President Muhammadu Buhari's Burden

These are not the best of times for the People's Democratic Party, PDP, the party that, for the last sixteen years, held Nigeria by the jugular. Infused with a certain anxiety, the opposition party is, as we speak, in disarray and all eyes can see it. Like the Tower of Babel, things have fallen apart in PDP and blames are now being unethically shifted and aggression, scandalously transferred. Just as God overturned the tower with a great wind, accusing fingers are now being unguardedly pointed even at unexpected directions and lovers of democracy are wondering if the party will ever get it right again.

Goodbye PDP! Welcome, All Progressives Congress (APC), the new face of change!

A distressing 'State of the Nation' picture was recently painted by

Professor Yemi Osinbajo, then, vice president-elect during a 2-day Policy Dialogue on the Implementation Agenda for Change, where, in his Opening Remarks, he declared: "The figures of extreme poverty in our society - 110 million by current estimates - makes it clear that our biggest national problem is the extreme poverty of the majority ..." According to him, Nigeria's "local and international debt stands at US$60 billion. Our Debt servicing bill for 2015 is N953.6 billion, that is, 21% of our Budget.

Osinbajo didn't stop there: "On account of severely dwindled resources, over two-thirds of the States in Nigeria owe salaries. Federal institutions are not in much better shape. Today, the nation borrows to fund recurrent expenditure." While assuring participants that dealing with poverty and its implications was a priority for the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, Osinbajo also promised "a vision of shared prosperity and socio-economic inclusion that leaves no one behind in the pursuit of a prosperous and fulfilling life."

From the look of things, though Buhari's choice as president is divinely-ordained to serve as the healing balm for the nation's wounds, it is a lamentable fact that he is assuming power at a very tense period in Nigeria's history. As things stand, the auguries for the country are threatening and too uncomfortable to contemplate for, not only is the country suffering from systemic collapse, it is also in a state of religious, racial and national frenzy; in an atmosphere of terrific tension characterized by a weak and unbalanced economic situation, misguided maturity and general disregard for humanity.

The past five or so years under the Goodluck Jonathan-led administration have been particularly pathetic as Nigeria literally became a candidate for the messy and murky waters of conflagrating contraptions and self-inflicted intrigues. Our military is just smarting out of its own Battle of Tannenberg. No thanks to Boko Haram and its affiliates. Now, the country suffers from corruption of morals, pursuit of perfidy and triumph of charlatanism. Hope for the living is not only growing slimmer but it is, with each passing day, becoming dimmer. 

Though, our economic growth rate embraces perfection on paper, a huge number of Nigerians remain appallingly impoverished, with our national development satanically depressed. Nigeria is currently world's 39th most corrupt country and the 3rd in West Africa. She ranks 1st in crude oil theft and corrupt political parties. She is world's 8th worst place to be a mother and 4th in Africa with the highest number of citizens on the Interpol wanted list. She is 4th on Terrorist Nations' List and, Boko Haram, world's 3rd Deadliest Group. Added to these are other miseries like failure of morals, failure of ideas, wasting and ruining conditions of unemployment, a narrowness of appeal to the middle class and general social discontent. And it is as if the gods are angry!

Interestingly however, Nigeria is world's 78th happiest nation and the 4th in Africa. And, in spite of her poverty situation and other socio-economic frailties, she is rated as world's most sexually satisfied people, ahead of even Switzerland, the happiest in the world. Again, while she is "partly free" in terms of Human Rights records, the country is still blest with Patience Jonathan's 'There is God o' as Nigeria's most viewed YouTube video.

As a matter of fact, one major task of liberalism and economic prosperity is the ability to give the driving force needed for successful leadership. But how did we get here? Nigerians are colonizing Nigerians. And that is where the problem lies! In the very sense of truth, while it is commonsensical for any serious government to have agenda for performance and, on demand, give an account of how far it has kept faith with fate, in our case, no one seems to know why Nigeria is taken as “a lucrative enterprise" where “willing collaborators” ply their trade, then leave the stage for speculators to make uninformed forecasts. And, with our democracy already mismanaged by us, becoming a disappointment and a threat to other democracies has been no big deal.

