Gen. Buhari’s second chance

Gen. Buhari’s second chance

Thunder does not strike twice in the same place, so it is said. But history has a way of repeating itself. On the December 31, 1983, a no-nonsense son of a gun named Major-General Muhammadu Buhari got pissed off with bad governance and high level of corruption in the civilian regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari and decided to do something desperate about it. On December 30, 1983, I could have sworn that I saw Gen. Buhari along Jos-Rukuba road in Plateau state. The Rukuba Cantonment is the headquarters of the 3rd Armoured Division of the Nigerian Army where Gen. Buhari was the General Officer Commanding (GOC). It was not that our paths often crossed even though I was the deputy editor of the Jos-based state-owned Sunday Standard newspaper at the time.

On that fateful Saturday morning, we were jolted from our sleep by the very familiar martial music that normally heralded a coup d’état. The government of Shagari had been toppled barely three months into its second term. On the eve of that overthrow, I was with the deputy governor of old Plateau State, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma in the regime of Chief Solomon Lar. Doma was like an uncle to me. In our company was Barr. Baba Adi. We had a good time, eating fried meat dressed with mild pepper. Incidentally, the leadership of Shagari was one of the issues we discussed extensively… the level of corruption under his watch and his meek nature that nurtured the monster out of control. So, I was not surprised that Buhari struck the next day, hinging his alibi on corruption, mismanagement of our economy and post-election violence that followed the elections of that year.

Before Shagari and his thieving ministers were sent packing, corruption was not as rampant as it is today. May be it was because there was not so much money at the disposal of the government at that time. Corrupt public office holders were looting in five digits. A few were stealing in millions and were able to own private jets. I cannot remember more than one or two “polithiefcians” who were able to hit a billion naira target. Today, the story is different and the stealing is exponential. In the past 16 years that Nigeria returned to democracy, the outgoing Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) transformed the system to “thievocracy”, meaning government of the thieves, by the thieves and for the thieves. Virtually every key participant in this expiring government of President Goodluck Jonathan demonstrated amazing propensity to steal. I have never seen as much tendency to acquire wealth as enthused by our politicians and their collaborators in the public service. And this is at all levels of government.

As the people stole in millions and then in billions of naira, then in millions of dollars and then in billions of dollars, our anti-corruption Czar twitched in exasperation… all along. He twitched and attempted to seize power not through the barrel of the gun as he did in 1983 but through the instrumentality of the ballot box in 2003. He failed. Four years later, he twitched again and fought to grab power. But it was his kinsman, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, that made it to the Aso Rock Villa in a “fraudulent” manner. He re-twitched in 2011; he failed again. Then they labeled him a serial loser. After failing in the third attempt, he vowed to leave the political space, weeping for a hapless nation. He was mocked. But somewhere along the line, he was persuaded to return to the battlefield. He must have been reminded that generals do not chicken out of battle like a chick fleeing at the sight of a hawk. As the 2015 general elections beckoned, he began to twitch as usual. In fact, his twitching became more intense on seeing the gigantism of corruption and the enormous havoc it has wreaked on the socio-economic life of the masses.

This time around, his persistent twitching paid off. The rest, as they say, is now history. So, no more twitching, General! It is time for action. In the build-up to the general elections, this God’s gift to Nigeria was demonised and packaged as an ogre to fear. They said that instead of building universities, he would erect new prisons and expand the existing ones so that he could haul (innocent) people into jail. And that the return of the anti-corruption tsar would set us back by 30 years. The question is: Are we moving forward as a nation? Presently, what we are witnessing is motion without movement: collapse of critical infrastructure like power; grinding poverty; massive unemployment; endless queues at fuel stations; bad governance; endless strikes across the board; insecurity; armed banditry; kidnapping for ransom; barefaced theft, etc.

There is a well worn axiom that says “If you do not know your way forward, you can retrace your steps”. It is obvious that we are lost in a labyrinth. And by the grace of God, a pathfinder has emerged on the scene to move us forward again. So, all of us should hop into the bandwagon and resume our trip cut short exactly 30 years ago.

As a starting point, let us have War Against Indiscipline (WAI) reintroduced. There is so much indolence in the public service system and disorderliness everywhere. Let there be a probe of corrupt politicians, civil servants and their collaborators; let there be seizure of illegally acquired assets; let there be a repeat of the change of naira colours, a la 1984, as an antidote for stolen billions interred in various homes; let there be separate courts to try corrupt elements; let there be a massive purge of the judiciary (another cesspool of corruption) and the compromised military; let there be whistleblowers in every ministry, department and agency to watch over corrupt folks in our midst; let there be severe punishment for convicted corrupt elements like death penalty… the China example. Corrupt folks are worse than armed robbers. Armed robbers steal from individuals but corrupt people rob the entire nation. Let there be a crash in the value of dollars, etc., against the naira. In 1983/85, the exchange rate was less than N5 to a dollar under Buhari. Let there be… let there be…

As we resume our journey to the Promised Land from May 29, 2015, I foresee a problem. In 1983/85, Buhari, who led by example, had a disciplined team to run the military train. Now, he has to contend with a democracy train and smart politicians. He has an arduous task of fishing out the saints among the numerous sinners around him to run his administration. It is imperative for him to achieve this or he will have his train derailed. God forbid!