The past few weeks, post May 29th, have been a whirlwind of activities in Nigeria. A new government has taken over power and political operatives have been jostling and readjusting to the anticipated changes to the existing order by the government of Mr. Buhari. It has been a season of political intrigues with the rejuvenated PDP entering into alliance with rump parts of the APC to seize the senate and deputy senate leadership positions. Through all these early shenanigans and other acts, a tentative picture of the Buhari’s style of governance is slowly and steadily emerging – a style which though in its infancy promises to be a strong departure from that of the previous administration. What is slowly forming is what I will term the Buhari doctrine, a codification of beliefs or principals that will direct how the current administration governs.

The first aspect of the doctrine is simple. Focus on and resolve one issue at a time. The president takes up a singular problem and forces into place the various factors that are needed to successfully resolve the particular issue. A case in point is the ongoing Boko Haram anti-terrorist campaign. Immediately upon coming into office, Mr. Buhari met with the National Security Adviser, followed with another meeting with the chiefs of the various arms of the military. Having then gotten a picture of the situation, he moved the military command to Maiduguri, formed a cohesive coalition of willing states (who were merely grudgingly engaged under the past administration), released funds for operations in the three ravaged states and used the platform of the African Union (AU) to push a pan-African plan to defeat Boko Haram, whilst receiving financial support ($5m) from the US and promises of the supply of military equipment from the G7. The future of Boko Haram has never looked bleaker at any time in the last eight years than in the coming months.

A leg of the doctrine of Mr. Buhari is getting a full grasp of a situation before making a decision. He is careful and deliberate in decision making and not swayed by public opinion. A clear example is the ongoing clamour for him to announce his list of ministers which he has ignored in the past two weeks. The issue is straight forward. At the tail end of the Jonathan administration, a transition committee was formed. The committee was supposed to smoothen the handover between the outgoing and incoming administrations, and the fulcrum of this exercise was the handover notes from each ministry and the presidency. That wasn’t handed over by the Jonathan administration until the May 29. Despite the pressing nature of things, Mr. Buhari gave his transition team a further two weeks to review the handover notes and make recommendations at which point he would then decide what to do. The point is, when he is ready after his own due process, the ministerial list will be announced. Same with corruption, rather than arbitrarily arresting everyone and anyone, Mr. Buhari is slowly building a case for his assault on corruption in Nigeria. The president has asked for a meeting with the foremost authority in the Nigerian oil and gas space, the Oslo-based Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the head of whom will be in Nigeria this week. The EITI has in the past stated that oil companies are owing the federal government about $7.5b (N1.48 trillion) in unpaid royalties between 1999 and 2015. The body has also stated that out of the $1.85billion value of eight oil blocks sold between 2010-2011, the federal government had only been paid $100m. Astronomical losses. Here again, we see the president slowly and deliberately building a case for the actions he will take in that sector. Once he has all the necessary information, the culprits will be slammed with the maximum punishments. No rush to wrong judgment here.

Another part of the doctrine of Mr. Buhari is the maintenance of a significantly low key presence, while reducing the cost of the presidential office. Since taking power in May, he has embarked on three foreign trips, and on each trip he was accompanied by two governors, a personal confidant (Mr. Dambazzau) and a tiny retinue. Contrast this with the last administration whose trip to African neighbour, Kenya, practically shut down their airspace with the number of accompanying private jets. He has also on a number of occasions visited the national mosque without the normal fanfare. The message here is that the president is not more important than any other person and should not be disrupting the lives of fellow citizens whenever he ventures out of Aso Rock.

The final aspect of the doctrine is, stealthy work behind the scenes. Recently, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission started work on a review of the remuneration of members of the national assembly and other political office holders. Would this sort of review ever happen without the tacit approval of the president, I doubt it. The public is suddenly inundated with precise data on how much national assembly members earn and what makes up the cost; information that wasn’t available in the last dispensation. Another point is the rumour going round that the president is about to appoint Colonel Hamid Ibrahim Ali as the new boss of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). The mere rumour of the appointment has already resulted in a number of people paying substantial funds back into government coffers in the past few days. A couple of days ago, the lucrative contracts awarded to the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and the Niger Delta militants by the immediate past administration were cancelled. The military has been ordered to guard national pipelines. No noise. Just quick decisive action.

To summarise the Buhari doctrine. Be low key, speak only when necessary, act behind the scenes and face problems head on after carefully reaching a decision based on examining all available facts. Does that remind you of a certain other president of the only remaining global superpower?

Mr. Buhari will move at his own pace and ensure he makes the right decisions, then execute ruthlessly and without hesitation. He will not be present on the screens of our televisions, hectoring us day in, day out but we will feel his presence as the fear of his silence quickly forces corrupt people to be less corrupt.

Oluwafemi Akinfolarin, a lawyer, writes from Lagos.

http://blogs.premiumtimesng.com/?p=167899

Who iz Buhari?

Hmmm

OREMUSSANCTUS:
Who iz Buhari?

And who are you and your entire family

omostar:

And who are you and your entire family

Iz ya use less fada Buhari?

OREMUSSANCTUS:
Who iz Buhari?

He's the opposite of "clueless."

OREMUSSANCTUS:

Iz ya use less fada Buhari?

And I am sure you will sacrifice anything just to know someone who knows a child of Buhari. Grow up, and face how to stop living this miserable life that you presently live.

Spot on!