How to squirrel-proof the presidency

Last week as he completed his Eid el-Kabir prayer at the Daura Eid ground in his hometown, President Muhammadu Buhari chose to walk home. 

I am advised that the distance is about 800 metres.  It is one he must have undertaken hundreds of times before, including in 2018 when some of his aides advertised it as “evidence” that he was physically fit to run for a second four-year term.

This year, some curious things happened.   Bashir Ahmad, Buhari’s Personal Assistant on New Media, posted a video on Facebook announcing the feat.   It was captioned, “President Muhammadu Buhari treks back home after observing Eid el-Kabir prayer at the Daura Eid ground earlier today.”

In Nigeria, we use the term “trek” to describe a long trip on foot, particularly when it is undertaken by a “Big Man”.   In English, it actually means to undertake a short but difficult journey on foot, or to travel slowly or with difficulty.

On Tuesday, neither of those was Buhari’s case.  He simply walked the short distance between the Eid service and his home in his own hometown.

But Buhari is the president.  And things happen around a president, and a routine walk may be deployed as a political event.

The video shows Buhari being accompanied by hundreds of people, including armed security officials, as he is cheered on his route.  He walked with a made-for-TV swagger, appearing to be quite vigorous.

Then followed the reports of the walk, reporting or repeating Ahmad’s video.  Curiously, each of them carried the same headline: “Buhari Dares Bandits, Terrorists, Treks Home From Eid Prayer Ground in Daura.”

‘Dares Bandits and Terrorists’?

It became clear that Buhari had simply not walked home from a prayer service but had made a political statement.  The problem is this: what was he trying to say?

As in the presidential palace in Abuja, the president’s residence in Daura is a fortress, particularly when he is in the area.  The armed security in the video is evidence.  Beyond the video, it is to be expected that given the insecurity in Katsina State and in Northern Nigeria in general, Buhari knew that he enjoyed impregnable security on the ground and in the air.

The claim that he was daring bandits and terrorists by being present in his own hometown, a place that has seen active street protest of his indifference and incompetence, is an insult on all Nigerians who are concerned about the insecurity in the country.   It is a slap on the face of all who have suffered any form of insecurity or loss since Buhari assumed office.

Let me put that differently: If Buhari really wants to demonstrate that he is a courageous ruler and a strong former soldier, let him go shopping in the Abuja Business District for 800 metres at any point of the day or night.  And he can take with him the armed cowboys by which he dares bandits and terrorists.

Better still, Buhari being such a brave man, let him spend one night in Daura in the true love and support of his “Sai Baba” crowd without his cowboys.  It is his hometown!

The point is that Nigeria has been brought to its knees by Buhari’s weak and selfish leadership.  What is his 800 yards walk worth in human life and hunger after he has departed and the bandits and poverty return?

One notable point from Buhari’s visit to Daura is that the copy-and-paste story the government distributed to its supporters stopped there.  No mainstream media organization published it.  This is significant as part of the media’s rebuff of the directive of the National Broadcasting Commission that television and radio stations not “glamourise the nefarious activities of insurgents” by reporting details of the activities of bandits, terrorists and kidnappers.

No, swaggering in the streets, protected by thousands of soldiers and policemen does not change the fact that last December, 300 students were abducted in Kankara, two hours away from Buhari’s Daura home.  It does not alter the fact that under his watch, people continue to be abducted or killed every day, or to pay millions of dollars in ransom and in taxes.

Buhari’s false swagger in his hometown is a further reminder that in his hands, Nigeria has entered the category of failed states.  And not only has he failed to initiate the fundamental changes the country needs to thrive, he rebuffs the need for them.

This is where the educated North must rise.  Buhari does not represent the best interests of the North but its worst.  He has used power not to advance the area, but to retard and regress it.  For those who support him and those who support the North, this is the time to speak up as in his hands each day is a bigger disaster than the preceding one.  In other words, while he may lead to war, he certainly has not proved he knows the way to peace, let alone to prosperity.

 But Nigeria’s biggest concern is the National Assembly, particularly the Senate, which I have previously carpeted here for lacking character, credibility or purpose.  Among others: In 2002, I demonstrated how the Senators were buying and selling, and in March 2012 questioned their commitment. In April 2016, I thought the Upper chamber reflected the nation’s soul, and in February this year, called its members a nuisance.

Among others, as everyone now knows, two weeks ago, the Senate scandalously took the constitutional powers of the electoral commission over elections away from it.

The truth is that just as in the executive, the philosophical foundation of the institution is symbolically in decay.  We have all seen videos of the roof of the building leaking, demonstrating that despite the vast sums that are being expended on it, the infrastructure is not being maintained.

Evidence: here is the website of the Assembly.  Please look around and notice how empty and apathetic it is.  Apart from the names of the Senators and Representatives, it holds almost no information.  No archives.  No sense of legislative responsibility or history. That done, now look at the parliaments of two of our friends: Ghana and South Africa, and see how each brims over with a sense of democratic presence and commitment.

Around Abuja at this moment, every Senator or Representative is strutting around with the pretentious affectations of “Distinguished” or “Honourable.”  But it was only recently, on this page, that I was reflecting on the work of the Ad hoc Committee [of the House] on the Probe of Recovered Looted Funds and Assets of Government (2002-2020), citing the incredible revelations that were emanating.

As Ministers and Permanent Secretaries and Directors gave loud testimonies, I wondered whether it would last.  As you may have noticed, it did not: the committee has vanished, as have the news organizations that were reporting it.

The moral of this story is this: whether Nigeria survives or not, we must rebuild from the control of our legislative system.  If we make the legislature far more accountable structure, we squirrel-proof the executive.

·        [This column welcomes rebuttals from interested government officials.]

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