Day Buhari turned 'professor' in Oxford varsity

Sanni Azeez

RETIRED General and former Head of State, Muhammadu Buhari, is not a too friendly and charismatic leader to some Nigerians, but the Katsina born politician, who flew the Presidential flag of the All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP, in the 2003 and 2007 elections, has some qualities that distinguished him from his peers. In both elections, he came second with different colours. While he was close in 2003, he came distant second in 2007. His 'not-too-loved' figure meanwhile, is popular mostly in the western part of the country where he scored low in the two elections.

Without mincing words however, Buhari is one personality that has bestridden and continues to bestride Nigeria's political firmament like a colossus. Yes, he was, like all other military juntas we have had in this country and elsewhere, brutal in his judgment of human rights abuses, and also could pass for a religious fundamentalist, because to him, his religion is the first to consider in all things. But put these aside, the retired General could easily pass for an elder statesman. His contemporaries look up to him as an incorruptible politician. He is one personality that is widely believed to be free from corruption while in office and after leaving office as head of state.

His undoing as a too religious fellow and his poor record in human rights could well be ignored considering the level of discipline Nigerians were displaying during his reign as head of state and also the level of development recorded when he headed the moribund PTF. While he was the Head of State, Nigerians were treated to first hand 'War Against Indiscipline' and while serving as the Chairman of PTF, Buhari built many roads (though many people argued that most of these roads were in the north) across the country. Drugs were put in hospitals, school buses were given to tertiary institutions and several other things were done across the country. Without holding brief for the Katsina State born politician, only few people had got the courage to face him with corruption charges. In the run-in to the 2007 elections, some analysts were being interviewed on a Lagos television station, they all agreed that, given the pedigree of the presidential contestants, Buhari stood out as the best material. Most of the people that called in into the programme expressed similar views with minor dissenting views. This goes a long way in putting Buhari into perspective. No wonder he could not boast of a house in any capital city in Nigeria except one built by a philanthropist for him in Katsina, where he stays. No company, one jeep, also a donation, and a small farm in his home state. In fact, it was once rumoured that he lives solely on his pension.

However, on Monday May 10, 2010, Buhari was a guest in Oxford University, where he was invited by the Oxford Research Network to deliver a paper on 'Governance in Africa' with the seminar tagged 'OReNGA 2010. Buhari started his speech by paying tribute to Oxford University as a very famous university. His topic; 'Ten years of democracy in the Federal Republic of Nigeria' was critically dissected by the retired General. He lambasted the elite class and the politicians, as he went memory lane. “14 changes of government in Nigeria; three times as soldiers took over power from civilians, three times as they succeeded civilians, and five times as the military arrested power from its own class in palace coups or through death by natural and unnatural causes”. The politicians were not the only ones pointed out as debacles to democratising Nigeria, the judiciary had its share of blame. Noteworthy, are the Supreme Court rulings, which Buhari pointed out that could have changed the course of the nation on both occasions. Also, the international community was not spared as they exhibited double standards in elections in Africa. One instance the politician gave was the hard line and vociferous stands of the United States and Britain on the 'rigged' elections in Zimbabwe, the same powers were just mild and diplomatic in condemning Nigerians blatantly rigged elections.

Buhari however believed that democracy has come to stay in Nigeria and military intrusions are old fashioned and cannot solve the problem of the corrupt politicians. Niger Delta crisis, electoral reforms, poverty and power were the major highlights of the retired General's view of Nigeria's problem. He virtually touched every thing about Nigeria and he did this to the bewilderment of the audience. From the looks on their faces, it could be deduced that Buhari was able to win over more people to his side. He may not be liked by all, but give it to him, the Oxford audience were treated to a good lecture. An audience, who wrote a piece in The Guardian last week, Anthony Akinola, alluded to the belief that Buhari's presentation was excellent. He also wrote that he forgot that he was listening to a politician, as he followed with rapt attention as the retired general metamorphosed into a 'professor'.

Like Da Grin, Nigerian road claims Ali, Godfrey

JUST last month, the music industry lost one of its raves, Da Grin, and as the dust seems to be settling on this, Nigerian sports fraternity was thrown into mourning when, in a road accident, Ali Abdullahi and Christian Godfrey, Nigeria's two best golfers, joined the growing list of personalities killed in road accidents in Nigeria. This is unacceptable from the government which has continued to neglect infrastructures, including good roads, thereby, endangering the lives of its citizenry. Abdullahi and Godfrey were going to Minna from Suleja when they had the fatal crash. Even, the caddie to Abdullahi, Bernard, also died in the crash.
Governments at all levels should, with accelerated urgency and immediate alacrity start to build good roads and manage the old ones and also ensure that all these roads are well illuminated to safeguard citizens from accidents. We can't continue like this as no serious nation takes life so cheap as Nigeria does. Our roads need upgrade and total overhaul; if not we may all have to die on these roads. God forbid!

