An Excellent Case for Buhari's Second Term

By Pius Adesanmi

Two Buharideens, two separate threads far apart, going on simultaneously. Unbeknownst to
the other, each make exactly the same case for Buhari. I decide to be a quiet monitoring
spirit, following with interest.

They make what on the surface is a perfectly logical and sensible submission for another four
years for Buhari. I listen in quietly. You could not subtract a single thing from their
submission. You could not add a single thing to their submission. It was perfect. On the
strength of their argument alone, one ought to consider giving Buhari a second chance…

What was the argument?

Basically, Nigerians have too much expectation of their governments. I had actually argued
in defense of the people's right to a heightened expectation when I delivered Nasir El Rufai's
inauguration lecture three years ago in Kaduna and still believe in that proposition. However,
for the sake of argument, I conceded quietly to these guys that the people's expectations of
their leaders, especially the President, are too high and unrealistic.

Their second argument? People underestimate the level of the rot in every sphere of the
Nigerian polity. Even those living in Nigeria grossly underestimate the rot and what it would
take to fix it. You also have to give them that - the rot is deep and we underestimate it.

Based on these two factors, they boast and brag about their understanding of the situation, of
the necessity of patience. They say, compassionately and patronizingly, that Nigerians just do
not understand that it will take Buhari more than a term and even his putative successor in
2023, Osinbajo, more than a term to make a dent on the afflictions of Nigeria. If only other
Nigerians had their gift of insight! You could almost cut their pity of unknowing Nigerians
with a knife.

They - the gifted knowers of patience.

Nigerians - the lively and exuberant kids filled with over expectation.

Remember, they are operating in separate threads, totally unaware of the other. Their
synchronicity of thought and talking points was remarkable. I make a mental note that memos
have probably gone out to the faithful the moment President Buhari declared his decision to
run in 2019.

You would have expected folks this gifted with knowing to also be gifted with introspection
and hindsight. I smiled, knowing they would not be able to come up with introspection and
hindsight. Part of me suspected they were capable of it but just would not do it.

For to do it is to remember that Goodluck E. Jonathan had made the same case that they are
now making so passionately for Buhari. GEJ had said that Nigeria's problems were so
monumental that it would take two terms to make a dent, for results to show.
Three years ago, this all knowing Buharideen duo was at the forefront of the rejection of that
submission by Goodluck Jonathan for Buharists were at the vanguard of the national
ridiculing of Goodluck Jonathan for making such a case.

Stop trying to lower our expectations, Mr Jonathan!

If you cannot do it in 4 years, away with you! Let someone else try!

Now these guys, with a straight face (I have wondered what or who they see in the mirror)
are making for Buhari arguments and submissions they poo-pooed and ridiculed for
Goodluck Jonathan only three years ago.

Of course it was right to dismiss Mr. Jonathan's submissions at the time as it is right to
dismiss the same premise for Buhari's case today.

The nonsense that you need more than four years to significantly change Nigeria's course and
move her in a positive direction is just that: nonsense. No Nigerian citizen worthy of that
name should ever regret rejecting that nonsensical argument from Mr. Jonathan and his
fanatical supporters.

However, the unmatchable hypocrisy of the Buharideen will also be a serious factor in the
marketing of the 2019 candidates. He is describing as pure gold viewpoints he said were
garbage three years ago. For sure, Mr. Jonathan was a colossal failure. However, it would be
a compliment to call Mr. Buhari a failure. He is a tragedy and his marketers for 2019 cannot
be allowed to get away with repackaging submissions they previously spat upon..

The Buharideen and the Jonathanian present spectres of followership whose contours could
provide caution and guidance as we march to the future. It is no longer necessary to draw a
portrait of the Jonathanian. He is an unyielding binarist who worshipped his political idol for
five years in office, broached not the slightest criticism, and praised him to doom and
damnation. Three years later, he has not evolved beyond Jonathan worship.

