By Ibrahim Habu Suleiman

The federal government declared Tuesday, July 15 a national holiday in memory of late President Buhari and seven days of national mourning. This, according to the FG, is a mark of respect to the late General who sacrificed his entire life for the services of his motherland. The late President was an epitome of simplicity, a patriot who had good intentions for the welfare of the masses.

Late President Buhari died on Sunday, July 13th in a London hospital. He was aged 82 years. Of course, few people in history are known to have served their people through such a long life span without any blemish.

The late President was an epitome discipline, and he served his country with honesty and perseverance and always had the masses at heart, even though he was surrounded in his latter years by a cabal that stood in the way of implementation of his welfarist ideals. He was called upon to serve as Chairman, Petroleum Trust Fund, PTF, set up during the reign of late General Sani Abacha. President Muhammadu Buhari distinguished himself by offering credible service without illegally pocketing anything in the process. In fact, he was described as the best man for the job and he acquitted well in the distribution of the funds fairly and justly across the country.

The late president also distinguished himself credibly well in all the military and political positions he held, including being the first Chairman of Nigerian National Petroleum Company, NNPC from 1976. All these so-called “lucrative” positions should have tempted him into grabbing monumental wealth, but he stuck to his legal entitlements.

Thus, when in December 1983 he was made the military head of state after the overthrow of late Alhaji Shehu Shagari, his regime embraced “War Against Indiscipline, WAI” and anti-corruption crusade. It was short lived following his overthrow by retired Major General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida in 1985.

After his release from detention in 1988 by the military junta that succeeded him, Buhari retired to his simple life style mostly in his home town, Daura, in Katsina State. It wasn’t until the return of civilian democracy that Buhari resurfaced when his admirers and well-wishers called upon him to stand election as a civilian president. Late President Buhari was eventually elected as president in 2015 after three unsuccessful attempts in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

There were a lot of expectations from his supporters that Buhari would continue with his anti-corruption crusade, but he encountered firm resistance by the pro-capitalist cabal surrounding him. Moreover, the late President became seriously ill and had to be flown abroad for treatment.

It’s remarkable that while most other military and civilian heads of state and presidents amassed billions of Naira for themselves, their children and grandchildren, Buhari did not steal from the government coffers to illegally enrich himself. However, the capitalist oriented cabal that surrounded him did all they could do to drain the government coffers, determined to ensure the country remained a stooge of the capitalist West.

Nevertheless, critics have continued to hammer the late president for not doing enough to put the country on the path of progressive development. He was blamed for being unable to curtail insecurity, although he did a lot to pursue Boko Haram out of the Northeast, particularly Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. Gradually, runaway members of Boko Haram joined other terrorist groups to terrorise people in parts of the Northwest and Northcentral.

In fact, the late president was no saint, even as age was not on his side. Many critics also blamed him for indecision; such critics cited his reluctance or inability to prosecute his thieving predecessors, who had looted billions of Naira, especially on the unending electricity palavre bedeviling the country. Many high profile Nigerians were however prosecuted some of them imprisoned during his tenure.

The masses of the population both in rural and urban areas constitute the bulk of the late president’s support base. He won election with this massive followership at the grassroots. Corruption became entrenched in the system since independence as religious, ethnic and regional differences were being exploited to the detriment of achieving a fair, just and united society. There is a well-known understanding that only a fistful of those at the top occupying sensitive positions bleed the country dry due to an entrenched corruption in the system. Hence, only a leader with the masses at heart can save the situation.

The general impression that the late president was an anti-corruption crusader was anchored on his activities as a dedicated and incorruptible army officer rising to become military head of state from December 1983 to August 1985. During that period his regime launched “War Against Indiscipline, WAI”. Together with his second in command, late Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon, they succeeded in launching an anti-corruption war which was brought to an end by the military junta that took over from them.

Former president Muhammadu Buhari is no more, leaving behind a void that would be difficult to fill. There is today no single prominent politician in the North or South of the country that can boast of the kind of followership that he enjoyed. It is on record that president Bola Tinubu has eulogized the late president as a hero whose achievements he intended to build on. However, reports indicate that the late president backed out from implementing the Fuel Subsidy Removal following meaningful advice on the consequences.

Apparently, late PMB wouldn’t have been able to stomach the current tribulations that inflation and the flotation of Naira have brought on Nigerians, particularly the common man.
For the first time in the history of the country, an outgoing president had refused to choose whom to succeed him; he favoured democracy to be allowed to decide for Nigerians. Yet, his successor has claimed to be on the same track, apparently geared to win Buhari’s large followership, built as a result of his deep compassion for welfare of the common man. Tinubu’s emi lokan would not have been good enough to get him to Aso Rock Villa.

Today, Buhari’s numerous contributions in infrastructural development are there for the world to see. They include among others, roads network and modern rail lines across the length and breadth of the country, as well as the metrolink in Abuja, all of which are needed for the eventual take off of the country. Already, there are efforts by the succeeding administration to emulate this trend of infrastructural development. But the difference is clear. Buhari’s intentions were not muddled with the desire to illegally enrich himself, nor to favour his own region, religion and ethnicity against all others. As he said on the first day of coming to power in 2015, “I don’t belong to anybody, I am for everybody.”

African tradition and particularly Islamic religion are against talking ill of the dead. Late President Buhari has been finally laid to rest in his family house in Daura, Katsina State on Tuesday, July 13th after prayers for the repose of his soul. The crowd that thronged the late president’s residence to witness the occasion and mourn the passage of the people’s president was unprecedented in the country’s history. May his soul rest in peace and may Almighty Allah grant him Aljannatul Firdausi. Ameen.