Buhari, Obasanjo and Nigeria's quest for leadership
By BabaGana Modu Monguno ngumati.critic@yahoo.com
On Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein wrote; “Gandhi had demonstrated that a powerful human following can be assembled not only through the cunning game of the usual political maneuvers and trickeries, but through the cogent example of a morally superior conduct of life. In our time of utter moral decadence he was the only statesman to stand for a higher human relationship in the political sphere”.
I crave the indulgence of my readers to go back to the beginning of the above quote and replace the word ‘Gandhi’ with ‘Buhari’, change the verbs therein into present tense, and see how perfectly the description fits Muhammadu Buhari, the true messiah we are waiting for.
We have learnt, most painfully, over the past eight years of the Obasanjo administration that democracy in itself is no guarantee of good governance. And although institutions and structures do matter, the quality of persons managing these institutions is paramount in ensuring that democracy works for the benefit of the people in general, and not a few privileged individuals. Democracy is an automatic car which nevertheless requires a good driver. So as we, Nigerians, prepare to elect leaders who will run the affairs of our dear country for four years beginning from May this year, one man that has stood out is the ascetic General, Muhammadu Buhari.
There are many reasons why Buhari is the man for the nation’s top job. To begin with, Buhari will genuinely fight against corruption. Nigeria under OBJ’s second coming has witnessed an unprecedented boom in revenue, but sadly there is not much to show for it due to corruption and incompetence. The current anti-corruption campaign is ineffectual largely because it is an orphan. It is hampered by lack of a father figure in the form of a morally upright leader who is himself above board, a leader who embodies our ideals, inspires confidence and exemplifies our aspirations for a corruption-free society.
It should be clear even to a blind man that Obasanjo only cloaks his corrupt and greedy mien with lip service and hypocritical rhetoric against corruption. Buhari will not buy up our collective patrimony under the guise of privatization; his farm, if he has any, will not suddenly start generating millions monthly; and he will not dip his hands in the public till to shamelessly patronize cronies and paramours. Leadership is not a joking matter or a lecherous past time; it is a sacred duty and a nation of over 140 million people ought to be led only by the very best, a person who had opportunity to enrich himself but chose instead to serve his fatherland with honesty and integrity. I am talking about Buhari.
Wherever Buhari had served in the past, his footprints of infrastructural developments are unmistakable, from the refineries he built as head of state to the infrastructural boom that was the result of his PTF years. In comparison the present administration has, for instance, “spent” N300 billion on roads alone, but hear the result from the horse’s mouth: “I am ashamed of Nigerian roads” said Obasanjo. So we are!
The crises in the power sector and its domino effects have brought darkness and distress into our homes and lives;stifled our large industries and hampered small and medium scale enterprises. At the root of this proplem of electric power supply are corruption and lack of political will. What Ghana can do,Nigeria under Buhari can do even better. The man has sincerity and will power in abundance.
Today, people look back at Buhari’s stewardship with wistful nostalgia. People are wiser today. They will not sell their votes for a miserable price. And after over 46 years of independence, Nigeria ’s basic infrastructures are in a state of disrepair. We cannot afford to continue like that.
Recently my neighbour and his fellow travelers were waylaid by armed robbers on one of our highways. As soon as their vehicle was forced to an ominous halt, what one of the bandits shouted out was quite instructive: “Come down and give us what you have before Buhari comes and terminates our job”. This is not a tall order or a baseless expectation. Leadership is inspiration, the ability to inspire confidence and move masses of the people in the right direction. Buhari will bring about a comprehensive and sophisticated solution to the crises of insecurity in our land. So we need a clean break from the Obasanjo disaster. The failed leader is desperate to build a “policy dynasty” and provide a soft landing for himself by seeking to install Umaru Yar’adua who will remain in the shadows of the corrupt puppeteer lurking behind as the chairman of the board of trustees of the PDP. PDP is a byword for dishonesty and for all the things that are wrong with our country.
Obasanjo’s cynical manipulations of our differences has left deep and wide wounds in the nation’s body politic. He has brutally demonstrated that no price is too high for his own political survival as he divides and rules the people with murderous impunity. He has played one group against another, and in some instances directly ordered the massacre of whole communities. Buhari will definitely find it beneath himself to place his personal political interest above national interest. He will be just, honest and fair to all.
Everybody will have a sense of belonging such that it will make no difference whether a leader comes from your area or not. He will not be a Fulani, Katsina, Muslim or Northern president in the parochial senses of these identities. He will be a Nigerian president, a father for all. And this he has demonstrated in the past, and he will use his strength of character and force of personality to rebuild bridges across our fault lines.
The average Nigerian farmer is the most hardworking as far as physical human energy expenditure is concerned. Paradoxically, he is among the poorest Nigerians because he is left to his primitive devices by leaders who are good at indulging in culinary delicacies but who do not care a hoot about where food comes from. Obasanjo channels all the money for agriculture to a few “anointed” cash crops. Buhari will give plant and animal agriculture a comprehensive boost. Rural development is about agriculture and Buhari has done it before and will do it again to generate income and employment for our teeming rural populace. He will empower our youths and women in both rural and urban areas while preserving our culture and environment.
Until recently, Obasanjo was in denial of the alarming poverty level in the country, let alone making appreciable efforts at solving the menace. As far as he was concerned, we are not poor. We were doing well like Ota farm and by the time he accepted the grim undeniable reality, it was already too late. His government is good only at reeling out empty acronyms: NEEDS, YES, NO, MAP, CAP and other children of SAP. Even the workers at the ambitiously named National Poverty Eradication Programme [NAPEP] are poor like the over 70 per cent of Nigerians who live below the poverty line.
Those of us who are said to be above the line know that our feet are resting on the line. And although magnanimous Nigerians continue to share the little they have in the spirit of African and religious communalism, the poverty level is beyond individual sense of charity, it requires a comprehensive solution that seeks to harness the pentagon of assets: human, natural, physical,social and financial. Buhari truly knows the value and dignity of the human person and will do everything to rescue a substantial number out of the poverty trap.
These are many other reasons why Buhari should be our next president. Others will definitely write about them. So in conclusion, I call upon Nigerians to entrust their affairs at all levels only in the hands of genuinely honest people like Buhari. Buhari and Gandhi share the attributes of simplicity, honesty, selflessness, competence and vision. Obasanjo is corrupt, selfish, incompetent and myopic. He will, come may 2007, leave behind not a success story, but a basket case. The difference between a true messiah and a false one lies in the quality of their second coming. Let us actualize Buhari’s second coming and reap good fruits from the good tree. So help us God.

BabaGana Modu Monguno is with Department of Political Science, University of Maiduguri, Borno state.