In May 2015, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) was inaugurated as the
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after beating then incumbent
President Goodluck Jonathan in what was seen as a watershed of democracy in
Africa and the developing world where incumbent leaders employ every
paraphernalia of state including brazen tyranny, brutish force and high
profile assassinations to ensure that they remain in power.
Ironically, it was the same General Buhari who, about thirty two (32) years
ago, in connivance with some other over zealous power hungry military
officers, fantastically deceived and then overthrew their boss, the then
democratically elected President Shehu Shagari in a coup d’etat that
eventually put Nigeria through 16 dark years of military rule, subsequent
coup attempts, execution and killings of suspected or failed coup plotters,
political assassinations of high profile Nigerians, etc.
The punishment for a failed coup d’etat in Nigeria is death by firing
squad, the same as that for an armed robber who was unfortunate to be
caught.
As head of state, Buhari threw many political leaders into jail on account
of corruption in a process that was driven by shoddily assembled tribunals
that were guided not by the rule of law but by the dictates of a power
feverish head of state.
Interestingly, about twenty years before then, it was the same misadventure
by groups of grossly misguided, incurably overzealous, mentally
ill-equipped and inexperienced young military officers that eventually put
Nigeria through horrifying years of a Civil War which resulted in the death
of millions of innocent Nigerians mostly from the Southeastern part of
Nigeria.
One of the most ambitious anti-corruption campaigns was carried out by the
General Sani Abacha regime.
Interestingly, in a show of epic hypocrisy, while General Abacha launched
his anti-corruption campaign which saw bank officials and their cronies
thrown into jail, more than five billion pounds (£5 billion) was stolen
from the coffers of the Nigerian state by Abacha and his cronies and wired
off to various accounts in the United States, The United Kingdom,
Switzerland and some other Western and Europe countries.
Just before his death on 8 June 1998, had begun preparations to exchange
the garment of a military ruler and tyrant for that of a democrat and
political leader in a process that was fully orchestrated by him.
In 2015, thanks to his win in the presidential elections, General Buhari, a
retired General and former despot has now successfully donned the garb of a
democrat and political leader.
His anti-corruption campaign has begun in earnest. Leading members of the
opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) especially its spokes-people and
others who have been vocally critical of the Buhari regime, have all been
rounded up and thrown into detention centers owned by the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Directorate for State Security
(DSS), most times, in flagrant disregard of the Rule of Law.
Ibrahim Magu and Lawan Daura, who are both muslims, hail from Northern
Nigeria, man the agencies, EFCC and DSS respectively.
There is great reason to believe that tyranny, reminiscent of the dark
years of military rule in Nigeria, has returned. In those dark years,
innocent Nigerians were thrown into jail on trumped up charges. Ken
Saro-Wiwa and the Ogoni-9 were savagely executed.
Dele Giwa, a vocal journalist and outspoken critic was assassinated through
a letter bomb delivered to his residence. Many others such as Kudirat
Abiola, Pa Rewane and many others were murdered in cold blood.
The Buhari presidential campaign was largely funded by state Governors who
diverted funds from the coffers of their state to sponsor the presidential
campaign of the retired General who was sold to Nigerians as an ascetic,
austere and poor former head of state who did not own a home and could not
afford to rent an accommodation in the very expensive Nigerian capital city
of Abuja and so was consigned to high village of Daura where he own a
Spartan bungalow and reared a herd of about a 100 cows.
*In fact the All Progressive Congress (APC) sold its presidential candidate
to Nigerians as the only former President who did not own a house in Abuja.*
Months after his inauguration as President, it was revealed to bewildered
Nigerians that General Buhari was not just the proud owner of a sprawling
residential estate located at the high brow Asokoro district of Abuja, but
also the owner of homes in Kano, Kaduna as well as two mud houses he says
he inherited from his late sisters. It is unsure whether the sprawling
Abuja estate is also built with mud.
Kerley writes from Abuja