PORTRAIT OF A GENERAL.

Is General Muhammadu Buhari driven by nationalist ideals or crass opportunism in his repeated quest to serve Nigeria as a civilian Head of State? That question has become imperative in view of the unique record he now holds as the only Nigerian to have contested the nation’s number one seat on four consecutive occasion, counting the forthcoming February 14 election. General Buhari challenged former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003; contested against the late Umaru Yar’Adua in 2007, slugged it out with President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 and is on the prowl again in 2015. He is 72.

On each of the three occasions Buhari had contested the presidency, he had lost, failing to make incursions into the Southern parts of the country, even when he maintained some level of popularity in the core North. In the 2015 experience so far, his supporters have been upbeat that with the alliance between the core Northern political parties and that of the party with strong showing in the South West, the coast could be clearer for the general. There is no doubt that things don’t work in that simplistic manner. But what are the qualities that recommend Buhari as a patriot, nationalist and a leader the people can trust.

His first coming

On December 31, 1983, Buhari and his soldier colleagues shot their way to power in Nigeria, ousting the administration of President Shehu Shagari, which took over from the military less than four years earlier. Buhari had however before then got some public mentions when he served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) in the Army, Military Governor of North Easter states and Minister of Petroleum Resources. He defined his coup in the early morning broadcast on January 1, 1984.

“The change became necessary in order to put an end to the serious economic predicament and the crisis of confidence now afflicting our nation.” That was Major General Muhammadu Buhari as head of the Supreme Military Council and Head of State of Nigeria in the early hours of January 1, 1984. He had just led the military to take over power from the civilians, whom he accused of running the country aground.

The General went further to justify the intervention: “The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only political parties that could complain of election rigging are those parties that lacked the resources to rig. There is ample evidence that rigging and thuggery were relative to the resources available to the parties. This conclusively proved to us that the parties have not developed confidence in the presidential system of government on which the nation invested so much material and human resources.

“While corruption and indiscipline have been associated with our state of under-development, these two evils in our body politics have attained unprecedented height in the past few years. The corrupt, inept and insensitive leadership in the last four years has been the source of immorality and impropriety in our society.

“Since what happens in any society is largely a reflection of the leadership of that society, we deplore corruption in all its facets. This government will not tolerate kick-backs, inflation of contracts and over-invoicing of imports etc. Nor will it condone forgery, fraud, embezzlement, misuse and abuse of office and illegal dealings in foreign exchange and smuggling.”

And he finally assured Nigerians thus: “Fellow Nigerians, finally, we have dutifully intervened to save this nation from imminent collapse. We therefore expect all Nigerians, including those who participated directly or indirectly in bringing the nation to this present predicament, to cooperate with us. This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together.”

Nigerians accepted the Buhari intervention wholeheartedly. He was practically given a red carpet treatment following the frustrations Nigerian had suffered under the Shehu Shagari administration between October 1, 1979 and December 31, 1983.

After the reception, what everyone expected to follow was the overflow of the express avowals of the Buhari military junta. But in 18 months, it appeared to Nigerians were moving in circles. A tyrannical rule had been imposed with enemies of the regime being handed huge jail terms ranging from 80 to 300 years. The Military Tribunal was the all in all but even when the tribunal returned a not guilty verdict against a politician; Buhari’s Supreme Military Council exercised extra-judicial powers to retain such persons in prisons. That was what happened in the case of the late Governor of Ondo state, Chief Adekunle Ajasin and another late Governor of Bendel state, Prof. Ambrose Alli among others.

There were attacks on virtually all sectors of the society and as it became apparent that Buhari could do nothing about the economy under the iron-fisted rule, his colleagues swept him aside on August 25, 1985.

His life after office

Following the palace coup that ousted Buhari, the General dropped off the national radar. He practically went home and became both an ethnic champion and religious leader. He was only heard through the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Services (BBC) and such language channels. He also became a leader and propagator of the ideals of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), the Northern socio-political organization.

Somehow, he managed to secure a public perception of a non-corrupt leader. With his Spartan way of life, he also won youths of the North over to himself.

The stint at PTF

Another opportunity to serve presented itself to Buhari in 1995 when he was named the Chairman, Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), the interventionist agency of the Government of the late General Sani Abacha. The fund managed proceeds from oil sales in excess of the government benchmark and intervened in almost every aspect of life.

