Chief of Army Staff – In praise of PMB’s consistency

SOMETHING outstanding about President Muhammadu Buhari is his consistency. Nobody can fault it. With Buhari you know where he stands.

He has a knack for making choices that stun his fellow Nigerians. The more objectionable his decisions, the better Buhari thinks that they fit Nigerians.

Does anything we say affect him? Are we sure he listens to us or anyone? His frequent absences at critical moments of our national lives have become legendary.

Those who ask the President to address Nigerians have forgotten that every Buhari broadcast leaves the country more forlorn.

Our challenge is that we take Buhari for granted. We deserve the punishment for our inattentiveness.

“I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody,” Buhari told us during his inauguration on 29 May 2015. He was upfront with his determination to act differently, whatever that meant.

His love for herdsmen and their cattle was succinctly captured in his advice to anguished Benue people after the massacres that heralded the early days of 2018. He told the victims to accommodate their killers as brothers.

He has never changed.

Buhari’s key appointments are skewed, especially as they affect the security agencies. The appointments shock believers in the Federal Character Commission, a creation of the Constitution, which they constantly ignore. The explanation is that the appointments were about professionalism, not politics.

When Lt-Gen. Ibrahim Attahiru, Chief of Army Staff died in a plane last week, many thought Buhari had the chance to prove critics of his appointments wrong. He dashed their wishes again.

Anyone who expected a different appointment has refused to understand Buhari in six years. It is not Buhari’s headache if people, who forget he is Commander-in-Chief, think they can dictate to him. He simply ignores them.

Maj-Gen Farouk Yahaya’s appointment as Chief of Army Staff has shown in more ways than we admit that Buhari is in-charge. He leaves no rooms for speculations about his tendencies.

Nigerians would not care much about origins of Buhari’s appointees if they get the work done.

What worries Nigerians most is Buhari’s consistent distance from addressing issues dividing Nigeria.

FINALLY…

THE on-going constitutional review is an opportunity for Alhaji Abubakar Malami, Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation to enlist the rights of cattle in the Constitution beyond open grazing, willful damage and unlawful entries into others’ property. Has he considered allowing cattle representation in the National Assembly?

ORDINARY President Ahmed Isah was doubtlessly off mark when he slapped a lady on Human Rights Radio, the Brekete Family. He has apologised profusely. As the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), wields the hammer, it should be temperate.

LAWS are local in intent and application. A story from Katsina State supports this. A district head indicted for allegedly working with bandits was not arrested or tried for the crime. He was dismissed from office as if to ask him to join the bandits full time.

VIDEO of Senator Remi Tinubu distinguishing herself in an altercation with a lady who asked that she and others be admitted to the public hearing in Lagos went public. Mrs. Tinubu called the lady names. There was little doubt that Mrs. Tinubu will miss no opportunity to press the importance of her ordinariness.

Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues