]Buhari: When Facts Become ‘Contrived…’



20 Dec 2014





THIS REPUBLIC

With Shaka Momodu E-mail: shaka.momodu@thisdaylive.com, 08112661654

It is not my desire to join issues or engage any of my colleagues in an open debate in the media. This article should therefore be seen as an exception. After reading Waziri Adio’s article on the back page of THISDAY 15th December titled, “Is This, Finally, The Buhari Moment?” I came to the inescapable conclusion that there were obvious gaps that needed to be filled. For the records, Mr Adio was spot on and I largely agree with the analysis except for the phrase ‘contrived handicaps’ which is suggestive of falsehood sold as truth.


I therefore find the urge to correct some misrepresentations too strong to resist. It is particularly expedient to fill the missing years between 1984 (about 30 years) ago when Buhari entered the consciousness of Nigerians with those immortal and awe inspiring words which Waziri heralded his article, “This generation of Nigerians and indeed future generations have no country other than Nigeria, we shall remain here and salvage it together” and his 2014 speech preceding his nomination when he stated thus, “We seek a new Nigeria. It starts with us, it starts today…. Nigeria is our home. Let us now turn it into the great Nation we know it can and should be.’’


Of truth, that statement in 1984 captivated and galvanised Nigerians across the country into looking inward and believing our situation was not beyond redemption. But the succeeding years have seen Buhari morphing into something of a caricature image far less noble than the vision encapsulated in that powerful summation of 1984.

These years have been very revealing of the Buhari personae. So much water has passed under the bridge such that it would be wrong to condense and analyse Buhari on just two inspiring quotes 30 years apart and attempt to sell his candidature as a viable alternative. I find this unhelpful for a society yearning for direction.


What about the intervening years that have thrown up a deeply partisan, sectional and religious irredentist that I am sure, many Nigerians would find different from the man who spoke those words 30 years ago? The truth here is that from when he spoke his first words to Nigerians and became a fixture of sort in our psyche, Buhari has evolved severally; he has become a convoluted and conflicted brand. From an inspirational national leader, he withdrew into the conclave of an ethno-religious champion and a fanatical extremist who has sought without apologies to anyone, to undermine everything the Nigeria nation stands for.
We will be guilty of extreme naivety to wave off these tendencies that are so manifestly glaring in the APC presidential candidate as figment of our imagination or merely “contrived handicaps” by Buhari haters to undermined him like my Egbon Waziri has done.
While Mr Adio will have us believe that the well deserved appellation is “contrived handicaps”, the facts and records of history speak to the contrary. As I said, Buhari has become deeply conflicted and I say it without mincing words and that contrary to Waziri Adio’s position, Buhari is an ethno-religious fundamentalist. The ark of history is on my side here. The fact that Buhari is being rebranded by the APC apparatchiks and has consequently toned down his extremist views about North/South and Muslims/Christians of the country, for political correctness does not make him any less a religious extremist. I even find the whole rebranding project pretentious, deceitful, and unflattering to the iron-cast inscrutable image of the General. My admonition to those behind it is that you cannot change a man from who he is to who he is not.

The proof of Buhari’s ethno-religious leaning is stated here in his own words and recorded position on issues pertaining to Sharia and the interest of the North as against the overriding interest of Nigeria. If Waziri Adio so fervently believes that Buhari is not a fundamentalist, what does he make of Buhari’s statement 27 August 2001,“I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria. God willing, we’ll not stop the agitation for the total implementation of Sharia in the country.’’

As if that was not enough, Buhari stated further, “Muslims should vote for fellow Muslims who can defend their faith”. If Waziri Adio so strongly believes that the fundamentalist toga was ‘contrived,’ what does he make of the above?
Just a few weeks ago, Atiku Abubarkar called Buhari a religious bigot and warned that Nigeria doesn’t need a religious bigot as president. I believe Atiku played that up for his own political advantage because of the primary that was coming up where he alongside other contestants squared against Buhari, but even at that, he was merely stating a self evident fact.


