President Muhammadu Buhari is a populist and demagogic leader who enjoys a messianic status with his followers. He is like former US president Donald Trump, who once said that his base would vote for him “even if I shot someone on 5th Avenue”, and whose call to “march to the Capitol” led them to storm the US Capitol on January 6. Of course, President Buhari will not personally shoot anyone or incite an insurrection, but whatever he does, his arch-supporters, the “Buharists”, will defend him, and viciously attack anyone who “downplays” his “achievements”, as I have experienced a few times.
Recently, I wrote a piece titled “Beyond elite’s ‘harassment’: A fair assessment of President Buhari’s government” (BusinessDay, March 1, 2021) in which I argued that the Buhari administration had only picked the “low-hanging fruit” while achieving little else of significance. That piece provoked a huge Buharist backlash, with abusive Internet trolls, so abusive that Internet blocked some of the tweets for containing “offensive content.”
The first salvo was fired by “Tony Montana @Christ4moi”. He tweeted: “@olu_fasan, I just read your piece on @BusinessDayNg titled ‘Beyond elite’s harassment: A fair assessment of President Buhari’s government’, In it, you claimed that @MBuhari’s government has only achieved three things. I am wondering why you’d be so bold to ignore reality.” With that tweet, he set off an avalanche, with many “liking”, retweeting and commenting on it.
At some point, I tweeted: “Your views on @MBuhari’s achievements are different from mine, for a president who came into office with great promises and expectations, and who is now nearly six years in power, with just more years to go. List Buhari’s achievements that have really moved Nigeria forward since 2015!”
Buhari acts as if he is a philosopher-ruler, with a didactic, know-all mentality. Yet, he may be a ruler, but he is certainly not a philosopher, not a visionary, and not a problem-solver!
Well, a few took up my challenge. Some, like “Shamsuddeen @arraki_un”, tweeted lists or pictures of roads, rails and bridges that the Buhari government is building and repairing. “Idris Obadaki @Icedris” listed 17 achievements, including: “implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and Bank Verification Number (BVN); discoveries and collection of looted funds; social welfare programme; payments of pension arrears, implementation of N30,000 minimum wage, dredging of ports, completion of rail lines, reconstruction of international airports; and release of N75bn for agricultural activities.”
But the overarching message was that Buhari is Nigeria’s unappreciated saviour. For instance, “Buhari First Son @bmatty321” said: “Jesus Christ was hated by the people He came to save. Buhari came to save Nigerians from @OffcialPDPNig.” Another Buharist “Yinkusman @yinkausman” added: “If you put the 5 years of PMB (Buhari) side by side the 16 years of PDP, PMB has done far better.” Then, “Aaron Ugede @Alpha_son” said: “MBuhari has changed so many things for the better in his short time in power.”
I apologise, dear readers, if I bored you with the rehashed tweets. The Buharists are pathologically partisan, but I was still struck that they inhabit such an alternative universe. I was struck by the fact that if you asked them for evidence of Buhari’s transformative achievements, they would only send you lists or pictures of roads, rails and bridges that his administration is building or repairing, or a list of some administrative changes.
But is government mainly about brick-and-mortar projects and tinkering at the edges of reforms that make no difference to the lives of ordinary people or have positive systemic impacts on the economy, on national security, on political stability, on internal cohesions?
Thomas Jefferson, former US president, once said: “The care of human life and happiness is the first and only legitimate object of good government”. So, what’s the purpose of physical infrastructure when the economy is comatose, when countless Nigerians are dying daily in the hands of terrorists and bandits, when millions are trapped in poverty and misery and when millions of youths can’t find a job?
Recently, unemployment hit 33.3 per cent, the highest rate in the history of Nigeria. Yet, 3.5m young Nigerians come of working age annually, adding to the pool of the jobless. A recent headline in the London Times read, “Nigeria ‘falling apart’ as kidnap gangs hold a nation to ransom.” And, recently, this newspaper, BusinessDay, reported that Nigeria leads, by a wide margin, the Misery Index of Ten Top African Countries, making Nigerians the most miserable people in Africa, far more miserable than their continental peers!
Certainly, given the outrageous levels of insecurity, poverty and misery, given the abysmal socio-economic conditions, it is not an exaggeration to say that for many Nigerians, life under the Buhari administration is, as Thomas Hobbes said of the state of nature, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” In the face of such appalling socio-economic and socio-political conditions, it is utterly irresponsible for anyone, however partisan, to be trumpeting the building of roads, rails and bridges by the Buhari government.
Now, the reason I am very critical of President Buhari and his government is that these shocking conditions could have been avoided, or at least minimised, if he had taken governance seriously. But, alas, Buhari has not, ab initio, taken governance seriously.
Truth is, he rode the populist wave to become president, then was overwhelmed by the challenges he met in office and, instead of open-mindedly seeking the right solutions, resorted to personal rule, guided only by his idiosyncrasies, predilections and old prejudices. Buhari acts as if he is a philosopher-ruler, with a didactic, know-all mentality. Yet, he may be a ruler, but he is certainly not a philosopher, not a visionary, and not a problem-solver!
Take the simple issue of experience and competence. In 2015, the then US vice president, Joe Biden, now president, advised the newly sworn-in President Buhari to appoint “seasoned technocrats” to head key sectors of the economy. But what did Buhari do? He called ministers “noise makers” and populated his first-term and second-term cabinets almost exclusively with career politicians and party hacks.
Think of it: Why should Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy and the world’s 27th, have a finance minister that lacks the “wow factor”, hardly known outside this country? Why, when Nigeria is facing a crippling economic crisis and badly needs foreign investments, does it have a finance minister that cannot inspire the confidence of international investors? Truth is, Buhari’s two finance ministers – first Kemi Adeosun, now Zainab Ahmed – are not the “seasoned technocrats”, with the global reach, to run Nigeria’s finances and economy.
By contrast, President Biden followed his own advice. He appointed Professor Janet Yellen, former chair of the US Federal Reserve and of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, as the Treasury Secretary. The moment Biden announced Yellen as his Treasury Secretary, the confidence of the international financial markets in his administration grew significantly. One investment banker said: “This is a government of seasoned professionals.” Can anyone describe Buhari’s first- and second-term cabinets like that? The answer is no!
Unfortunately, Nigeria has a president who lacks a grasp of economic fundamentals and a third-rate economic team that rejects critical reforms. Both the finance minister and central bank governor reject liberalisation of trade and the forex market. They prefer to incentivise rent seekers and arbitragers rather than encourage foreign investors. The results are capital flight, haemorrhaging of foreign exchange and a free-falling naira, further debased by the so-called Naira-for-Dollar scheme!
Yet, things would have been different if the ship of state were in safe hands, if Nigeria had a visionary president who could form a government of talented people. Unfortunately, as with the economy, so with the social, political and security problems. In all, Buhari either has no clue what to do or stubbornly refuses to do the right thing.
Sadly, Nigeria is in such a mess because of President Buhari’s two weaknesses: cluelessness and wrongheadedness. Yet, his supporters say he is Nigeria’s saviour. They are in denial!
