Buhari: As the crow flies
‘As the crow flies’ is an English expression that means moving on a straight line. It is taken from the manner the crow, a highly intelligent bird specie, flies by taking the most direct route to its destination. If there was a leader that Nigerians assume they knew exactly what his approach would be on […]
Late ex-president Buhari
‘As the crow flies’ is an English expression that means moving on a straight line. It is taken from the manner the crow, a highly intelligent bird specie, flies by taking the most direct route to its destination.
If there was a leader that Nigerians assume they knew exactly what his approach would be on issues, it was Muhammadu Buhari who was first a military head of state from 1983 to 1985 and later a democratically elected president from 2015 to 2023 and who passed away at a hospital in London yesterday.
Nigerians believed he was unpretentious, straightforward, rigid, hence most times, predictable.
It was a belief that would serve him in good stead when majority of Nigerians thought they had had it with the double speaking and deceitful ways of most politicians.
It was with that belief in mind that Nigerians, even from the most unexpected quarters, worked for him to return to power in 2015.
He was an instant hit in the northern part of the country initially, but his reputation of an unbendable crusader escalated his acceptance.
Nigerians, who had a taste of him in 1983 when he emerged head of state from the military takeover that ousted the government of Shehu Shagari, recalled how things took shape for the better with the brief period he held office.
He came as a young no-nonsense ruler with zero tolerance to cutting corners and corrupt practices.
In truth, politicians of that era had conducted themselves in a manner that portrayed them as not just condoning corruption and various sharp practices but even encouraging it.
There were many cases of alleged corruption and wanton abuse of public office leading to growing mistrust from the populace, and above all, widespread electoral malpractices.
The 1983 elections in which the then ruling party, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN), won with a landslide at that time introduced rampant cases of electoral malpractices in the polity where the number of declared votes for a candidate exceeded even the number of registered voters.
It was the era when the only saving grace for politicians was to rush to airwaves and announce their results ahead of the electoral commissions to forestall any manipulation.
It was the era in which words like ‘wuru wuru’ and ‘mago mago’ found their way to public space.
When the Buhari administration intervened, there was wild jubilation because it was believed then that military interregnums, by their nature, were corrective interventions.
People had a good laugh at the politicians of that era when their ‘crimes’ were exposed.
In one case, a former governor was said to have left millions of naira at his residence and when it was reported to him that the police had recovered it, he was reported to have said something to the effect that since the money belonged to the government and it was recovered in a government house (his official residence) then there was no case.
Another funny incidence occurred when a very top official of the then ruling party, who was away at the time of the coup and was not aware of what happened, was denied landing at the airport, and instead of making a detour, he boldly announced that he was an important figure in the ruling party! His plane was immediately permitted to land and he was promptly arrested.
Many of the politicians of the Second Republic were arrested and prosecuted with some of them getting as long as 100-year sentencing.
Buhari also tried to instill discipline in Nigerians.
It was during his regime that the monthly environmental sanitation exercise was introduced and the War against Indiscipline (WAI) was launched.
The Buhari regime took extra measures to bring politicians to book, going as far as trying to extradite Shagari’s minister of transport and aviation, Umaru Dikko to Nigeria from his UK base.
The administration, however, later wore the toga of high-handedness due to the promulgation of Decree 4.
His administration lasted less than two years as it was sacked in a palace coup by General Ibrahim Babangida.
Not much was heard about Buhari after then until the administration of General Sani Abacha made him to oversee the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
When the country returned to civil rule in 1999, Buhari was convinced to join the 2003 presidential race.
He shocked many who did not give him a chance by polling over 12 million votes in his first ever time of contesting elections.
He contested two other elections after that and lost, but in 2014, the nostalgia of a leader who would rule Nigeria in the same manner as the crow flies gained currency. The regional dominance he had garnered blew into national acceptance, enabling the Daura-born retired general to set a record for being the first to defeat an incumbent Nigerian president in an election.
He came with three identifiable areas of focus: economy, security and corruption.
His administration initially went after those alleged to be corrupt with the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, detained. Buhari also went after a former Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Alison-Madueke, to recover alleged stolen funds, but his second coming lacked the vim of his first outing as not much came out of the cases.
Unlike in 1983 when corrupt officials got instant judgement and were sentenced to terms beyond the average life span, the process for the prosecution was slow.
The body language that made people to sit up on hearing that it was Buhari of 1983 that was returning to power petered out and people reverted to old ways.
The economy was managed, but not to the level people expected and security improvement was epileptic.
Buhari’s eight-year tenure was characterised by what many alleged fell short of the expected way the crow was supposed to fly.
To Buhari’s his credit, however, he was able to conduct elections and hand over to a democratically elected administration.
Of the 13 leaders Nigeria has had, Buhari was the third to die after leaving office; the other two being Shehu Shagari and Ernest Shonekan,
Five others: Tafawa Balewa, Aguiyi Ironsi and Murtala Mohammed Sani Abacha, Umaru Musa Yar’adua died in office.
Buhari would be remembered on the political scene as the man with 12 million votes as that had been the most recurring figure that greeted most of his outings.