Recall also that during Governor Rasheed Ladoja’s time as governor of Oyo state, Buhari travelled all the way from Daura in Katsina to visit Governor Ladoja in Ibadan. It was no ordinary visit, but a protest visit that Ladoja’s people were killing his (Buhari’s) people. Still wondering what all that means? Well, you don’t have to wait for long. Here it is. It was all about the clashes between Hausa-Fulani herdsmen grazing with their cattle in indigenes’ farmland and destroying their crops. Buhari’s exact words were: “Your people are killing my people.” If this is not a sufficient proof of this man’s sectional-ethnic affinity and inclination then, someone will have to tell me what is. Governor Ladoja was so disappointed in Buhari, that he issued him a rebuke, urging him to play the statesman instead of narrow ethnic interest that chips away at his position as a former head of state.


Just last year, when the state of emergency was declared in parts of the North-east to tame the menace of the devilish and blood-thirsty Boko Haram which has severally broken its own worst record of human carnage, Buhari stated in an interview that he was against the state of emergency and military action against sect, which he described as a grave injustice to the North. According to him in his lamentation, “unlike the special treatment the federal government gave to the Niger Delta militants, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished.”

Waziri Adio should tell Nigerians what Buhari meant by that statement. If it was not supportive of Boko Haram and at the same time playing the ethno-religious card, then half the world is not enough as a gift to me. Now, how can a former head of state even make such a statement? What was it meant to achieve? Any objective deductions from Buhari’s statements will inevitably come to the sane conclusion that many Nigerians have come to - a religious fundamentalist who wants to right the perceived ‘wrongs’ done to the north.
Lest we forget, The same Buhari was once nominated by Boko Haram as their chief negotiator even though he reluctantly declined. But why did the murderous terror sect choose Buhari of all people, a former head of state of Nigeria, as their negotiator from a motley crowd of qualified ethno-religious champions who believe that power belongs to the north or “northerners are born to rule”? I am unable to find an answer to this question except to think that perhaps, Boko Haram trusted him more to represent their interest. Was this also ‘contrived’?
It is easy to rebuke those who call Buhari a religious fundamentalist or an extremist, but Buhari’s character portrait and utterances over the years speak to the answer. I was once a big fan of Buhari in the 80s, and for the life of me, I agonised over many sleepless nights when my ‘hero’ started to unravel before my very eyes. His war against indiscipline endeared him to me. It was good for society and it remains an enduring legacy in the country today.
While this write-up is not an assessment of the failings of Buhari’s regime from 1984, I am of the belief that a man who executed three young Nigerians with a law retroactively implemented and has remained unrepentant, unremorseful and still believes in the rightness of that action, his sense of morality and righteousness must be deeply flawed. And for those who think Buhari’s views have matured over time, I say, I wish. We seems to have forgotten so soon how innocent youth corpers serving in parts of the north were killed just because Buhari lost the 2011 presidential election? And I dare say the language of his campaign was largely responsible for those killings.

I am also not impressed with the narrative out there that Buhari believes in fighting corruption with total commitment, even though he may not be personally corrupt and I dare say, he is not. He allows certain things under table and in some cases, negligently aids and abets corrupt acts. Remember the 53 suit cases? What about his stewardship at PTF? It is not as flattering as some would want us to believe. And before I forget, in 2008, at the 10th anniversary of the death of Abacha, Buhari declared to the consternation of all Nigerians that Abacha was neither corrupt nor a thief. “He did not steal Nigeria’s money,” he declared sternly with military fiat. This is despite the fact that several countries had returned hundreds of millions of dollars to Nigeria as part of Abacha’s recovered loot. I don’t know if this position was also ‘contrived’ by Buhari’s hate club. If not, I don’t know how much good this does to the General’s image as an anti-corruption leader that is being daily burnished in the media. Anyone who denies this fact of history that Abacha did not loot the treasury cannot be an honest person and for Buhari to do that speak powerfully to the charge against him. It is an eloquent testimony that tells a lot about what his promoters would not want to talk about.


