Soyinka’s Alleged Swipe at Buhari

Prof. Wole Soyinka’s recently advertised opinion on Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential flag bearer, is that Nigerians are best advised to stick with the incumbent President and re-elect him next year. Several interpretations have been given to that intervention, including the claim that it is driven by geo-ethnic sentiments. I disagree. Soyinka has never been afraid of his own voice. He is also not one to either gleefully endorse a person or platform he has reason to suspect of resting on wobbly foundations, or support the dismantling of a structure by persons who have not demonstrated convincing building skills. Let us contextualise Soyinka’s comments against the background of REALPOLITIK and the call for general up-scaling of serious leadership contestestation.

We begin by saying that the nation actually needs a strong, focused and viable opposition to the ruling party are right. This is right to the extent that such opposition will strengthen our democracy by compelling the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to do some ‘hard work’ on issues of governance, especially along ideological lines and general service delivery. What is however open to argument today is the assumption that the APC represents that desirable opposition. At best, the party is an alliance between some genuine and fake followers of the great Awo, a motley collection of aggrieved former members of the PDP and a northernly-focused political movement. Its capacity for genuine ideological opposition is hamstrung by its diverse loyalties and the dominance of the former Actions Congress’ (AC’s) political culture that is under the asphyxiating imprimatur of Bola Tinubu.

The late Awo embodied opposition politics in Nigeria in a way none of the numerous pretenders to the business of political opposition can approximate – even remotely. Many of Awo’s real and alleged acolytes are in the APC. Unlike Awo, however, these suspected political descendants have only distinguished themselves in the art of political grumbling and gossip. This is what they call as opposition politics. They think that by saying ‘waka’ to government over real and imagined mistakes, misjudgements and outright blunders, the APC is actually into opposition politics. Utter bunkum! To suppose that a motley crowd of mostly aggrieved former members of the PDP, who have lost out and others of questionable coloration, all of whom do everything to undermine internal party democracy wherever they are, should be called ‘opposition’ simply because they condemn the ruling party?

They have all conveniently forgotten that the soul of opposition politics, of which Awo gave a good account of himself, is that the opposition actually runs a shadow government. The opposition brings out alternative policies to those in place and fuels public debate and national development, through informed discourse. But not this opposition! It is yet to move beyond the sporadic and spasmodic criticism of the ruling party. Meanwhile, it must go beyond all that and invest in meaningful, constructive opposition politics that will make the people see what it has to offer. Dr. Kayode Fayemi was thrown out for being too civilised and for moving away from the more barbaric traditions of Nigerian politics. Wherever Tinubu is in charge he has put his relations and personal staff in all the right positions. And these are Awo’s, and possibly Mallam Aminu Kano’s, descendants? I don’t think so.

But let us note, for the record, that the profile of the APC as a viable opposition party is not for want of strong, patriotic and well-meaning persons within the leadership, and rank and file, of the party, no! Beginning with Gen. Buhari, even the worst of his detractors must admit that he is a very honest and straightforward man. He means well for Nigeria and will personally not be party to whatever he believes, or knows, will not serve the common good – or the long term interests of the nation. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is well known by his close associates as a generous, dependable and good group leader. His mistake was to come out for a position that a good readings of the auguries should have told him he would never get. And who would not want to associate with the Segun Onis, Fashola’s and Fayemis of this world, for their hands-on political capacities.

But let’s get real! It is true that our patriotic General Buhari is honest as a person. But it is also true that we need more than personal honesty for anyone to be a good leader anywhere in the world. Late Julius Nyerere of Tanzania was a painfully honest man. Like Buhari, he led a transparent government and did not rob the state, or fraudulently accumulate personal wealth. Also like Buhari, after he left office, Nyerere ended up in one tiny dilapidated house as further proof of his honesty as a public servant. The other truth is that Nyerere’s personal honesty does not remove the fact that he failed to take advantage of what civilisation offered by way of improved governance practices and economic leadership. Yes, he left office an honest man, but he also left a nation severely underdeveloped because he applied a template that would be ideal for a small community of the close-kindred type to a nations-state and ended up with rather depressing results. As I write, Tanzania is yet to recover from Julius Nyerere’s personal goodness and honesty.

It can be argued, in defence of Buhari, that he is not only personally honest and reliable, but has had some time to look into the dynamics of our polity and politics and mature further since he stepped out of office. The ancillary questions we must then ask, in interrogating this defence, are (1) how did he perform in office and (2) what lessons have he learnt since? For a man who has been repeatedly accused of having a reputation for easily abdicating responsibility in matters of diligent attention to general administration, there is something here for his handlers to worry about.

For instance, it is argued that he is the only former Head of State whose administration got a dual attribution of authority, simply because his deputy was more visible and active, while he was a mere figurehead. The thesis here is that while Nigerians speak of a Murtala/Obasanjo regime because the former died in office and the latter continued and concluded his regime programmes, they speak of Buhari/Idiagbon regime because the latter was actually seen as ‘the government’ while the former was termed the nominal leader of that government.

There is also the question of whether the retired general also learnt the appropriate and necessary lessons and is applying these in his current actions. With his presumed popularity in the north and Kwakwanso’s age, exposure, performance and reputation, one would have expected that a clear-eyed Buhari would throw his weight behind the younger and more contemporary Kwakwanso, as an elder statesman. Those who trust him would respect his judgment.

His party would make a national address, and take put the many old men who are running all over the place in the name of wanting to lead Nigeria to shame. He would have even joined well-meaning party members in persuading Atiku and others to back Kwakwanso. His decision to contest, as well as the final choice of the party, show clearly that he and the APC are out of their depths completely.

The reported assigning of the task of appointing a vice-president to Bola Tinubu by Buhari shows the good man in him. It also points to his respect for agreements, as well as a tendency to give people who fulfil in one limited sphere more than their due, in terms of overall integrity. Is this how he intends to govern Nigeria? I imagine that Buhari would confidently accept whatever is thrown at him by Tinubu as VP, forgetting that not many people are as puritanical as he is. He does not consider that Tinubu was only servicing a perceived strategic interest and not doing him, Buhari, a personal favour when he supported him to win the presidential ticket. He does not consider that he can be given a VP that will be the government, occasionally humouring him with salutary engagements and pronouncements now and again These are the real issues around a Buhari presidency, that is assuming such a project has a leg to stand on.

We cannot condemn Buhari as ‘bad’ because of his tendency to trust and think that everyone is like him. That would be both wrong and unfair. But to expect and demand that we should all gladly entrust our lives to a man who may, in his goodness, be less than circumspect in matters of state, is to push optimism beyond the domain of rationality. My respect for the person of Buhari is not diminished by whatever defects of character anyone may attribute to him. We all have our shortcomings. What will not happen is that people will, out of respect for his person, endorse him for official responsibilities that some of his good personal qualities may not serve very well. Buhari and the APC seem to have a position on core national issues., but…