His service at the PTF was however used to consolidate himself as a lover of the North. He propped up young Turks in the North and placed them in vantage position to manage the Fund. He made Afri-Projects Consortium, a form owned by Northerners the sole Consultants to PTF Projects nationwide, thereby empowering a class of Northerners. His performance at the PTF is believed to have laid the foundation for today’s cult-like following he enjoys in the core North today. As chairman of PTF, projects by the Fund, especially drugs project and road construction worked perfectly in the North, while parts of the South were being executed with challenges. Parts of the South West and South south never really experienced the drug project. Many roads were handled in the North, but they were scanty in the Southern parts. Though his later day handlers would release statistics to cover up his performance in that regard, with claims that more money was spent by the fund in the south, playing on the fact that road construction gulp more than double the cost of the North, the fact remains that the fund was seen as servicing the North more than the South.

After that showing, he again receded to become a leader of ACF. He was hardly seen at Council of States or any event in the southern parts of the country.

On October 13, 2000, a furious Buhari led a group of five leaders of ACF to Oyo state Government House in Ibadan to protest the killing of Fulani herdsmen in Saki Area of the state after the herdsmen had engaged their hosts in a battle. Buhari’s protest against the killing of “his people” by farmers in Oyo North however angered then Governor Lam Adesina, who accused the General of acting on rumour and advised him to henceforth take on the role of a statesman.  

Furious and stone faced, the General had spoken with venom, while stating the mission of his team before the late Governor Adesina. Reporters of The Guardian who covered the event described the situation thus: “Furious and speaking with a straight face, the retired general who arrived at about 11.25 am told the state Governor Alhaji Lam Adesina and members of the state’s executive council in the crowded council chambers that he and his team that included former Lagos State Governor, retired Brig.-Gen. Mohammed Marwa came with a petition to protest an alleged killing of about 68 itinerant Bororo Fulani herdsmen in Saki, Oke-Ogun area of the state.”

The late Governor was however said to have subtly told Buhari that he was condescending himself by becoming an ethnic champion. Adesina then admonished the former head of state to take on issues he called “national

problem” and help in eliminating violent clashes between farmers and herdsmen.

The governor had said: “In recent times, you have been sending wrong signals to those of us who believe in the unity and peace of Nigeria. You are being too critical of the efforts of the Federal Government”.

“Nigeria at this point cannot afford to break up but utterances from important leaders from the north are so weighty and we southerners normally analyse them critically.”

His presidential contests

Having sealed his place in the hearts of the Northern establishment, Buhari became a veritable tool to seek a return of power to the North. The North had moved to stall the re-election of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003 and had to turn to Buhari, following the failure of the then Vice President Atiku Abubakar to push through the “Mandela Option” which would have seen Obasanjo drop out of power in 2003. Again, some Northern leaders under the banner of ACF had also visited Obasanjo and asked him not to seek re-election in 2003 in line with an alleged one term pact. With Obasanjo rejecting the proposals, Buhari was prodded to join the presidential race. It was expected that with the North rallying around him, Obasanjo would be swept out of power.

General Buhari, who failed to make his campaigns felt in most of the South, however, lost the election. He also lost in 2007, when he contested against his kinsman, the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua as well as in 2011, when he battled President Goodluck Jonathan for the plum job. On all occasions, the North had adopted Buhari as its candidate. What is not clear this far is whether North’s support for Buhari has been a blessing or curse?

In the elections of 2003, 2007 and 2011, Buhari was perceived as a Northern candidate and failed woefully in the south. Though he recorded massive votes from the North, the fact of the Nigerian situation has confirmed that no candidate can win presidential election on the basis of votes from only one section of the country. The Constitution mandates a Presidential candidate to win a spread of 25 percent votes in at least 24 states of the federation. The North has 19 states, while the South has 17.   

As the build up to the 2015 election draw to a close, the Northern establishment has equally endorsed Buhari. It has been said that the North has been intimidating supporters of President Goodluck Jonathan and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in an orchestrated agenda to run them out of town and intimidate them from coming to vote. Such situation was said to have informed two attacks on presidential campaign train in Katsina and Bauchi in the last one week.

Will the alliance with the South West-based Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) yield any positives for Buhari this time? That is a question that would be firmly answered on February 14. The indices however, appear to be pointing only to a keener contest that that of 2015, which will still see Jonathan emerge victorious.

Pre-February 14 projections

Current projections are not widespread; yet, the few ones that have come on board have indicated that President Goodluck Jonathan would win the polls.  

