By Ishaya Ibrahim
Buhari is not known to be personally corrupt. He rode to power in 2015 on that premise.
His supporters say they are inspired by his modest lifestyle which showed he never dipped his hand into the public till while as head of state.
For a country where its former leaders live on hilltop houses, the attraction to Buhari by the Talakawas (the poor) is understandable. And that may explain why his re-election campaign is pitch on his acclaimed integrity.
Spokesman for his campaign, Festus Keyamo would always reference the Buhari’s integrity in many of his several tweets to sell him to Nigerians, especially after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chose former vice president Atiku Abubakar as its party flag bearer for the 2019 poll.
“Dear PMB (President Muhammadu Buhari) supporters, we urge you to focus on the issues of performance and INTEGRITY of the candidates. FACTS as to international indictments are NOT INSULTS.
“After you show them all their abandoned projects PMB is completing, then discuss the issue of CHARACTER. That is AN ISSUE,” Keyamo tweeted following Buhari’s commissioning of the Port Harcourt International Airport which the PDP said it started in 2013.
In September 2015, few months after he was sworn-in as a democratically elected president, Buhari declared his assets to include a ranch with 270 cattle heads and five horses, seven homes, two of which were mud houses in Daura, two underdeveloped plots of land in Kano and Port Harcourt, and shares in three companies.
The BBC’s Will Ross says the assets are loose change for Nigerian politicians but a fortune for most of Nigerians, 84 million of whom are said to be living in extreme poverty, according to the Washington based Brooklyn Institute.
But his integrity remains his trump card in the February 2019 election, especially among his supporters.
One Buhari admirer, Marianna Olotu, argued in a tweet: “PMB is not perfect, but he has my vote.Straight Credibility is a highly valued asset.PMB has that!”
Governance style
The pace of governance under Buhari has been a worry, even to his supporters.
Five months after he was sworn-in as president, and seven months after he won an historic election which saw for the first time an opposition candidate defeating an incumbent, he failed to constitute his cabinet at a time most Nigerians had expected him to hit the ground running.
Buhari does not also seem to be in a hurry to make swift decisions, like shaking up his security chiefs under whose watch herdsmen and Boko Haram have been wreaking havoc across the country.
His cabinet has remained the same since 2015, except for a few who resigned on their own and got replaced. He has not rejigged it, nor introduced new perspective to the system.
Buhari rarely takes action against his aides who are accused of wrongdoing. For instance, it took more than six months for him to approve the sack of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), David Babachir Lawal, after a senate committee indicted him of corrupt behaviour.
It also took more than three months for Kemi Adeosun to resign her position as finance minister after she was exposed by PREMIUM TIMES of parading fake National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate.
He is yet to sack the minister of communications, Adebayo Shittu, who has confessed to skipping NYSC. The Nigerian law demands proof of participation in the NYSC or exemption certificate as a qualification for employment in the country. Shittu has none.
Deft moves
The Buhari’s government focuses on ongoing projects across the country which the PDP administration started. This has been boosting the government’s profile in terms of infrastructure development.
The government completed the following projects which it inherited from previous governments; Kaduna–Abuja train service, the Kaduna inland dry port, Port Harcourt International Airport, the Abuja Light Rail Project which is a 45.245km standard gauge rail line from Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport to the Abuja metro station, and many others.
The Buhari government also brought smiles to the faces of about 6,000 former employees of Nigerian Airways and their families, 15 years after the company was liquidated.
The former employees, many of whom have been leaving in penury, got between N5million and N40million, depending on the last position they held, representing 50 percent of their entitlements. The government says it would pay off the balance next year.
Buhari’s profile
Buhari was born in Daura on December 17, 1942 to his father, Hardo Adamu, a Fulani chief, and mother, Zulaihat. He is the 23 child of his father. Buhari was raised by his mother, after his father died when he was about four years old.
He enrolled at age 19 in the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC) in 1961. In 1962, he attended training at Mons Officer Cadet School in Aldershot, England.
He was governor of North-Eastern state between August 1, 1975 to February 3, 1976. He also served as governor of Borno State briefly from February 3, 1976 to March 15, 1976.
He was appointed Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources in March 1976 by the then head of state, General Olusegun Obasanjo.
When the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) was created in 1977, Buhari was also appointed as its Chairman, a position he held until 1978.
From 1978 to 1979, he was Military Secretary at the Army Headquarters and was a member of the Supreme Military Council.
From 1979 to 1980, at the rank of colonel, Buhari attended the US Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in the United States.
As one of the leaders of the December 31, 1983 coup, then Major-General Buhari emerged the head of state after the democratically elected government of President Shehu Shagari was overthrown.
In August 1985, Major General Buhari was overthrown in a coup led by General Ibrahim Babangida and detained in a bungalow apartment in Benin city.
After his mother’s death, he was released in December 1988 and went into farming. While in detention, his farm was managed by his relatives.
Buhari was later appointed the chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) by late former head of state, General Sani Abacha.