Buhari’s message of hope

President Muhammadu Buhari at his inauguration as Nigeria’s fifth democratically elected president, last week, calmed many frayed nerves and made spirited moves to restore hope in the hearts of a disgruntled citizenry who had been eagerly waiting for a Messiah to come after decades of what many have described as the country’s “locust years”.
This he did in a speech believed by many to be straight and devoid of flowery language of self adulation and rhetoric. It was also brief with only about 1,909 words but packed with substance that is typical of Buhari’s taciturn nature.
Issa Aremu a notable labour leader gave vent to the assertion when he said Buhari’s speech would go down in history as one of the shortest inauguration address to be delivered by any president at such occasion.
But despite the perceived brevity, the president’s maiden speech was able to capture the mood and expectations of the country and the world’s expectation of Nigeria in tackling the myriads of problems Observers say history beckons on the retired army general, believed to be a lesson in doggedness, consistency and patriotism having vied for the exalted office of Nigeria’ presidency for a record four times.
Many of the country’s national newspapers, in a unanimous editorial coherence the following day, cast one of the President Buhari’s now most popular phrase “I belong to everybody, I belong to nobody” to portray the new president as a truly detribalised Nigerian despite the intricacies of ethnic, religious and political considerations, particularly the titanic battle of hate campaigns and mudslinging that characterised the just concluded general election.
“Despite the perceived tension in the land” he says, “Nigerians have been able to show the world that we can be a united people capable of doing what is right for our nation.”
On domestic issues, the president said there would be no ‘’paying off old scores’’ even as he later made a categorical statement that his administration is not on a vendetta mission, denying placing travel ban on politicians who may have chosen to flee the country. His words: “A few people have privately voiced fears that on coming back, I shall go after them. These fears are groundless.
There will be no paying off old scores; the past is prologue”. Buhari emphasized that his government would invest heavily in the projects and programmes currently in place as packaged in the amnesty programme which is due to end in December.
He also promised true federalism with a revamping of the relationship between the executive, the legislature and the judicial functions at the federal on the one hand and between the federal, state and local governments on the other hand, while insisting for the umpteenth time, his resolve to fight corruption.
“While the federal government cannot interfere in the details of its operations, it will ensure that the gross corruption at the local level is checked.
“As far as the constitution allows me, I will try to ensure that there is responsible and accountable governance at all levels of government in the country, as I will not have kept my own trust with the Nigerian people if I allow others to abuse theirs under my watch.”
On the country’s poor record in governance, Buhari paid tributes to the Nigeria’s founding fathers for their patriotism but, lamented the degradation of the polity by their successors.
He said: “Our founding fathers, Mr. Herbert Macaulay; Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe; Chief Obafemi Awolowo; Alhaji Ahmadu Bello; the Sardauna of Sokoto; Alhaji Abubakat Tafawa Balewa; Mallam Aminu Kano; Chief J. S. Tarka; Mr. Eyo Ita; Chief Denis Osadebey; Chief Ladoke Akintola and their colleagues worked to establish certain standards of governance. “They might have differed in their methods or tactics or details, but they were united in establishing a viable and progressive country.”
Continuing, the president, however, said: “Some of their successors behaved like spoilt children, breaking everything and bringing disorder to the house.” On insurgency, Buhari, who characterised Boko Haram as “a mindless godless group who are as far away from Islam as one can think of,” said ‘Boko Haram is a typical example of small fires causing large fires.
“An eccentric and unorthodox preacher with a tiny following was given post humous fame and following by his extra judicial murder at the hands of the police. “Since then, through official bungling, negligence, complacency or collusion, Boko Haram became a terrifying force taking tens of thousands lives.”
As one of the immediate steps taken to curb the activities of Boko Haram, the president in his speech, announced an overhaul of security service rules of engagement to avoid what he calls “human rights violations in operations”. He said he would move the headquarters of government efforts against Boko Haram from Abuja to Maiduguri.
“Victory cannot be achieved by basing the Command and Control Centre in Abuja,” he said. Reacting to the presidential inauguration speech, visiting American Secretary of State, John Kerry, who led a powerful America government delegate to the occasion, described Nigeria’s president as laying out what he called “a powerful agenda”.’
Kerry who gave assurance that the United States would support the new administration to tackle insurgency and the economic challenges bedeviling the country said; “The inauguration is historic and very promising.
The president made a very important speech, laid out a very powerful agenda and the United States is prepared to work very closely to help to do everything we can on the economy, Boko Haram and other issues “The President did a very good job today,” Kerry said.
In a similar vein, former president and Buhari’s immediate predecessor, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan at a reception organised for him by his kinsmen in Bayelsa State last Saturday, said, he was gladdened by the posture of the new president. According to him, “Buhari said that he does not belong to any clique, and I congratulate him for that statement”.
“It shows that we should all rally around him to work towards the development of the country and make Nigerians happy,” Jonathan stressed. Former vice president, Abubakar Atiku, who described the inauguration as historic, said the president’s inaugural speech was a reflection of the APC manifesto.
“It is a very historic day for our democratic process and for Africa. His promises are based on the party’s manifesto and I believe we will all work towards achieving the objectives.” In his response, former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Chief Richard Akinjide (SAN), described Buhari’s speech as excellent.
Akinjide told Sunday Mirror: “The speech is excellent. He speaks as a statesman. My prayer is that he will carry what he has highlighted as priority of his government out. I wish him success and we should all support him to succeed.”
Also, a legal practitioner and human rights crusader, Mr. Mike Ozekhome (SAN), commended Buhari for saying that he was not going to be for anybody but for everybody. “My advice to him is that since he has won the presidential election, he is now the president of all Nigerians. He should distance himself from party politics and focus on governance,” Ozekhome urged.
He stated further: “He has to do everything apart from physical infrastructure to re-orientate the psyche of Nigerians from the mantra concept of money, money, money, and that of wealth, wealth and wealth which has aggravated the issue of corruption.
If we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us and he should note that when you fight corruption, corruption will fight you back. “He has to know that perception of people is that those surrounding him are corrupt and that only he is clean. How he will fight corruption should be reflected in his cabinet.”
But for Barrister Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, Buhari’s speech is nothing but a mere campaign promises betraying the needed action that the exigencies of the moment require.
The Lagos based controversial legal luminary in a statement said, “President Bahuri’s speech was another campaign promise, a general rendition of statements of intention, without action. It was too vague and illusory, like a speech being delivered by a novice in power.
“This is the president who has ruled this country as a Head of State, through a coup d’etat in 1983, and one that has sought to rule this nation since 2003.
So, he had all the time in the world to have mapped out his course of action and strategies. “This is surely not the speech expected from our Buhari. In the coming days however, we expect more concrete reforms and action.” Adegboruwa said Buhari should have come out with a concrete plan to move the country forward.
However, despite this comment by Adegboruwa, Barrister Onyekachi Ubani, former president, Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Ikeja Chapter. He said that the inaugural speech was very inspiring and set a new cause for Nigeria. He advised Nigerians to cooperate with the new administration to move the country forward.
His words: “If President Buhari takes actions on all that he said I am sure Nigeria will move forward.” There is no doubt that with the first week into the Buhari’s presidency, expectations are still very high as Nigerians have been on the look -out for the expected miracle worker..