In March 2017, a remarkable memo sent seven months earlier to President Muhammadu Buhari, leaked.
It had been written by Nasir El-Rufai, the then Governor of Kaduna State and member of the president’s inner circle, in September 2016.
Hate or love Mr. El-Rufai, he is a brilliant man. His brilliance — which is sometimes dedicated to questionable causes — was on display in the memo to his hero in which he challenged Mr Buhari to rise to the level of an unforgettable leader.
The governor offered three reasons for the memo. The third, particularly perceptive one, said, “I am of the strong opinion and belief that you are our only hope now and in the medium term of saving the Nigerian nation from collapse, and enabling the north of Nigeria to regain its lost confidence, begin to be respected as a significant contributor, and not the parasite and problem of the Nigerian federation.”
Governor El-Rufai provided Buhari with a full reading of the state of Nigeria. Choosing his words delicately, he said, “In very blunt terms, Mr President, our APC administration has not only failed to manage expectations of a populace that expected overnight ‘change’ but has failed to deliver even mundane matters of governance outside of our successes in fighting BH insurgency and corruption. Overall, the feeling even among our supporters today is that the APC government is not doing well.”
He analyzed the relationship between the governments at the federal and state levels. He looked at APC. He looked at various levers and levels of power and responsibility, including the public service, parastatals and the judiciary.
The governor called on the wisdom of the 800-page Ahmed Joda Transition Committee Report. He cited the recommendations of the Oronsaye Committee on the reduction of duplication between parastatals and agencies.
He provided data and dates, names and identities, strategies and mechanisms, arguing, “It is neither too late nor impossible to achieve higher levels of policy coordination and consistency. It has been done in the past with the right chemistry between key economic policy centres. It must be done now.”
El-Rufai analysed the immediate term. Then the medium. He took Buhari by the hand. Nudged him on the elbow. Rubbed his back. Wiped his glasses. Showed him contours and colours. Rephrased himself.
The governor pleaded. Flattered. Ordered fresh gworo. Yelled at someone for new Daura-style words of praise.
It was not the first time, it turned out, that El-Rufai was trying to get Buhari to wake up; right after the presidential election in April 2015, he had written his first advocacy of “real work” for the president.
“Expectations are at an all-time high,” he said. “It is a giddy moment for Nigeria because under your calm and consistent leadership, we have shown that achieving the impossible only takes longer. To sustain this, we must set the right tone and direction for your administration in a manner that is both timely and appropriate. You must send the right signals very early on that not only change has come to Nigeria but in reality things will change in the shortest possible time.
“We must neither lose the enormous goodwill that you currently enjoy, nor the governance momentum people expect, once you are sworn in. I have seen these avoidable events happen to the Obasanjo, Yar’adua and Jonathan administrations.”
Warning Buhari that things were far worse in Nigeria than in 1984 when he first served as Head of State, he advised, “You must through your words, your personal example and the selection of the team around you, unite our nation by creating a sense of inclusion that gives people of proven honesty, competence and commitment, roles in your government.
The mistake of the outgoing regime of creating a strong appearance of an Ijaw enclave, or the Katsina – Kano cabal of Yar’adua, must be deliberately avoided. There will be a strong “it’s our own turn” sentiment among many of our own allies and comrades. This must be strongly resisted.”
He urged Buhari to deploy the ethos of sacrifice. “The fanfare, protocol and the sirens that excessively separate the people from their leaders must be moderated as a matter of conscious and deliberate policy. You will have to set the tone for a new era of modesty.
“You have to make ostentation socially abhorrent and, to use the language of today’s youth, uncool. You will have to enjoin all APC governors, legislators and ministers — and everyone in the service of the federal government — to do the same. Our people will make these sacrifices willingly when they see their leaders making the same.”
Buhari — we must believe that he really could read — ignored the governor’s memo in April 2015, and 2017. Either that or he simply burned them. For eight years, Buhari was far more averse to commonsense than Yar’Adua and Jonathan put together.
Towards the end of his tenure, when even praise-singers began to feel confident enough to describe before him the stench of his administration, he threatened to depart for Niger. Last week, the protests arrived at his door in Daura, the message of anger transmitted to him first-hand.
I do not know who Buhari blames for the protests. El-Rufai’s memos provide clear evidence of how much he championed the bad governance that has grounded Nigeria he is responsible for.
Mr. Tinubu, for whom El-Rufai’s memo may well have been written, blames the protests on forces beyond his policies or the continuation of Buhari’s, the quality of his government, and the poverty of his example.
No, the shame of Nigeria did not start with Buhari and Tinubu. But for men and a party who arrived in 2014 wielding a broom and a banner which screamed “CHANGE,” it is remarkable that despite poverty, insecurity and hunger taking over in their hands, none of them can find the courage to accept the responsibility.
It is perhaps not surprising that as Nigerian security forces spent the last 10 days aiming live bullets at hungry but unarmed protesters, Nigerian youth have fruitlessly scoured all of Paris painfully unable to win Olympic medals. Raise your hand if you know any so-called leaders who invest in opportunities for the youth at home, even as their children are buying million-dollar homes and attending schools abroad.
The best lesson from the current situation in Nigeria is the same as it has always been: if Nigeria is to change, Nigerians must translate their pains and frustrations into a cudgel for repelling bad politicians at the polling booth.
That is why, in November 2022, I called the 2023 elections “a rejection election,” writing, “Unless you agree with those who say the present is not bad enough; unless you want to be much worse off in 2030 than you are in 2022; unless you want to shut the doors of hope to your grandchildren; unless you agree with those who say you are blind, deaf and dumb; to you has been granted the power to say, “No, Never Again!”
Whatever happens at these protests, the final challenge is for Nigerians to fight to choose who leads them. Cocoyam will not produce yam.
