Muhammadu Buhari as president and Nigerians in Diaspora
By MUHAMMAD JAMEEL YUSHA'U
(mjyushau@yahoo.com)
SATURDAY 20th January was another opportunity for Nigerians living in the United Kingdom and other European countries to meet their future president (God willing), Muhammadu Buhari, the ANPP presidential candidate in an interactive discussion at the South Kensington campus of Imperial College , London . Few days to the event email messages were circulated that the Foundation for Good Governance and Development in Nigeria (FGGN) is organising an interactive session with Muhammadu Buhari in which policy issues would be discussed, and many people thought this is a great opportunity for Buhari to tell us what he has to offer Nigerians, especially at this critical time when attention should concentrate on the politics of issues rather than the usual dirty attacks on personalities which unfortunately is being promoted even by so called intellectuals recently.
Walking calmly, General Buhari entered the venue of the event accompanied by his close associate Alhaji Mamman Daura, and the event commenced without delay. Philip Chinwuba who was the master of ceremony made the event more colourful with his humorous assessment of the Nigerian situation.
Before the welcome address by the FGGN secretary general, Dr Arabo Bayo, Philip Chinwuba made a special request, “Sir if you become the president I would like you to establish a special commission on education that will include those professors who introduced cultism into our universities so that they will undo the mess they have created which is preventing our children from going to school”, Chinwuba asked Buhari, but before General Buhari responded the audience have already understood the direction Chinwuba was going, and the request was greeted with resounding ovation.
If you are following events in Nigeria you must have read about Soyinka’s diatribe against Buhari few days ago, interestingly Soyinka’s attempt to establish himself as the custodian of rational thinking in Nigeria backfired into a political diarrhoea that made the vestiges of his intellectual camouflage to stink before the Nigerian public.
Dr Arabo Ibrahim Bayo explained the reason why FGGN supports General Buhari, the reason is simple, an analysis of the Nigerian situation reveals that Buhari has the best qualities to lead Nigeria, according to Dr Bayo “most of us here are economic refugees” and we need somebody who will make Nigeria better so that everyone will go back home, and he seized the opportunity to welcome Buhari to the UK.
Buhari began his speech by reviewing the political situation in Nigeria, in particular he recollected the effort they have been making since the Supreme Court decided to handover the victory of 2003 election to People’s Democratic Party. Buhari pointed out that should there be a rigging in 2007, there is absolutely no need of going to court again. Something ran through the spine of the hall because everyone knows what Buhari and his legal team have gone through for almost two years, and if he says there is no need of going to court in the future, I think the substance of that statement needs to be subjected for critical scrutiny in Nigeria ’s political laboratory.
However, Buhari stated that at the moment they are involved with the re-alignment of forces, bringing different people and parties together including the youth so that they can understand the importance of free and fair election, the only way Nigerians will elect the leaders of their choice.
Other issues touched by General Buhari include the issue of security, and if he is elected as the next president that will be one of his priorities. He lamented the sad situation in which many PDP gubernatorial candidates eliminated themselves in various states, not through party conventions, but via cold blooded murder.
“Nigeria ’s security has never been so bad in peace time” he concluded. Buhari therefore told the audience that the issue of security must be covered from wall to wall, though it is not going to be easy. It is only when security is guaranteed that economic activities will take shape and foreign investment will be secured, he stressed.
As part of the strategies for the re-alignment of forces, Buhari hinted that they are trying to involve the international community, particularly Europe and America to participate as observers in the next election, and from what he said, it seems there is a positive response from them. Recently large amount of money has been voted by some foreign countries to train INEC officials.
On the issue of Niger-Delta, the economic warehouse of Nigeria , General Buhari stated that the situation worsens after the 2003 elections, because some political heavyweights decided to arm the youth for political reasons, and after the election the youth refused to return the weapons, and they are now using them to kidnap foreign workers or even domestic officials. But according to Buhari, if the leaders of the Niger-Delta have been accountable, they would have kept the youth at school.
