Thank God Buhari became Nigeria's President

“I need nothing and I have nothing more to prove. I am in this solely for the love of my country and concern for its destiny and the fate of its people. And that is why, despite the many disappointments along the way, I am still in the struggle and will remain in it to the end. I have decided to dedicate the remainder of my life to fighting for the people of this country-until their right is restored to them.”— President Muhammadu Buhari’s speech at the grand finale of his presidential campaign in 2011.

However, the banner headline of that day wasn’t about what Buhari said, but HOW Buhari said it. Buhari said all that with eyes full of tears— an emotion that only a sinister soul would not bend to its magic wand. The emotion of Buhari filled the Conference Centre at Abuja that day that according to reports, journalists shelved the Questions and Answers session.

At the event, Buhari said the 2011 presidential election would be his last, after contesting three times consecutively. Even though Buhari lost the election, he won the hearts of many Nigerians with his rhetoric. He successfully sold himself out as the best thing ever after bread and beans. He emphasised on his Unique Selling Point of being a man of integrity whose aversion for corruption was second to none. He told Nigerians that he was the only former Head of State alive who didn’t steal a kobo and challenged other heads of state to also come out to say the same thing if their hands are clean.

Buhari said all these when Nigeria was deep-neck into a behemoth of destructive cankerworm called corruption. Hence, Buhari’s anti-corruption platitude was a powerful marketing strategy that only the political machinery of the then ruling party, PDP could render impotent. As Buhari fell and rose and fell in his presidential relay under a political party that only had strongholds in the North, Nigerians groaned silently that their supposed messiah might live and not fulfil his dream of rescuing the Nation on the brink of destruction.

I don’t want to drag God into this, but the turn of events that brought Buhari back on track after losing the 2011 election to Goodluck Jonathan was nothing short of amazing grace. Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that had gained political foothold in the Southwest dreamed big to wrestle the power at the centre from the People Democratic Party. To achieve this masterstroke, a coalition with a strong Northern political party was the masterplan. And Buhari’s CPC came in handy. ACN, CPC and ANPP formed a coalition that gave birth to All Progressive Congress, APC in February 2013 and like a dynamite, the political arena exploded and political players scampered for safety, political marriages got shattered, and politicians defected enmass to cup from the bounty of the new ‘big brother’ in town. It was like a rapture for PDP.

APC did its homework, examined the taste buds of Nigerians and discovered they had been dying to have a taste of Buhari’s presidency. Every political machinery and marketing strategy were dispensed to package and sell a former military dictator to the Nigerian people as a “repentant Democrat”, adorning him in different ethnic attires and also the rarely-worn suit for President Buhari that has his babanriga signature.

To cut the long story short, Buhari raced to victory in 2015, defeating an incumbent democratically elected president—an unprecedented political development in the history of Nigeria. I could remember vividly that I was in my second year in polytechnic in Abeokuta and on that night of the historic revolution, Buhari was announced the winner of the presidential election and coincidentally the moon was apparently encapsulated by a circle in the sky, a sign that was superstitiously considered by many as a good omen and the arrival of new dawn for the most populous country in Africa.

However, not long into his reign, I could remember my words in an article I wrote ten months into President Buhari administration in 2016 where I said: “.….to the chagrin of many political observers, ten month after the inauguration of Nigeria’s supposed messiah, the state of the nation has gone from bad to worse (only a buhari jingoist would deny that). Common men are suffering and smiling, the economy is begging for a redeemable attention, citizens are becoming impatient, the power sector is in comatose, fuel scarcity loom every now and then, corruption is fighting back with all the arsenal at it disposal, kidnappers fearlessly abducting both the known and unknown due to bad security system, hence, only the fittest survive in the jungle.”

It has been 6 years since I wrote that article and everything I said is still playing out like a recap of a TV show. Oh scratch that. It has actually gone from worse to calamitous, because the centre can’t even hold anymore. And I have no choice but to thank God that Buhari became the president. Even though many people couldn’t live to tell the story, those of us still alive can testify to it that Buhari would have been feeling like the best president Nigeria never had if he didn’t become the president in 2015.

Thank God Buhari became Nigeria’s president to oversee the continuous economic downturn. If he had not become the president, he would have been revered as the legendary economist that Nigeria never had— considering his N1 to $1 economic magic wand he promised. Meanwhile, the naira is now N560 to a dollar at the parallel market.

Thank God Buhari became Nigeria’s president. If he didn’t, Nigerians would have been gnashing their teeths for missing out on a security expert extraordinaire who could nip the insecurity menace in the bud with just a single military order. The country is currently bleeding, bandits and kidnappers having a field day under a former military head of state. Pathetic!

Thank God Buhari became the president. If he had actually retired to Daura as an elder statesman in 2011, Nigerians would have thought fuel subsidy didn’t exist. President Buhari himself said in 2011 during an electioneering campaign that the fuel subsidy was a bogus claim of the previous administration, only a means of siphoning the public funds on a large scale.

“Nigerians are being deceived on the issue of fuel subsidy. The federal government takes out fuel for refining, only to come back and talk about removing the subsidy. That is nonsense and an attempt by a clique with the PDP-led federal government to siphon the proceeds to be realised from the removal of oil subsidy,” Buhari had said in 2011.

And what happened to the same fuel subsidy under president Buhari, the same fuel subsidy has continued to be a parasitic malware for the government to unleash untold hardship on the citizens at their own convenient time. The same Buhari administration that said fuel subsidy was finally over after removing it in 2020 is back again with another tale of moonlight that Nigeria should be bracing up for another removal of fuel subsidy in February 2022—baiting the citizens with an unreasonable and unviable N5000 transport grant for 40 million citizens. I don’t think there has ever been an administration that took Nigerians for a ride like this current administration is doing. Integrity in the poto poto.

Anyways, thank God Buhari became the president. He has proven the popular axiom “talk is cheap” right beyond reasonable doubt and I hope Nigerians don’t fall for cheap talks again in 2023, because Buhari has really lowered the bar of governance that if Nigerians don’t experience ordinary ASUU strike in a year after his tenure, it would look like a milestone that deserves nationwide celebration.

Thank God Buhari became Nigeria’s president. We would have thought our messiah retired to Daura without unleashing his out-of-the-world potential to change the narrative of our dear country for good and lead it to the promised land. I can bet that the regret would have been more excruciating for Nigerians than what we’re currently going through if Buhari had not become the president of this great nation.

Thank God Buhari became the president, at least no politician can swindle us with crocodile tears and claiming to love Nigeria more than the way Nigerians love party jollof. Buhari had played out all the gimmicks of average Nigerians politicians—integrity claim, anti-corruption platitude, messiah might, among other bogus claims have been rubbished by president Buhari.