Have you witnessed an event and wondered where
you have seen exactly the same sequence of
activities before? The French call it déjà vu,
which translates to “already seen”. That is the
phenomenon we are observing our brand new
President Muhammadu Buhari, PMB, taking us
through.

In 1998/99 Nigeria’s ruling principalities and
powers who had clamped General Olusegun
Obasanjo in jail for coup decided to release him,
pardon him, restore his military ranks and sponsor
him to be our elected president as their
compensation to the Yorubas for their kinsman,
Chief Moshood Abiola, whom they had poisoned to
death for winning a presidential election. Once
Obasanjo came out of Yola prisons he hit the
international circuit.

As president, he kept travelling repeatedly to
Western capitals in a wasteful chase after “debt
forgiveness”. This went on for most of his first
term in office, when he left the economy in the
hands of his Vice President, Abubakar Atiku. The
situation was so bad that by October 2000, barely
17 months after Obasanjo was sworn into power,
the late social crusader, Chief Gani Fawehinmi,
listed at least 45 foreign travels he had
undertaken, which averaged more than one per
fortnight. OBJ did not get the debt relief until he
finally did the right thing by employing Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala who used her connections to
negotiate the $12 billion deal that exited us from
20 years of slaving for the Paris Club of money
lenders.

Definitely, Buhari is a far more disciplined leader
than Obasanjo. He is unlikely to try to equal OBJ’s
unenviable national record. But it has to be noted
that PMB is starting his second coming like
Obasanjo, knocking on the doors of foreign
countries in his belief that his key to success lies
behind those doors. Before he was sworn-in, he
told us how his “foreign partners” helped in
providing the technology that ensured Professor
Attahiru Jega’s “free and fair” elections in 2015.
He said they were moved to provide the
assistance when he painted a bloody picture of
uncontrollable refugee problems that would
envelope Africa if the 2015 elections were
rigged.

A week before he took his oath as president, he
had jetted out to London to “take a rest” and
consult with David Cameron, the British Premier;
a trip that caused a stir in the social media when
Buhari’s lonely figure outside No. 10 Downing
Street, waiting to be welcomed by his host,
caused a stampede over the Internet. Cameron
did receive him, nonetheless, and later told him to
come with his “shopping list” to the next economic
forum that will hold in Europe shortly.

Not done yet, Buhari, now in the presidential
saddle, travelled to Niger Republic where he
received more than a red carpet welcome. The
impoverished country’s president, Mamadou
Issoufou, gave him a beautiful parting gift of a
regally-decked out thoroughbred white charger,
possibly a mustang. If you remember that former
President Goodluck Jonathan also got given a
similar gift when he visited the Emir of Daura,
Alhaji Faruk Umar Faruk, just before the
presidential election, it will be obvious that white
horse gifts are customary for presidents and
highly placed visitors in that geo-cultural clime.

Let me remind you that Daura, which was founded
by Tuaregs some centuries ago, is regarded as the
spiritual home of the Hausa people. The Emirate
extends from our own Katsina State to Zinder in
Niger Republic. Therefore, for Buhari, the trip to
Niger Republic was like a ride from one end of
one’s hometown to another. And since Niger,
Chad and Cameroun are also neck-deep in the war
against the Boko Haram terrorists, I am not one
of those criticising Buhari for visiting them to
exact stronger commitments towards his agenda
for ending the bloody nonsense.

I only note, however, that the chicken has come
home to roost. Buhari’s wife, Aisha, can now
apologise to ex-President Jonathan whom she
asked to resign last year when he visited these
countries before he commenced the six-week
campaign to end the nonsense. Buhari himself
should equally apologise to Jonathan because even
he has now seen the need to accept the US offer
to “assist” to terminate the nonsense. He had,
only a month ago, said it was a “shameful” when
stories made the round that some South African
experts or, if you like, “mercenaries”, were
involved in the campaign. Talk can be very cheap,
but that is politics for you.

Buhari’s foreign trips have drawn criticisms from
several quarters. These included prominent
opposition party leaders such as Chief Olu Falae,
Alhaji Balarabe Musa and several civil society
groups. They called on Buhari to pay more
attention to mobilising support at home, rather
than starting charity from abroad. This was
exactly what people were saying to Obasanjo 16
years ago, but he refused to listen and went to
squander billions of Naira on foreign junkets.

Buhari ought to know that with Nigerians fully
behind him he can move mountains. He still has
massive goodwill on his side. He should cash in on
it and get the Nigerian people, irrespective of
how they voted during the elections, behind him.

The foreigners will queue up once they notice
that. We are quite capable of solving our problems
once we are united. What we did to Ebola under
Jonathan was the stuff of what a determined,
united Nigeria can do. But we do need our
neighbours to overcome Boko Haram. If we chase
them out of Nigeria into Cameroun, Chad and
Niger, we have hardly achieved anything. We have
simply given them a wider territory. Even if the
Niger and Chad presidents do not understand
English, they certainly will discuss in Hausa or
Fulfulde and as Muslims, use it to tell themselves
the kind of truth only kinsmen and people of the
same faith can share.

But he has to be very wary of the West, especially
America and Britain. Let Buhari beware; they are
experts at offering Greek gifts. When Britain
asks you to bring your “shopping list” and America
offers “assistance”, we must know what they
want in return. America is not even our crude oil
customers anymore. They have become even more
irrelevant than ever. They may try to bog down
our war on Boko Haram with their harangue of
“human rights” blackmail, which Amnesty
International has already started brandishing
against our serving and former field commanders
without concrete proof. Or, worse still, they may
re-table their much-coveted demand for the
repeal of our collectively-agreed decision to
criminalise gay relationships and ban gay marriage
in Nigeria. Former President Jonathan remained
their darling until he appended his signature to
the anti-gay marriage Bill passed by our patriotic
National Assembly.

The West wants to destroy Nigeria, a rising star
in Africa with these policies. They want to use
“human rights” to create confusion among us to
enable Boko Haram eat into our fabric. Any time
we dent the terrorists, either Steven Davis will
pop up or Amnesty International will pop in to join
pro-Boko Haram Northern interests to accuse our
military officers of “human rights” abuses.
Meanwhile, they keep mute when Boko Haram
seize our towns and plant their evil flags.

The solutions to our problems lie mainly with us
here at home. Buhari, beware of the morally
degraded West, especially the UK and the USA! If
you reject their Greek gifts they will leave you in
the lurch. Look further afield for true foreign
friends like Russia and China.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/06/buhari-beware-of-the-west/

if buhari kpeme for yonder,
no talk say na person do am ooo.

Good analysis bro.

Op, be careful