At the end of the presentation Buhari unveiled his manifesto which is available at www.buhari2007.com .
After Buhari’s address, the interactive session began in earnest. The atmosphere was charged, people were eager to vomit what is in their mind regarding the sorry situation in Nigeria. Dr Bukar Wobe, a reputable consultant and a respected elder in the UK further charged the already tensed atmosphere of the hall with his vibrating rhetoric on how things have changed in Nigeria from optimism to pessimism, from the celebration of success to the lamentation of failure, from economic prosperity to managerial stupidity, from academic development to educational stagnation.
The failure of Nigeria to succeed is sometimes difficult to explain looking at our history especially after independence; the political leaders were then more honest and had the nation at heart.
Writing in African Affairs in 1987 in an article entitled “Whose Dream was it Anyway? Twenty Five Years of African Independence”, Michael Crowder who was then a visiting professor at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, opened his article with the kind of hope the world was having on Nigeria.
“Indeed, the Prime Minister of the federation, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, remarked wryly on the adulation of the world’s press that ‘even some of the big nations of the world are expecting us to perform miracles and solve their problems for them”, Crowder quoted Tafawa Balewa. But that hope was dashed few years later due to the labyrinth of colonial antecedence and bad leadership in the hand of Africans.
As the interactive discussion started, the first person to make comment descended on the diaspora community saying they are the worst Nigerians, but many were not at home with his comment, until he said it is the Nigerians in diaspora who connive with our politicians at home to purchase expensive properties in Europe and America using public funds; the only problem with this allegation is the over-generalisation, for certainly many Nigerians in diaspora wouldn’t agree to be party to such crime.
The interactive session was lively; Nigerians from various parts of the country were there. Most of the questions revolve round the political atmosphere, Wole Soyinka’s remarks on Buhari, Alliance with AC, Buhari’s alleged remarks on Muslims to vote for Muslims, war against corruption and Buhari’s promise to create federating units in the country.
In his response General Buhari stated that almost all the major political parties are in crisis, PDP is divided into five, Obasanjo’s PDP, ACD/AC, MRD, Solomon Lar’s faction and that of Isyaku Ibrahim, both AD and APGA are equally divided with cases pending in court while the ANPP is severely wounded.
On the issue of Soyinka, Buhari said he has already been answered by Professor Tam David West and Alhaji Balarabe Musa. Buhari also confirmed alliances would continue with other stakeholders including the AC until February 14, 2007.
Concerning his remarks on Muslims, Buhari recalled how the incidence occurred at a book lunch in Sokoto, he said during the event that he told the audience in Hausa to elect leaders who would protect their interest, but a reporter from ThisDay who was not even present and does not speak Hausa wrote the story that “Muslims should vote for Muslims only”.
General Buhari told the gathering that after the incidence he wrote to the Bishops in Nigeria asking them to find out from any of their members who have worked with him to bring a single evidence that he maltreated somebody in the course of his career for religious or regional reasons. “I challenge anybody to come with evidence, nobody has labelled religious bigotism against me, except politicians,” Buhari stated, and the entire hall became quite.
About fighting corruption Buhari stated that they would simply draw a line and continue from there, because establishing tribunals to investigate the past will only waste their time, in fact according to Buhari only the government that has something to hide wastes its time making tribunals.
As for the federating units, Buhari promised that they will send a bill to the National Assembly that will seek to create viable federating units that are viable and internally homogeneous so that resources can get to the people.
However, the most expensive question asked was the one asking what Buhari will do if he lost the election. It was indeed a tough question; I looked at Buhari’s face waiting for the answer. After some seconds of meditation Buhari looked at the audience, and with the voice of a former military commander, he said “honestly I don’t like this question,” then little silence, and he replied “I think I will be the president next time” and the hall was overtaken by ovation, and for me I got the confidence to give this article its title.
MUHAMMAD JAMEEL YUSHA'U wrote in from Sheffield, United Kingdom.