Why Are Nigerians Obsessed With President Buhari?

By Agbada S. Agbada Esq.

There is a common, but erroneous belief amongst Nigerians that
President Muhammadu Buhari is the personification of Nigeria’s
multifaceted problems. This belief has become very potent and has
even assumed a mythical character. It has taken a fanatical
dimension amongst its many subscribers and any attempt at pointing
to any other direction to explain the very dire situation in the
country is fiercely resisted and dismissed as insincerity or
sycophancy. But as it is with myths, it lacks factual basis.

This is however not to say that Buhari is blameless for the
current downward spiral of the country. He is the President and
Commander-in-Chief, and as it is commonly said, the buck stops on
his desk. While every objective observer will agree that Buhari
took over an ailing country from Jonathan – a country that was
struggling with and defaulting even in its basic responsibilities
of paying salaries, he was expected to come on board with solutions
– solutions he promised. Leadership is not a walk in the park; it
is expected to be tough. As a matter of fact, leadership is tested
during periods of difficulty and crisis. History is replete with
individuals whose leadership credentials were established by the
problems of their times and their handling of those problems.
Franklin D. Roosvelt etched his name on stone by successfully
steering the United States of America out of the Great Depression
with his New Deal agenda and for leading the Allied Forces to
victory in the Second World War after the Japanese daring, utterly
devasting, but miscalculated attack on Pearl Harbour. Lee Kuan Yew
earned his place as the father of modern Singapore by building
Singapore from a third world country to a first world country under
difficult conditions. Deng Xiaoping immortalized his name by
pulling China from economic doldrums and setting it on the path of
rapid and steady economic development, while maintaining a low
international profile. With all his oratory and charm, Barack
Obama’s success in the White House was defined by the problems he
solved, especially his successful handling of the Great Recession,
and not his personality.

The challenges that were inherited by Buhari therefore served
both as an opportunity as well as a burden. I will therefore not
venture into a defence of his administration but will only attempt
to highlight the oft dismissed truth that with all his powers and
responsibilities as the President – and with all his failings,
Buhari is not a personification of Nigeria’s problems; he is a mere
fraction of our problems. I believe this truth-telling is important
because our obsession with the shortcomings of Buhari has diverted
our attention from others who are equally responsible for the
parlous state of affairs in the country. Some of the men and women
who share equal or even greater responsibility for the ailing
system easily find favour in the sight of Nigerians with an
anti-Buhari posturing. Nigerians accept the alibi of these
pretenders and even treat some as the models of democracy and good
governance. And of course, this gullibility is exploited to the
hilt.

Nigeria is not running a unitary system of government with
absolute concentration of powers at the centre. We run a federal
system of government with government powers distributed between the
federal, state and local governments. (I know that the question
whether ours is truly a federal system remains a matter of debate –
a debate I will take on in another piece.) While the quantum and
quality of these powers differ among the different tiers of
government, they are all vital for the overall and proper
functioning of the country. I am not deaf to the arguments in some
quarters that the distribution of powers between the federal and
state governments is skewed in favour of the federal government and
that the state governments are arm strung by this uneven
distribution of powers from effectively delivering the fruits of
good governance. The proponents of this argument point to the 1999
Constitution as the source of our problems. In their view, the
Exclusive Legislative List conferred too many powers on the federal
government and denied the state governments critical powers to
function effectively. But this is a fallacy that Nigerians seem to
accept hook, line and sinker and have refused to probe deeply.

The state governments are not bereft of powers; they enjoy
enormous powers under the Constitution and have jurisdiction over
such important sectors as health, education, taxation, agriculture
etc. under the Concurrent Legislative List of the Constitution. In
addition, the state governments enjoy residual powers over matters
that are not within the Exclusive and Concurrent Lists of the
Constitution which allows the state governments to creatively
explore possibilities and opportunities in areas which are
completely outside the purview of the federal government to make
impact. So, the story about paucity of powers is a hoax. The issue
is not about sufficiency of powers; it is about the application of
the available powers by the various state governments. It is also
important to note that the state governments have absolute autonomy
over their financial (not natural or mineral) resources. This means
that the federal government does not dictate to the states on the
application of their funds. This neutralizes to a large extent, the
excuse of insufficiency of powers.