The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based influential think-tank in the United States of America (USA) has said that the odds in the 14 February presidential election favour Dr Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP.

The institution, regarded as the most influential, most quoted and most trusted think-tank in the US said in an article published under the Africa Growth Initiative said that Jonathan’s PDP is more likely to win the February election.

The paper, which dwells on several aspects of the Nigerian election, in the article entitled “The 2015 Presidential Elections in Nigeria: The Issues and Challenges,” said that “though the election is expected to be very competitive, the odds still favor President Jonathan.”

The research work, which was presented by a Nigerian scholar, Jideofor Adibe, on behalf of the Brookings Institution, indicated that the elections would be a two-horse race between the PDP and the APC.

While highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the two main political parties, the PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Institution said the APC will be unable to unseat the PDP in the February elections.

The paper submitted: “After suffering a wave of defections to the APC last year, including five of its governors, the PDP seems to have rebounded strongly. In the battleground South West, for instance the party won recent governorship elections in Ekiti state and got the governor of Ondo state to defect from the Labour Party to the PDP.

“The party is, especially, strong in the South-South (where Jonathan comes from), the South-East and among Christians in the North. Again, while the PDP remains weak in the Muslim North, it has gained new influential members who decamped from the APC including the former governors of Kano state and Borno state. And, of course, the PDP has power of incumbency.

“APC gets much of its strength from tapping into Jonathan sentiments in the Muslim North and grievances among the Yoruba who feel that the Jonathan administration has ignored them in key political appointments. Allegations of corruption against top officials will be powerful ammunition in the hands of APC, especially with the choice of Buhari, widely seen as not corrupt, as the party’s presidential candidate.

“The party is, however, a fragile one that seems united only in its quest to wrest the presidency from Jonathan or to have power “returned” to the North. Though the election is expected to be very competitive, the odds still favor President Jonathan.”

Besides, the issues of corruption and insecurity that the opposition party has been allegedly using to smear the Jonathan-led administration; that it has been using to campaign against his re-election, have been pooh-poohed in many quarters. For instance, it has been argued that corruption and insecurity did not originate in the era of Jonathan’s Presidency. They festered even before he became president of the nation.

Within the time that Jonathan took over the mantle of leadership, his supporters have claimed, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have made remarkable achievements in the government’s efforts to fight corruption.

A recent, widely circulated report quoted the EFCC has reeling out that it had secured more than 773 convictions and recovered billions of naira since its inception in 2003.

The commission’s chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, said in Sokoto State, while inaugurating the Usman Danfodiyo University chapter of Zero Tolerance Club, an anti-corruption club, that the war against corruption, economic and financial crimes would only be won through concerted efforts.

According to him, “economic and financial crimes constitute a great challenge to the Nigerian economy and our nation’s image, both at home and abroad. The commission has been reorienting Nigerians not only to see the devastating effects of corruption, economic and financial crimes in all facets of our lives, but also to rise and do something about it.”

Also, according to the Head, Media and Publicity of the EFCC, Wilson Uwujaren, though the commission was delighted that it secured 117 convictions in 2013 alone, it was optimistic that the conviction figures would soon jump up, especially with the new practice directive by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) on the expeditious handling of corruption cases.

He said; “In 2013, the commission charged a total of 533 cases to court and recorded 117 convictions. This convictions figure represents an improvement over the 105 convictions recorded in 2012.

“The fact that 99 per cent of the convictions were secured by lawyers in the legal and prosecution department of the EFCC has buoyed the determination of the leadership of the commission to strengthen the department and de-emphasise the use of private solicitors for the prosecution of EFCC cases.”

Among those convicted in 2013 included Pastor Glory Abrefera and Reverend Vincent Okpogo and their company, Mustard Seed Micro Investment Limited. The two men of God where found guilty on a four count charge of carrying out banking practice without licence. The accused persons were said to have collected over N1 billion from different individuals and organisations as deposit in an illegal investment scheme, and failed to account for all the deposits they collected.

Also on the list is Aminu Sule Lamido, son of the current governor of Jigawa State, who was convicted on a money laundering charge and asked to forfeit 25 percent on the undisclosed sum he was arrested with at the Mallam Aminu Kano Airport in Kano State.

The ICPC has also reportedly achieved no mean feat during the Jonathan era.

A former Commissioner of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), Chief Okechukwu Chukwulozie, bagged a 15-year jail term over a N10.4 million fraud.

