The imminent inauguration of General Muhammadu Buhari as
president this Friday provokes reminisces of another man who came
to office in the same mould – Olusegun Obasanjo.
In his first
days in office
as a military
dictator in
1984, Gen.
Buhari
severally
claimed that
his
administration
was an
offshoot of
the Murtala/
Obasanjo
regime. That
was until an infuriated Obasanjo came out to denounce any
relationship between him and the new regime.
In his second coming as Nigerian leader, Buhari, now a more
matured man is not expected to walk in the image of another man
as every indication is that he intends to answer his own name. But
the similarities between the political adventures of Obasanjo and
Buhari are real.
General Obasanjo became military head of state of Nigeria in
February 1976 following the assassination of the then head of state,
Gen. Murtala Muhammed during a failed coup attempt. Obasanjo
was in office as military dictator until October 1979 when he stepped
handed over power to President Shehu Shagari at the beginning of
the Second Republic.
Remarkably, Shagari’s government was ousted in a military coup
initiated by some officers who beckoned on Buhari, then the General
Officer Commanding the 3rd Armoured Division of the Nigerian
Army to lead the government. Buhari after twenty months, however,
did not have the privilege of exiting on his accord as he was forced
out in an internal coup initiated by some officers within his junta.
However, the inconsistency in their entry and exit out of power does
not remove from the fact that the two men sit positioned as
potentially the only two men to have successfully governed this
country twice – ironically both as military dictators and as
democrats. Obasanjo’s re-emergence as civilian president in 1999
was upon the broad support of the country’s political class, and
especially retired military officers.
It is almost in the same way that Buhari is again being relocated to
the peak of power as a civilian upon the broad support of the
civilian political class on the platform of the All Progressives
Congress, APC. Just like Obasanjo who after his release from prison
dismissed reports linking him to the 1999 presidential election and
famously asking reporters, “how many presidents will you make of
me”, Buhari, after three attempts at the presidency between 2003
and 2011, was also known to have also renounced further efforts at
a comeback.
However, both men were to succumb subsequently to entreaties
from political associates when they were seemingly projected as the
Messiah needed to move the country forward at difficult periods
respectively in 1998 and 2015. However, given the experience of
President Obasanjo in office between 1999 and 2007 when he in the
view of some, acted with impunity, fears that Buhari may act in a
similar manner has exercised some within the ranks of the political
class, and particularly, in the APC.
Would Buhari follow Obasanjo’s alleged steps in impunity?
That both men are strongly opinionated on issues of corruption is
not in any doubt and both men are known to have a strong
repulsion of corruption. Obasanjo’s efforts in fighting corruption
were highlighted by his remarkable efforts in enacting new
legislation to combat vice. The first effort was the enactment of the
Independent Corrupt Practises and other related offences
Commission Act, which was one of the first legislative proposals
introduced by his administration to the National Assembly in 1999.
Another landmark effort by his administration was the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission Establishment Act, which was
enacted to strengthen the corruption battle even outside the public
sector. However, as a civilian president, reports of Obasanjo
disregarding acts of corruption affecting his political allies was well
reported. His indulgence of his political allies was especially
highlighted by the allegedly skewed efforts of the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC towards politically exposed
persons.
The EFCC it is alleged, acted decisively in the N54 million bribe for
budget scam involving the Senate Committee on Education on the
supposition that Senator Adolphus Wabara was planning to run for
the presidential election in 2007 at a time the Third Term script was
allegedly being scripted. The decisiveness in the case of the N54
million education budget scam was, however, lacking in the widely
reported N50 million third term bribe collected by senators and
members of the House of Representatives who were enrolled into
the third term plot.
Would Buhari be selective in his prosecution of corruption? Close
aides and most associates disagree. Indeed, a high ranking official
of the APC in a chat with some reporters acknowledged the
trepidation among party officials as he said that Buhari was looking
for the first person in his cabinet to go to jail for corruption.
The seeming difference in the way the two men may fight corruption
was signposted by the revelation that Buhari would publicly declare
his assets and require his aides to do the same. In making his
assets public, the incoming president would have put public
scrutiny and transparency to a high level that would inevitably only
put those who are above board to show a willingness to serve in his
administration.
Assertions that Buhari would not protect his associates involved in
corruption is a fact many associates are now admitting. The
ongoing struggle by some party chieftains to position their favourite
godsons in key positions in the National Assembly some allege, is
one way they also hope to check Buhari from moving against them
should he consider taking his anti-corruption battle to within the top
hierarchy of his party.
But the question as to whether Buhari would act with impunity in
imposing his will on the political class as some allege that Obasanjo
did in his years between 1999 and 2007 is another matter. Obasanjo
was widely acknowledged to have foisted his will in the election of
the leadership of the National Assembly during his time, a
development that led to much instability in the two chambers of the
National Assembly in that period.
Buhari has, however, promised not to follow that path saying that he
has learnt from the lessons of the instability that shadowed the
National Assembly during the Obasanjo period. Given his inclination
towards law and order, Buhari is expected to bring a sense of
discipline in the conduct of government business in a way that is
expected to inspire emulation among aides and bring fear and dread
to those who have until now indulged in trampling on the will of the
people.
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