By Bolanle Bolawole
The best leader is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done and the self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it – One-time US President Theodore Roosevelt.
An axiom says “look before you leap” but in 2015, many Nigerians jumped from PDP/Goodluck Jonathan’s ship without bothering to first of all look at where they would land. The anguish and rage of the time was that nothing could be worse than Jonathan and the fumbling and wobbling Peoples Democratic Party. “Anything but PDP and Goodluck Jonathan” was the rave of the moment. Such was the maniacal state of mind of many Nigerians, including even respected Christian leaders, that Jonathan, a Christian, was sacrificed on the altar of Muhammadu Buhari, a well-known Islamic fundamentalist and ethnic jingoist. I confess to being part of that mob. Today, however, we know better – with regrets. Buhari and the All Progressives Congress have proven to the consternation of many Nigerians that something can, indeed, be worse than Jonathan/PDP. Buhari and APC are worse than the nightmare the people ran away from in 2015. Ours have become a case of “from frying pan to fire” A man running away from a lion met a bear in a cul-de-sac. Not only has Buhari and APC failed to rescue Nigeria from the misrule of Jonathan/PDP, they have made matters worse with their own more terrible form of misrule.
Buhari and APC will have none of the wisdom of the elders, to wit: the god that we approach for succour, if it cannot help, should at the very least not make matters worse. Instead, they have behaved like biblical Rehoboam, son of King Solomon, who told long-suffering and supine Israel: “My father made thy yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions” In truth, Buhari’s “little finger” has been thicker than Jonathan’s loins; such that, today, Nigeria is the world’s capital of the poorest of the poor. Propaganda apart, in less than four years of Buhari/APC rule, Nigerians have, sadly, been reduced to looking back on the Jonathan/PDP years with nostalgia; wishing they have not had the misfortune of encountering Buhari/APC. How much was a bag of rice under Jonathan and how much is it now, the Buhari/APC fabled agricultural revolution notwithstanding? How much was a litre of petrol under Jonathan and how much is it now? What was the exchange rate of the Naira then and what is it now? How much was expended on fuel subsidy then and how much do they spend now under the counter? Elections, which were credible, free and fair under Jonathan, are no longer so under Buhari/APC. Even their own party primaries were blatantly rigged. Press and other freedoms, under vicious assault now, were taken for granted under Jonathan. We can go on and on.
Few months from hence, however, opportunity presents itself to Nigerians to offload Buhari/APC; specifically in the General Election slated for February 2019. Expectedly, many are ecstatic that, like Shylock in William Shakespeare’s “Merchant of Venice”, they will exact their pound of flesh. I confess that I, too, cannot wait – but with a caveat. This time around, I want to look before I leap – and I counsel everyone to do likewise. Once bitten, as they say, twice shy. I can, however, see the same mass hysteria that swept Jonathan/PDP off their feet already building up for PDP/Atiku Abubakar. Propaganda, the type that Lai Mohammed originated and which demonised Jonathan/PDP and presented Buhari/APC as saints, is already building up for Atiku. They are already talking of “Articulation” and “Articulate” Spin doctors are at work already – but we must watch it. We must put on our thinking cap this time around and resist the temptation of being swept off our feet by sheer propaganda devoid of substance.
We must interrogate Atiku Abubakar. It will be grievous mistake to think we already know him. We must look in his past (and don’t underestimate it as we did Buhari’s); what has he ever stood up for in his life; what does he claim to stand for now; and his campaign promises. Nigerians must learn useful lessons – and these are legion – from recent history. One of such lessons is: we said nothing could be worse than Jonathan/PDP but are Buhari/APC not worse? The second is we must not allow Atiku/PDP’s spin doctors lead us by the nose like Lai Mohammed did for Buhari/APC. This time around, we must shine our eyes, as they say. I beg you, do not get carried away with any sweet talks; all sugar-coated tongues must be treated with the suspicion they deserve. The other time, all manner of campaign groups soliciting votes for Buhari/APC made all manner of promises they knew would earn them endorsement and support but no sooner did they get voted into office than Buhari/APC distanced themselves from such promises. Even those promises that were contained in their party manifesto, such as restructuring, they disclaimed! We have useful lessons to learning from this.