These were traits that the Buharideen identified as inimical to the growth of our democracy.
How can you worship a President? Truth is that the Buharideen is a worse, cruder, and more
inveterate version of the Jonathanian. The Buharideen was not interested in Nigeria. The
Buharideen was merely seeking to replace a god he did not like with his own beloved god in
2015.

Once that was accomplished, the Buharideen relinquished the fundamentals of engaged
citizenship with which he was supposed to hold Buhari to account. Buhari was President.
Nigeria could go to blazes. The Buharideen had the perfect rationalization for every failure,
every gaffe, every indecency, every indication of incompetence, every manifestation of
mediocrity, every display of unkindness by Buhari.

From Jonathan to Buhari, one set of personality cultists were replaced by an even cruder set
of personality cultists for whom Nigeria does not matter. Only the god and his narrow
interests matter. Let one thousand Offas happen today, let ten thousand Dapchis happen
tomorrow, the Buharideen will give you the brighter side of the picture and his god, now in
London, will come out smelling of roses. Nigeria may burn to ashes, so long as there is a
throne in Aso Rock for Buhari's ass, the Buharideen is content within, without, and
roundabout.
This is why it is important for you to watch the company you keep towards 2019. That you
and somebody support the same candidate does not mean you are in it for the same reasons.
You have to be careful to determine that you are not traveling in the company of incurable
personality cultists looking for a new god to worship in Aso Rock Villa.

You may be supporting a candidate because you are a transcendental subscriber to the vision
of a greater Nigeria in which no political actor is indispensable. The fellow screaming in
solidarity beside you may see your candidate as a be-all beyond reproach, a god for whom
fact, logic, commonsense, and even Nigeria herself could be sacrificed if need be. In one
candidate, you see a possible vehicle for a vision (who must be discarded if he does not live
up to expectation), your friend sees a god he is prepared to follow to the grave as abobaku.

Back to the question of term limits. I have said this before and I make bold to repeat it:
second term is overrated. NO LEADER CAN CHANGE NIGERIA WHO ISN'T
PREPARED TO SPEND ONLY ONE TERM IN OFFICE.

The logic for this submission is simple. The shock treatment that Nigeria needs, the
revolution she needs, is so great that any leader who embarks on it will be deemed an error by
all the forces of political darkness in Nigeria. They will do all within their power to deny such
a revolutionary and transformative leader a second term. If necessary, they will kill him for
Nigeria's political actors are killers.

With your personal conduct, you can cause a tsunami of positive changes in the life of a
nation for there is nothing like the symbolic and optical value of the Presidency.

Part of Buhari's tragedy is his moral and ethical emptiness. If you look at the last three years,
there is no positive symbolic thing that he ever did that was not coerced. Look at how long it
took him to reluctantly fire the corrupt grass cutter - his friend who is still cavorting with him.
Buhari must be dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing and that is why Nigeria
has literally collapsed on his head.

A few weeks ago, the young fiery lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, offered a list of simple things he
would do to drastically change the destiny of Akwa Ibom state within a year were he ever
fortunate to become Governor. It was just a list of simple, symbolic, personal choices relating
to style, substance, and the appurtenances of power. He identified a lot of things within his
executive prerogative that wouldn't even need the approval of the House of Assembly.

I read that list with the corner of one eye and shook my head. Everything he listed would
change Akwa Ibom forever and positively in just one year were that state ever fortunate
enough to have a Governor with the requisite moral and ethical mettle to embark on such a
course.

However, he'd be destined for a single term for if they don't kill him, they'd make sure he
never returned for a second term for he would put too many people in the corruption
assembly line out of business.

Ethical willpower is what Buhari could not muster. He's had more than enough time and
enjoyed the longest stretch of public goodwill conferred on any President in recent memory.
He frittered everything away and his supporters add insult to injury by wailing that the people
are not patient with their failed and frail god.
My advice to Buharideens: go back to wherever the talking points are coming from and
report that this new narrative ain't selling.