This is How I would Grade Mr. Muhammad Buhari on his First term as President of Nigeria

Nothing is good without assessment, meaning we don’t know a person or thing is until we do the  evaluation. The purpose of this essay is to assess the doings of Buhari and his APC henchmen in the administration that is departing.

Assessment would ensure that mistakes and poor performance shall not be tolerated or allowed to repeat itself in Buhari’s second term or in the history of Nigeria.

In his essay which recently appeared in Chatafric of May 13, 2019, Mr. Ugochukwu Ejinkonye asks: Who hates President Buhari?” No one hates Buhari. Hate is a useless emotion that drains away creativity.

Most people would  rather do something to change what causes hatred. The goal is to  love the sinner but still hate the sin. Who wants to dwell purely on abhorrence, detestation, odium, or revulsion?

This evaluation deals with Buhari’s performance in his first term as president as he dealt with Nigerians whom he has considered as friends and foes. Was Buhari the father figure that Nigeria needs at this juncture of national insecurity, violence, and corruption? No.

General Muhammad Buhari had promised to stamp out violence and make corruption a thing of the past. Was he successful? No.

How many Nigerians suspect that Buhari was the Father of corruption and sponsor of boko haram? A poll of his citizens ought to provide a clue.

This essay is a brutal valuation of the man Muhammad Buhari rather than hatemongering. How history would judge this man is left to be seen. It’s a wait-and-see thing.

In his poem IT, poet Rudyard Kipling warns you to trust yourself when all men doubt you, but make allowance for their doubting too;  to wait and not be tired by waiting,; or being lied about, and not deal in lies; or being hated, don’t give way to hating,, and yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

Did Buhari bind the wounds of Nigerians, dry the tears and heal the scars of a nation just coming out of and writhing under the most painful bloody 30-month civil war? No, he did not.

 Violent sects known as boko haram gained ascendancy rather than a weakening under Buhari’s  watch. Inexplicably, the man kept a studied silence as  victims of cattle herders were buried in mass graves in Benue and elsewhere around the nation.

There is the inexplicably high cost of the Tucano jets (almost  $500 million), which Buhari purchased ostensibly to fight boko haran, and the fact that Buhari agreed to their purchase without approval from the National Assembly, also led some senators to call for his impeachment.

The evidence is there that the suicide bombers and jihadist lunatics gained dominance, predominance, preeminence, or power, even after Buhari single-handedly spent millions of public funds without legislative oversight to purchase bombers and weapons of war when the citizens needed rice, water, mosquito nets, motorable roads. How callous, unfeeling, cold-hearted, uncaring!

Three days after presidential elections were held on Feb. 23, the INEC announced that president Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been re-elected., Abubakar Atiku of the  PDP promptly objected and rejected the results, indicating  there was dissatisfaction.

Political parties are rushing to courts to seek redress for what appear to be injustices perpetrated during Buhari’s campaigns and eventual win. There have been calls for investigation and evaluation. This essay adds a voice to those who demand openness and transparency in government.

Atiku and his supporters allege the polls were marred from the start by sporadic reports of violence where polling units were attacked, ballot boxes and papers snatched away and burned, and voters were scared away from voting points by thugs.

Though Buhari’s handlers may argue that their candidate might not be directly responsible for the violence, Buhari as president should share blame, having failed to take serious steps to prevent violence throughout his blood-stained tenure, particularly in an exercise as enormous[D1]  and vital as national elections.

 Why did Buhari allow the INEC to postpone the election, dashing the hope and dream of many?  The Fulani and Yoruba have dominated the Nigerian government since the 1960 dependence much to the chagrin and exclusion of other Nigerians. This has led to the charges of feudalism, fulanism, tribalism, nepotism, and marginalization.

Today’s Nigerians have dreams of broadening their government. They had anticipated a government that is more inclusive, more comprehensive, wide-ranging, encompassing than had been the case in the past.

We looked up to the hill from whence cometh no help. What is the point of voting in a democracy where votes don’t count, and voters are afraid to exercise their constitutional right?

