Is Buhari Another Rochas?
In Law 41 of the book titled 48 Laws of Power, a New York based classical writer named Robert Greene states that a leader should avoid stepping into a great man’s shoes. According to him,
‘What happened first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man… disparage his legacy, belittle it…. Burn all the books of your predecessors …Never let yourself be seen as following your predecessor’s path. If you do you will never surpass him…’.
Whenever I remember the above ideology and relate it with what we are presently witnessing in Nigeria under the new leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari, I have every course to entertain great fears.
Presently, President Buhari has completely left administration and is trying to gain popularity by disparaging all the government of his predecessor-in-office did. Going by the provisions of the above concept by Robert Greene, Buhari now sees nothing good in what Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan achieved while in office.
One cannot tell me that there was no single good legacy left for Buhari to appreciate and build on. I think in line with the above law, this is the only way Mr President feels he can gain popularity.
Therefore, any leader who says that all his predecessors did were wrong should be watched critically. It may be a gimmick to gain cheap popularity. It may be that the leader does not want to become popular out of provision of good governance which involves great vision and hard work but through blackmail which seems cheap. The leader is likely to be worse than his predecessors.
Rather, an honest leader will always say that he will build on the good things left behind by his predecessors modify, improve or make better the ones considered not in line with his own policies. But to totally write off an entire administration even without showing any clear difference after 6 months of taking over is high suspicious of Buhari.
When Governor Rochas Okorocha became the governor of Imo State in 2011, he came with this same format. He condemned all his predecessors did so as to appear heroic, popular, outstanding and religious. But today, it is very clear that what the governor came to Imo to do is a mere jamboree full of fraud and deceit. When Okorocha came in newly, he sacked the democratically elected local government system, sacked newly employed public servants, destroyed Imo Road Maintenance Agency, re-named and re-painted government owned commercial vehicles procured by his predecessors, re-named estates and all other government systems established by his predecessors etc. Today, roads built by Governor Okorocha’s predecessors many years ago are still strong while his have been completely washed away because of inferiority in quality. What of local government system, rule of law, welfare of government employees, pensioners, government industries, the health sector etc?
Be that as it may, from the little so far seen just like I said during end of the year 2011 about Governor Rochas Okorocha, I respectfully think Buhari’s administration lacks administrative acumen, focus, preparedness and sincerity of purpose and is only adopting this Satanic model of governance. This thinking may elicit criticisms but the end not now, will prove me either right or wrong.
It is quite agreed that corruption is the bane of every society. However, President Buhari can also fight corruption and at the same time provide good administration because I know that the fight against corruption will not start and end in Buhari’s his life-time.
On the other hand, it should also be noted that inability to implement campaign promises and provide good governance is also corruption. Inability to condemn and stop anarchists like Governor Okorocha who boastfully break the provisions of our laws is also corruption. Is there a corrupt mind that is better than that of he who wilfully uses gun to truncate a democratically elected government?
It is an irony that today, the price of petrol in Nigeria is higher this time the Daura-born president is directly in charge of the petroleum sector. The hardship this is causing the people is becoming unbearable. I will be happy if the hardship is a temporary sacrifice the people will be making so as to have a lasting solution in the end.
Some people say that President Buhari was only prepared for war and crises before the election than being prepared for administration but was cut unawares by Ex-president Jonathan’s unprecedented acceptance of defeat. Justifying this, those who belong to this school of thought used the long time it took Buhari and the type of persons the president appointed ministers at last including the inability to stop insurgency in the northern part of the country to buttress this claim.
When Buhari’s military government was removed by the military in 1985, there were a lot of reasons given by Buhari’s then professional colleagues who knew him better than us. Is there a need now to critically re-examine those reasons so as to be properly guided on the mind-set of our president? Are those reasons prevalent again in this his second missionary journey?
However, I see another Rochas in Buhari and God forbid that it shall be so!
Barr Emperor Iwuala (KSC.)
Owerri-based Private Legal Practitioner, Human Rights Defender and Public Affairs Analyst
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