“I belong to everybody. And I belong to nobody”-
President Muhammed Buhari.
The above quotation is one the
quotable quotes from the inaugural
speech of President Muhammadu
Buhari at the Eagle Square, Abuja
during his swearing in. Since the
quotation went viral, there have been
several misconceptions or
misinterpretation of the quotation.
Precisely, many social commentators
are still trying to decode its true
meaning. If viewed from the context of
trying to establish his independence in
taking vital decisions in the proper
administration of the country and not
just trying to play politics with the
destiny of the nation, Buhari may well
be right. It will be recalled that his
first shot at the seat of power came
through the barrels of guns as a
military dictator in 1984. He is not
entirely new to the seat of
government. But this is his first as a
democratically elected President and
Commander -in-Chief of the Nigerian
Armed Forces. And that is why he is
trying to make populist statements like
the one credited to him above.
But does the President actually belong
to nobody? No, we beg to disagree. In
actual fact, President Buhari belongs
to somebody or a group of bodies.
Apart from God the Almighty who
created him and grants him long life
coupled with good health to cope with
the stress of the electioneering and
also protected him from the bombs of
some alleged assassins that reportedly
claimed lives of some of his bodyguards
in Kaduna as soon as he emerged as
the presidential torch-bearer of the
All Progressives Congress, Buhari
belongs to the party that gave him the
platform to run for the presidential
election and in particular to the
chieftains of the party. If the
statement is meant to serve as a
notice to checkmate them on the
overbearing posture that some of them
may intend to take that can hinder the
dramatic and pragmatic changes that
he plans to bring to bear in the
governance of the country, he may be
right. But as stakeholders in the
project leading to his election as the
President, Buhari cannot completely
rule out the party’s influences on
some of his policies. This is because,
the electorate and the new opposition
party, the Peoples Democratic Party,
will hold him (the President) and his
party (the APC) jointly accountable for
the fulfilment or otherwise of their
campaign promises. So, the President
belongs to his party as his primary
constituency and to some extent
accountable to the party’s leadership.
The President himself too knows that
he owes his party leadership the
courtesy of consulting them before
making crucial political appointments or
policy statements. The Presidency and
the party leadership may not always
agree, but it is the duty of Mr.
President to carry his party along,
otherwise there may be cracks in the
system.
Secondly, the President belongs to his
friends/loyalists and voters who voted
for him and ensured that their votes
counted. A majority of these sets of
people may not be card-carrying
members of the APC. Some of them
were protest or sympathy voters who
swigged their votes in favour of the
APC in response to the hate campaigns
mounted against Buhari by the
supporters of the immediate past
President Goodluck Jonathan. And so
he belongs to them. He is accountable
to them in order to keep their hope
alive that the moment for positive
change has indeed come. This is the
time for action and not just for
rhetoric and business as usual that
Nigerians are tired of.
And to underscore the fact that the
President belongs to somebody
especially his kinsmen, the North is
reportedly insisting on occupying the
sensitive positions of Secretary to the
Government of the Federation, the
National Security Adviser and the
Chief of Staff and that may be one of
the main reasons why such
appointments have not been made.
With that statement, Mr. President
intends that everybody will have a
sense of belonging in his
administration. But in reality, this may
not be feasible, if the body language
of the Northerners is anything to go
by.
source: www.punchng.com/opinion/letters/buhari-indeed-belongs-to-somebody/

What matters most is that he is accountable to all Nigerians and he shouldn't forget it !