Salute To The People’s General At 70 By Godwin Onyeacholem

Providence, that intangible concept
of extraordinary omnipresence, is
invariably the ultimate intruder in
human affairs. Moving stealthily
with the practiced skill of a stalker,
it habitually sneaks into the life of
man and reconstructs it, giving it a
new meaning for good or for ill. For
General Muhammadu Buhari, it
would have been out of the
question to imagine that his eldest
child, Zulaiha, would not be present
as he marked the beginning of a
momentous journey into the
autumn of his life. But that,
precisely, was what unquestionable
providence had decreed.
Just a couple of weeks to clocking
that majestic age of 70, Buhari lost
his esteemed daughter to the grim
reaper in a most harrowing fashion;
thus bringing to a spontaneous end
the hopes of a daughter who, in all
likelihood, must have looked
forward to a befitting ceremony and
conceived a grand plan in honour of
a worthy father. And for the father,
it was a most devastating moment
as it represented a brutal deflation
of the expectations of having her
eldest child be part of the joy of
such a rare, crowning instance of
glory. But a devoted Muslim that he
is, the dogged Infantry General has
put the unfortunate incident down
as an act of God – once again an
inevitable admission of total
submission to the inexplicable feat
of providential effectuation. His
choice, going by his spiritual
inclination, could not have been
different.
Yet, in spite of this incredible
personal tragedy, Buhari has every
reason to celebrate and move on. To
attain the milestone of three scores
and ten in a country whose average
lifespan for men is 47 odd years, in
spite of its status as one of the
world’s top ten crude oil exporters,
is a remarkable achievement. On
this special occasion, one can’t but
salute him and join his relatives,
friends and associates, supporters
and well-wishers in thanking the
Almighty God for keeping him alive
to see this moment.
A distinguished Nigerian who
commanded several army units
before, during and after the civil war
and also served as state governor,
federal commissioner and chairman
of NNPC, the country’s oil
corporation, as well as Head of
State, this detribalised, unbigoted
yet misunderstood son of Daura,
Katsina state, surely has a date with
history.
Having initially singled out himself
as a leader with a largely
commendable performance in a
recurrent cycle of leaders without
vision with which Nigeria is
seemingly saddled, “mai
gaskiya” (custodian of truth or
rectitude), as he is widely known by
his throng of supporters across the
North, now feels compelled, and
justifiably so, to continue from
where he stopped.
In contrast to the political
philosophy of “do-or-die” espoused
by President Olusegun Obasanjo at
the winding up of his second term,
Buhari is an advocate of the politics
of making the votes count and
service to the people.
Since his inexcusable ouster on
August 27, 1985, after just twenty
months in office, the ship of state
has continued to sink deeper and
deeper in the morass of absolute
bad governance. Not even General
Sani Abacha’s regime could stop the
simmering heat of discontent that
had built up over the years. And
before one could spell anarchy,
providence, in its unsurpassed
ubiquity, showed its perplexing
hands and shunted the goggled one
to pave the way for democracy.
After sitting on the sidelines to
observe a first four years that hardly
changed anything, Buhari, out of a
gut feeling driven more by
patriotism, selflessness and belief in
acting for the good of others than
any self-seeking consideration,
threw his hat into the democratic
ring, hoping to enlist the people’s
mandate in pursuit of the high-
minded objective of arresting what
was apparently becoming an
endless drift. Three times (twice
under ANPP and once under CPC
which he formed) he has attempted
to secure the presidency; three
times he has been deliberately
denied by the ruling party’s
manipulative machinery, which
regrettably includes a combination
of the electoral umpire, security
agencies and the judiciary.
But this General still holds his head
high. He has firmly refused to be
defeated. Discussions are already in
top gear on how to rev up the
engine of his campaign for the 2015
elections. Never before has the
momentum for change been so
high, absorbing and definite. The
level of disillusionment is now at its
peak. At this critical juncture in his
life, the acclaimed people’s General
must make the last pitch for the
presidency.
More than any other time in her
history, Nigeria needs a leader to
halt this relentless march to the
brink. For the man called Buhari,
whom both the conservative and
progressive flanks of the South –
and even in the North – also
describe as “Mr. Integrity” for his
honesty, directness and zero
tolerance for corruption, the process
of renewal has to begin in 2015 or
never.