He was convicted by an Abuja High Court on a five-count charge for using private interest to furnish his official residence and demanding for a percentage in a contract he awarded.

The ICPC, in 2007, jointly charged Chukwulozie, his wife, Angela, and a former deputy commissioner in charge of Finance and Administration, Adedolapo Ogungbe, to court. The commission pursued the case to a logical conclusion under President Jonathan. Handlers of the president’s image have said that there are many more example of successes in fight against corruption that have been recorded.

Also cited as one of the silent revolutions the president introduced into the nation’s governance is the use of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in the nation’s economic management. The standards, said to have been set by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), is the single most important initiative in the financial reporting world. According to reports, the impact of IFRS goes far beyond financial reporting; it affects many key decisions that companies and public organizations must make.

The introduction of this standard is said to have made it extremely difficult for public officials to siphon public funds, as all the previously explored loopholes have been blocked. This, however, it has been noted, does not portend that efforts are not being made to shortchange government from time to time; but that such acts would not go undetected and the culprit purnished.

Deconstructing Buhari?

Several messages in the print media and social media circles in recent times have attempted to deconstruct General Muhammadu Buhari. A number of issues are being raised for the General’s attention. While some question Buhari’s non-existence on any developmental platforms since he burst into public consciousness in the 1970s some also question his association with persons who are believed to have issues with the nation’s anti-corruption agencies.

One of the messages tagged, “Buhari... the Change We Don’t Need” questioned why Buhari as a leader of educationally challenged North has never built any school in his name or construct a borehole for use of the poor. The message also questioned why Buhari has not record of scholarship awards to any citizen of the country and why he has not used his popularity to canvass for any charitable work or humanitarian efforts such as the polio scourge.

The message further questioned why Buhari has not been seen delivering papers at different events to provide insights into his intellectual depth as well as why he has failed over the years to donate text books and support for the poor.

Besides, the message deployed why no book has been written in honour of the former Head of State or why he never published his memos and experiences just like his peers including Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and others.

The message added that Buhari, knowing the educational needs of the North failed to champion the establishment of a university in his state or schools for the teeming Almajiris around the North.

Those who posted the message further said that it was worrisome to note that Buhari has not been linked with being a patron of any organization, group or professional bodies and why he is not seen in such groups, conventions or gala nights.

The group said it was not at ease to discover that the Boko Haram sect openly nominated Buhari as its negotiator in the proposed talks with the Federal Government which never saw the light of day.

Another group, the United Nigeria Collective for Integrity raised a number of posers which it said Buhari must respond to. The groups threatened to open up more on Buhari if he fails to respond to the posers.

The group, in an advertorial titled “Posers General Muhammadu Buhari must answer,” wrote: “There is a general view that General Muhammadu Buhari is not corrupt but that he only enjoys proceeds of corruption. We need the General to set the records straight by replying these posers:

“Is it true that General Buhari owns two prestigious estates in Abuja, built for him by the consultants that he hired to implement the work government gave to him as chairman of PTF?

“And that the rent value that gets to Gen. Buhari from the two estates is estimated at a little above N50m yearly?

“Is it true that all those funding General Buhari’s campaign got their money through government and none of them is known to be an industrialist or owners of manufacturing companies that generate revenue?

 “As General Buhari hops from one private jet to the other in the course of his campaigns, has he ever asked the source of wealth that bought these jets?

“Is it true that in 2011 a former vice-president of Nigeria donated $2 million to Buhari for his campaigns and that Buhari never said thank you or show appreciation in whatever form for the donation and that he (Buhari) later told friends that the money was from a corrupt source? If so, why didn’t he return the money?

“Is it true that while Buhari presents himself as ‘Mr Clean,’ he surrounds himself with some of those who brought Nigeria on its knees through corruption in the various states they had served?”

Indeed, beyond the trumpeted outlook of Mr. clean pasted on Buhari, the General needs to communicate more to the people to give insights into his character and persona. In recent times, he has had to lift the lid on the issue of his hitherto unknown wife, who was showcased at a rally recently. The General has also had to address press conferences on his state of health and the controversy over his certificates, a running battle that has refused to end. Even when his school in Katsina released the result he was said to have obtained in 1961, the PDP and a section of Nigerians appeared still dissatisfied. By communicating his person more to the people, many more would know more of General Muhammadu Buhari.

Tribune.