As the countdown to the February 16 general presidential and national assembly elections begin in earnest, the Presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress, President Muhammadu Buhari has naturally found himself the cynosure of all eyes. An extremely divisive figure, the man Buhari is as passionately loved by many as ss is despised by others. This is not a situation peculiar to President Buhari as many eminent figures through the course of global history have found themselves in similarly paradoxical situations.
A retired Major General who hails from Daura in Katsina state, President Buhari once served Nigeria as Governor of the North Eastern state which today comprises, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, Bauchi and Gombe states. They must still have fond memories of his tenure as evidenced by his enormous popularity in the axis.
Muhammadu Buhari then went on to serve as the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum Resources, easily the most salacious industry to be affiliated to in Nigeria and still left that office untainted by ill-amassed wealth. President Buhari is acknowledged as one of the few top elites who is not known to own off-shore real estate or bank accounts nor any oil blocs in the country. Known to live a minimalist lifestyle, he owns only a handful of properties in Nigeria and is also a farmer.
The various appointments he held were during military regimes and he took a back seat when power was returned to the civilians in 1979 only to intervene in 1983 when it seemed the then President Shehu Shagari led administration seemed to be groping its way in the dark.
Though a short-lived tenure, the December 31, 1983 coup which saw him installed as Nigeria’s head of state, remains one of the few blights on his person but there are Nigerians who still don’t see it that way viewing it instead as a much-needed intervention to set Nigeria back on the right path.
Thus began a rather stringent process of reform, which led to the incarceration of about 500 politicians, officials and businessmen for corruption. They were only released if cleared of charges or after returning illegally acquired funds to the state and agreeing to certain conditions. This naturally earned him several powerful enemies. But no account of Buhari’s first tenure as Head of State would be complete without mentioning the rather comical but botched bid to have Alh. Umaru Dikko forcibly returned to Nigeria from the United Kingdom to face charges of graft. Alh. Umaru Dikko was the then Minister for Transport and an in law to President Shehu Shagari.
It was a watershed moment in Buhari’s personal history consolidating the west’s perception of him as a dictator and tyrant. It’s a reputation he has been unable to shake off till date. Ironically, to many Nigerians, that singular act turned him into the incorruptible hero of the masses, also a reputation he has managed to retain till date.
A disciplinarian, Buhari’s term earned him enemies but also yielded benefits like public discipline (the War Against Indiscipline reintroduced the queue culture in Nigeria and helped curb tardiness in public officials who risked losing their jobs for showing up to work late), curbed corruption, lowered inflation, enhanced the workforce and improved productivity. Nigerians were gradually developing a grudging admiration for the man when his 1 year, 239-day stint was suddenly truncated.
General Ibrahim Babangida took over and the people’s hero also got a feel of jail as he was confined for almost 3 years.
Muhammadu Buhari regained public relevance with the coming to power of Gen. Sani Abacha, in 1993. A mutual acquaintance of Babangida and Buhari and unarguably Babangida’s long-term right-hand man, Gen. Abacha made Maj.Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund, an organization established by his administration to utilize the increase in funds accruing from the petroleum sector to institute developmental projects nationwide. It was a task Buhari executed exceptionally, though this time, in close consonance with an administration thought to itself be stained by corruption.
Abacha’s death in 1998 ushered in civil rule and gave the retired Maj. Gen. another shot at his much-desired aim to lead the country again. But it turned out to be an uphill challenge as he found himself contesting and losing at the polls and in the courts 3 times before finally edging out an incumbent in the 2015 elections.
Hate him or love him, the septuagenarian has proven himself a patriot, a man of discipline, a man known to live within his means, a man of unbending will and tenacity, and a man determined to change the lot of the extremely poor.
This is self-evident in his 4-year tenure. Working through an economic slump occasioned by a dramatic fall in crude oil prices while dealing with flashes of insurgency across the country, President Muhammadu Buhari has no less achieved the following:
INFRASTRURE
Roads: 1) Lagos – Ibadan expressway 2) Abuja – Kaduna – Kano expressway 3) The 2nd Niger bridge 4) Dualization of Kano – Maiduguri road, linking Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Yobe and Borno states 5) Construction of Kaduna Eastern Bypass 6) Dualization of Suleja – Minna road in Niger state 7) Dualization of Ibadan – Ilorin road. Section II Oyo – Ogbomosho road in Oyo 8) Rehabilitation of Enugu – Port Harcourt road Section III 9) Dualization of Yenagoa Road Junction Kolo-Otuoke- Bayelsa palm in Bayelsa state
Rails: While previous administrations paid lip service to reviving the rail system which was once an integral part of land transportation, in less than 4 years the Buhari administration has been able to achieve the following among others: 1) Abuja light rail system – completed 2) Abuja to Kaduna rail – completed 3) Abuja – Itakpe – Ajaokuta – Warri Tracks completed, station being constructed 4) Lagos – Abeokuta- Ibadan started by this administration and ongoing.
Bridges: 1) Completion of the 1.8 km Loko-Oweto Bridge linking, Benue and Nasarawa states
The South-East alone is said to be currently benefitting from up to 69 road/bridge projects either completed or currently ongoing or about to commence.
