By Abuchi Obiora
Ceteris Paribus (all things being equal), the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General (Rtd) Mohammadu Buhari, GCFR, will bid farewell to Nigerians when he leaves office on May 29th, 2023 to retire in Daura or as he has already told Nigerians, (if they give him trouble), in Niger Republic. As he prepares to go, it behooves us, as free men and women, after eight tortious years of excruciating pain, to do an eulogy of his stewardship to Nigeria, or an epitaph to the demise of a country he has destroyed having ruled and governed her as a military Head of State (31st December 1983 – 27th August 1985) and as a civilian President (29th May 2015 – 29th May 2023), respectively.
While Economists will begin to uncover the rudiments of the new economic idea and theory called Buharinomics as an epitome of reverse economics wherefore all the centuries-old laws and principles are misapplied to achieve opposite results from the normal economic forecasts of future trends, it is my intention in this discourse to talk about an emerging, albeit weird system of political philosophy in Nigeria called Buharism.
Buharism, in the manner of its sister school of thought called Buharinomics, seeks to negate in its entirety, all the sure points and established tenets of democratic principles which were first introduced to the ancient world when it was practiced in Athenian democracy (made up of Athens and the territory known then as Attica) in the 6th century B.C, precisely between 508 – 507 BC. Cleisthenes, the head of that government is generally referred today as ‘the father of Athenian democracy’.
An economic theory of democracy was to be written by an American economist, Anthony Downs and published in 1957. In the treatise, Anthony Downs (21st November 1930 – 2 October, 2021) articulated an intellectual model which identifies the social conditions in a democracy under which known and valid economic theories could validate a non-market political decision making process.
Before Anthony Downs, Abraham Lincoln (born on 12th February 1809 and assassinated in 15th April 1865) who was the 16th President of the United States of America between 4th March 1861 and 15th April 1865, had defined democracy as “as government of the people, by the people and for the people”. This definition means that ‘democracy’ is people-originated, people-approved and must be people-oriented at all times. Absence of any of these three characters of democracy makes ‘democracy’ to become something else, – anything from dictatorship to whatever it may be.
It is obviously from these perspectives of total service, total accountability and total responsibility to the people as the originating precepts of a democratic governance that Anthony Downs anchored his treatise in order to draw a roadmap for the application of democracy in order to produce for the people a result that is known in Nigeria as ‘dividends of democracy’. Anthony Downs proved that in the manner that a child is sent to school to learn and apply A,B,C,D, etc, a politician can actually decide to learn and apply (assuming he has not imbibed or inculcated the principles of democracy) how to achieve result in the governance of the people he was elected to serve.
These explanations have become necessary because we will prove at the end of this discourse that what President Mohammadu Buhari and his team of inept politicians practiced and now are institutionalizing in Nigeria, is clearly a reversed form of democracy as it was originally founded and later articulated by the three personalities in history mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs.
Before we proceed to define the emerging political theory in Nigeria called ‘Buharism’, let us first identify the specific human thoughts and actions that aggregate to form this emerging political thought in Nigeria. We will locate these thoughts and actions within the long years of President Mohammadu Buhari as he journeyed to Aso Rock, the exalted seat of power in Nigeria. By doing this, we will articulate the man’s political (please, not social, business etc) character which must have shaped his conduct during his campaigns.
Along this journey, Mohammadu Buhari had severally campaigned as an opposition candidate at different times contesting with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, President Umar Yar’adua and President Goodluck Jonathan. During his campaigns, he had insisted that the former Presidents were doing badly both on the home front (economy, security et al), and on the international front (foreign debt, prosperity index ratings, et all). In all the areas he accused the governments of abysmal performance, he promised to do more when elected as the President of the Federal Republic. But since he was elected in 2015 when many Nigerians were led rightly or wrongly to buy the veiled dummy of his ‘Change 2015’ propaganda, the word ‘shock’ can least explain the conditions of Nigerians.
For example, let’s not talk about the prices of salt, pepper, oil and other essential commodities necessary for the day to day survival of Nigerians, (Nigerians have long been tired of recounting stories of high and unaffordable costs of goods in the market) because we will waste our time doing that, let us capture the total ruination of the Nigerian economy by Buharism by looking at the government budgets and foreign debt profile of Nigeria over a period of eight years of the President’s tenor. In eight years, the Federal government of Nigeria incurred a total deficit of N36.8trn under the watch of Mr. President. Though, balancing budget in Nigeria have always been like chasing shadows because of the erosion of the core productive sector, Mr. President out-performed all his predecessors on the negative side, almost to the point of pushing the country to a comatose economic condition.
The Debt Management Office (DMO) of the Federal Ministry of Finance has been reeling out fearful figures on debt servicing on earning ratio overtime and the damages it does to the economy but the President and his economic team kept deaf ears to all the distress signals. The last we heard from the DMO is that servicing Nigeria’s external debt has crossed the threshold of 90% of the total national earnings. Why wouldn’t it be so?. The President enjoys an uncanny hobby and pastime of borrowing. This, obviously, will be remembered in history as his second best passion after his penchant for gallivanting across the countries of the world seeking for the best hospital to attend to his failing health, when he leaves office.
