Presidential Scorecards: Muhummadu Buhari

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) is the latest major party in the polity. However CPC is not exactly new as its leader Muhammadu Buhari contested the last two presidential elections on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and merely moved his “The Buhari Organisation” to CPC. Its core is the Hausa/Fulani, Islamic, North West; its soul and popularity are attributable to Buhari; and it’s “CEO” and “Executive Director” are Dr Sule Hamma and Alhaji Buba Galadinma who are Director-General and Secretary respectively. Both men were senior functionaries in the General Sani Abacha regime-Hamma as political adviser and Galadinma as Nigerian Maritime Authority Director-General. General Buhari himself was the powerful Executive Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) under Abacha; and Abacha’s son Muhammed is the party’s governorship candidate in Kano State.

In spite of blurred ideological positions, I place the CPC as a far right grouping as will inevitably be manifest if it attains power at the federal or state levels. All power is vested in a shadowy, unelected Board of Trustees populated by Buhari’s inner core and it is inconceivable that anyone challenge Buhari, Hamma and Galadinma within the party. None of these three individuals has sterling democratic credentials! The CPC’s manifesto includes some promises-devolution of power to states and local governments; removal of constitutional immunity from public officers; transparency and accountability; a target of 10 percent minimum annual GDP growth; modernisation of agriculture; and investments in infrastructure, amongst others. However the manifesto resembles a laundry list of “attractive” promises with little enunciation of how they will be achieved. Nevertheless the existence of such commitments is a fair start.

General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate was sole aspirant, ratified without opposition at its convention. He previously served between 1975 and 1979 as oil minister under the Murtala/Obasanjo military regime; participated in the December 31, 1993 coup that removed the civilian regime of Alhaji Shehu Shagari; and became military Head of State. As military ruler, he explicitly ruled out a return to civilian rule; indicated that he would tamper with press freedom and consequently enacted Decree 4 under which he jailed two journalists-Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson; enacted retroactive legislation under which some drug dealers were killed-an act of executive murder; and his regime sought to abridge citizens’ rights and fundamental freedoms. Politically Buhari’s was the most unbalanced government in Nigerian history-both himself and his deputy, General Tunde Idiagbon were Hausa/Fulani Muslims (in spite of Idiagbon’s Yoruba sounding name, he was reportedly Fulani) and the composition of his Supreme Military Council was especially lop-sided.

Such seeming parochialism was also reflected in Buhari’s decisions as Head of State-he prematurely cleared the former regime’s leader of corruption, attributing all fault to Shagari’s deputy, Dr Alex Ekwueme who he jailed in Kirikiri prisons, while Shagari was held under house arrest! He seemed particularly intent on dealing with opposition elements rather than the NPN leaders; while the country’s borders were closed during a currency change exercise, the notorious 53 suitcases affair happened reportedly under Buhari’s direct instructions. After leaving office, Buhari presided over the PTF under Abacha’s kleptocratic and murderous regime. While Buhari may be personally incorrupt, there is no evidence that institutions he presided over were spared the vice-Nigerian oil sector from 1975-1979, the counter-trade scam under his military government and the large scale corruption in PTF being clear examples. He has also made statements which re-enforce his image of ethnic and/or religious jingoism-a call for “total implementation of Sharia” all over Nigeria at an Arewa House, Kaduna seminar of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria on August 26, 2001; a call on Muslims to vote for only persons who would defend their faith; incendiary comments as leader of a Fulani delegation to then Oyo governor Lam Adesina; and a statement on June 8, 2008 that General Abacha did not do anything wrong. It is legitimate to worry that while Buhari served in Abacha’s regime, he had no problem with the repression, state-sponsored killings and looting going on. There is absolutely no evidence that the General has changed his mind on any of these issues.

Buhari has shown no interest in policy and economic issues in spite of having contested two previous elections. His military regime’s economic thinking was crude and abysmal and at his party’s recent convention, he merely referred any one interested in finding out his policy thrust to the party manifesto! The evidence indeed suggests that he lacks the temperament for management, effectively abdicating power to a trusted aide in every previous position, now likely to be Hamma or Galadinma. The General’s weaknesses are severe-his credentials and antecedents appear anti-democratic (re-enforced by the CPC structure whose Board of Trustees functions like a Supreme Military Council!) and parochial; he has scant administrative, economic and policy competences; and he comes across as intolerant and inflexible. Unfortunately his running-mate, Pastor Tunde Bakare shares most of these weaknesses!!! Bakare appears to have been selected solely to blunt criticisms of Buhari’s Shariah advocacy.

I score Buhari 7 for personal qualities; 4 on vision and leadership; 6 for policy platform and manifesto; 3 on economic management; 6 on anti-corruption; 4 for international relations; 4 on national unity and stability; 3 on democracy and institution-building; 3 for human rights, press freedom and open society; 3 for administration and execution and 4 bonus marks for his running-mate totalling 47 out of a possible 110 marks.