Yesterday, while glancing through one textbook on history of Nigeria politics written over a decade ago by Dr. Shedrack C. Owunwa of Department of Political Science; Alvan Ikoku College of Education, Owerri, Imo State, I got fascinated in the chapter eight of that book.

Boldly titled "The Buhari Administration", the chapter x-rays the maiden administration of by the current President, Muhammadu Buhari who was then the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief after President Shehu Shagari was ousted from office on December 31, 1983.

The second paragraph of that piece reads, " the return of the military to governance was initially a big relief to the Nigerian public because the Shagari regime had reached a state of complete decay and popular disaffection. With the economy on the verge of collapse and the rape of democracy committed as a result of the wide-spread rigging of the 1983 general elections, there was general disillusionment with civilian rule. When Buhari declared his intention to sanitize the battered economy, the Nigeria masses looked forward to a better future, a new social and economic order. He started well but before long, authoritarian rule made its appearance and the euphoria which his advent petered out".

Coming to the first paragraph under the sub-topic : Sanitation of the Nigerian Society, the author writes: " to Gen. Buhari, sanitizing the society included strict observance of a code of civil behaviour............. More importantly, people who were suspected to have mismanaged the country's finances were put in detention while from others, embezzled or misappropriated public funds were recovered. Whether the recovered sums of money were paid back into the government coffers is another matter", Dr. Owunwa asserts.

Again, the author noted that Gen. Buhari in his bid to rehabilitate the economy introduced harsh economic measures. "For instance, the implementation of several important projects was shelved, subsidies for education, health and other services were cut, workers were entrenched in large numbers in both the public and private sectors. There were cutbacks on state recurrent budget and wage freeze, and the quantity of essential raw materials imported into the country was made dependent on the amount of foreign exchange available after debt servicing".

Stating on and on, the chapter concludes by adding " the country had evidently got into the grip of authoritarianism at the service of western capitalist interests. Nigerians in their innermost hearts prayed for another "saviour" and thought that the prayer as answered on August 26, 1985 when Major-Gen. Babaginda toppled the Buhari's administration in another palace coup".

With the current situations in the country, can we now say that a foregone history is again resurrecting with even more dexterous stories?

Of all the times, why must President Buhari show face when the economy is going bananas?

With his past credentials, why did Nigerians who were witnesses to that still believed in him for a positive change?

Will his future end be better than his end in the past?


*From the 2016 archive.