An Afternoon With The President Nigeria
Cannot Have
Prince Charles
Dickson
As a matter of principle
I do not write about people other than issues, the only person that I
always have written about and will continue is the present President,
Obj, and I won’t stop until he becomes born again. On the other hand I
do tributes from time to time on notable people that have affected the
society positively. But then there are exceptions to the rule. Only last
week I was guest to General Buhari rtd. and Presidential candidate under
the ANPP.
From the moment I booked
the interview till I had finished the interview, one question that kept
going through my mind...why do bad things happen to good people?
Speaking with the General was rather a pathetic journey into why Nigeria
cannot seem to move forward, while I talked to a couple of his
lieutenants it was obvious from their personal opinion that the General
will not be the President except a miracle happens. Now wait, the
reason...he is too honest, he is principled, so much so that even fellow
politicians and power brokers see in him a bad political investment,
because he will call a spade a spade not a hammer and he will not
compromise.
He has never been given
a fair share of media because he will never give brown, yellow or purple
envelopes like a certain Balaraba Musa wont and others will. At 63 years
of age in this Nigeria of ours and compared to his contemporaries, he
certainly was very young that I envied him. The General lamented the
present situation of the country, he told me that by simply logic and
everyday living he could not understand why the nation that has earned
more in the last seven years than it did in its whole existence is
poorer for it. He blasted an energy reform that cannot provide a steady
electricity supply for 12 hours and when it tried to give 3, 4 hours of
such it was punctuated by 12-15 minutes intervals of darkness.
He spoke with passion,
he spoke like the elderstatesman he is, he believed that at 63 and hence
there were no constitutional limitations he was capable of providing
leadership for the nation.
He was Northern by
obligation in support for power to come to the North but in principle he
said that it should be a contest of capability and service delivery and
nothing more, besides his party, the ANPP, was not party to any zoning
arrangement. On that note I recall the explanation of Jerry Gana
recently that the North had only legitimately held power once through
Shah Shagari and that the case of Tafawa Balawa was an aborted
pregnancy, this I tried to relate to the General's view which was more
matured and most sensible on the note that he argued that the ordinary
Nigerian wanted food, clothing, shelter, security of his life, and
property if he had any. Not the nonsense of North/South-South or East
agitation.
How could one miss it,
we asked the General if he was going to probe Obasanjo...Oh the answer
was one full of hope, the General stated that he was not obsessed with a
probe of this and that, but that as a pious Muslim he would not swear as
a joke but he then swore to us that he would not turn a blind eye to any
official complaint against Obasanjo backed by documentary evidence.
To me personally that
sounded like 'Baba will have to go back to jail" did you ask me why...I
smiled, whether the shares in Transcorp or NYSCCorp is held in blind
trust or open sighted distrust Walhalla dey, we already know the magogo
and wayo of the Presidential library, the Bells University, the Ota
farms that started making millions after Baba was resuscitated back to
life in 1999. This is the same farm that could not pay workers salaries,
now its birds without any kind of flu lay golden eggs. Away from these
unsubstantiated noise, who will forget the third term quickly whether
Baba denies knowledge or not some of us no better. Because facts do not
lie
For this and many more
reasons I smiled painfully and knowingly that this good man cannot be
President. His campaign office to a large extent told the story; it was
not the usual ranka shi dede environment, no praise singers, because no
naira notes to grease the hand that beats the praise drums.
On IBB, he would not say
much but I am I read his lips, it sounded like that boy leave him to
me, and then he smiles, as colleagues at the Council of Former Heads of
States, we are friends no wahala. His answer said it that the likes of
Orji Kalu were using him and IBB to score cheap points. Never will a
marriage between Buhari and IBB occur, they are birds of distinctly
different plumages.
Why should you not be a
power broker, "Oh no I am not that kind of person". To me that sounded
like I never will steal and sit somewhere and have need to select people
to go and protect a system of a select few crook.
I tried to picture the
man behind the mask of the dreaded General Idiagbon era and one could
see he missed his friend dearly. Inside his eyes I saw a man that could
instill a form of discipline into the system, I saw a man that could
provide a leadership that would make sure that one does not urinate by
the roadside, that the Police does not collect money to buy pen from
complainants before they can write their statements. Here was a man that
possibly could give all the present reforms a human and truthful face
but it was all too good to be true. Even if Christians were not afraid
that he would Islamize the nation. Fellow Muslims would not vote him as
he would not tolerate hypocrisy.
We could not have
finished our 30 minutes conversation without discussing accountability
and then it was same sad Nigeria as the General lamented on how his own
local Government spent 40 million Naira in welcoming the State Governor
and of that sum 1million Naira was spent purchasing packaged Nylon
water. The petition had been sent but nothing was done. He however
patted the EFFC on the back on the count that it had exposed the
inefficiency of the Police and in one sweep believed they all, ICPC,
police and EFCC could do better than the lack of rhythm makosa dance of
the day in providing security and battling crime.
Seriously joking I
realized that Buhari is a handsome man but I guess he was not Maradonic,
neither did he have the business sense of the Custom man from Yola. He
did not have enough money to establish an airline, so how could he
contest for Presidency, a post that by my rough estimate would require
some small billions in Naira. Then off course we all know that he cannot
match the firepower of failure of some the Governors who feel they
should take their failure on the State pedestal to the next level.
Most campaigns have the
thuggery department, the rigging section and in recent times the
"eliminate our rival office" all of these the General's Organization
cannot boast of. So the sad tale of Nigeria… his Buhari organization was
too organized to win a Nigerian election. The man believes in something,
and that’s where Nigeria needs to get it, we need to believe in
something, something true, not lies, not half truth. We need Nigerians
who could die for the nation for selfless reasons.
Incidentally one other
reason I felt that would deny Mallam Buhari that coveted sofa in Aso
Rock at least he tried at Dodan Barracks, is the fact that he did not at
any point tell us that Allah told him he would win neither did he say he
was responding to calls from these and those people, he was doing this
as a result of conviction, to try and leave a mark.
Throughout the interview
as a trained Journalist I could swear on my empty bank account that the
General told no lies and did not make an effort in impressing me, not
because it was little me, but because he just could not, he picked his
words, spoke calmly that I wondered how this man would eradicate all our
problems since all the shouting, noise and showmanship of the present
PDP could not. He looked at his time and certainly the 30 minutes
allotted yours sincerely was over. For days I tried not to wash my hands
as I had shaked an honest man, something that rarely happens in today's
Nigeria especially in Leadership.
I still throw the
question back to us…why do good people suffer, why do good people loose
out? Do we not really deserve better? When will the likes of Buhari or
even better win an election? Is honesty the best policy, they have
killed politicians in Jos, Lagos, Ekiti, Lafia and more will follow,
What manner of nation and people are we, that deny themselves the best
and settle for mediocrity, a people that lack knowledge...
There are times when
Almighty Allah takes leave pf a people because of their folly. May we
never take our case like the sheep that took a matter to the hungry
lion's arena and expected justice? Difficult as it may be lets all
collectively see to that we get it right. Let the likes of Buhari join
forces for the larger good of the majority.
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