The harrowing traffic chaos that we all suffer and agonise over today in Lagos is a direct result of Buhari’s narrow and parochial minded view of economic affairs of this country. The cancellation of the Lagos Metro Line project after commencement of work remains a sad reminder of Buhari’s lack of vision and foresight. Tragically, those who have borne the brunt of that unfortunate action are today the very people packaging, marketing and promoting him to be president partly with the resources of the Lagos state. Thankfully, our memories are not like architecture that is often described as frozen music.

This is Professor Wole Soyinka’s take away on Buhari in 2007. It is like he just wrote it yesterday, “The grounds on which General Buhari is being promoted as the alternate choice are not only shaky, but pitifully naïve. History matters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of memory, but to operate as guides to the future. Of course, we know that human beings change. What the claims of personality change or transformation impose on us is a rigorous inspection of the evidence, not wishful speculation or behind-the-scenes assurances. Public offence, crimes against a polity, must be answered in the public space, not caucuses of bargaining. In Buhari, we have been offered no evidence of the sheerest prospect of change. On the contrary, all evidence suggests that this is one individual who remains convinced that this is one ex-ruler that the nation cannot call to order. Need one remind anyone he was one of the Generals who treated a Commission of Enquiry, the Oputa Panel, with unconcealed disdain. Like Babaginda and Abdusalami, he refused to put in appearance even though complaints that were tabled against him involved a career of gross abuses of power and blatant assault on the fundamental human rights of the Nigerian citizenry. Prominent against these charges was an act that amounted to nothing less than judicial murder, the execution of a citizen under a retroactive decree. Does Decree 20 ring a bell? If not, then, perhaps the names of three youths-Lawal Ojuolape(30), Bernard Ogedengbe (29) and Bartholomew Owoh (26) do. To put it quite plainly, one of those three-Ogedengbe-was executed for a crime that did not carry a capital forfeiture at the time it was committed. This was an unconscionable crime, carried out in defiance of the pleas and protests of nearly every sector of the Nigerian and international community, religious, civil rights, political, trade unions etc.”
It is a tragic irony that some of those rooting for and shouting sai Buhari! sai Buhari!! are members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm who suffered terribly under the General’s jackboot. Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor must be pinching themselves and wondering what has happened to society’s gatekeepers’ memories.

Only greed drives SW electorates.


VP my foot

If only we can see beyond our nose...Buhari isn't the Messiah we seek...He can at best mortgage this entity called Nigeria without any qualms...His inability to condole and console with the families of victims of 2011 post election violence denotes one who has no conscious, schizophrenic and incomparably heartless and wicked...history beckons!!!

Whynotthetruth:
If only we can see beyond our nose...Buhari isn't the Messiah we seek...He can at best mortgage this entity called Nigeria without any qualms...His inability to condole and console with the families of victims of 2011 post election violence denotes one who has no conscious, schizophrenic and incomparably heartless and wicked...history beckons!!!

Exactly, Buhari is not a better alternative. If apc has chosen suitable candidate like Fashola, I d have voted them but not Buhari. Gej is coming back.

Sparkle777:


Exactly, Buhari is not a better alternative. If apc has chosen suitable candidate like Fashola, I d have voted them but not Buhari. Gej is coming back.

Sincerely, at inception I was a fan of APC but their desperation made them lose focus over time and hence, lost my admiration. They would have probably won my sympathy back if they fielded competent candidates but NOT at all Buhari...APC seems more engrossed with winning central governance than with the mode, antecedent, and personality traits and tendencies of the one who wins the election. They really with Buhari represent "Change to Parochialism & ethno-religious" bastardization of Nigeria...

It is a pity that some people are too blind to see. I'm from Edo state where I will vote my governor again if need be unless there is a better candidate.
I can say with pride that my vote belongs to GEJ but would have definately be tempted to look the other way if Fashola/Oshiomole or somebody else brought forward.
This was where APC got it wrong.
Hate it or love it, Buhari is definately not a choice.

