The secret of change is to focus your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new
– Socrates
President Mohammed Buhari, then a presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, described himself at the Chatham House in London, as a ‘converted democrat’. This was his response to the charge by his opponents that he was a dyed-in-the-wool autocrat who cannot be trusted with a democratic mandate. He said while he could not change the past, he certainly “can change the present and the future”.
Nigerians bought
into his ‘change’ promise and voted him into power. They also voted into
parliament those who have the interest and the power to frustrate any efforts
at change.
In the face of
the recession that came on the heels of his assumption of office, the sluggish
recovery of the economy since then, and persistent security challenges,
especially in the North East, not a few Nigerians have been asking whether this
is the change we all voted for in 2015.
Buhari rode to
office on a solid foundation of integrity and a famed hatred for corrupt
practices. By the end of 2013, his predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan,
had completely lost any form of popular support. His reputation as a leader had
become completely grassed over by corruption, clueless disposition and
demonstrable inability to provide a good direction for development actions.
Viewed against the inane corruption and impunity of the time, it is easy to
understand why Nigerians voted for change.
And close to the
end of his first term, Buhari has lost a great deal of the reputation that
carried him into office in 2015 as well. With only five months away from next general
elections, many Nigerians have started talking about changing the change, and
justifiably so.
This is not
unexpected. It has always been the fate of reformers, at least, in the short
run. The pills of reforms are often very bitter, and in most cases, as painful
as chemotherapy applied to burn out some cancerous excrescence on a human
organ. The results of reforms are often not immediate and their benefits not
quickly evenly spread enough among all segments of society as to stimulate
continuous support for them and the reformer.
It is, therefore,
important that, while the reformer keeps his eyes on the big picture, he must
ensure that the pains of his reforms are democratized and that low hanging
fruits are plucked to give immediate relief to the people, before those reforms
begin to yield fruits. This is what the ‘Buhari change’ is lacking. People have
waited far too long without much to justify the long wait and the pains
occasioned by his reforms.
Now, in the run
up to his term renewal, he is being hacked mercilessly by two historical
enemies of all reformers – those who are benefitting from the existing order
which the reformer wants to change, and the people who are the ultimate
beneficiaries of the change.
Obviously, there
are people who have benefitted or are benefitting from the corrupt system that
the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, had entrenched in its 16 years in power.
They have become so powerful through corruption that they can even buy the
country and its entire population. Keeping this people away from corrupt
practice, as Buhari reform agenda proposes, is as difficult as keeping the goat
from the yam. And they have been fighting to keep the social, economic or
political order that has so much benefitted them. The people themselves, who will
be the ultimate beneficiaries of his change reforms, have failed to see the
benefits that will accrue to them in the long run if the reforms are
successful.
They are enemies
because they are aloof, have failed to give him the kind of support that he needs
to carry through the necessary reforms, while the president is being pounded by
the nation’s undertakers. They continue to worship corrupt politicians as their
heroes, and are quick to attack the government and accuse it of witch-hunt and
persecution whenever those politicians are called in for questioning over their
management of public funds. So, whereas those who are hostile to reforms attack
the government forcefully and with the partisanship of religious fanatics, the
people who should take ownership of those reforms, defend them, if at all they
do, only lukewarmly.
Perhaps, if
Buhari had drawn the line between the infractions of the old regime and the
start of his administration, and concentrated his efforts on building a new
culture of probity and accountability, he would have succeeded more. He should
have done that so that while not looking backward to punish those who were
corrupt yesterday, he would have been able to ensure that no new case of
corruption is associated with his government by dealing with it decisively
wherever and by whoever it is perpetrated. This way, the thieves would not have
ganged up against his government because the element of ‘common danger’ which
tends to bring even the staunchest of enemies into cooperation, would have been
denied them.
Training the
anti-corruption weaponry on only opposition politicians has not helped him as
it gives the impression that the whole essence of it is to settle old scores
and to witch-hunt opponents, especially when the president has refused to deal
with corruption allegations involving his immediate circles of appointees,
including cabinet members.
Buhari had
promised to “always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester”
during his Chatham House appearance, but his response in the face of security
challenges involving Fulani herdsmen, has not helped him.
If, by grace of
providence, he wins again this time around, he should, perhaps, help his cause
by heeding the wisdom of Socrates. And
we the people can help him by cleaning the parliament, that is, making sure
that those we elect into the next National Assembly are people who will not
have any cause to frustrate policy and legislative initiatives of the president
for selfish reasons as has been the case in the current dispensation.
