With a sense of awe and trepidation, I watched the heart-breaking operations to rescue 33 miners trapped approximately half a mile underground in the main ramp into the San Esteban mine in Northern Chile in August 5, 2010. I followed the rescue operations from the beginning to the end, and when the last man was evacuated from that miraculous encounter that got millions all over the world prayerfully hooked to their TVs, I saw an inscription inside the mine: ‘Mission Accomplished’.
I waited like a patient dog to see the man of destiny, General Muhammadu Buhari mount the throne before writing this piece. I waited and waited to see the end of this drama which many thought would never become a reality even after winning the election fair and square on March 28, 2015. I waited to see Buhari’s triumphant entry into Aso Rock to begin the process of rebuilding Nigeria. I waited to put these words down; it is President Buhari: Mission accomplished!
Supporters of former President Goodluck Jonathan never believed that an incumbent would lose elections in Nigeria. They never believed that Buhari would beat Jonathan, with all the powers at the latter’s disposal. When the former president was roundly defeated on March 28, they still believed that Buhari might not live to be sworn in as president on May 29, 2015. Some fake pastors and despicable so-called men of God, who had predicted that Buhari would never rule Nigeria, still hoped that he would die before May 29. In my local church in Lagos and other places, I saw haters of Buhari biting their fingers, hitting their heads against the wall, their inside boiling like hot oil, gnashing their teeth and cursing the day Buhari was born. They could not believe their eyes and ears as they thought they were deceiving them. Until now, they are yet to find out what hit them and how they dragged themselves to this sorry pass. As I write this, the hate campaigners are still sulking and whining, throwing up their hands in confusion, wailing and cursing those who defeated their Jonathan. The rest is now history.
But the haters of Buhari and these irredeemable pastors, who call the name of God a thousand times a day and yet their hearts are too far away, failed to see the writing on the wall. They failed to realise that God is not man and that God chooses who to crown as a king. God did not know Cyrus in Isaiah 45 and yet he blessed him and used him mightily. In choosing Cyrus, God said “I have raised him up in righteousness and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city and he shall let go of my captives, not for price, nor reward, said the Lord of hosts.” In 2 Samuel 16, God asked Samuel to go to the house of Jesse to anoint the King of Israel. Jesse made seven of his sons to pass Samuel, but none was chosen because none of them met God’s standard. Samuel was almost deceived by sheer size and physical features, but God was the Judge. None of the big seven passed the test and Samuel asked if anyone was left, Jesse said: “Yes, the youngest called David who is looking after the flock in the field.” He quickly asked that David be brought home. As David stepped into the compound, Bible tells us that Samuel was told by God to “rise to anoint him, for this is he”.
Psalm 75: 6-7 says “for promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south, but God is the Judge: He putteth down one and setteth up another.”
But those who have been reading their Bibles upside down could not see the reality on the ground after taking Jonathan’s bribe. They sat on the leaf of the plant to play God to the extent that they refused to see that there is finger of God in Buhari’s fourth coming as a presidential candidate. Arrogance, hate, religious bigotry, primordial sentiments, ethnic preoccupation, greed, the love for money, selfishness and sheer stupidity beclouded their sense of reasoning. They lost. They wept. They cursed.
In the last 36 years since 1979, Buhari is the most prepared president for this great job. Former President Shehu Shagari just wanted to be a senator, but the scavengers pushed him to settle for the presidency. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo never prepared to be the president of Nigeria, whether in the military or in the civilian dispensation. The death of General Murtala Mohammed in 1976 paved way for him to reluctantly mount the saddle. In 1999, Obasanjo came out of the prison to mount the throne when nobody, including himself, expected it. For four years, he did not know what to do with power. The late President Umaru Yar’Adua was never prepared also to take on Nigeria. The frail and sick man was persuaded by Obasanjo to pick the ticket. Jonathan followed the same history. Luckily, the man became the deputy governor, the governor, the vice president, and became the president unprepared when Yar’Adua died. Today we are living witnesses to the outcome of these costly mistakes and where it has left our dear country.
Buhari must have been nursing the dream to rule Nigeria since 1999 as a civilian president. He made the first attempt in 2003, the second attempt in 2007, the third attempt in 2011 and hit the ground again in 2015 to clinch the most exalted office in the land.
On May 29, 2015, President Buhari defied all logics and permutations in Nigeria and created huge history for historians, academics and bookmakers. His tenacity, resilience, courage, determination, consistency, doggedness and strength have made his emergence a case study in the academic world, especially the students of political science.
Buhari has said that he belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody. Those who are still weeping should wipe away their tears and embrace President Buhari. He is a man of destiny and I know there is finger of God in this historical emergence. Rev Moses Iloh said: “It had to happen because it is the doing of the Lord. Brace up, journey across the Red Sea just started.”
This is President Buhari and it is mission accomplished.
• Igbokwe wrote in from Lagos.