I think we need a strong chain to bind Atiku, as was done to those errant angels in Jude 6. Mark my word: If care is not taken; if the needful is not done; if we do not tackle Atiku very well from the outset, he may, ultimately, prove as dangerous and destructive – if not more – as Buhari. Atiku is from the core North like Buhari. Like Buhari, he has benefitted immensely from being a Northerner. Like Buhari he will defend the core interests of the Northern Establishment. Like Buhari, Atiku is Muslim and like Buhari he will defend the core interests of Islam. Atiku will not be abrasive as Buhari. He will not frontally attack our sensibilities and shove it down our throat but he will favour the North no less than Buhari and hurt the South no less as well – unless much care is taken to restrain him from the outset. I feel the compelling need to restate that we must not feed on assumptions this time around, like we did in 2015. Also, what I heard from the mouths of some South-west political office-holders who served in the Obasanjo/Atiku administration regarding Atiku’s alleged disdain for the South-west, especially between 1999 and 2003, sets my teeth on edge. If this narrative is not entirely true, it is left to Atiku to state his own side of the story. Some of the actors are still alive and should be bold enough to confront him with the truth.
Roosevelt, quoted above, said the best leader is the one who picks good men “to do what he wants done” What the leader wants done is very important in any administration; in fact, it is more important than who occupies what position. Instructively, it is what the leader wants done that determines who he puts in what position in the first place. For instance, what Buhari wants done determined how he structured his security appointments, making sure they all came from his region and religion. He knew, a priori, what policies he would pursue; what interests he would defend; and what the fall-outs would be. So he prepared well enough for any eventuality. Skewed the way they are, Buhari’s security architecture is no mistake at all. An influential Oba in a South-west state once approached a military administrator to complain that his appointee was given the “useless” portfolio of Sports ministry instead of the Ministry of Works. The military administrator apologised and promised to do the needful when he reshuffles his cabinet.
He soon did and fulfilled his promise by moving Kabiyesi’s nominee to the Works ministry. By this time, however, all the contracts in the Works ministry had been awarded while the next critical project of government was completion of the stadium! So, Kabiyesi, who thought he was smart, only shot himself in the foot. South’s leaders; beware! What the leader means in his heart to do is very critical in any government. It is what he actually means to do, not what he is being pressured to do, that he will give himself “the self-restraint to keep from meddling with…while they do it” For instance, for Buhari, religion, tribe, affinity, personal and political interests take precedence over national interests. Will Atiku be similarly wired? Once leaders get into office and gather into their hands the reins of power, they become extremely difficult to control, especially in a system of government like Nigeria’s where the Head of Government is vested with immense powers. Again, South’s leaders; beware! We must, therefore, make determined efforts to interrogate Atiku now that we still have the opportunity on what are those things that he will want to do if he gets into office. We must not assume we know. We must also not assume his thinking tallies with ours. He must be made to clearly and unambiguously set out his thinking on the three critical issues of security, economy, and restructuring.
How, for instance, will he tackle Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen? Being also Fulani and Muslim and a patron (?) of Fulani herdsmen or owner of heads of cows, how will he relate with the murderous gang that has been labelled the fourth most vicious terrorist group in the world? What will he do differently to curb Boko Haram? How will he prevent Chibok- and Dapchi-like abductions during his own tenure? What steps will he take on Leah Sharibu and others in Boko Haram hell-holes? Atiku talks glibly of his support for restructuring: He must tell us in clear terms what he understands by restructuring. Recently, VP Yemi Osinbajo made himself a laughing stock when he began to talk of geographical, fiscal, and what-have-you restructuring! Who knows if Atiku will also talk of religious, social or Atikulated restructuring?
The general consensus at the moment is that Atiku knows – or ought to know – more about the economy than Buhari. Perhaps; but that is not the same thing as saying Atiku knows exactly what to do to turn the economy around. The points being made here is that we must engage Atiku in serious discussions about his plans and programmes. He must explain his mindset; better still, we must go behind the scene to dissect the man. A man who reportedly offered the running mate slot to a legion of political leaders just to win the PDP presidential flag may be one who will have no qualms employing deceit and subterfuge as veritable political weapons to get by. We need to probe and unearth the real Atiku, who may not necessarily be the suave, smooth-talking, debonair, and consummate politician right now on the prowl. We must not assume or take anything for granted. We treated Buhari with kid gloves; rather than grill him, we literally asked him to take a bow and walk away. Today, we have seen that it is to our good grief. If we make the same mistake with Atiku, we will have no one but ourselves to blame.
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