As Mr. President, Mohammadu Buhari jacked up Nigerians foreign debt from $7.3bn when President Goodluck Jonathan left office in 2015, to $41.8bn in 2023 as he is leaving office. By this, he has acquired an additional debt burden of $34.5bn for Nigeria and Nigerians in just eight years, with virtually nothing to show for it. By all definitions, this is a bad story for Nigerians especially the youths and future generations who will be tied to unnecessary liabilities that were acquired through executive rascality. Economists who will examine the variables of this strange leap in Nigeria’s foreign debt profile will throw more light on the mechanism of Buharinomics that made this negative growth possible. In the meantime, let me observe that such variables may include the kleptomaniac inclination of the projects’ implementing officers and agents of Buharinomics whose duty it is to negotiate and secure these debts for the government from the donor countries and the multilateral corporations around the world.
The next issue worthy of our discussion here is national security. The present state of national security better explains the socio-political mystery of a political philosophy that was founded, not on any belief in free and willing mandate of the people, but on coercion, intimidation, lies, outright brigandage, disinformation and misinformation by government and its agencies. These elements of deception were surreptitiously veiled and presented to Nigerians with an unexplained mantra called “Change 2015”. The directions and motive of this change was hidden from Nigerians who were already hoodwinked with tales and propaganda of a weak economy (citing the price per dollar of N140) and an insecure people (using the unfortunate incident of the stage-managed and arranged kidnap of girls in a government school in Chibok) as evidence of an ineffective government of President Goodluck Jonathan, to deceive a desperate Nigerian population who needed to see their government do better.
So, what is Buharism? Buharism is a political philosophy built on impunity. It is averse to the rule of law, having been built on nepotism, selective governance, and above all, vindictiveness. It is unfeeling, merciless, not compassionate, and most times, blindfolded to observe the agonies of the people it forced itself to serve. This definition is not my idea but the summary of the ideas of Nigerians on the performance of the man who will soon be vacating the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. With the out-going President, Nigerians understand that Buharism is a reversed form of democracy founded to take away the ‘dividends of democracy’ from the people. Unlike other reversed forms in natural systems and processes as reversed osmosis (in water processing and bottling which gives the world cleaner, drinkable water) and reverse gravity (which stakes away the veil of mystery from floating objects on the air), Buharism as a reversed form of democracy in Nigeria has only succeeded in impoverishing Nigerians and putting the country to public and international ridicule.
There was a quickening agent to the realization of Buharism as a political philosophy in Nigeria. That quickening agent is Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But for the support of the formidable, long nurtured political machinery of Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the political philosophy called Buharism would not have seen the light of day. Why was Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu attracted to assist the almost exhausting efforts of Mohammadu Buhari to attain Nigeria’s Presidency?. The only true reason I can think about is because there is some elements of Buharism in Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu. A cursory look at his stewardship in Lagos State as an Executive Governor shows that the basic features in whatever political philosophy he may hold is sympathetic to the features of Buharism, though, it may be tinged with some unique features in addition to what we have identified as Buharism. Like poles attract, while unlike poles repel. Birds of a feather, they say, flock together. My argument, based on recent observations in the polity is that every other reasons they gave to Nigerians as necessitating their coming together to take over power in 2015 would have been the means to achieve an end, which can only be to institutionalize Buharism as a political philosophy in Nigeria.
In my understanding, “Emilokan” (It is my turn) is the new and improved edition (as they usually say in automobile manufacturing industry) of ‘monkeys and baboons will spill their blood on the streets of Nigeria.” Both statements were credited to Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and President Mohammadu Buhari respectively. In my observation, both statements signify impunity and violence, the two most conspicuous features of Buharism.
While further admitting the characteristic features of ‘Emilokan’ politics as its founding tenets, Buharism has additionally become a giant killer of the political careers and fortunes of many politicians. This is actually the meeting point for the ideals of the two founding personalities of Buharism. If you are in doubt, ask Femi Fani Kayode, Festus Keyamo, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Bayo Onanuga, etc. You may also wish to ask the incumbent Vice President, Pastor (Prof.) Yemi Osibanjo, an erudite lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who had suggested in 2015 that the APC could actually inaugurate a parallel government in 2015 if the then President Goodluck Jonathan refused to vacate the office on May 29th 2015 for the APC.
Perhaps, Babatunde Fashola, another SAN, can also be of help to you if you have not yet understood that Buharism, now with the toga of ‘Emilokan’ is the killer of political and intellectual giants. In the full glare of television klieg light, Babatunde Fashola, under the intoxicating and deadly influence of Buharism/Emilokan politics, forgot what the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria says about a Nigerian with dual citizenship contesting for the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Would it be wrong to add that Buharism as a political philosophy additionally means ‘anything goes’ for political convenience, common interest, and perhaps some doses of greed?.
My opinion therefore, is that while Mohammadu Buhari mooted the political philosophy called Buharism, moving around and campaigning for many years to experiment it in Nigeria, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu actually made it possible for him to experiment it after putting flesh in it. Now, by his suspicious success emerging as the INEC President-elect after the 2023 Presidential election, the Senator, a known political strategist, wants to push Buharism a little further to come out clean as a workable political philosophy in Nigeria, tinged with some shadowy hues of his character regarded in some quarters as exhibiting criminality.
Can Buharism come out clean as a workable political philosophy in Nigeria? Only the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT) can tell Nigerians and the international community as everybody waits for what is expected to be the most valid test for the survival of democracy in Nigeria and Africa.
ABUCHI OBIORA
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