Before you finish reading this, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari must have landed in Washington DC; and checked into Blair House, the official guest house of the President of the United States of America.
That would make him the first Nigerian leader in recent times to be accommodated in the prestigious edifice.
Buhari is travelling with a modest entourage of less than 40. For an administration that has promised frugality as a lifestyle, no matter the size of Blair House, the entourage must manage it.
Team members could stay two or three in a room. Everything must be done to demonstrate our president’s preachment on frugality as a policy.
If Buhari stays at Blair House, it will afford him the rare opportunity of having some private discussions with President Barack Obama. Focus will be on security, economy, corruption, foreign policy and such other issues.
We were returning from church on Thursday morning, July 16 when the question came off my wife’s lips as though it had anything to do with what the preacher said that morning. The prayer meeting was in no way politically connected. So, where did the question come from?
I recall that the previous night, the network news on all main television stations were about Buhari and the trip to the U.S. Top of the pack in the news bulletin was the issue of seeking security assistance from the U.S.; particularly in Nigeria’s war against terror as defined by Boko Haram.
By the way, I was thrilled by the piece of information in the media on Thursday, July 16 to the effect that Buhari will soon erase Boko Haram from our consciousness. The news came from the former military president known in some quarters as the evil genius: General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
The retired general who on August 27, 1985 overthrew Buhari in a bloodless military coup was quoted as saying that Buhari has all the qualifications of a man who can and will crush Boko Haram.
In Nigeria, when Babangida speaks, we listen. He has been there. We don’t call him Maradona for nothing. He often talks less than he knows; because he knows more than he wants us to hear.
In a special eid-el-fitri message, Babangida said tension generated by the killers is often occasioned by renewed hostilities and mindless bombings predominantly by suicide bombers who have decidedly chosen the option of death to life.
He said: “We have seen the worst of human follies in the conduct of these avoidable carnage and bloodletting by unscrupulous persons under the guise of religion, doing havoc to our sense of nationality.
I have implicit confidence in my mind that President Muhammadu Buhari will put the final nail on the coffin of Boko Haram so that Nigeria can truly assume her greatness in the comity of nations.”
It is believed that Buhari’s visit to the White House will fetch Nigeria the much needed international collaboration that will help end the insurgency. Though he is going with a basket filled with requests, we expect a good harvest on his return.
This brings me to the early morning question. Every wife seems sufficiently tempted to believe that the husband has a solution to every of her problem; and possesses answers to all her questions. For the husband journalist, the trouble is more than a handful.
Out of the blue, with no previous prompting by way of discussion, she asked: “How come Obama did not offer Goodluck Jonathan a chance to discuss with him the problems of Nigeria, particularly as they concerned the Boko Haram insurgency?
“If he did, perhaps, by now, Boko Haram would have been history. Look at what our military did when it acquired reasonable equipment just before the elections and after.”
While I pretended it wasn’t a question I was supposed to answer, she went ahead: “I’m happy that he has invited Buhari, but I’m just curious, what is responsible for his sudden love for the new administration; why did he even refuse to sell arms to Nigeria so that our soldiers could fight Boko Haram.
“Nigeria was further exposed to international ridicule when Jonathan tried to buy arms from South Africa? Was there anything personal between Obama and Jonathan; how come all these have changed overnight?”
In my modest answer, I paraphrased Jonathan’s response to the same question during his last media chat as president. He said Obama refused arms sale to Nigeria in spite of the clear purpose for the purchase because he believed our soldiers were involved in human rights abuses while fighting terror.
Perhaps, I added, Obama believes that our military under Buhari’s command will be different. It could also be that God is touching his heart to do business with a reformed military dictator for the good of Nigeria while he ignored a groomed democrat.
Just to avoid being bombarded with another question since the distance from home was still some minutes away, I said with a tone of finality: let’s hope we get the arms and defeat the terrorists. It does not matter how it is done and who does it. The most important thing is to get it done. Boko Haram must be crushed.
As we await Buhari’s return from the U.S., we hope for the best. Let our debts be written off. Let SEAL Team Six move into the troubled areas and rout Boko Haram. Let stolen funds stashed in US accounts by Nigerians be repatriated without conditions. Let American investment start flowing in to create jobs for Nigerians. Let’s change roll.