Kassim Afegbua
I am yet to reconcile the rationale behind President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent actions in the twilight of his administration that has thrown us into an avoidable turmoil. I have been trying to assemble my thoughts to decode the compelling reason for taking this wrong-headed action, that has cast aspersions on his administration, at a time he should be finishing strong. There is nothing we have not been fed with concerning the numerous conspiracies and pretentiousness that have occupied the centre stage of political discourse in recent times. From those conspiracies, one can still pick one or two items as likely possibilities for this naira swap deal that has further impoverished the masses and cast Buhari’s government in bad light. It is a matter of fact that when leaders are alighting from the power rostrum, they contemplate their successor like they contemplate death. Where will death meet me? Will I be sleeping or on the highway? Will I be shot? When will death strike; morning, afternoon, evening or night? So many questions will come nagging your thoughts and consciousness. How will my successor treat me? Will he come after me, probe me, change my policies, arrest me and or put me on the podium of ignominy? Will he seek revenge, or try to undermine my person? So many thoughts will occupy your mind. Knowing the aforementioned, and how soon President Buhari will be out of office, I wonder; what is the motivation?
The question above is the reason many Nigerians believe very strongly that President Buhari and Godwin Emefiele have something funny up their sleeves. Also, while this debilitating policy is on, President Buhari is planning a national Census for March and April 2023. These plans are unfathomable to me. Those who say that President Buhari and Godwin Emefiele’s naira policy was targeted at the APC presidential candidate, might not be wrong after all. Also, there are indications that the PDP candidate is enjoying some form of backdoor financial support, allegedly using cronies like the EFCC as conduits; even the confidence exhibited by the PDP candidate in wickedly working against the extension of time, suggested something sinister. There are strong indications that the EFCC chairman is working in cahoots with Atiku Abubakar; the reason why the anti-corruption agency has looked the other way as regards the Mike Achimugu exposé. There are other reports rotting away on EFCC shelves concerning impropriety of Atiku Abubakar, especially on the PTDF mismanaged funds but the anti-corruption agency has still not taken the case further. So, when we have such scenarios that tend to suggest very strongly, the complicity of several seen and unseen hands working from answer to question, it all points to only one thing.
Those who say that President Buhari and Godwin Emefiele’s naira policy was targeted at the APC presidential candidate, might not be wrong after all. Also, there are indications that the PDP candidate is enjoying some form of backdoor financial support, allegedly using cronies like the EFCC as conduits; even the confidence exhibited by the PDP candidate in wickedly working against the extension of time, suggested something sinister. There are strong indications that the EFCC chairman is working in cahoots with Atiku Abubakar; the reason why the anti-corruption agency has looked the other way as regards the Mike Achimugu exposé
If President Buhari has his way, he might betray his nepotism to birth his successor. Thank goodness the APC Governors are not backing down on their support for the party’s candidate, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; save for Governor Sule of Nasarawa State who is clandestinely working for Atiku Abubakar, most of the other APC Governors appear resolute in going the whole hog and carrying the fight through, as a mark of solidarity with the South, to produce President Buhari’s successor. Those APC Governors from the North have made remarkable progress in ensuring that the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerges as the peoples choice, by bursting so many plots fashioned to work against the sail. Three of them took the Federal Government on, concerning the nagging naira redesign question. The Supreme Court provided some kind of elixir to cushion an already charged atmosphere. The expectation was to generate enough crises nation-wide that would terminate the entire democratic process. That plot seems to be lowering now, but with peculiar vestiges that could still be actioned if the situation of cash crunch continues before the election. Despite denials by the military authorities, Nigeria’s political environment has become so fluid that anything untoward is possible. When a man is desperate for power, like Atiku is wont to, he can sign off on many plots and sub-plots to undercut the system. His romance with some Aso Villa operators of a system that is largely acquisitive and conquistadorial, conveys to him a wrong impression that he enjoys all the support.
