WILL BUHARI BE ABLE TO SHOULDER THE PRESSURE?

After much anxiety, May 29 has passed and Muhammadu Buhari is finally the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To think Goodluck Jonathan won’t be the one handling the affairs of the country for the next four years is still a bit of surprise to me. Much more is the fact that the PDP won’t be having a representative in the seat of the three most powerful people in the country: the President, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. All will be taken by the APC, a party whose domain has been prominent in the South-West. To that effect, kudos to Bola Tinubu for doing his homework well.

It has to be said that transition of the presidency to the APC should be a time of reflection for the PDP. You obviously can’t be in power forever. Even Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF, which has had Robert Mugabe in power ever since the Southern African country gained independence in 1980 seems to be falling apart. Has PDP fallen apart? It’s a tough call to make. Regardless of the defeat, the party still remains strong and is still one of the biggest parties on the African Continent.

Goodluck Jonathan has failed in his leadership, asides his kind gestures since he accepted defeat during the March 28 polls, if PDP is to succeed again, they need someone with charisma like Obasanjo. Not a Jonathan who doesn’t seem to know anything about politics and governance. As a president you don’t go about making careless statements in the heat of a crisis and allow your wife who is supposed to represent you to make mockery of your position as the president. You also do not handle intra-party conflicts carelessly. Losing Kano to the APC and allowing an incumbent governor in Rivers State to join the opposition all under your nose is disheartening. It means you don’t know how to do your homework. Such couldn’t have happened under the watch of Obasanjo. That the former head of state pulled out of the party is the biggest blow of all. PDP therefore need a rethink, a rebranding and reorientation if they are to stand a chance of taking back the presidency in 2019. That of course is dependent on how incumbent president Buhari performs in his first four years.

It’s no doubt that Nigeria is need of a great fix in almost every corners of development you can think of and that’s why the Nigerian populace came out to cast their votes for the ex-military head of state. The current National Assembly dilemma is already a bad omen happening right under Buhari's nose. He had made statements that we should not expect a miracle. That is true but he needs to act fast. Gains need to be made as soon as possible so the Nigerian nation can see reasons why they voted for the 72 year Fulani man. That the Christians could vote for him with high expectations asides form the fact that his vice is a reputable pastor is more intriguing.

Nigerians have decided to overlook some of the harsh and somehow brutal records Buhari had as a military head of state. Well that really doesn’t matter today because this is a different dispensation so he obviously won’t have the same approach to things. 

*To be continued.

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*All photos sourced randomly from Google Images.

WILL BUHARI BE ABLE TO SHOULDER THE PRESSURE? CONTINUED

I have noticed that many Nigerians have been swayed by some of the gestures shown by Buhari. The way he has been living a simple and easy life as against the extravagant life that politicians live and even those in his rank of Major General. Yes it’s a good way to lead by example but that is not what really matters. What matters most is what you deliver to the people. We got swayed by the fact that Jonathan had a poor background (I had no shoes). We ended up having a bad leadership and he didn’t deliver much to the expectation of people. Looking at the immediate past governor of Lagos, Babatunde Fashola, he lived a bit of a simple life and he delivered. Not because he was one of very few Nigerian governors who didn’t go around in a convoy of 20 black Toyota Prados but because he wanted to make Lagos a city to be reckoned with in Africa and the World. That should be the same focus for Buhari that Nigeria should be a force to reckon with on the global stage and of course that can only happen when things start working well at home.

There is more pressure on Buhari because he is likely going to step on a lot of toes which would not be nice to many people’s liking. He needs to do a massive restructuring of the existing government infrastructure and institutions. That will be key to make his administration work but it comes a huge cost of sweeping all the deadwood that make such systems not to function well. Buhari faces further pressure because the media will be closely monitoring his work. As we all know the media can create something out of nothing when things don’t go well. Jonathan’s inability to act right made media say his wife was controlling him. His inability to handle to Boko Haram situation made him to be labeled a “clueless president.” Since the media has more freedom under the democratic setting, Buhari’s words and actions need to be properly coordinated. Even if false news about him is circulating, there really is nothing that can be done. This is not the military setting where the media were censored on what to produce about government. Should Buhari fail to deliver, you can be sure the media would start bringing up twisted and false stories about him. If he delivers, it will be praise about him just as with Babatunde Fashola whom the media never gave any false reports about because he delivered for Lagos. Even when he made some controversial decisions such as banning Okada, the end result was praise from the media.

Buhari looks certain to deliver and I would suggest he takes a cue from Babatunde Fashola and Barack Obama. Fashola has been able to turn Lagos into a destination for all both within and outside Nigeria. The face of Lagos now is so impressive no one ever thought it would get there someday. Many of the things Fashola did as regards electricity, education, transportation, security, business and employment can be replicated by Buhari at the Federal level. Buhari should emulate Obama because what other American Presidents might not have done happened under the watch of former Illinois senator. These include returning American soldiers from the war in Iraq and Afghanistan in due time, capturing Al-Qaeda supremo Osama Bin Laden, restoring diplomatic ties with Cuba after more than 50 years and reaching an agreement with Iran on its nuclear programme. These are issues which past American presidents failed to deal with but the success of them under Obama has received praise and acclaim all over the world. This means Obama’s name will go down in history as one of America’s iconic presidents.

What will Buhari be remembered for? One cannot say for now but the next four years can give an indication for that. Failure for Sai Baba to deliver might see him return to Daura in his native Kaduna in 2019, the same way Jonathan returned to Otuoke in March.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post, kindly leave your comments below. Thanks.

*All photos sourced randomly from Google Images.