Comment
Buhari's Handing-Over Game
Possibly, it is the least that can be expected of a General and he deserves congratulations that he is able to smile when he surveys his handiwork of the past one year. As an African proverb says, when you have set yourself a task, there is no room for sulking, thus, seeing that the General had appointed himself the task of "saving Nigeria", the least that can be expected of him is not to complain about the morality of the task. It is difficult therefore to sift the bravado from his genuine fears.
Anybody who has had the very unfortunate experience of having been deprived of his liberty, can testify that the most difficult part is not knowing when freedom will be restored.
The imprisonment metaphor as it turns out is not as inappropriate as one would imagine. There are a few writers in the Nigerian papers who do not think that there is a lot of difference between those in Kirikiri prison and the rest of the people outside - they see the whole country in terms of one great prison.
Now that Gen Buhari appears to have put a time scale on his great salvation work, the normal inclination will be to sigh with relief.
He has been reported by the "Financial Times" as stating that after three tough and difficult years, he would have put the economy of Nigeria on a sound footing.
It is difficult to tell what premium to put on this report. Those who have long memories will recollect that a year ago, Gen Buhari told the same newspaper that he would require 18 months to put the economy right, now that period has been doubled and there is no guarantee that in another year Gen Buhari wouldn't be talking about five years or ten years. The oil price might have fallen and there might be another bad drought, and the best of his plans might be disrupted due to circumstances completely out of his control.
It might very well be that Gen Buhari thinks that since people keep asking him, he would give them any answer just to keep them quiet when he has no intentions whatsoever of keeping to the timetable. Whether that is a game he can play for very long is one of those bridges which if he should decide to cross when he gets there, he might discover to his cost that there would be no bridge at all.
Beyond the large question of when Gen Buhari will consider his work done and lead his troops back to the barracks, lies the more fundamental problem of what good if any they would have done be it in 18 months or 3 years or whatever time.
The whole idea of thinking that the economy of Nigeria is something that can be structured under patently abnormal conditions within a period of three years and then left to be operated under normal condition would be laughable if it were not so very pathetic. Even Gen Buhari would have to accept that his is not a normal state of affairs, unless he is hoping that Nigeria will from now onwards conduct her affairs under parade ground conditions.
Supposing that he does indeed succeed in getting the economy on a sound footing (and thus far there is nothing to give such an indication) and he goes back to the barracks, what guarantees are there that when some form of constitutional rule returns things would now work?
Would the Tribunals for example continue to operate as part of everyday life or would the normal courts have to deal with criminal proceedings or would the double standards of justice continue?
As has been amply demonstrated it is very easy to lock up people in prison first then try to find some wrongdoing and then draw up decrees to fit the evidence of crimes that have been discovered and Tribunals to suit the available evidence.
After his period of cleansing, will the decrees and Tribunals be left for the incoming administration to help them operate?
The likelihood is that any administration that succeeds Gen Buhari will have the same handicaps that Alhaji Shehu Shagari had and Gen Buhari, back in his barracks or in retirement on his farm will see only faults. The only real test for competence and efficiency would be for Gen Buhari to operate under the type of circumstances that civilian administration have to deal with.
The temporary bridges that armies normally build, while serving a useful purpose, cannot and never can be permanent ones and often tend to have a very short life expectancy and cannot be a basis for running the economy of a country.
The measures that Gen Buhari has introduced this past year which make him think that the economy is on the mend are essentially like the army's bailey bridges - they might serve a useful purpose in an emergency but are wholly inadequate for long term purposes.
As for his suggestion that he would be calling a referendum to decide what type of government will be suitable for Nigeria, it only goes to show the dearth of ideas that plague him and his profession.
The talk about a search for government has been shown to be a ruse employed by African military dictators when they want to hold on to power long after they have overstayed their welcome. Kutu Acheampong did it in Ghana and came to grief. Three years after his own coup, Flight-Lieutenant Rawlings has embarked on his own search for a novel system of government.
Some people obviously do not know when to say they have had enough, and it is probably more difficult for a General to admit failure but if he went back to his old course notes, he will find the honourable way out for officers and gentlemen.