For people who are wont of casting blames on the federal
government and the President, one would have expected that our
state governors would at least try to be different, even if
superficially. But there are rarely any visible efforts by our
state governors to deliver good governance to their people. This
abdication of responsibility by our state governors is largely
responsible for (or at least have greatly exacerbated) our current
problems. Poverty, insecurity, illiteracy, unemployment etc. are
all biproducts of bad governance. Therefore, our state governors
have an opportunity and indeed the powers to deliver prosperity,
reduce crime, improve the standard of education, provide quality
health care, provide employment, improve their internally generated
revenue by attracting investments with the right incentives and
policies.
But what do we get? Utter neglect! Mindless plundering!
Cluelessness!

There is rarely any state in Nigeria that can boast of a
semblance of good governance. (This is not to discountenance the
impact a handful of governors, past or present have made in their
respective states.) The dividends of good governance are in short
supply (if at all in existence) in every state of the federation.
Poverty, lack of clean water, absence of decent public schools and
hospitals, unemployment, lack of decent housing etc. are spread
across every state of the federation (even though not evenly).
Every state of the federation is a breeding ground of kidnappers,
armed robbers, bandits, terrorists and all other classes of violent
criminals who, in some cases are motivated by a sense of neglect,
lack and the quest for survival. This explains why every state of
the federation has its fair share of insecurity. But our state
governors are on permanent honeymoon while their states are being
consumed by one crisis or the other. Well, Buhari is there to bear
the burden of their collective transgressions.

In addition, state governors are the worst culprits of abuse of
power. They are largely responsible for the stunted growth of our
democratic process. Our state governors are hypersensitive to
dissent of any form. There seems to be a morbid fear amongst them
of any meaningful opposition and they deploy the resources,
instruments and institutions of the state to gag and stifle
dissent. These men have held our democratic institutions to ransom.
Rule of law, free, fair and credible elections, independence of the
judiciary, legislative and local government autonomy, freedom of
expression, freedom of association and other integral elements of
our democratic system of government are in the stranglehold of our
state governors. They demand for free, fair and credible elections
from the Independent National Electoral Commission, but local
government elections are almost always charades to legitimize the
appointment by the governors of the local government chairmen and
councilors.

State Electoral Commissions are populated by their party men and
loyalists. Peaceful protesters are met with state sponsored
violence and critics are incarcerated at the whims of the
governors. The state judiciaries survive at the mercy of the
governors. They treat statutory allocations of local governments as
their personal funds and strip that critical tier of government the
ability and resources to conduct governance. These men rule their
states like emperors, dispensing favours to the loyal from the
state coffers and beating opposition to submission with the
instruments of state. There is zero accountability in the
administration of state funds by our governors. But we seem to
gloss over the degree of damage our state governors are causing our
democratic system, perhaps because their misgovernance occur in
smaller geographic units and seem to be compartmentalized. However,
this culture of impunity that pervades our thirty six states has
now become our national norm.

If the thirty six states of Nigeria are being efficiently
governed, the shortcomings of Buhari or any other president would
have been benign. But our problems have been exponentially
amplified by the inefficiency, lack of probity and the aversion to
rule of law by our state governors. If the states are fixed, then
Nigeria is fixed. On the other hand, even with a saint as
president, we will make no progress without a change at the state
levels. If anything, the resistance of the state governors to
Buhari’s efforts to implement financial autonomy for the judiciary
and the local governments is testament to the fact that even the
best policies of the federal government can be effectively
truncated by the governors. If we truly desire change, we need to
tamper our obsession with Buhari and divert some of that energy to
demanding accountability from our state governors. Otherwise, our
quest for change will forever remain an illusion.

