Ifeanyi Ebenezer OnyikeAnyone that knows how much the citizens routed for President Buhari in 2014 does not need to look too far for an example of a man that enjoyed the goodwill of an entire nation. Having failed several times in his bid to become president, many persons, including me, felt that he had garnered enough experience in failure and therefore would do well as a leader, a thought premised not just on his previous experience as a military head of state and other positions he occupied in different military regimes, but also on his avowed integrity.
Why not? Though a ramrod Muslim and at the time accused by the PDP of links with Boko Haram, we believed that he was a better choice than Jonathan who was perceived weak in tackling corruption and Boko Haram terrorism. I recalled joining the campaign, “Anything, but Jonathan”.
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How wrong we were! Not only did Buhari’s administration usher in a recession in its first year, Boko Haram terrorism which was restricted to some parts of the Northeast with Sambisa forest as headquarters, became a nationwide menace with its splinter groups disguised as herdsmen and ISWAP. With that, the killing of hapless citizens of the country quadrupled across the states. I’m sure that the people of Benue, Plateau, Enugu and the other states where herdsmen murdered citizens under circumstances that could have been avoided if intelligence worked, will be glad to miss Mr President.
Buhari’s administration, I won’t join the PUNCH Newspaper to call it a regime, was an excuse of a democratic government or any development-conscious government at that. It lacked two basic attributes of democracy- the rule of law and freedom of expression. Under his watch, attempts were made to arrest judges, sometimes, in a clandestine manner. Opposition members were hounded and eventually silenced. It was excused as one of the drastic measures to tackle corruption. I wonder today, which of the judges was prosecuted successfully or prosecuted at all? People became too afraid to talk despite the provisions and laws made by the previous administration to open up society and enthrone the rule of law through the freedom of expression. No society develops when citizens cannot freely express their opinions about their government and the way they are governed. The minister of information had the personal mandate to caution Nigerians on how they talk or use the media, especially social media. That remains the only legacy Lai Mohammed would leave as an information minister. His defence of even the indefensible became obvious that some people uncharitably nicknamed him, “Mr Lie Mohammed.”
The social media bill purportedly to fight fake news, and ban on Twitter for whatever reason, was, to say the least, the highest demonstration of this administration’s intolerance of freedom of speech. Ironically, this same administration rode to power through the support garnered on social media and from journalists. If it isn’t the case of walking up the ladder and ensuring that no one else enjoyed the same privilege, then tell me what it is?
By the way, which leader shuns the yearnings of the citizens like this government almost did with the demands of Nigerians across divides to disband SARS? Not until the protests turned violent did the government act. Even at that, the first reaction was a change of name for the group. One begins to wonder the special job the SARS, a special unit in the police force, was doing that could not continue if they are disbanded and members reintegrated into the main police?
In recognition of the draconian conduct of his government, the PUNCH newspaper declared its lack of confidence on the democratic posturing of the president and chose instead to address him by his military title as Major General, since that seemed a better description of a civilian leader governing almost by fiat. Other newspapers were not that audacious, which I think if they were, the government would have had reasons to soft pedal a bit. But, is it even possible? With the self-serving media aides that surround him, one cannot expect anything other than an assurance of a counter-media attack for him. And, it indeed came from his senior media aide, our own Femi Adesina, a seasoned journalist and editor. He rubbished whatever impact the PUNCH stance could have had by insisting that calling Buhari a Major General does not amount to dressing him in a borrowed garb, since Mr President earned the title as a military man. He didn’t lie, but how has that helped the government?
If there was anything that best captures the relationship between the government and its citizens, it is the story of Joachin Iroko Chinakwe, the man who named his dog Buhari. He was arrested in 2016 and prosecuted for naming his dog after the president and in a bid to destroy every evidence against him, he allegedly had his dog killed and buried. So much for a society that doesn’t value human life talk less of the life of animals. In other societies, it’s a thing of honour to name your pet after your loved leader and indeed Iroko revealed his intentions to stem from a position of admiration for the president. Do we not have them call dogs by the name- Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Goodluck and Ghadaffi? One then wonders the basis of the arrest, detention and prosecution, except that – this is Nigeria.
An adage describes the evil of giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it. That dog would be alive today if it wasn’t unfortunate to bear a certain name that it didn’t choose for itself. However, another adage says that ezi afa k’ ego (a good name is better than wealth). One wished that Mr President intervened immediately the story became public.
I would have love to end with the preceding paragraph, but, it’s instructive to note that the apologies rendered to Nigerians by the first lady and the talk of relocating to Niger Republic wouldn’t have sufficed if the country was allowed to breathe and the economy left the way it was or better. But, not only is the economy battered, Nigerians have lost their pride of place across the globe. They have also become cheap targets for attack and ridicule because their president agreed that the citizens are lazy and fantastically corrupt. Very soon, Nigerians won’t be allowed into any country, regardless of the values they add to those countries. In any case, if it’s not a refugee situation, who admits thousands of citizens desperately seeking to leave a country that’s not at war?
I’m sure the president-elect is not as terrible a leader, but, I watched as he struggled to campaign, because of the inglorious nature of the administration he bequeathed to us. Nothing can be more ingratiating than knowing that the masquerade you made fell at the market square. The mistakes of this administration stick on him like the chameleon faeces. The good thing is that he now has the choice of correcting some of the mistakes of the past or not.
People like me didn’t vote for him because of his age and state of health. The Buhari example has shown us the implications of having an aged and sick president, many Nigerians didn’t wish a repeat. He won the election nonetheless, and it’s our responsibility to accord him all due regards, including telling him the truth. If he shuts us up like his predecessor, we would treat him like the all-knowing king that had no one to advise. The day his white robe will be tainted by faeces, everyone will look on – unperturbed.
Dr Onyike is the Director of HND-BSc Conversion Programme at Dominican University Ibadan. E-mail: onyike.i@dui.edu.ng
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