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.
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