Enough of this revisionism
South-East Youth Vanguard For Buhari Presidency
June 5, 2013 ·
The Achievement of General Muhammadu Buhari At PTF
General Muhammadu Buhari To PTF Contractors ---- “Perform Well, You Get a Handshake. If You Perform Bad, You Get a Handcuff”
General Muhammadu Buhari was fond of telling contractors on visit to sites: If you perform well, you get a handshake. If you perform badly, you get a handcuff.
Obasanjo never hid his disgust for General Sani Abacha who had jailed him for a phantom coup. Released from jail and still wallowing in a fit of new found spirituality, he wrote a book and called it. The Animal Called Man. And he elected to wage a battle on this Animal Called Man. While taking his oath of office at the Eagle Square on 27th May, 1999, he had pledged to wrestle corruption out of our national psyche. In a fit of mediaeval triumphalism, he chanted: there will be no sacred cows!
But his first attack was a disaster. No sooner had he made that declaration than he dispatched Mallam Haroun Adamu to the headquarters of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), an intervention agency run by General Muhammadu Buhari, to start the war on corruption. Haroun Adamu’s public brief was to wind down PTF but the hidden one was to disgrace General Buhari by exposing the shady deals in PTF.
Contractors working for PTF were used to picking their cheques across the counter without much ado. Under the new inquisitor, contractors discovered they now had to oil their cheques out, something alien to the PTF they knew. They cried foul. And there were several other fouls after the first foul. To say that Obasanjo was thoroughly embarrassed by his minions would be an understatement, so much so that till date he does not discuss PTF in public.
As a General, it would appear that Obasanjo read Sun Tzu’ s The Art of War upside down. Sun Tzu had counselled: Know thyself; know thy enemy. You will fight a thousand battles without defeat. The blitzkrieg he deployed only showed he did not know PTF. He might not have needed to fire a shot to win or wean PTF. To date, most Nigerians knew how PTF started, what it did but not how it ended. Not known as one who forgives, was it not surprising that General Buhari walked the streets with his head high throughout Obasanjo’s imperial majesty when the fear of EFCC was the beginning of political wisdom?
In October 1994, General Sani Abacha increased the pump price of petrol from N3.25k to N11.00 per litre. Nigerians assailed him with criticisms for this unpopular move and to assuage their feelings, he quickly established the Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund to use a portion of the proceeds of the increase to intervene in critical sectors of the economy. Nigerians never took Abacha seriously on this project until Gen Muhammadu Buhari was announced and inaugurated the chairman of the PTF in March 1995. That PTF awarded contracts worth billions of naira is not news. The news the PTF made within the four years it existed was and still is that contracts awarded were executed to their logical conclusion and for those not executed, the PTF got every kobo back. Before PTF, contractors were used to abandoning contracts and bolting away with their advance payments. It never happened in PTF. When Buhari visited the Onitsha end of the Enugu-Onitsha express way awarded to a local contractor and discovered the job was abandoned, he simply called on the bank that guaranteed the contractor to pay back. There and then, the contract was terminated and later awarded to another contractor. From that moment, banks and insurance companies that provided bonds to contractors learnt that the old order had changed and had to monitor projects it guaranteed.
For the years it existed, PTF published its annual reports and always addressed press conferences to respond to issues arising from the reports. And each time it did, it challenged anybody who could deliver on any of its projects at a price cheaper than what it cost the PTF to submit his proposal. Nobody ever did.
In one of the presentations of its annual report, the Executive Secretary of the Board of the PTF, Chief Tayo Akpata, maintained that the roads constructed by the PTF not only cost less than World Bank funded roads but were also better qualitatively. He challenged anyone to prove the contrary. Until the PTF was scrapped, nobody did.
While the PTF existed, contractors never needed to lobby and grease palms to get LPO’s. You only needed to belong to the appropriate group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and other professional groups to qualify. Not a few contractors received requests to supply the PTF in the comfort of their offices. It was so unbelievably true that some had to travel to Abuja to reconfirm if the LPO’s they received were genuine. And genuine they were.