The voices from within the power rostrum are those of deceit, pretense, subterfuge and subterranean plots that are meant to hurt and halt the trajectory of power from the North to the South. Some of those who are sold to such dangerous plots seem not to bother about the sanctity of a north-south divide. They also don’t seem to understand the complexities of a diverse system called Nigeria with all the threats of fragmentation becoming more tellingly instructive at this time. Atiku, the unsung unifier, hasn’t been able to unify his party, the PDP. He doesn’t care a hoot, insofar as he’s been promised the Villa slot. It is the reason why the PDP wielded the big stick on Senators Chimaroke, Ogbu, Lere Olayinka, Fayose and a couple of others who are not sold to the Atiku presidency. But such behind-the-door endorsement is not enough to deliver Atiku Abubakar in the polls. The optics in the 2023 election have gone beyond the precepts of regional solidarity. The growing concerns in the polity are not supportive of another Fulani man taking over from an outgoing Fulani president and certainly not supportive of the man, Atiku Abubakar; he is not trusted. His emergence will spell doom for a country, already cracked and cinctured. A country already driven to the edge of the precipice, will unwittingly undo herself into a theatre of the absurd, should Atiku Abubakar be foisted on her. But those who cultivate power, are often thoughtless when the larger picture stares them in the face. They are often driven by their inordinate ambition for personal self-aggrandizement.
Behind-the-door endorsement is not enough to deliver Atiku Abubakar in the polls. The optics in the 2023 election have gone beyond the precepts of regional solidarity. The growing concerns in the polity are not supportive of another Fulani man taking over from an outgoing Fulani president and certainly not supportive of the man, Atiku Abubakar; he is not trusted. His emergence will spell doom for a country, already cracked and cinctured. A country already driven to the edge of the precipice, will unwittingly undo herself into a theatre of the absurd, should Atiku Abubakar be foisted on her
Beyond the rubrics of President Buhari’s open show of support for Asiwaju Tinubu, he needs to be closely monitored. Among a few northern masses, he still enjoys some level of blind loyalty and support, but the Buhari brand that resonated in 2015, has since become a poisoned chalice. A lot of Nigerian voters see him as the evil wind that brought poverty and impoverishment upon them; instructively so. He assumes the position of a monologue, never motivated to speak to Nigerians; even in the face of daring and obscene economic hardships. He prefers to talk to his council of state members only. Those ones have since become a rubber stamp assembly. When their convocation ends, one is left uninspired to put pen to paper on the outcome. They still end up in monologue; some voiceless lambs, tucked away in the inner sanctuary of Aso Villa. So, usually, Nigerians are left in the labyrinth of guessing what ensued and rely on the body language of a president that is mortally stiff and unyielding to the cries in the land. It is the same reason why a small boy, with no cognate experience, Sabiu Yussuf, commonly known as Tunde, has been calling the shots. Nigeria has descended from its somewhat Olympian height to the level of a Tunde running her affairs. Tunde here, Tunde there, Tunde everywhere in a country of brilliant award winning minds across several disciplines. This is what happens when those who should speak out have become part of the larger conspiracy.
The 2023 election will spring many surprises to the consternation of those conspirators who think they can decree their wishes from the inner recesses of their Aso Villa fortress. They will also realise that Nigerians have become more conscientised, mobilised and sensitize to the environment around them. A lot of Nigerians want to take their destiny in their hands and the promise of a huge turnout at the elections is becoming a compelling argument to alter the apple cart. The real challenge in the 2023 election is not going to be about voters turnout, but more of the functionality of the BIVAS devices, and their ability to meet up with the volume of those who are willing to vote. From all permutations also, I see Asiwaju Tinubu of the APC coming tops, followed by Peter Obi, then Atiku Abubakar in a distant third position. Tinubu’s victory in the first ballot will be very huge, as he will trounce his opponents, in a race that will be keenly contested. It is in the interest of the players of the APC to ensure they honestly work for Asiwaju Tinubu to retain their ruling party status; otherwise, the theory of contradiction may just prevail. No doubt, the Buhari government has brought untold hardship on its people, without carrying the party along. It does appear that there is the government on the one hand, and the party on the other. The expected synergy is absent, the cohesion that should ordinarily exist is near zero, and the symbiotic relationship that should nurture a robust engagement between the government and the party is currently on holiday. That is Buhari’s layback style; a style that has demolished all positive ingredients and given way to leadership incompetence of those who call the shots in the Villa. The voiceless lambs will determine the 2023 general election, not betrayers, back-bitters, and ungrateful elements who want to perpetuate their hegemony on a polity that is heavily polarised. God forbid that they succeed.
. Afegbua is a former Commissioner for Information in Edo State