As we all know, of all the factors that transform men, power stands out. Power, which, in Honore de Balzac's view, "is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true", is also said by Frank Herbert to "attract the corruptible." Little wonder Otto Von Bismarck posited that "the weak has a destiny of being devoured by the strong." Of course, that's where those who say that PDP cannot die have missed it.

If one may ask: where are the Northern Peoples Congress, NPC and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, NCNC of yesteryears? Where are Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN, National Party of Nigeria, NPN and other political parties which dominated the Second Republic? Where are Ibrahim Babangida's 'a little to the right' and 'a little to the left' appendages of his regime and Sani Abacha's 'five fingers of a leprous hand'? Again, where is Alliance for Democracy, AD, which came into existence alongside PDP in 1999? How soon have we forgotten that All People's Party, APP, the third leg of the tripod, could not survive the political temperature before it eventually fused into what is now referred to as APC?

Far from being an alarmist, one major reason why PDP cannot remain the same is its composition, or configuration. Maybe, far from the original intendments of its founding fathers, PDP, as it is, is an assemblage of socialites, wolves and self-serving folklorists who “steal votes, and seize the airwaves in order to ensure that stolen votes are normalized by authoritative agencies”. It is a clique of abstruse, barren and chronic overlords who practically have no undertaking and, as such, cannot contextualise fulfillment.

Dele Momodu refers to their ilk as "the scavengers of power who litter our political landscape" and "soldiers of fortune that have no scruples, and feel no remorse." They comprise impostors, barbarians and stone-swallowers who prefer crystallizing chaos to catalyzing change. They talk less about development but more about running their country aground. They specialize in disfiguring “all rules and regulations" and blocking "the entrance against those who are more deserving than they.” Of course, they are palatial politicians who see Buhari's victory as more of 'Power back to the North' than 'Power back to the People'. And when men with perverse and prickly characters parsimoniously devour the honey in a country's honeymoon leaving behind nothing but moonshine, the result cannot be any different from what we now have on our hands.

Bismarck identified three signs that define a truly great man: "generosity in the design, humanity in the execution and moderation in success." On account of these, an unrepentantly capitalistic country like Nigeria needs leaders with strong policy and purpose, those who can display a brilliant understanding of the situation in which the country currently finds itself. Stated in practical terms, Buhari has the combination of genius and common sense which are the hallmark of a great leader. His victory at the polls definitely represents a desire for liberty and a pious fervor to the course of unity and independence.

In clear terms, he has vowed to fight insecurity as well as reduce inequality with with all of his zeal. He has promised that, under his watch, power situation will be retrieved with a view to giving Nigerians light, not darkness. He has promised to touch the hopeless and the vulnerable by taming corruption in line with internationally acceptable standards. He has given his word that he'd improve the regulatory frameworks in the oil and gas sector with surprising intelligence. He has promised improved access to qualitative and affordable healthcare. The president has also assured us that, apart from ensuring the independence of the judiciary, legislature and the three tiers of government, with him at the helm of affairs, agriculture sector would, with lightening rapidity, be revitalized and that our children and wards would henceforth realize the purpose for which they are being sent to school.

Needless to repeat here that the fate of Buhari's government will be determined by its disposition to the plight of Nigerians. Therefore, as the president carries out this onerous task of inspiring new, brander and grander efforts, Nigerians can only - and, with a lively faith - wish him well! Obviously, for him to be successful, vaunted emptiness and mouthed inanities of previous governments must, with particular energy, be translated into "correctness of purpose and deeds." Not only that, his government must work at giving "fresh meaning and impetus to the universal principles of leadership of feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, housing the homeless, giving succour to the destitute" as well as showing "extraordinary courage for the truth."

And, on Tony Blair's "losing focus in its delivery" warning to Buhari's government, lives and times of leaders like Jephthah the Gileadite, Bismarck and Abdoulaye Wade, even the divine rise and the willing fall from power of former President Jonathan are lessons sufficient enough for those who think they stand! 

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

By abiodun KOMOLAFE

*KOMOLAFE writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)