By Agbada S. Agbada Esq.,
Stephen.agbada@yahoo.co.uk

By Agbada S. Agbada Esq.

There is a common, but erroneous belief amongst Nigerians that
President Muhammadu Buhari is the personification of Nigeria’s
multifaceted problems. This belief has become very potent and has
even assumed a mythical character. It has taken a fanatical
dimension amongst its many subscribers and any attempt at pointing
to any other direction to explain the very dire situation in the
country is fiercely resisted and dismissed as insincerity or
sycophancy. But as it is with myths, it lacks factual basis.

This is however not to say that Buhari is blameless for the
current downward spiral of the country. He is the President and
Commander-in-Chief, and as it is commonly said, the buck stops on
his desk. While every objective observer will agree that Buhari
took over an ailing country from Jonathan – a country that was
struggling with and defaulting even in its basic responsibilities
of paying salaries, he was expected to come on board with solutions
– solutions he promised. Leadership is not a walk in the park; it
is expected to be tough. As a matter of fact, leadership is tested
during periods of difficulty and crisis. History is replete with
individuals whose leadership credentials were established by the
problems of their times and their handling of those problems.
Franklin D. Roosvelt etched his name on stone by successfully
steering the United States of America out of the Great Depression
with his New Deal agenda and for leading the Allied Forces to
victory in the Second World War after the Japanese daring, utterly
devasting, but miscalculated attack on Pearl Harbour. Lee Kuan Yew
earned his place as the father of modern Singapore by building
Singapore from a third world country to a first world country under
difficult conditions. Deng Xiaoping immortalized his name by
pulling China from economic doldrums and setting it on the path of
rapid and steady economic development, while maintaining a low
international profile. With all his oratory and charm, Barack
Obama’s success in the White House was defined by the problems he
solved, especially his successful handling of the Great Recession,
and not his personality.

The challenges that were inherited by Buhari therefore served
both as an opportunity as well as a burden. I will therefore not
venture into a defence of his administration but will only attempt
to highlight the oft dismissed truth that with all his powers and
responsibilities as the President – and with all his failings,
Buhari is not a personification of Nigeria’s problems; he is a mere
fraction of our problems. I believe this truth-telling is important
because our obsession with the shortcomings of Buhari has diverted
our attention from others who are equally responsible for the
parlous state of affairs in the country. Some of the men and women
who share equal or even greater responsibility for the ailing
system easily find favour in the sight of Nigerians with an
anti-Buhari posturing. Nigerians accept the alibi of these
pretenders and even treat some as the models of democracy and good
governance. And of course, this gullibility is exploited to the
hilt.

Nigeria is not running a unitary system of government with
absolute concentration of powers at the centre. We run a federal
system of government with government powers distributed between the
federal, state and local governments. (I know that the question
whether ours is truly a federal system remains a matter of debate –
a debate I will take on in another piece.) While the quantum and
quality of these powers differ among the different tiers of
government, they are all vital for the overall and proper
functioning of the country. I am not deaf to the arguments in some
quarters that the distribution of powers between the federal and
state governments is skewed in favour of the federal government and
that the state governments are arm strung by this uneven
distribution of powers from effectively delivering the fruits of
good governance. The proponents of this argument point to the 1999
Constitution as the source of our problems. In their view, the
Exclusive Legislative List conferred too many powers on the federal
government and denied the state governments critical powers to
function effectively. But this is a fallacy that Nigerians seem to
accept hook, line and sinker and have refused to probe deeply.

The state governments are not bereft of powers; they enjoy
enormous powers under the Constitution and have jurisdiction over
such important sectors as health, education, taxation, agriculture
etc. under the Concurrent Legislative List of the Constitution. In
addition, the state governments enjoy residual powers over matters
that are not within the Exclusive and Concurrent Lists of the
Constitution which allows the state governments to creatively
explore possibilities and opportunities in areas which are
completely outside the purview of the federal government to make
impact. So, the story about paucity of powers is a hoax. The issue
is not about sufficiency of powers; it is about the application of
the available powers by the various state governments. It is also
important to note that the state governments have absolute autonomy
over their financial (not natural or mineral) resources. This means
that the federal government does not dictate to the states on the
application of their funds. This neutralizes to a large extent, the
excuse of insufficiency of powers.

