President Muhammed Buhari
I belong to everybody. And I belong
to nobody”- President Muhammed Buhari.
The above quotation is one the quotable
quotes from the inaugural speech of President Muhammadu Buhari at the
Eagle Square, Abuja during his swearing in. Since the quotation went
viral, there have been several misconceptions or misinterpretation of
the quotation. Precisely, many social commentators are still trying to
decode its true meaning. If viewed from the context of trying to
establish his independence in taking vital decisions in the proper
administration of the country and not just trying to play politics with
the destiny of the nation, Buhari may well be right.
It will be recalled
that his first shot at the seat of power came through the barrels of
guns as a military dictator in 1984. He is not entirely new to the seat
of government. But this is his first as a democratically elected
President and Commander -in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces. And that
is why he is trying to make populist statements like the one credited
to him above.
But does the President actually belong to
nobody? No, we beg to disagree. In actual fact, President Buhari belongs
to somebody or a group of bodies. Apart from God the Almighty who
created him and grants him long life coupled with good health to cope
with the stress of the electioneering and also protected him from the
bombs of some alleged assassins that reportedly claimed lives of some of
his bodyguards in Kaduna as soon as he emerged as the presidential
torch-bearer of the All Progressives Congress, Buhari belongs to the
party that gave him the platform to run for the presidential election
and in particular to the chieftains of the party. If the statement is
meant to serve as a notice to checkmate them on the overbearing posture
that some of them may intend to take that can hinder the dramatic and
pragmatic changes that he plans to bring to bear in the governance of
the country, he may be right. But as stakeholders in the project leading
to his election as the President, Buhari cannot completely rule out the
party’s influences on some of his policies. This is because, the
electorate and the new opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party,
will hold him (the President) and his party (the APC) jointly
accountable for the fulfilment or otherwise of their campaign promises.
So, the President belongs to his party as his primary constituency and
to some extent accountable to the party’s leadership. The President
himself too knows that he owes his party leadership the courtesy of
consulting them before making crucial political appointments or policy
statements. The Presidency and the party leadership may not always
agree, but it is the duty of Mr. President to carry his party along,
otherwise there may be cracks in the system.
Secondly, the President belongs to his
friends/loyalists and voters who voted for him and ensured that their
votes counted. A majority of these sets of people may not be
card-carrying members of the APC. Some of them were protest or sympathy
voters who swigged their votes in favour of the APC in response to the
hate campaigns mounted against Buhari by the supporters of the immediate
past President Goodluck Jonathan. And so he belongs to them. He is
accountable to them in order to keep their hope alive that the moment
for positive change has indeed come. This is the time for action and not
just for rhetoric and business as usual that Nigerians are tired of.
And to underscore the fact that the
President belongs to somebody especially his kinsmen, the North is
reportedly insisting on occupying the sensitive positions of Secretary
to the Government of the Federation, the National Security Adviser and
the Chief of Staff and that may be one of the main reasons why such
appointments have not been made. With that statement, Mr. President
intends that everybody will have a sense of belonging in his
administration. But in reality, this may not be feasible, if the body
language of the Northerners is anything to go by.
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