Mixed Metaphors: 920 Buhari days to go

When I last updated this calendar, nearly one year ago, putative Nigeria leader Muhammadu Buhari was in Egypt. As he arrived in that country for the Aswan Forum, it was to Abuja to which his attention swiveled: his wife had sent to Daily Trust newspaper a statement in which she accused Mamman Daura, his older […]

When I last updated this calendar, nearly one year ago, putative Nigeria leader Muhammadu Buhari was in Egypt.

As he arrived in that country for the Aswan Forum, it was to Abuja to which his attention swiveled: his wife had sent to Daily Trust newspaper a statement in which she accused Mamman Daura, his older nephew, of a directive that her much-craved “Office of the First Lady” not be recognized.

By that time, her husband had since caved in from his first-term claim that she would be known only as the Wife of the President, and appointed aides into the office.

But Aisha slashed forth: “Nigeria’s development is hinged on the ability of public officials to execute their mandates professionally, and to be shining examples in their various areas of endeavor. It is not a good sign when officials abandoned (sic) their responsibility and start clutching at straws.”

It was unclear exactly upon what officials she was commenting: Daura was not a public official.

What was clear was that Buhari was continuing to unravel, politically.  As he returned to the country from Aswan, The Punch newspaper blasted him for the persistent human rights abuses of his government and pledged it would “henceforth prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the 80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime…”

It still calls him General.  And I hear that Aso Rock has not paid for a single copy of that newspaper since then.

Human rights?  Last Sunday, Nigerian lady Modupe Odele was at the Murtala Muhammad Airport in Lagos trying to board an international flight when immigration officials seized her passport and pre-empted her plans.

No explanation was provided as to what crime the 30-year old woman might have committed.   But there were clues: Odele had served as a Legal Aide during the #EndSARS anti-police brutality protests, and the following day, there were media speculations that she was indeed on a government ‘no-travel’ list.

Although the Ministry of Interior denied the existence of such a list, nobody in the government explained why she was prevented from traveling, and nobody apologized to her.  For a government which has very little credibility, nobody believed the Ministry’s statement, either.

But Ms. Odele was lucky: had she been coming into the country she and her passport and her phone might have been seized at the airport, with luck her only hope.  It has happened before.  Nigerian governments deny there is a travel ban, but citizens—invariably critics—are arbitrarily stopped from traveling or from entering their own country, with no explanation given, in violation of their rights.

But Ms. Odele also happens to be a lawyer, and despite far too few Nigerians speaking out to condemn the government’s action, she did the right things and it now seems she will recover her passport tomorrow.

Once she does, I encourage her to sue the government for the infringement of her rights as a citizen.  The obvious is that she is entitled to that.  But it is also about the future, in which they are certain to stop her again: once you are on the travel ban your name never come off that computer.

That is because focus is on sinecure rather than service, on ego rather than governance, and on power rather than performance.  Standards are low and fickle.  It is exactly why the country does not work: justice is not an objective in Nigeria, and officials often do not know what the objective is, if any.

There was further evidence last week that the government is trying to hunt down participants in the #EndSARS protests, including shutting down personal accounts.    In Port Harcourt, pharmacist Bassey Israel, who worked on the #EndSARS medical team, found his Access Bank account frozen.  His bank told him that the Central Bank had instructed banks to freeze any accounts which mentioned #EndSARS.  That is how the government of Nigeria responds to questions of accountability.

In the middle of the week, however, the International Criminal Court (ICC) disclosed that it has begun a preliminary examination into the #EndSARS protests.  The BBC reported the office of the prosecutor as confirming it had received information on alleged crimes, and that it would “assess whether the legal criteria for opening an investigation under the Rome Statute are met.”

Amnesty International has accused the Nigeria military of plotting to cover up the killings at the Lekki Toll Gate on October 20, affirming it has proof of the shooting and killing of unarmed protesters by state security forces, a claim denied by the Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu.

On Friday, SERAP said the ICC has officially confirmed it will consider the group’s request of a probe “into reports that Nigerian authorities, military and some politicians have killed #EndSARS peaceful protesters in several parts” of the country.

“Without accountability for these serious human rights crimes against peaceful protesters, the victims will continue to be denied access to justice, and impunity of perpetrators will remain widespread, the result will continue to be a vicious cycle of violence against Nigerians.”

SERAP stressed that the violent attacks on peaceful protesters in Lekki, Alausa, and other parts of the country suggest the lack of political will by Buhari’s government to respect human rights.  It is why Nigerians must support such people as Odele and Israel.  These more insidious attacks and threats on the rights of Nigerians must not be underestimated.

Prominent Nigerians also must speak up, now.  Sadly last week, the attention of Nigerians was on the presidential election in the United States, with people who probably do not even know their Senator in Abuja marching in support of a candidate who openly reviles them.

I could see how such self-denigration may have been so beguiling that Paula White-Cain, allegedly a spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump, resorted in prayer to “angelic reinforcement” from Africa and South America.

Such Nigerians must have been delighted to hear her pray, “I hear a sound of victory, the Lord says it is done…For angels have even been dispatched from Africa right now…”

Angels from a s-hole continent were needed in America to grant Trump a second term in the White House?  How were they to obtain visas?  In Nigeria, what if the angels were members of #EndSARS and on the Buhari no-travel list?  Given the urgency, was Air Force One going to be dispatched to places like Awka and Lekki to fetch them, or would Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika have to hurry up the Air Nigeria he has threatened to set up?  Would they intervene before vote counting in Pennsylvania was completed?

I am sure that in Aso Rock, they watched it all with a smirk, theatre, knowing that in their turn all they had to do was call the electoral commission chairman and the IGP.  Rather than serve the people, all governance is now about a social media law under the guise of fighting fake news and hate speech.

But they are all markers of the Buhari Years.  Now, he has about 920 days left.

[This column welcomes rebuttals from interested government officials.]

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