RE: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Buhari: The Man Defeated His Nation

No surprise. A leopard does not change its spots.

Try as Buhari and his supporters may, Nigerians paying attention know that the man today is the man he always was- a fanatical Muslim Fulani before he is a Nigerian. As far as Buhari is concerned, Nigeria is a resource, a platform to achieve his life ambition to favor his beloved people and oppress those he does not believe are his people. He has always favored his own. He is free to do so. He should be man enough to accept that he does.  

We are sometimes reminded of Buhari's few acts of "kindness" to persons who are not his own as evidence that he accepts the equal citizenship of all Nigerians. That is expected. There must be one or a few such people that soften his hard heart. One is reminded of the default case a white racist makes when they are rightly accused of being a racist-  "I have black friends". The racist does not tell you that their black friends in their opinion, are not like other black people which is why there is the unusual friendship.

Obasanjo has endorsed Buhari. That is expected. Birds of the same feather flock together. Buhari always found favor with him. Buhari was Obasanjo's petroleum minister in Obasanjo's military government. They not surprisingly, share a peculiar act of disservice to Nigeria and their fellow citizens. Obasanjo supported Australia's Malcom Fraser's run for the office of Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations even when he knew that Nigeria's Emeka Anyaoku was favored to win. Anyaoku did win to Obasanjo's eternal shame. It did not matter to Obasanjo that Anyaoku was a long serving Deputy Secretary General and married to his home girl I might add.

oa

 

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [mailto:usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Olusola Daniel
Sent: Saturday, March 28, 2015 1:19 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Buhari: The Man Defeated His Nation

 

— January 21, 2015

Buhari's antecedents can only deal a deathblow to his current attempt at winning the presidency of Nigeria

By UZOR MAXIM UZOATU

"I remember in 1985 in Africa Hall that he was for confirmation of Dr Peter Onu of Nigeria, who was acting Secretary General but Nigeria's Head of State Gen Muhammadu Buhary was adamant in his support of Niger's candidate, Idi Omaro, a Fulani Muslim. In a meeting, a handful of Presidents led by Nyerere met with Gen Buhary and Nwalimu begged him: 'Please give us Peter!' Buhary refused and forgot even to be courteous to his old peers. What was astonishing, when the vote was in favour of Niger's candidate, the Nigerian Head rejoiced to such a degree that he was unable to control his emotions. That was a moment I witnessed and was convinced that General Buhary would not last long as a leader." – The OAU: Reality Or Fiction by Ibrahim Daggash, former Head of Information and Communication, Organization of African Unity (OAU); pg 69; ISBN 1-9044722- 25-3

It is unheard-of in history that a self-respecting leader of a country would vote against his country's candidate in international diplomacy. But here, you have it in black and white, in a book, that former Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari would rather have a Fulani Muslim candidate from Niger instead of Nigeria's own esteemed Dr. Peter Onu. Not even the highly revered then President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere could make Buhari to change his mind. This kind of bizarre shamelessness is why Nigeria is the laughing stock of the civilized world. It is unthinkable that any leader, anywhere would insult his own country by backing an opponent from another country.

The crude tragedy here is that it was the selfsame Buhari who made this patriotic statement: "This generation of Nigerians and indeed future generations have no other country than Nigeria. We must stay here to salvage it together." How would the late Peter Onu have faith in Nigeria when he could not get the support of his country's leader? It is as though the so-called leader was more interested in the ethnicity and religion of Peter Onu's opponent from Niger than any bonds of citizenship with his Nigerian compatriot. Cry, the beloved country, as Alan Paton entitled his sad book. Attaining the great post of Secretary-General of the then OAU was a task most African countries gave their all in raising their diplomatic stakes. In Peter Onu's case, he even had the other African countries rooting for him because of his undoubted competence only to be abandoned by the very man at the helm of affairs in his own country.

Indeed Chinua Achebe was spot-on when he stated that the trouble with Nigeria stood on leadership in his classic little book The Trouble With Nigeria. A leader that cannot support his countrymen and women can only be aid to be worse than useless. How indeed will Nigerians be motivated to lift up the country? It all means that all the croaking about "One Nigeria" is a huge joke. Buhari's antecedents can only deal a deathblow to his current attempt at winning the presidency of Nigeria. He is not showing in any sense whatsoever that he has changed from his old ways which made the author to state in the book quoted above at the beginning of this article that "he was convinced that General Buhary (sic) would not last long as a leader." All over the internet are quotes of Buhari stressing that he would ensure the entrenchment of the controversial Sharia law all over the country. In a plural society such as Nigeria, that is a surefire way to covet trouble. Buhari ought to know that the country is no longer under military where his word was law. Even then, he was even so easily overthrown by his military peers due to his bad politics. Buhari had earlier said quite undiplomatically that Muslims should vote for only Muslims. It goes against the grain for a man who aspires to be the leader of all to sound so parochial.

Buhari obviously has his fawning sycophants, but the larger public remains unimpressed. It is this his latching to the praise songs of his toadies that makes Buhari imagine that he can ride roughshod over simple rules like presenting his school certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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