For people who are wont of casting blames on the federal
government and the President, one would have expected that our
state governors would at least try to be different, even if
superficially. But there are rarely any visible efforts by our
state governors to deliver good governance to their people. This
abdication of responsibility by our state governors is largely
responsible for (or at least have greatly exacerbated) our current
problems. Poverty, insecurity, illiteracy, unemployment etc. are
all biproducts of bad governance. Therefore, our state governors
have an opportunity and indeed the powers to deliver prosperity,
reduce crime, improve the standard of education, provide quality
health care, provide employment, improve their internally generated
revenue by attracting investments with the right incentives and
policies.
But what do we get? Utter neglect! Mindless plundering!
Cluelessness!

There is rarely any state in Nigeria that can boast of a
semblance of good governance. (This is not to discountenance the
impact a handful of governors, past or present have made in their
respective states.) The dividends of good governance are in short
supply (if at all in existence) in every state of the federation.
Poverty, lack of clean water, absence of decent public schools and
hospitals, unemployment, lack of decent housing etc. are spread
across every state of the federation (even though not evenly).
Every state of the federation is a breeding ground of kidnappers,
armed robbers, bandits, terrorists and all other classes of violent
criminals who, in some cases are motivated by a sense of neglect,
lack and the quest for survival. This explains why every state of
the federation has its fair share of insecurity. But our state
governors are on permanent honeymoon while their states are being
consumed by one crisis or the other. Well, Buhari is there to bear
the burden of their collective transgressions.

In addition, state governors are the worst culprits of abuse of
power. They are largely responsible for the stunted growth of our
democratic process. Our state governors are hypersensitive to
dissent of any form. There seems to be a morbid fear amongst them
of any meaningful opposition and they deploy the resources,
instruments and institutions of the state to gag and stifle
dissent. These men have held our democratic institutions to ransom.
Rule of law, free, fair and credible elections, independence of the
judiciary, legislative and local government autonomy, freedom of
expression, freedom of association and other integral elements of
our democratic system of government are in the stranglehold of our
state governors. They demand for free, fair and credible elections
from the Independent National Electoral Commission, but local
government elections are almost always charades to legitimize the
appointment by the governors of the local government chairmen and
councilors.

State Electoral Commissions are populated by their party men and
loyalists. Peaceful protesters are met with state sponsored
violence and critics are incarcerated at the whims of the
governors. The state judiciaries survive at the mercy of the
governors. They treat statutory allocations of local governments as
their personal funds and strip that critical tier of government the
ability and resources to conduct governance. These men rule their
states like emperors, dispensing favours to the loyal from the
state coffers and beating opposition to submission with the
instruments of state. There is zero accountability in the
administration of state funds by our governors. But we seem to
gloss over the degree of damage our state governors are causing our
democratic system, perhaps because their misgovernance occur in
smaller geographic units and seem to be compartmentalized. However,
this culture of impunity that pervades our thirty six states has
now become our national norm.

If the thirty six states of Nigeria are being efficiently
governed, the shortcomings of Buhari or any other president would
have been benign. But our problems have been exponentially
amplified by the inefficiency, lack of probity and the aversion to
rule of law by our state governors. If the states are fixed, then
Nigeria is fixed. On the other hand, even with a saint as
president, we will make no progress without a change at the state
levels. If anything, the resistance of the state governors to
Buhari’s efforts to implement financial autonomy for the judiciary
and the local governments is testament to the fact that even the
best policies of the federal government can be effectively
truncated by the governors. If we truly desire change, we need to
tamper our obsession with Buhari and divert some of that energy to
demanding accountability from our state governors. Otherwise, our
quest for change will forever remain an illusion.

By Agbada S. Agbada Esq.,
Stephen.agbada@yahoo.co.uk