In May 2015, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) was inaugurated as the
\nPresident of the Federal Republic of Nigeria after beating then incumbent
\nPresident Goodluck Jonathan in what was seen as a watershed of democracy in
\nAfrica and the developing world where incumbent leaders employ every
\nparaphernalia of state including brazen tyranny, brutish force and high
\nprofile assassinations to ensure that they remain in power.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it was the same General Buhari who, about thirty two (32) years
\nago, in connivance with some other over zealous power hungry military
\nofficers, fantastically deceived and then overthrew their boss, the then
\ndemocratically elected President Shehu Shagari in a coup d\u2019etat that
\neventually put Nigeria through 16 dark years of military rule, subsequent
\ncoup attempts, execution and killings of suspected or failed coup plotters,
\npolitical assassinations of high profile Nigerians, etc.<\/p>\n
The punishment for a failed coup d\u2019etat in Nigeria is death by firing
\nsquad, the same as that for an armed robber who was unfortunate to be
\ncaught.<\/p>\n
As head of state, Buhari threw many political leaders into jail on account
\nof corruption in a process that was driven by shoddily assembled tribunals
\nthat were guided not by the rule of law but by the dictates of a power
\nfeverish head of state.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, about twenty years before then, it was the same misadventure
\nby groups of grossly misguided, incurably overzealous, mentally
\nill-equipped and inexperienced young military officers that eventually put
\nNigeria through horrifying years of a Civil War which resulted in the death
\nof millions of innocent Nigerians mostly from the Southeastern part of
\nNigeria.<\/p>\n
One of the most ambitious anti-corruption campaigns was carried out by the
\nGeneral Sani Abacha regime.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, in a show of epic hypocrisy, while General Abacha launched
\nhis anti-corruption campaign which saw bank officials and their cronies
\nthrown into jail, more than five billion pounds (\u00a35 billion) was stolen
\nfrom the coffers of the Nigerian state by Abacha and his cronies and wired
\noff to various accounts in the United States, The United Kingdom,
\nSwitzerland and some other Western and Europe countries.<\/p>\n
Just before his death on 8 June 1998, had begun preparations to exchange
\nthe garment of a military ruler and tyrant for that of a democrat and
\npolitical leader in a process that was fully orchestrated by him.<\/p>\n
In 2015, thanks to his win in the presidential elections, General Buhari, a
\nretired General and former despot has now successfully donned the garb of a
\ndemocrat and political leader.<\/p>\n
His anti-corruption campaign has begun in earnest. Leading members of the
\nopposition People\u2019s Democratic Party (PDP) especially its spokes-people and
\nothers who have been vocally critical of the Buhari regime, have all been
\nrounded up and thrown into detention centers owned by the Economic and
\nFinancial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Directorate for State Security
\n(DSS), most times, in flagrant disregard of the Rule of Law.<\/p>\n
Ibrahim Magu and Lawan Daura, who are both muslims, hail from Northern
\nNigeria, man the agencies, EFCC and DSS respectively.<\/p>\n
There is great reason to believe that tyranny, reminiscent of the dark
\nyears of military rule in Nigeria, has returned. In those dark years,
\ninnocent Nigerians were thrown into jail on trumped up charges. Ken
\nSaro-Wiwa and the Ogoni-9 were savagely executed.<\/p>\n
Dele Giwa, a vocal journalist and outspoken critic was assassinated through
\na letter bomb delivered to his residence. Many others such as Kudirat
\nAbiola, Pa Rewane and many others were murdered in cold blood.<\/p>\n
The Buhari presidential campaign was largely funded by state Governors who
\ndiverted funds from the coffers of their state to sponsor the presidential
\ncampaign of the retired General who was sold to Nigerians as an ascetic,
\naustere and poor former head of state who did not own a home and could not
\nafford to rent an accommodation in the very expensive Nigerian capital city
\nof Abuja and so was consigned to high village of Daura where he own a
\nSpartan bungalow and reared a herd of about a 100 cows.<\/p>\n
*In fact the All Progressive Congress (APC) sold its presidential candidate
\nto Nigerians as the only former President who did not own a house in Abuja.*<\/p>\n
Months after his inauguration as President, it was revealed to bewildered
\nNigerians that General Buhari was not just the proud owner of a sprawling
\nresidential estate located at the high brow Asokoro district of Abuja, but
\nalso the owner of homes in Kano, Kaduna as well as two mud houses he says
\nhe inherited from his late sisters. It is unsure whether the sprawling
\nAbuja estate is also built with mud.<\/p>\n
Kerley writes from Abuja<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":49621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n