white man” in his classic Things Fall Apart.

According to this plot, yet, Obierika does not lay the blame wholly on the side of the white man. He feels also that the Umuofians who have converted to Christianity have consciously and wrongly turned their backs on their own “brothers.” This assessment complicates our understanding of the novel, as Achebe prevents us from seeing matters in clear-cut terms of good (black) versus bad (white). Indeed, Achebe elsewhere attempts to demonstrate the validity of some questions about Igbo culture and tradition.

If religion and tradition are seen as the threads that hold the clan together, and if that religion is flawed and that tradition vulnerable, it becomes hard to determine who is at fault for the resulting destruction. Certainly, Achebe does not blame the villagers. But, while this quotation displays his condemnation of the colonialists for their disrespect toward Igbo customs, it also shows his criticism of some clan members’ responses to the colonial presence…Or so it seems.

In the same vein, I would like us to understand that: The Daura man, (like Achebe’s white man) is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his brand of political style. We were amused at his craftiness and allowed him to win election and re-election. Now he has won our brothers, and our country can no longer act like one. Despite that, he has taken control of the three arms of government. He has retained control of the intelligence and security services. He has a stronghold of all the armed and paramilitary forces. He has in his firm control the police force. He has also deftly used his resourceful ‘kitchen cabinet’ (some call cabal) dominated by senior journalists to take control of the mainstream media. He appears to have pacified so many pipers. He, therefore, calls the tune as he controls even the pipe. He has also seized the presidency. The public intellectual with whom he shares the mandate has been kept busy, fighting for his reputation. He has the entire justice system in his hand. Three of the four anti-graft agencies can’t betray him. In fact, the fourth one is just there. Wait a minute, the ‘glocal’ agency in charge of financial intelligence to is headed by a technocrat who hails from a village close to the First lady in Adamawa state. He has all the governors’ forums at his beck and call. One is headed by Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State another one is headed by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, another is headed by Governor Udom Gabriel of Akwa Ibom State and the central governors forum is headed by Governor Kayode Fayemi, his beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. Let me go back to Ogidi, where Achebe is still speaking: He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”

Did you read a public relations gaffe by Nigeria from the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)? There was a report from one of the president’s men that in a fit of triumphalism, the President was speaking in a local language about the place of the Fulani nation in the world today. The setting was Nigeria’s day at the United Nations last when the three powerful Nigerian representatives on the stage were prominent Fulani: The President, Muhammadu  Buhari, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, Amina Jane Mohammed, a Fulani, President of the United Nations 74th General Assembly, Professor Tijjani Muhammad Bande, a Fulani were all beamed to the world. The man we describe as clueless, planned that glorious moment for his nation. He already knew that Hajia Amina he supported to be UN Deputy Secretary was already there when he also nominated a world-class scholar, former Vice-Chancellor, former Director-General, NIPSS, of Fulani extraction, Professor Bande as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 2016. Abike Dabiri-Erewa’s damage control statement explaining that the presidential aide should have mentioned three eminent Nigerians instead of three Fulani, last week could not take the steam out of the pre-eminent position the Daura artful man earned for his nation last week.

That is why I have no hesitation in recommending this quiet operator of our time, President Muhammadu Buhari who has achieved more than the founder of the Sokoto Caliphate, Usman dan Fodio (1754-1817) and Alhaji, Sir Ahmadu Bello (1910-1966) for his nation as the indisputable ‘Man of the Decade’.