That Nigerians' votes become sacrosanct

Sanni Azeez Olusegun


TWO weeks ago, Great Britain had its election and the ruling party lost to the new order. Ever since, debates have been held at different fora analysing lessons to be learnt from it by Nigeria. The main lesson is the sacrosanctity of the votes. This of course is not the only lesson, there are other lessons to be drawn from the election if indeed Nigeria wants to achieve smooth election in 2011.

Though, this is the first British election since 1974 to produce a hung parliament, our focus should be centred on the smoothness that characterised the election. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, though unhappy, as he told reporters shortly after his resignation, moved out quickly as though there was urgency attached to it. He moved out his family and the rest is history. So many governors have been unseated in this country and still will tell the world that they are still consulting their legal advisers on the next line of action. A case study was when the then Governor of Oyo State, Senator Rasheed Ladoja, was impeached and his deputy, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala was sworn in. The impeached governor went to court and the court ruled in his favour. But even then, his supposed deputy was still spitting fire and brimstone that the judgment was ambigous and that until he speaks with his lawyers, he cannot leave office. What an effrontery to the judicial system. Presently, a senator's election has been quashed by a competent court and yet, the concerned senator is still parading herself as a senator of the Federal Republic. This is a shame of a nation. There are other cases like this and now is the time to borrow a leaf from the advanced countries that we so claim to follow their footsteps in our quest for development. Moreso, almost all their cultural innuendos, either negative or otherwise, have crept into our lives. If we can desecrate our culture through unchecked importation of culture, which has caused us embarrassing cultural pride and has led to unmitigated cultural lag, then we should be bold to take some clues from what they do well too.

The election that was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday 6 May, 2010, to elect members into the House of Commons is supposed to be an eye opener for Nigeria as the country moves towards a general election. The general election took place in 649 constituencies across the United Kingdom, under the first-past-the-post system. The Conservative Party under David Cameron won the largest number of votes and seats, but fell short of the 326 seats needed to have an overall majority. It was the first time since 1974, and only the second time since the Second World War, that a British general election returned a hung parliament.

For the first time in a British election, the three main party leaders engaged in a series of televised debates. The third largest party, the Liberal Democrats, achieved a breakthrough in opinion polls after the first debate in which their leader, Nick Clegg, was widely seen as the strongest performer. However, on the election day, their share of the votes increased by only one percent, and they suffered a net loss of five seats. Still, this was the Liberal Democrats' largest popular vote since the party's creation in 1988, and they found themselves in a pivotal role in the formation of the new government.

On 11 May, as coalition talks between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats seemed to be drawing to a successful conclusion, Gordon Brown announced his resignation as Prime Minister, marking the end of 13 years of Labour government. This made way for David Cameron to become Prime Minister just one hour after Queen Elizabeth II accepted Brown's resignation. Just after midnight on 12 May 2010, the Liberal Democrats emerged from a meeting of their Parliamentary party and Federal Executive to announce that the coalition deal had been "approved overwhelmingly", meaning that Cameron would be leading a coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

This was the first time since 1979 that none of the three main party leaders had headed a previous general election campaign. 35 percent of voters supported a party other than Labour or the Conservatives—the highest such figure since the 1918 general election. The Green Party won its first seat in the Commons, and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland won its first seat at the ballot box.

Another lesson from this is that the so called minority parties can win elections into the legislature, thereby giving the ruling party a run for its money as their status will begin to grow. Many political parties in Nigeria have resigned to fate that they can never clinch anything in elective offices but just hang on for the stipends being doled out to political parties for further sharing among elite members.

One major incident that struck my attention as I watched the run-ins was the ideological background of the numerous campaigns. You could see quite well how different candidates presented their manifestos and the reactions of the voters through the ballot. How I wish that somebody can come out in Nigeria with good manifesto and be voted for on that basis. The ruling party did not fight the case in court because it trusts the electoral system. The personality of the electoral chief was so hidden that some of the candidates admitted not to know him, unlike the case in Nigeria.