Much as the jury is out on the underwhelming performance of Buhari’s presidency these past eight years, the octogenarian never misses any opportunity for vainglorious adulation. At the unveiling of a housing project in Zuba on the periphery of Abuja the other day, Buhari sustained his predilection towards self-celebration. According to him, his “administration has fulfilled its election promise of change to Nigerians.” Really? Maybe. Buhari may be deploying instruments of obtuse appraisal, though to arrive at his conclusions. He famously told us before he came into office in 2015, that he would drag Nigeria from “top to bottom.” He has done just that and we are effectively at that basement now. He will be correct therefore to have so positively rated his aggregate endeavours in office. In his revisionist narrative, Buhari wants us to believe he is the best thing that ever happened to Nigeria.
The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), spontaneously shot down a recently released 91-page book of platitudes extolling Buhari’s achievements, as articulated by his communications office. The publication is consistent with the tendency towards the propagandist logorrhoea which has typified the night before Buhari fades from the nation’s socio-political scene. Famous and respected Kenyan professor of law, who is also a good governance advocate, Patrick Loch Otieno Lumumba, popularly known as “PLO Lumumba”, made a pertinent observation in one of his characteristically spellbinding public engagements. He theorised that “if a leader has to spend so much time and energy explaining what and what he has done while in office, then that leader has done absolutely nothing.” For Lumumba, “a leader’s achievements should speak for him.” Buhari’s trenchant loquaciousness on the eve of his departure from the presidency therefore is tailored to paper up his serial failings, foibles and fumbling.
The flag bearer of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, (PDP) at the last presidential election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who is understandably hurt by the obvious and deliberate figure-tweaking and gross violations which characterised the last polls, has maintained enviable stoicism. His interventions in public discourse are few and measured, even as he pursues a legal course to unravel the jigsaw. Atiku is doing this not particularly because of himself, but on behalf of every prospective participant in the democratic process. Atiku’s triumphs in his litigations against the president and the state following his persecution by President Olusegun Obasanjo have profited several modern day political aspirants and candidates. Some of the judgments have mitigated rascality, impunity and lawlessness in the exercise of authority within the executive arm of government and various political platforms. To adapt the title of the civil war memoir written by Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, leader of the defunct Biafran secession attempt, Atiku’s pursuit is “not because he’s involved.”
Atiku is neither downcast nor depressed by the magical turn of events proceeding after the February 25, 2023 presidential election. He runs his regular routine, ever hosting guests, solving problems within his capacity, honouring engagements and doing paperwork. He recently made the rounds checking up on his close associate, Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, owner of Raypower Radio and AIT, arguably the pioneer of a privately-owned broadcasting outfit, who was beneath the weather. He proceeded to commiserate with his protege and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihedioha, who lost his mother. He also empathised with Orji Uzor Kalu, Majority Whip of the Senate, whose wife sadly passed on in the US. Atiku took the trouble to travel to Kano, to personally visit the family of Musa Gwadabe, Minister of Labour and Productivity under the Obasanjo/Atiku government. Atiku did all these, in person.
Beyond the symbolism of these efforts, Atiku is demonstrating the manner of humanity and fellow-feeling which has been totally absent from the Buhari regime. Atiku’s rounds as detailed above were not driven by partisanship or ethnic considerations. Dokpesi, Ihedioha and Kalu are all southerners and Christians. Gwadabe was a northerner and a Muslim. Even as the nation spiralled into wanton killing fields on several fronts, not once did Buhari excuse himself from the cosy royalty of Aso Villa to personally and practically assess any incident. Rather, for every calamity that befell his constituents, a mechanistic “Letter of Condolence” was stereotypically the maximum expression of concern by the president. Expected to detour into Zamfara on a visit to Sokoto State last year, the alibi of “bad weather” was propounded to excuse Buhari’s presidential jet from possible attack by bandits domiciled in Zamfara.
Atiku, by the way, is a consummate fan of the very popular, high-flying English Premier League Club, Arsenal. This indeed is one of our mutual intersections. As “Gunners,” we persevere, we are focused, we are committed. We have style, we have flair, we are systematic, we are not given to quick-fixes. We are patient enough to experience trends and developments as they evolve. At a time like this, one is reminded of that timeless Yoruba adage which translates as: “The slowness of the cat is skill, not a lack of will.” It’s game on metaphorically as legal proceedings get underway Monday, May 8, 2023. Please get a vantage seat at the lips of the play field.
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