There is a narrative that has been sustained by the All Progressives Congress concerning the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The narrative is that President Buhari is always right and he is never to blame for anything. There is always a fall guy whenever anything negative happens in his administration.
Whenever anything goes well, it is because of Buhari’s body language or magic wand. But when things go wrong, the blame is heaped on someone or something. It is common to hear something like this: “It’s not Buhari’s fault. It’s the fault of those around him.”
The scandal over the 2016 budget made that glaring. First, there was an untidy scenario over the whereabouts of the budget after it had been presented to the National Assembly. There were allegations that the budget had disappeared or was missing. Then it was confirmed that the government took it back and adjusted some figures, possibly because of the outrage over some items in the budget.
Then when the National Assembly began to review the budget, they discovered some curious figures. Ministries and parastatals began to wash their hands off their allocations in the budget. There was outrage in the nation over the scandal. Many asked Buhari to withdraw the entire budget and apologize to the nation for such an embarrassment. The Presidency ignored that and said that the mix-up was caused by a “budget mafia.” Shortly after, the President, who had been easing off officials appointed by the past administration and replacing them with his own, seized the opportunity to sack some 24 heads of parastatals, including the Director-General of Budget Office, Aliyu Yahaya-Gusau.
Many people felt that those who caused the budget scandal had been punished. But what was the punishment? Nobody was arrested; nobody was prosecuted; nobody was indicted for the budget scandal. Yet, many people believed that “those who wanted to stain the President’s unblemished record” had been sacked. That is the fall guy syndrome.
What was curious was that even before the Presidency blamed it on the budget mafia, many had begun to blame it on “those who surround the President.” The President, who approved and signed the budget and presented it to the National Assembly, was let off the hook, while the blame landed on “those around him.”
Furthermore, as the dollar exchange rate ballooned to about N400 two weeks ago, a 2015 campaign poster of Buhari on the exchange rate surfaced online. The poster, which bore the pictures of Buhari and his running mate, now Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said: “Is N216 to $1 okay? It’s time to speak out! Vote APC Change. March 28, 2015. Buhari – Osinbajo. Act now.” Given that the 2015 election was postponed from February 14 to March 28, it is obvious that the poster was produced about this time last year.
Ironically, one year after this message, and with the exchange rate of the dollar moving towards N400 – about double the price it was last year when the APC/Buhari used it as a campaign point – the same narrative that Buhari is not to blame is on. Jonathan is blamed for causing the skyrocketing depreciation of the naira. While he was in office last year, he was to blame; and now that Buhari is in office, Jonathan is still to blame.
In the same vein, the more companies sack their staff because of the economic crunch, or the more the stock market experiences huge losses, it is blamed on Jonathan and the PDP for “destroying the economy.” Buhari is not asked: “Sir, in practical terms, what have you done to boost the economy?”
For his inability to “jail corrupt politicians” as promised, Buhari is not to blame. The blame falls on “the judiciary, powerful lawyers and powerful PDP people who don’t want Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade to succeed.” Those who join him in this excuse were those who believed during the campaign that once elected, President Buhari would “jail” corrupt politicians. Such people did not bother to ask: “As a democratically elected President, will you have the powers to jail people or is it the responsibility of the judiciary to do so? Can you even make the judiciary to fast-track a case?”
Also, for his inability to crush Boko Haram in two months as promised, the blame is not Buhari’s but Jonathan’s for not buying weapons for the army. And when Jonathan said that the weapons the military has been using to fight Boko Haram were those he purchased, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information and Culture, promptly added that the weapons bought by Jonathan were substandard. The military came out to say that they are not fighting with substandard weapons.
Recently some Nigerians went as far as calling themselves “criminals” to prove that there was nothing wrong in the comments that Buhari made in his London interview, for which he was criticised by many Nigerians.
Ironically, when Buhari was announced the winner of the 2015 presidential election, the stock market appreciated hugely. As Buhari was inaugurated as President on May 29, 2015, the naira began to gain in value, electricity supply improved, the refineries began to work. These were credited to Buhari’s “body language”. He was seen as a change agent. But as the naira began to plummet and the stock market nosedived and electricity supply worsened, Buhari was excused again and Jonathan and other people and circumstances took the blame.
Does Buhari, as well as those who fanatically defend him, think that this shirking of responsibility is a positive leadership trait? A true leader takes responsibility. A true leader takes both the praise and the blame. A true leader is not too proud to apologize for any mistakes made and move on to new things. A true leader thinks of how to solve problems, not how to blame the past or the conditions in which he finds himself. The reason Buhari beat Jonathan in last year’s election was because he created the impression in the minds of many voters that he had answers to problems Jonathan was seen as not solving well. Jonathan is gone. Buhari is in charge now. Nigerians would like to see how he is solving the problems facing the country, not how he is blaming people and situations.
Rather than humour Buhari and make excuses for him, Nigerians should ask him:
“Mr President, what is your economic blueprint?
“Why have you retained the 10 aircraft in the presidential fleet on which you admitted spending N2.3 billion to maintain between May and November last year at an austere time like this?
“Why did you budget N3.9 billion for renovation of Aso Villa at a time like this when things are hard?
“Why was the budget for Aso Clinic higher than the budget for all the federal hospitals in Nigeria?
“Why have you not led the campaign to buy made-in-Nigeria products, especially in the automobile sector, as a way of boosting the economy?
These are just simple questions that will make the President roll up his sleeves for the task and sacrifice ahead, not justification and defence that make the Presidency feel comfortable with excuses when solutions are needed.
The nose diving of our economy needs to be arrested urgently and then our economy systematically stabilised and revived. There is no APC yam or PDP rice in the market. There is no APC hunger or PDP hunger. There is no APC economy or PDP economy. What we have is the Nigerian economy for everybody within the Nigerian territory. Action is needed urgently.
PUNCH
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