FEATURE ARTICLE

Tonye David-West, Jr., Ph.D
ibnaija@yahoo.com
Political Scientist
USA

Let us examine Buhari's head!

he recent declaration of retired General Muhammedu Buhari for the APP, the All People's Party, on Thursday, April 25, 2002, is deserving of further scrutiny. That he, Buhari, the abortionist of democracy, has declared to join the Arewa party to make himself available to the nation after he initially decided not to seek that high office is the beginning of the hatching of a concerted Arewa agenda. An agenda that has been the final result of months of consultative meetings, juxtaposing, posturing, negotiations and bargaining. We must note that Buhari did not just get up and declare himself a presidential candidate without being assured of the backing of the power brokers of the north. Our elders say when a bat flies in the middle of the day, there is sometime chasing it as it is unusual for such an animal to fly in the day. When Buhari declares for the APP, then we must all know that there is sometime afoot.

With this declaration, it means that all other northern aspirants like Alhaji Abubakar Rimi, etc, would have to shelf their own political ambitions for another four years as Buhari has been earmarked to claim the APP mantle. But, Buhari, will have a lot of problems. For one, he and IBB, the one who "appointed" Obasanjo to the presidency are not the best of friends. It was on August 17, 1985 when IBB who was third in command in Buhari's junta betrayed his bosses and took matters into his own hands crowning himself king. Buhari, who had retreated to his village in the then Kaduna state, now kastina, was not pleased with this insubordination neither was his deputy, the late Gen. Tunde Idiagbon who went to the lesser hajj in Mecca at the time of the said insubordination.

But there is more. Buhari and Idiagbon during the 20 months in office prosecuted to no end bureaucrats of the Shagari era, ministers and government officials alike. And rumors had it that the axe was getting ready to fall on members of the junta such as IBB when IBB moved against them to take over the reigns of power. With Buhari now seeking the presidency once again, it means that IBB must work hard to prevent such from materializing as a Buhari presidency would mean that he, IBB, would have to sleep with one eye open. We are well aware of the fate suffered by the crated Alhaji Umaru Dikko for the alleged $2 billion rice scandal while he was transportation minister in his brother-in-law's administration. The two men, IBB and Buhari, certainly have unfinished business and a Buhari presidency, in spite of the seemingly friendly disposition being displayed in public by both men, would be an affront to the economic existence of IBB.

Buhari himself has proven that he cannot wade through the diplomatic waters in a democratic setting. His regime in its twenty months was very oppressive, very dictatorial with its dragonian laws, handing over sentences of more than 200 years to politicians and hounding others out of the country. It was in 1985 when three Nigerian students from the US found guilty of drug charges were executed in spite of the fact that the law on which they were tried was enacted after the offence took place. This happened in the face of international pleas for clemency and for commuting of the sentences to life. For Buhari to think that Nigerians have forgotten his repressive laws and will rush to the polls to usher him into Aso Rock is indicative of a degenerative mental ailment that has befallen the former dictator, thus, the need for us to examine his head.

It seems that the APP's desperation for instant resurrection neglected to factor into the equation the fact that Nigerians are disenchanted with retired generals, especially, when that retired general is Buhari, the religious fanatic who once told Moslems to only vote for a Moslem in the presidential elections. Perhaps, Christians should borrow a page from his dictum and vote for only a Christian candidate and let us see if he would get to Aso Rock on the votes of Moslems only. Perhaps, he should campaign only in Moslem enclaves as he should not seek Christian votes since according to him, Nigerians should vote on religious lines, not on the candidate's integrity, platform and abilities.

Buhari and his APP sponsors ought to know that there is no room in Aso Rock for another northern president. In fact, the north must wait until the election year of 2019 to seek that office. They should know that Nigeria belongs to all and as such, they must make room for the south-south, south-east and the west to have their filled with the presidency before the north can have a go at it. The declaration of Buhari for the APP in hopes of capturing its presidential ticket is ill-advised, ill timed and is bound to weaken the northern coalition as Buhari is viewed as a weak candidate like Alhaji Bashir Tofa before him who will not garner the needed votes to carry the elections.

Buhari's declaration is strategic. Some elements in the north through the APP are playing games, serving warning to Obasanjo that if he does not favor them in his policies, that Buhari stands ready. Buhari has become the decoy, there to keep the fire burning under Obasanjo’s feet and those of his men. He is there to remind Obasanjo that the north is capable of throwing a wrench in his engine. Why Buhari? Why not Rimi for example? Why not Balarabe Musa? Why not IBB? Why not Abubakar? Why not Buba Maruwa? Why not one of the other retired generals? The answer is simple--Buhari, in spite of his repressive 20-month reign and questionable tenure at the Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, remains the most credible northern candidate in terms of honesty and probity. During his twenty months in office, and thereafter, no one could accuse him and his late deputy, Gen. Idiagbon, of corruption, embezzlement, rather, of heavy handedness and iron rule. Therefore, if they continue to press home the point that Obasanjo's administration has been corrupt and inept, unable to stamp out corruption, then of course, Buhari would be presented as the alternative in the eyes of the voters since his regime did wage a war against corruption.

But what the APP and those aforementioned northern elements seem not to have taken into consideration is the fact that Buhari does not possess the political augmen, the know-how, the 'soft touch' needed in a position such as the presidency of Nigeria to warrant any serious attention. His declaration, however intentioned to serve notice to Obasanjo that he must pay greater attention to the north is rather cosmetic, a matter of window dressing, occasioned to parade the north in the political limelight, to announce to Nigerians that it has not lost its political relevance. The APP has become the modern day PPP, Mallam Aminu Kano's PPP in the second republic, just there because it has a right to exist.

For the APP, Buhari's candidacy is a boost considering the fact that many of its card-carrying members are pitching their tents these days with the more mainstream party of the PDP. Who will blame them? To it, Buhari would bring a much needed recognition and legitimacy for its yet to be determined course. But regrettably, Buhari, to the generality of Nigerians is already a spent force. A man who has lost the election even before April 25, 2002, the day he declared for the APP. He is better off pulling out the rocking chair to his porch in his native Daura, Kastina, and rock away his remaining years. Better yet, a trip to the psychiatric ward at the nearest psychiatric hospital might be in order. For him to think that Nigerians might actually embrace his candidacy in the face of his latest utterances, actions, deeds such as his outright support and encouragement of Sharia laws and advocating same for southern states and the entire Nigeria are the most potent reasons for a thorough head examination for the retired general.

What's more? His candidacy also renews the debate as to whether he has the moral right to contest an election when he aborted democracy on December 31, 1983? He is yet to be tried for violating the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria when he shoved aside Shagari and his team of corrupt officials. What right does he have to benefit from the dividends of democracy when he truncated it with no palpable plans of returning the country to democracy under his watch, thus, denying Nigerians the right to democratically elect their leaders? His expected candidacy for the presidency of Nigeria is the latest of a series of jokes being occasioned by some elements in the north in their bid to launch the north back into reckoning. They have clearly chosen the wrong man for this task. No one could be more narrow-minded, more fanatic in the religious realm, more conservative, more despotic, more intolerant of divergent views and opinions, more divisive, more tribalistic, more militaristic in views and thoughts and more ignorant of the affairs of the nation than retired General Muhammedu Buhari of Daura, Kastina.

Way to go, APP!