AGRICULTURE
The Anchor Borrowers Programme: 1) Provides loans to farmers of rice, wheat, maize, cassava, poultry, soybeans and ground nuts. Approximately 350,000 farmers nationwide have benefited from this policy as a result of which rice production has increased significantly and 8 new rice mills built
The Presidential Fertilizer Initiative: The Buhari administration has entered a partnership with Morocco for the supply of phosphate to ensure local production of fertilizers. In tandem with this, 1) 12 blending plants revitalized 2) More than 12 mill bags of fertilizer locally produced since 2017 3) Annual savings of $200 million in foreign exchange 4) Drop in cost of Fertilizer
SOLID MINERALS
Though not many Nigerians avert their minds to this sector it, is another one which is thriving well and a veritable source of foreign exchange. It is another sector the Buhari administration is focused on growing with the following initiatives: 1) A Solid Minerals fund for Artisans has been established and is domiciled in the Bank of Industry 2) SM contribution to the Federation Account rose 5-fold 3) In 2017, Solid Mineral exports rose
THE SOCIAL INVESTMENT PROGRAMME
This is the largest and most ambitious of such projects in Nigeria’s history. It domiciles 1) The Home-Grown School Feeding Program active in 26 states, feeding over 9 million pupils 2) Conditional Cash Transfer providing 5000 naira to indigent households in 26 states. 3) Govt Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, Farmermoni (small Agric loans); Marketmoni (for medium scale traders); Tradermoni (micro loans for petty traders) 4) N-power Programme (500,000 Nigerian graduates earning N30,000 spread across the entire nation) to be scaled up to 10 million beneficiaries by 2023.
Pensioners who had been owed for years as well students on government scholarships who had been abandoned to their fate by successive governments have also finally been granted relief, courtesy of the current administration’s efforts to tie up loose ends left by previous governments.
ENTERTAINMNET INDUSTRY
Again, for the first time in Nigeria’s history, the FG is in talks with Hollywood to boost Nigeria’s film industry which, though it remains largely private sector drive n now has the active support of a government at federal level reaching out to the foremost film industry in the world for support and partnership. This is all in a bid to support the industry and place Nigeria firmly on the entertainment map. This is an innovative effort which has never happened at state level before.
FALLACIES
THE RECESSION
Despite all these and much more, the Buhari administration is accused of “causing the recession.” It is worthy to note that the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy in the immediate past administration, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, had warned that the nation’s economy was in danger urged the Jonathan administration to save. Her warning is corroborated by Mr. Peter Obi, then Governor of Anambra state and current running mate to Alh. Atiku Abubakar of the PDP, who indicated that not only were the finance Minister’s pleas roundly ignored, governors insisted the funds be shared across the states. We might also recall the treatment meted out to yet another CBN Governor, HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who warned, “Over $20 billion unremitted to the Federation Account, and if nothing is done by 2015 upward, Nigeria will know what Economic crisis is!” He got suspended by the Jonathan administration for his trouble.
Another falsehood suggests that the delay in appointing ministers also contributed to the “recession.” This is also a fallacy. Globally, fully staffed governments slide into recession. Besides, Permanent Secretaries acted in that capacity and gave the President regular briefings about the status of their ministries till substantive Ministers were appointed.
SECURITY
This hydra headed monster keeps morphing into such different shapes and forms that doing enough justice to it would require an article of its own. Suffice it to say, globally, Boko Haram which rose to be the number 1 terrorist organization globally, has since dropped to number 3 with a drastic reduction in the number of civilian casualties and bombings.
While this is certainly a major win, a sudden sharp increase in the number of herdsmen and farmers clashes equally became cause for concern with theories ranging from orchestrated attacks from other African countries; BH insurgents in a different guise and the most alarming being the notion that President Muhammadu Buhari, himself a Fulani man and a Muslim (traditionally Nomadic cattle herders in Nigeria are of Fulani/Muslim extraction) had unleashed “his people” on the nation in an ethnic cleansing exercise.
Undoubtedly these issues have been cause for great concern but the fact remains that the Buhari administration has remained resilient in tackling insurgencies as they arise with varying levels of success. Ironically many of the states currently under attack are APC led states, giving lie to the notion that the FG somehow has a hand in these tragic incidents.
HEALTH
Most people are no longer in top form once they hit middle age. Buhari in his 70s is certainly no spring chicken however, his bout of ill health shrouded in silence left many Nigerians wondering if he is fit enough to govern. Rumours making the rounds in this regard include talks that the Buhari died and has since been replaced by a body double or clone. Others believe that he is going senile owing to occasional slip-ups at public engagements. So far, no debate has been raised about his sanity. Perhaps, his public admission of pain in his ears which was immediately welcomed with loud heckling and mockery led to the extreme silence that followed subsequent health challenges. Perhaps.
Yet through it all, he stands firm supported by an equally resilient Vice President, rather obscure till he became second in command. A legal luminary, one-time Attorney General of Lagos state and considered one of the main driving forces of the Buhari administration, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo shares an unmistakable bond with is principal.
Together this pair has weathered most of the storms presented by governance and again present themselves to Nigerians with a plea for another 4-year term to consolidate on gains made so far.
Will it be a resounding “yes”, a reluctant “ok”, or a definite “no” from Nigerians come February 16? Only time will tell.
*** Devaan Mom, a journalist and politician is currently the Director, Public Affairs of the Jime/Ode Campaign Organization, Benue State. She writes from Utange in Ushongo LGA.
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