 What took place in the last election was a travesty, a charade masquerading as a contest between two respectable, capable men of the Fulani tribe, though the Nigerians had looked forward to pulling leaders of other tribes into empowerment, such as Igbo vice presidential running mate.

Postponing a national election by not one day but a whole week rubbed many people including this writer the wrong way. Postponement is the embodiment or personification of carelessness, ineptitude. It is the entombment of public insult. “Aha! I told you Niggers can’t lead niggers.”

Postponement of the polls was a terrible blunder as well as unfortunate directive. It is the most egregious negligence.  Negligence is neglect, inattention, disregard, or abandonment of the duty of care. Shouldn’t a leader care for the led?

An incalculable harm was done to the fabric of my nation, and when Mr. Buhari agreed to the election postponement; he opened himself up to accusations of being unfair, partial, one-sided, biased, prejudicial, discriminating.

Like others, this writer expects Buhari to subscribe to the notion of noblesse oblige, the idea that persons of privilege should keep hands clean and care for the less fortunate. Do charges of selfishness, manipulation, or self-centeredness be levelled against Buhari? Yes.

The dream of having a fair presidential election shared by millions was never realized. The hope of having a free, unrestricted competition among legitimate political parties was quashed, crushed, repressed. Regrettably, my countrymen and women have not experienced true democracy.

No one celebrated the candidate who had the grace to pick Igbo vice president. The dream failed. What happens to a dream deferred?

A dream deferred is a dream denied. This writer is of the opinion that Muhammad Buhari has been the nemesis of Naija progress, Nemesis is the archenemy, opponent, archrival, adversary, competitor.

Nigerians suspected the election postponement was done under a nebulous pretext to steal election results thwart progress, and/or to allow Buhari and APC to complete illegal activities, such as bribery, vote buying and intimidation of opponents.

Why didn’t Buhari and his government utilize the police, army, and security forces to maintain order and prevent postponement?

As Mr. Buhari Is ending his first term as President of my democratic country and about to embark on the second term amidst allegation of vote buying and intimidation, assessment assumes a monumental importance.

Rumors had it that voting by non-Nigerian tribes from beyond the northern borders of the country was allowed in the APC- controlled states. Isn’t vote supposed to be cast by the Nigerians only?

It is necessary (imperative for a better choice of word) that we the citizens of Nigeria should be able to vote for and evaluate the performance of our president. We do not need assistance or collusion of foreign nationals?

Should we allow what happened in America to happen in Nigeria? Isn’t loud-mouth President Donald Trump under investigation for allowing Russians to interfere in American election? Is there evidence that people came from Mali, Niger, Cameroon, Chad, and Benin to vote in Nigeria election that put Buhari in power? History will tell.

There were shortcomings and instances of injustice in the 2019 elections in that there was a postponement within hours to the polls and voting was shifted from February 16 to February 23. Buhari created darkness and anything could have happened in darkness.

The postponement of voting impacted voter turnout, such that voter turnout in Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and the economic nerve center of the nation, was a meager 18%.

Overall, voter turnout among young Nigerians- a majority of the electorate —was also notably low. Buhari is to be faulted for encouraging voter apathy, especially among young people who often are prevented from holding political offices.

The purpose of this essay is to emphasize the need for evaluation of leaders in a democratic country like Nigeria where there ought to be accountability. Accountability simply means answerability, responsibility, liability, culpability.

All the leaders of Nigeria, including the President, Vice President, Governor, heads of department, and the Central Bank of Nigeria governor are glorified public servants. They should answer to the people.

The Nigerian President serves at the pleasure of the citizens who elected him/her to office; the Governor is accountable to citizens of the State, and so forth. Therefore, the citizens of Nigeria ultimately have the responsibility to evaluate their leaders.

We run the risk of encouraging mediocrity if we as employers of the public servants fail to evaluate our employees’ performance. How do we measure success and failure if there is no evaluation? 

How does one know goals are being met, shortcomings overcome, or that every i is dotted and every t crossed if there were no evaluation?