To be paid for a completed contract, all the contractor needed was to present a certificate of completion issued by the ubiquitous consultants engaged by the PTF and his cheque would be prepared. And with a proper letter of introduction, a contractor could send a third party to pick his cheque across a counter in the Finance Department without any ceremony. One cannot also forget in a hurry the PTF drug revolving scheme. Under this, the PTF set up offices in hospitals across the country and supplied them with drugs. The financial consultants employed by the Fund ensured that receipts from the sales of the drugs were used to replenish the stocks in an unending cycle that banished out-of-stock anthem the Nigerian publics were forced to listen to before then. And it was not easy to divert PTF drugs to the parallel market. The smallest tablet supplied had PTF logo engraved on it. Somebody attempted diverting the drugs and was caught. General Buhari took up the case personally and ensured the culprit went to jail. After that, nobody heard of diversions again.
The strategy of the PTF in procuring these drugs is worth reviewing. Over 60% of the drugs supplied to the PTF were locally produced. In fact, the PTF only imported drugs that could not be produced by the local pharmaceutical firms. The pressure on the existing pharmaceutical companies was so much that almost all these firms had to increase their capacity by expanding and employing more hands. Neimeth Pharmaceuticals, Emzor Pharmaceuticals among others can be contacted to affirm or disprove this. This policy was deliberately made to ensure that more jobs were created within the economy. Builders who built for PTF would also tell you that they were not allowed to import paints. There was a list of all the paint manufacturers in the country maintained at the PTF from which builders bought paints. Within the same period, the capacity utilisation in these companies soared as they expanded and created more jobs. A look at the records kept by IPWA plc and other existing paint makers within the period under review is worth attempting to digest the profundity of the PTF intervention in the building sector; and other sectors it intervened in as its model was so overarching that critics labelled it the alternative government.
This column is not enough to put in a proper perspective the job General Buhari undertook and did while in PTF but it suffices through this glimpse to understand the mindset and the strategy of this maelstrom which the ruling elite hate for his forthrightness – a quality in short supply in governance today.
One can cite the number of roads and hospitals rehabilitated by the PTF. One can also quote the billions it spent. The essence of the PTF, however, lies more in the multiplier effect its intervention had on the economy as a whole than in the number of what it did, which on its own was equally impressive. This distinction is what differentiates growth from development. While the former is quantitative, the latter is qualitative. As a political economist, I know that the economic development of any third world country lies in qualitative transformation.
Before the coming of PTF, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida had introduced the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which he had claimed had no alternative. The revered economist, Professor Sam Aluko, had also reminded him that economics was a science of alternatives; that even death had an alternative which was life and that SAP was a kiss of death. IBB was to acknowledge the failure of SAP when out of frustration around 1991, he exclaimed that the Nigerian economy had defied all known economic theories and was surprised that the economy had not collapsed.
The economy did not collapse. The PTF intervention ensured it did not. This was the lesson OBJ failed to grasp when he dissolved the Fund with executive fiat in 1999. As at 1997, funds available to the PTF was about N115 billion and Nigerians could point at projects the fund was expended on. A decade after PTF, the governments from OBJ’s to date had spent much more than that in the power sector alone and have not been able to generate even a megawatt more of electricity.
Managing public funds is serious business. General Muhammadu Buhari was fond of telling contractors on visit to sites: If you perform well, you get a handshake. If you perform badly, you get a handcuff. This is the mantra we need at this historical juncture. The man that incarnates this mantra out of the available presidential candidates is General Muhammadu Buhari.
There is also a lesson to be learnt from the day Buhari left PTF. Obasanjo, on assumption of office, announced the setting up of the interim management committee led by Mallam Haroun Adamu to wind down PTF. The following day, Buhari addressed a press conference and invited the new management to immediately take over. He told Nigerians that everything the new management needed were in the records to which they would have unhindered access. He bid his staff farewell, descended the stairs, literally jumped into his four wheel drive that took him home to Daura. He never stepped into that premises again to this day. And he never fled the country to escape the EFCC.