The inaugural address: An analysis

At the Inaugural, President Buhari delivered an almost two thousand-word Address which some analysts have described as ‘powerful’; ‘full of action’; and also ‘full of calls to action.’ We shall here today excerpt parts of that speech to see how responsive it is to Our Long Trek to Eagle Square.“I belong to everybody and I […]

At the Inaugural, President Buhari delivered an almost two thousand-word Address which some analysts have described as ‘powerful’; ‘full of action’; and also ‘full of calls to action.’ We shall here today excerpt parts of that speech to see how responsive it is to Our Long Trek to Eagle Square.
“I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody.”
For a long time to come, this sentence from Buhari’s Inaugural Address will continue to elicit comment and analysis, perhaps more than any other part of the speech. Yes, Mr. President! You belong to the millions of voters that trusted you and in you, but you don’t, and we hope will never, belong to the cabal that has held this country to ransom from the time you were overthrown thirty years ago, and especially since the beginning of our ‘new’ democracy.
”Our journey has not been easy but thanks to the determination of our people and strong support from friends abroad we have today a truly democratically-elected government in place.”
Thirty years ago, less a few months, you were unceremoniously ejected from Dodan Barracks, Lagos, which you occupied as military Head of State. From yesterday, you became the new occupant of Abuja’s Presidential Villa as civilian president. God has been favourable to you – not everyone comes back on such a popular mandate a whole generation later. Most of those who voted for you this time around, and since 2003, were not even born back in 1985 when you were last in office. Yes, democracy has come.
“I would like to thank President Goodluck Jonathan for his display of statesmanship in setting a precedent for us that has now made our people proud to be Nigerians wherever they are.”
True; that phone call did some good as, without it, things would have been a little different. But all the same, the former No 1 Citizen had a stress-free journey to Otuoke, Bayelsa State; his plane, most definitely, did not lack aviation fuel, and neither his helicopter. Many Nigerians could not even watch yesterday’s handover because they were, and still are, on petrol queues. Yes, thank him for finding 4,000 megawatts of electricity and leaving 1,000; for finding Naira at around 150 to the Dollar and leaving it at 220. Thank him for depleting our foreign reserves such that we had to borrow to pay salaries. Yes, thank him…for that phone call!
“At the same time, I thank our other countrymen and women who did not vote for us but contributed to make our democratic culture truly competitive, strong and definitive.”
Mr. President, this is a democracy. There is winner; there is vanquished! Those who trusted you and voted for you had their reasons – that you are the change they are expecting and hoping for. And even though we shall not urge you to ‘winner-takes-all’ in this business, those who DID NOT vote for you should at least be on reserve in any ‘dividend’ you are going to ‘share’. Those who worked hard at your effort, from 2002 when you joined politics to yesterday when you were sworn in, deserve to be on the driving seat. Unless, of course, their colours changed!
”A few people have privately voiced fears that on coming back to office I shall go after them. These fears are groundless. There will be no paying off old scores. The past is prologue.”
Even if you are not going AFTER them, ensure they will not go AFTER you. We know these people. If it were for them, yesterday would never have happened. Old scores need not be paid, but anyone that has stolen our patrimony should be made to voluntarily surrender a large chunk of it. With such goodwill as you have with the international community, very soon they will furnish you with lists of our thieves. When that list is in your hand, don’t go after them; show them a photocopy.
“Here I would like to thank the governments and people of Cameroon, Chad and Niger for committing their armed forces to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria.”
When Chadian President Idris Debby Itno was here a few weeks, he said to the hearing of all at the Presidential Villa, with the former President by his side, that “Nigeria was not cooperating” with the partners. This is because the former government wanted to take credit for something which it refused to do for five years. Yet they purportedly imported mercenaries from South Africa. Therefore, Mr. President, winning this war is the more imperative – whoever wins it for us doesn’t matter anymore.
“Boko Haram is not only the security issue bedevilling our country. The spate of kidnappings, armed robberies, herdsmen/farmers clashes, cattle rustlings all help to add to the general air of insecurity in our land. We are going to erect and maintain an efficient, disciplined people and friendly and well-compensated security forces within an overall security architecture.”
Yes, Nigerians have become, since you left thirty years ago, some of the most indisciplined people the world is contending with. We hate each other, some of us spoil our country’s good name abroad, and the name “Nigeria” has become synonymous with crime and every evil. War Against Indiscipline is really required. As for the security forces, they are the most unfriendly people one can ever come across. Most Nigerians would rather not have anything to do with the security forces; when one interacts with them, one would be lucky to lose only money – others lose limbs and lives. Yes, compensate them well and hold them to it.
 “No single cause can be identified to explain Nigerian’s poor economic performance over the years than the power situation. It is a national shame that an economy of 180 million generates only 4,000MW, and distributes even less…”
Actually Mr. President we are down to about 1,000 MW. After sixteen years of fiddling with electrical installations, and investing (and stealing) billions of dollars on power, Nigeria has still not gone beyond the 4,000 megawatts (MW) threshold (compare, for example, Brazil’s 110,000 MW; Iran’s 45,000 MW or South Africa’s 40,000 MW). This matter of power is critical; it makes one want to cry, literally. Nigerians are hopeful that, with less corruption, things can be turned around. But we also hope, without “going after them”, Mr. President will get some of the stolen $20 billion back.
“The amnesty programme in the Niger Delta is due to end in December, but the Government intends to invest heavily in the projects, and programmes currently in place. I call on the leadership and people in these areas to cooperate with the State and Federal Government…
Despite the Amnesty Billions, militants continue puncturing gas pipelines powering the power plants, and going unpunished, principally because of a weak, and nepotistic, leadership. This has to be checked.
“In recent times Nigerian leaders appear to have misread our mission…Our founding fathers…worked to establish certain standards of governance. Some of their successors behaved like spoilt children breaking everything and bringing disorder to the house.”
And you still insist you are not going after them, Mr President?
 “The Nigerian press is the most vibrant in Africa. My appeal to the media today – and this includes the social media – is to exercise its considerable powers with responsibility and patriotism.”
On behalf of all of us in the media, we say thank you Mr. President!
Alhamdu lilLah!