Lola Shoneyin: How my father’s jailer can offer Nigeria a fresh start

by Lola Shoneyin

Muhamadu-Buhari1

For some Nigerians, he might not be an ideal candidate but for many more, people want anything but Jonathan. And even better it’s someone that they feel they can believe in.

Possibly the worst year of my life was 1984. I was 10 years old and blissfully unaware of the changing face of Nigeria’s political landscape. And a rather unyielding face it was – that of Muhammadu Buhari who had recently overthrown Shehu Shagari, a democratically elected president. For Buhari, this was a necessary coup d’etat because Nigeria was being overrun by corrupt politicians. However, his regime would have a devastating impact on my family’s fortunes.

For the first time, at the close of the school term in Edinburgh, my father wasn’t there to pick us up. My older brother, aged 15, took charge and we made our way to Heathrow. Touching down in Nigeria, it was my mother who met us at the airport. She didn’t smile, perhaps couldn’t; her mouth was turned down at the corners like she was being flattened by existence. Something was wrong, clearly. I waited until we were settled in the car and piped up: “Where’s Daddy?” Without turning to glance at me, my mother answered: “He’s in jail.” She always had an aversion to bulls__t but even, for her, that was pretty cold. For the rest of the journey, I thought about my Daddy who returned the cash to the phone company when our account was credited with thousands of naira; Daddy who, born into abject poverty, personified what it meant to work really hard and make your own dreams come true, in a hopefully new meritocratic Nigeria.

On getting home, one of my older brothers explained that Buhari’s deputy, the uncompromising, much-feared Colonel Tunde Idiagbon, had commanded that all government contractors in Ogun state had received a notice to appear before a special committee. My dad honoured the invitation and presented all the papers to show that it was in fact the government that owed his company money. He was given two options: to pay a large amount (that no one quite understood how they arrived at) or go to jail. On principle, my dad said he wasn’t going to pay money that he didn’t owe. He was not alone. I have a group of friends with whom I am forever bound by this shared ordeal of seeing our fathers treated like criminals. And as it was for many, this period signified the beginning of financial ruin.

My father spent six months in jail and came out a different man. For one, he started clapping at our solemn family devotion in the mornings, something we never did. He explained that that was what they did in prison. He was never a big talker but seeing him work at adjusting to normal life was painful for everyone around him.

Before his release, the two giant crushers and all the machinery and equipment that belonged to his civil engineering firm were liquidated. As children, our lives changed too. We were placed in state schools and said goodbye to our privileged lifestyles.

My dad is 87 now and he’s an active member of the local advisory board of the All Progressive Congress party, the opposition party that has recently adopted Buhari as the presidential flag-bearer, 30 years after his first outing as a military head of state. Like many Nigerians, my father was saddened when he heard President Goodluck Jonathan claim that “stealing is not corruption”. With 24% unemployment, there are limited opportunities for young people, making them easy fodder for militants in the southernmost parts of the country and dreaded religious fundamentalists in the north. People clamour for leadership.

For the last three weeks, I have been travelling with the presidential campaign team and I have had the opportunity to listen to people and interview them. I have also had a personal need to understand this man Buhari who has run for the highest office a record three times. At the beginning, I admit I had doubts and misgivings. It’s hard not to when you’ve been stung before. But after several conversations with him, I have come to understand what the mass hysteria is all about and why Nigerians would vote for this soft-spoken but highly principled 72-year-old.

It’s quite simple and, having worked as a schoolteacher for years, I can use a school setting in my analogy. Kids like a teacher to whom they can give the runaround but when it’s crunch time, they favour an environment where the teacher is firm, one where clear boundaries have been set. Having a president who is widely described as “clueless” may have seemed to many like an opportunity, but the goodwill that Jonathan enjoyed in 2011 has been frittered away. These days, governors in the opposition parties are starved of funds and harassed when they don’t do the bidding of a first lady who campaigns for her personal candidates. Many Nigerians believe that it is time to return to one of the few faces of anti-corruption in Nigeria’s political history. Even my wrongly-imprisoned Dad would recognise that Buhari’s ambition was to stem corruption.

Unlike many Nigerian past presidents, Major-General Buhari does not have a huge mansion. You won’t hear about him owning a bank or sitting on the board of banks. Neither does he own expansive farmland. In fact, he wrote to the minister of finance requesting that he only receive 10% of the allowance that all past presidents receive on a monthly basis. Overwhelmingly, his lack of greed and personal venality means people trust him. Within a democratic dispensation, whatever excesses Buhari’s singlemindedness at tackling corruption might have shown 30 years ago can and will be curbed.

He has surrounded himself with a brilliant, savvy team of young Nigerians and I much enjoy the passion with which he talks about his three main priorities: unemployment, insecurity and education. For some Nigerians, he might not be an ideal candidate but for many more, people want anything but Jonathan. And even better it’s someone that they feel they can believe in.

 

Lola Shoneyin is a Nigerian novelist and poet.

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– This article was first published on the UK Guardian.

 

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

Comments (3)

  1. FEBRUARY ELECTIONS: THE CHOICE BEFORE US

    Many Nigerians have forgotten very quickly how the regime of General Buhari killed and incarcerated many people during their thankfully short-lived regime. We believe Nigerians want a leader and not a dictator. Buhari said himself that he never regretted the murder of Ogbengbe and numerous others that were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death, sometimes through a retroactive decree.
    Nigerians have you forgotten how after staging a coup kept President Shehu Shagari in house detention in Ikoyi while his powerless deputy, Alex Ekwueme, was locked up in Kiri-kiri prisons? What of the manhandling of the respected Tai Solarin who was incarcerated and then denied his medical treatment?
    Buhari cancelled former Governor Jakande’s metroline and forfeited the $50 million paid for it by the then Lagos State Government, how callous is that? Buhari went ahead to ban the Nigeria medical Association (NMA), he humiliated the Oni of Ife over a trip to Israel showing his lack of regard for our revered royal institutions
    Remember Chief Adekunle Ajasin? Have you forgotten his illegal detention after he was arraigned and acquitted by an election tribunal? Buhari re-arrested Ajasin on several occasions and later ordered that he be detained indefinitely just for winning an election. Yet he wants to obtain power now through democratic means.
    To support General Buhari would be a crime against the many Nigerians that suffered tyranny in the hands of the general and to the souls of those who died in his hands.
    Let us hold General Buhari accountable for all the atrocities committed during his time.
    Nigerians do not be fooled. Remember what he has done before. Be sure that he will do it all again if given the chance.

  2. Seriously! An administration that never bothered to conduct a proper investigation before throwing your father and countless other innocents in jail! They wanted to fight corruption by not following due process! You make me laugh. I hope your daddy gets a position is this visionless Buhari/APC takes power. We all know that deep down, that’s what your family is after.

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