by Tara Gambo

Throughout the article, Akande continues to state with much conviction, that not only does Buhari have nothing to offer Nigeria, he also has no idea how to go about achieving good governance.

It was with a mixture of amazement, deep thought and perplexity that I read the very detailed and pragmatic article written by a certain Adeolu Akande. Upon investigation, I discovered the said Akande is currently the Chief of Staff to the present Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, who assumed automatic leadership of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in the State on the passing away of Alhaji Lam Adesina a few months ago.

Firstly, I would like to commend Adeolu Akande for his thorough insight and ability to convey the message in a way that leaves no shadow of doubt about its absoluteness.

In the article, Akande asked, “What Does Buhari Promise?”. Akande suggested that General Buhari, is somewhat confused and has made it a habit to “hit the road without confirming the rail-worthiness of the train”. Akande also found appalling, the fact that Buhari appears hell-bent on trying ‘his hands once again on the plum job”, with no thought to how he thinks he can move Nigeria further.

According to Akande, “In a quest for power, they seem to believe that it is suffice to get the incumbent out and then begin to think of how to run the State thereafter. This is not surprising given the antecedent of General Buhari. In 1983 when he shot his way to power by truncating the democratic process started four years earlier, the only testimony that he was ready for the job he forcefully took was the litany of complaints he had against the political class as contained in his coup speech”.

Akande went further to state that, “Nigerians knew better within weeks of inception of the Buhari Government. Most of the solutions contrived by the Buhari Government proved to be ill-conceived. They worsened the problems they were conceived to ameliorate. But we cannot afford to risk the assault and destruction of our national psyche again by this approach to governance”.

Throughout the article, Akande continues to state with much conviction, that not only does Buhari have nothing to offer Nigeria, he also has no idea how to go about achieving good governance. Akande acknowledged the fact that, “Today, the international community does not convene meetings to discuss the suspension and expulsion of Nigeria from the Commonwealth of Nations or the imposition of sanctions. Instead Nigeria has become the voice the international community cannot ignore in matters concerning Africa and the black race”. Akande goes on to credit this milestone achievement to the PDP-led government of previous years. With regards the person of former President Olusegun Obasanjo as compared to General Buhari, Akande is quoted to say, “In and outside of office, he (Obasanjo) has proved to be an asset to the foreign image of Nigeria. The same cannot be said of General Buhari. Inspite of his lack of credential in international relations, he is yet to come up with an alternative programme to convince Nigerians why they should trust him with the role of Nigeria’s number one image maker”.

After reading Akande’s article, I was forced into deep thought. Aside from Buhari’s ineptitude and all the other factors highlighted in the article, I couldn’t help but ponder on a few questions of my own;

1) Why would Buhari who was portrayed by Akande, as a gun-totting power-snatcher, who turned out to be inefficient at the job he forcefully coveted, now imagine that Nigerians will consider him for that same job 30 years later (diminishing returns comes to mind).

2) What special skills has General Buhari acquired over the last 30 years that would justify his returning to power three decades after?  The world and Nigeria have moved on from where we were 30 years ago, why would we consider taking ourselves 30 whole years back? A child born 30 years ago, by now would have gone through primary, secondary, tertiary and in some cases post-graduate education. 1983 was the year President Ronald Reagan dubbed the USSR, the ‘Evil Empire’.  1983 was when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister in the United Kingdom. 1983 was the year IBM released the IBM PC XT. 1983 was the year Microsoft World was first released. 1983 was the year the Zapatista Army of National Liberation was founded in Mexico. 1983 was the year Michael Jackson’s hit, Thriller was broadcast for the first time. `1983 was the year the FCC in the US gave the approval that paved the way for the DynaTac hand held phones (remember those mobile phones that were almost as big as fax machines?). The world has certainly moved far on from the personalities and events of 1983. Why would we as Nigerians decide to regress rather than progress?

3) Capability, coup plotter, international image aside, I would be the first to admit that General Buhari does have a reputation for being disciplined and principled. It is however mind-boggling, why he would consider partnering with a man, whose own presidential candidate openly declared him to be corrupt and confirmed would be persecuted if the candidate was elected to office. As a result, it is hardly surprising the said candidate never made it to Aso Rock. Why would a principled General Buhari get into bed with a man whose reputation is agog with all kinds of news from illegally coveting State assets to his personal property, to having multiple cases with EFCC, to claiming to have been personally invited to President Obama’s inauguration when indeed it became known that he purchased an invite?

It makes me beg the question, ‘Who exactly is General Buhari’? Is he the coup-plotter who shoots his way to power? Is he the man who is much loved by some, yet can’t seem to warm his way into the heart of others? Is he the man that in a bid to prove a point and regain power, is willing to compromise his perceived integrity by getting into bed with strange bed-fellows with parallel ideology? Is he the man that attempts to see the good in everyone by trusting someone who betrayed his own candidate? Is he the man who takes pleasure in inflicting pain and disappointment on himself, even in the face of countless rejection? Who exactly is General Buhari?

This brings me to the issue of the proposed opposition parties merger. Personally, I cannot fathom placing my hope for a better Nigeria in the hands of the man, Adeolu Akande has so explicitly described. Nor can I trust a coalition headed by a man who appears to have multiple personalities and another whose personality is too well-defined in negative terms. I cannot buy into ideology that have flip-flopped from military to AP to ANPP to CPC to AD to ACN to CACN or CPCN (or whatever they intend to call the merger).

This further makes it necessary to address the question of Akande himself; he has also evolved from the man who assumed the responsibility of telling the Nation that General Buhari has nothing to offer us, to the chief organizer and errand boy for the proposed opposition party merger. The only words that keep coming to mind are: inconsistent, fickle, conflicting, loyal only to self, lacking in integrity, poverty of mind, lacking in character, capricious, whimsical, arbitrary, AGIP (Any Government in Power), unprincipled, obey-the-wind, greedy, bipolar,  lacking any tangible agenda other than selfish ones and having no good intentions for the masses.

These are exactly the sort of people that are no longer needed in the leadership of a new Nigeria. If we are to ensure that the integrity and labor of our heroes past are not only limited to history books, such personalities need to be expunged from our Nation’s leadership. We deserve better as a people.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.