By Kaanayo Nwachukwu (kaanayo@kaanayo.com)
Muhammadu Buhari was bad for Nigeria. So were Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida and Sani Abacha. These men all rose to the rank of general in the Nigerian Army, where they plotted and executed coups.
These comrades-in-arms had some other things in common: They wanted to rule Nigeria so badly that they didn’t even bother taking permission from the people of Nigeria. They were not unaware of the fact that the legitimate way of doing things would have scuttled their dreams. Had they taken off their khaki and donned on agbada to beg for votes in presidential elections, they knew their democratic credentials would have been questioned and scrutinized by both their compatriots and the international community. So, they forced themselves on Nigerians by usurping power. They wouldn’t have cared one bit about rolling out the tanks to crush anyone who dared to stand between them and their ambition.
Immediately upon shooting their way to power, this trio abrogated Nigerian laws and used decrees to ruthlessly kill innocent civilians, clamp down on the press, jail journalists and members of the civil society, as well as perceived political enemies.
In their maiden broadcasts to their countrymen, what usually followed after “Fellow Nigerians” was long self-adulation of how their love for Nigeria propelled them to stage their coups. As they justified their acts of illegality, they garnered praise and applause from their cronies, many of whom used the money they had stolen from Nigeria to sponsor the coups for purely selfish reasons.
Their excuses notwithstanding, these generals committed treason against their fatherland, not minding that they swore an oath to defend and uphold its constitution. To rub insult to injury, these coupists had never held any public offices before other than the ones they were rewarded with for partaking in coup d’états. Little wonder corruption climbed to the rooftop in Nigeria under their watch, culminating in the absolute collapse of Nigerian infrastructure.
To aid them with robbing Nigeria blind, Buhari, Babangida and Abacha appointed their friends and loyal, fellow khaki boys to key posts.
As governors, commissioners, local government administrators, ministers and what have you, their cronies were as bad for Nigeria as the generals they worked for.
The years these generals ran Nigeria like their personal fiefdom were the most retrogressive in the country’s history.
Even though the world knows how they bastardized their fatherland economically and otherwise, Buhari and Babangida have continued to insist that it was their love for Nigeria that made them commit treason against her. Abacha also fed the world the same “love story” when he began working to transmute into a civilian president before he died mysteriously in 1998.
Olusegun Obasanjo recites his own version of the I-love-Nigeria story whenever he’s cornered and asked to explain his role in the 1975 military coup that ushered in the Murtala Muhammed Administration and what made him return to rule Nigeria as a civilian in 1999, two decades after relinquishing power as a dictator.
After two four-year terms as civilian president, Obasanjo went from being a poor farmer – with about N20, 000 in his bank account – to becoming a billionaire. This probably explains why he once described Nigeria as a wonderland while he was still in office and even had the temerity to ask lawmakers to shift the goal post to allow him a third term in office.
Buhari and Babangida seem to believe they can achieve the same feat as Obasanjo.
Since Nigeria’s new democratic dispensation, Buhari and Babangida have been looking for ways and means of becoming Nigeria’s democratically elected leaders. Whereas the former has contested for the country’s highest office three times, failing woefully in the elections on each occasion, the latter put his ambition on hold only after Nigerians vowed to put their lives on the line to stop him from contesting in the last presidential election.
After failing in his bid to defeat incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011, Buhari announced he won’t be running for public office again. The world did not believe him one bit when he made that declaration because it doesn’t take a college degree or rocket science to figure out that the word of a soldier who didn’t flinch one bit before sacking his commander-in-chief via a military coup is worth nothing but a lip service. And Nigerians and the world were right not to believe him as Buhari, again, is making another go at Nigeria’s presidency.
But why do Nigerian politicians like to run without crawling?
If Buhari and Babangida genuinely love Nigeria as they profess often and sincerely want to serve her as presidents, they should start by becoming councilors in their wards, or even chairmen of their local government areas, and then work their way up to the lower and upper houses of parliament. Afterwards, they can talk to Nigerians about their presidential ambitions. That way, they would garner – every step of the way – all the experience needed for the job. This is because the office of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not a learn-on-the-job position.
Regardless of how their foot soldiers try to launder their image, the mess Buhari, Babangida and their cronies created in Nigeria will take decades to clean up.
In countries with rule of law, people like Buhari and Babangida would have long been tried and appropriately punished for treasonable felony instead of being allowed to roam about as democrats.
About Kaanayo Nwachukwu
Journalist and speaker Kaanayo Nwachukwu is widely published in mainstream and online media. He is the author of the highly acclaimed memoir “A Dream of Canada: An Incredible Story of Struggle and Overcoming.” Nwachukwu is acknowledged as Nigeria’s foremost social media activist and strategist. He is the managing editor of kaanayo.com.
