…is Buhari a president of Northern
Nigeria? The talakawa of the North have
also been negatively affected by. Buhari’s
babalawo economics. There are
Northerners who are unhappy with his
geographically favouritist, sexist and
ageism-in-reverse appointments. I don’t
think Buhari would be remembered as
the president of Northern Nigeria. Unless
the president turns things around, he
will be remembered — perhaps unfairly —
as a policy lightweight and the president
who could not provide tomatoes.

The Vanguard newspaper reported the visit of a
delegation of Northern leaders to the then
president-elect Muhammadu Buhari on May 11th
2015. The delegation was led by Alhaji Maitama
Sule. Sule told Buhari: “You are the president of
Nigeria, you are not the president of Northern
Nigeria by the grace of God”. Maitama Sule was
someone you had to take seriously. I ruminated
over the story for several minutes and wondered
why the acclaimed orator felt the need to publicly
ask Buhari to be a president for the whole of
Nigeria.
We now know why and the underpinnings are
quite ugly. The president needs to demonstrate
that he is willing to trust Nigerians who neither
speak Fulfulde nor Hausa. My assessment is that
his skewed appointments speak to a lack of trust,
rather than outright clannishness. The president
needs to realise that he is president of the whole
of Nigeria and millions of Nigerians from the
streets of Kano to the parks of Lagos genuinely
wish him well in office. His success is our success.
No one should make light of the efforts that go
into each political appointment. I do not think the
president sets out to spite anybody but the idea
that he is appointing people on merit despite the
lopsidedness is no longer funny. If President
Buhari sincerely believes that his appointments so
far have been based on merit, then with all due
respect, his future is in standup comedy.
The president’s inner circle seems to lack not just
adequate representation but also depth and
rigour. Buhari did not think he would win the
elections as he did not expect President Jonathan
to concede defeat. Therefore, President Buhari
assumed office grossly unprepared and lacking
the scintilla of a plan for governance. He had
become habituated to losing elections and did not
do his rudimentary homework on Nigeria’s many
problems. This is quite problematic given that he
contested for over 12 years. Why exactly was he
running for office? Did he think he was simply
going to manage oil wealth?
There are no new problems in Nigeria. Many of
the problems have increased in intensity and
metastasised but none of the problems is entirely
new. Consequently, a diligent presidential
candidate would have prepared. The president
simply assumed he could show up and his “body
language” — whatever that means — would keep
people in check and all would be well. His
command and obey personality type has not
helped matters. I have a lot of respect for the
military but Nigeria is not an overgrown military
barracks. By personality type, temperament and
proclivity, Buhari is unsuited to the rather
frustrating guiles of democracy and demands of
civil society.
Gains have clearly been made in the fight against
Boko Haram, although we still await the rescue of
all the Chibok girls. The plight of the internally
displaced persons (IDPs) is a test of the basic
competence of this administration. The signs are
not good given the deplorable conditions of IDPs.
What is going on at the camps is nothing short of
state crime — in this case, elaborate criminogenic
structures established by government workers in
the course of their duties.
Let me assure President Buhari with the benefit of
over seven years of research on the Niger Delta
that there is no military solution to the problem
posed by the Niger Delta Avengers. Deployment
of troops may provide a temporary reprieve but in
the end, the administration’s current approach is
similar to taking Panadol for a heart problem. The
Niger Delta Avengers are the newly minted
products in the carousel of social injustice.
Exterminating the Avengers to the last
combatant — assuming that were probable —
would provide a two-to-three year tranquility
before other groups emerge. Why? The
underlying factors fabricating insurgents in the
Niger Delta have not been tackled. President
Jonathan failed the Niger Delta. He and several
Niger Delta governors did a fine job of adopting a
cosmetic solution — coopting insurgent
“Generals” and distributing allowances through
the amnesty programme. However, the Mary Kay
approach should have been followed up with
serious infrastructural development in the Niger
Delta. The president acknowledged via a letter
dated July 21st 2015 the receipt of a copy of my
book on the Niger Delta. Based on interviews with
diverse participants such as Ken Saro-Wiwa (Jr.),
Annkio Briggs, Asari Dokubo, and dozens of ex-
agitators, and community members, among
others, I hate to state that I predicted what is
going on now. Government policy ought to be
crafted and implemented with findings from
empirical research and not transient emotions.
The president’s reluctance to publicly focus on
the Fulani herdsmen’s violence that has ravaged
Benue and several other states may haunt his
administration and legacy. His approach to the
issue has been a national embarrassment in a
country where shame took off a long time ago.
The president needs to show leadership and
assert that human lives are more important than
cattle. In addition, the handling of the issue of
Biafra is the stuff that separates real statesmen
from half-baked politicians. The president has not
approached the South-East with the needed
acumen and sophistication. He has come off as
irritable and petulant. A deeper engagement with
the South-East and South-South is long overdue.
The main part of the narrative is the president’s
capacity. This is a combination of innate talents
and acquired knowledge. There is no expectation
anywhere in the world that a Head of State would
have answers to all things. However, a leader
must be a mop for knowledge. Buhari’s hermitic
lifestyle after leaving the military and following
each electoral loss was not adequate preparation
for governance. He is the only former Head of
State with no known involvement in think-tanks
or any foundation executing humanitarian
projects.
Buhari’s repertoire of knowledge has unraveled in
the face of “modern” challenges. I doubt that the
president is teachable and I feel sorry for his
advisers. I have come to the conclusion based on
the evidence of the last one year that the
president either lacks the humility to learn or is
simply bereft of the capacity to adapt to 21st
century leadership. Each of these two problems is
in and of itself debilitating; to have both reposed
in a president is the road to systemic paralysis.
We are in terrible company. It is the singular
reason why Africa is not rising despite the
optimism of the last few years.
All hope is not lost. I continue to believe that
Buhari’s administration may yet leave Nigeria
better than it was in 2015 if the president focuses
on his current term and banishes the temptation
to seek a second term. The math is simple:
President Buhari cannot win a second term under
a free and fair atmosphere. Besides, everything
he stands for would be negated in the quest for a
second term. His second term as I stated in an
open letter to the president would be similar to
Obasanjo’s third term project.
Finally, is Buhari a president of Northern Nigeria?
The talakawa of the North have also been
negatively affected by Buhari’s babalawo
economics. There are Northerners who are
unhappy with his geographically favouritist, sexist
and ageism-in-reverse appointments. I don’t think
Buhari would be remembered as the president of
Northern Nigeria. Unless the president turns
things around, he will be remembered — perhaps
unfairly — as a policy lightweight and the
president who could not provide tomatoes.

‘Tope Oriola is professor of criminology at
the University of Alberta, Canada. Twitter:@
topeoriola
www.opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2016/06/11/is-buhari-a-president-of-northern-nigeria-by-tope-oriola/

We already kniw.

YES










LONG LIVE

All the above has been said ad nuseam and what remain is the imlementation.