Without evaluation, there are risks that we are merely running around in a circle, chasing our tails, pretending we are working when we are loafing and wasting the taxpayers’ time and resources.

What is evaluation? It is an assessment, appraisal, calculation, valuation, or estimation by the superior of the performance of an inferior. Employer evaluates employee, and boss examines subordinates.

Evaluation entails a superordinate-subordinate relationship. Everyone in charge in Nigeria has a boss he/she answers to. To be boss less is to live in a fool’s paradise. To have no boss is to answer to nobody. It is only God who has no boss and answers to no one.

No one in Nigeria, be it the president, state, governor, or CBN governor, is above the law and answerable to no one. No one is the King of Nigeria, and Nigeria does not have a dictator.

If you are one of the well-meaning but gravely mistaken Nigerians who believe evaluation is not necessary or that evaluation is reserved only for the peon, you are as naïve and unsophisticated as this writer once was.  A peon is someone that does not count in the scheme of things. We all count.

As a young primary school teacher in Nigeria, this writer used to think he was beyond the reach of mortals and above evaluation by students or principal.

My thinking was: I have the knowledge; I have the grade book and the power to pass or fail anyone. Who are you to threaten my position?

The point is that everyone’s performance on a job should be evaluated, and that includes the work of all government civil servants, teachers and medical professionals included. Having said that, let’s proceed with grading President Buhari of Nigeria.

Buhari scored his lowest grade on a test measuring his ability to handle persons he thinks or feels are his enemies and foes. How did Buhari handle the Igbos, including Nnamdi Kalu and his group of impressionable young followers, the IPOB.

Does Buhari have a child, and how would he feel if someone butchers his child in cold blood? What happens if the sword of Damocles were to fall in Daura? The prognosis can be unfortunate.

The forecast is this:  Every Nigerian man, woman and child lives under a deadly sword of Damocles, consisting of violence and corruption, hanging over the head by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident or miscalculation or by madness of a president who is obsessed with naked power.

Remember the Fulani cattle herders carrying powerful weapons- the AK-47-furnished with funds from Buhari government- who went about murdering innocent, defenseless citizens in several states, including Benue and Enugu?

Remember the python dance staged in answer to Buhari’s thirst for power and displayed at the compound of a man in Umuahia?

It is well known how Buhari attempted to annihilate Nnamdi Kanu (his enemies) with characteristic brutality. What a callous demonstration of cruelty, viciousness, violence, harshness, ruthlessness! It was buharism at it most barbaric stage.

What harm could a young man filled with youthful, exuberant energy and eagerness to participate in a democracy, do to a nation of 180 million people with well established Nigerian Army, Nigerian Navy, Nigerian Airforce, and security apparatus?

Why was Nnamdi Kalu and his group of unemployed eager kids be such a threat that they were subjected to the most abrasive, most hateful, and the most punishing response from Buhari and his government.

To be shot at close range and dumped in muddy water to perish is a cruel and unjust punishment. Voices  of innocent young men and women who wanted Io have an opinion in Africa’s largest democracy, were silenced.

 Those silent voices shall forever hang over the neck of the government of Buhari as the inherited leprosy of Gehazi or sword of Damocles.

According to Buhari, the Nigerian youths are a lazy and uneducated bunch who believe the country is rich in oil and who only wait to be handed things free. of charge.

What a callous attitude to have of our young people on whose shoulders the responsibility of safeguarding our country’s future should fall rather than on an old, barely educated 74-year-old soldier. 

Finally, readers are reminded of the 120 days Muhammad Buhari spent in London hospitals for diagnosis and treatment of undisclosed illnesses. It would have been nicer if Buhari had spearheaded the campaign to establish first class hospitals in each of the 36 states of the Federation to curtail medical tourism and make malaria a thing of the past.

In this evaluation, Muhammad Buhari merited F grade.

Posted Tuesday May 21, 2019 by

Dr. James C. Agazie, jamesagazie@gmail.xom

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