That President Buhari has failed the North and Nigerians at home and abroad as a President is indisputable. The salient points for Buhari's candidacy in 2015 centred on his being a retired Army General, a Northern Muslim, and a sympathiser of the Boko Haram sect. Thus, casting him in a vantage position to rein in the saboteurs in our midst, to bring them down.
At that historical moment, the major problem confronting Nigeria as a nation-state was insecurity. The Yanyan Bus Stop bombing at the outskirts of Abuja, the explosion at the front of the UN Building at Abuja, and the disappearance of the Chibok Girls, just to name a few, were the headline news. So, every trick in the book was put on display to cast President Jonathan as a nitwit and a wimp in matters of security to make him unelectable. The international community and most foreign Heads of state and Governments were hoodwinked, sold a dummy.
Even though his mental state and physical agility were suspect, no one cared. The massive economic boom that the Jonathan administration engineered was never a factor during the election. It was about insecurity. And it was about the corruption of the PDP big guns.
Worst of all, President Jonathan couldn't frame a persuasive narrative for his reelection. He couldn't help his case.
It came to the point that even I, a Progressive, out of sympathy for his lacklustre campaign, started publishing talking points on my blog and on Facebook, hoping members of his campaign team are reading me and framing their campaign theme accordingly. They never did.
On one occasion, I wrote: If you have nothing negative to say about Rtd General Buhari, then, focus on former President Obasanjo. Make him your target. Use the video of President Jonathan's impromptu visit to the Police College at Ikeja, where students were seen sleeping on the bare floor, as well as the weed-overwhelmed National Stadium Suru-Lere, Lagos, as proof of the derelict state of federal structures that the Ya'Adua/Jonathan team inherited from Obasanjo. Chances are that they didn't even read my essay, or were smart enough to know how to discredit your opponent subliminally.
President Jonathan's major headache was that he was judged not as a regular Nigerian politician but as a Ph.D. holder from the ivory tower. As a youngish academic, he was expected to be boisterous, lively, aggressive, dashing, inspiring, stylish, contemporary, Obamalike, and disdainful of other Nigerian political leaders. That he was looked up to as one, intent on moving Nigeria out of the old school into the new millennium, was an understatement. He didn't. And the attacks against him were fast and furious.
He ran a very poor campaign as if he were no longer interested in the office. In another essay, I counselled him to copy Papa Awo and take his message to the people from one village to another throughout Nigeria. He didn't. Rather, he embraced the same "State Capital Mega Rally" as his aged opponent.
Surprisingly, with the massive federal institutions and resources under his control, he was lukewarm and appeared disinterested in the journey. And in the end, a man who had no sound memory of events, no economic blueprint, or a personal agenda, and couldn't articulate anything coherent was voted as the President. Simply put, President Jonathan did not make a case for his reelection and did not tell Nigeria why they should not trust or vote for his opponent and their new political party.
The APC catchphrase was: ANYTHING BUT JONATHAN. And they got one. Aided by all the Progressive Commentators in the Print and Social Media, Asiwaju Tinubu and some of his followers were able to assemble a patchwork of political operatives and make Rtd General Buhari the flag bearer of the newly formed party. The APC.
The election came, and he won. And like a bolt from the blue, he came up with an unexpected mantra. May 29, 2015, in his inauguration speech, he told the world, "I thank those who tirelessly carried the campaign on social media. At the same time, I thank our other countrymen and women who did not vote for us but contributed to making our democratic culture truly competitive, strong, and definitive. I thank all of you. Having just a few minutes ago sworn on the Holy Book, I intend to keep my oath and serve as president of all Nigerians. I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody." Hearing that, I said to myself, Asiwaju is a goner.
Yes, with that last sentence came the exit of Asiwaju Tinubu from the leadership of the political party he incubated and nurtured into the status of capturing the Presidency. As we were made to understand a few years later by his wife, Asiwaju was pushed under the Bus immediately after the swearing-in ceremony. And as Mrs. Aisha Buhari said in the first year of the Presidency, some people who did not participate and didn't know how my husband came into power have taken over Aso Rock. She was right. Thus, came the awareness of the existence of a cabal holding court at Aso Rock.
President Buhari did not see the victory of APC as a mandate of the Progressive forces, but that of his Daura natives, who were out of power for the past thirteen years, eight for Obasanjo and five for Jonathan. That was how President Buhari interpreted the APC mandate. He perceived it as a Fulani's mandate, with allegiance to the people and government of the Niger Republic. And whether we like it or not, he must do the mandatory eight years just like Obasanjo and IBB.
In sum, the Vice President is a Christian and a Pastor from the Yoruba race. The same tribe as Baba Obasanjo, who was the President for eight years before Goodluck Jonathan. Therefore, in the Nigerian power equation, you cannot kick President Buhari out of power and give it to a Southern Christian. Northerners won't take it. That's our major tragedy as a nation. Place of origin matters matter than anything else.
And that is why President Buhari is still in power at Aso Rock, despite his helplessness in securing the lives and property of Nigerians. Simply put, we are not one country, where preference is given to the deserving and the best qualified. We don't live as one nation-state. And we may never do. As long as Northerners who think and act like President Buhari continue to grace the national stage of our polity, discriminatory practices will continue to thrive on the national stage, and real progress will continue to elude us.
To be continued.
