Every hero becomes a bore at last.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882.
BUHARI was once my hero. In his defence I was involved in uncountable arguments, lost several longtime friends and associates and needlessly savaged President Jonathan on this page from 2011 to 2015. From 2010 Buhari entered into my pantheon of untouchables occupied by four people – our Mummy Chief (Mrs) Victoria Olayinka Sobowale, Uncle Sam, Obong Victor Attah and Chief Olusegun Osunkeye. For various reasons, they were above reproach from me.
Buhari, it appeared at the time, could solve at least one problem – vastly reduce corruption in government. For that, his well-known jihadist tendencies could be forgiven. So could his visit to Oyo State to “warn” elected Governor Lam Adesina that herdsmen had a right of movement anywhere in Nigeria. To his everlasting glory, Adesina calmly told the retired general that herdsmen’s right of movement ends at the farmers’ gates – or any gate for that matter.
Nobody could be happier when he became Presidential election in 2015. The scales fell from my eyes with his first twenty appointments, nineteen Northerners, including seventeen Muslims, and only one Christian Southerner. As if to make it abundantly clear to everybody, but the deluded and the beneficiaries of his lopsided appointments, that he was determined to run a government of Northerners, by Northerners, all of his subsequent appointments demonstrated his contempt for the principle of Federal Character.
The cabal, consisting of elements from Katsina Stae moved in quickly to capture government. Ordinarily, I would have been too willing to leave Buhari alone; but, the revival of a campaign of deceit to paint him as the only President above reproach must be resisted and countered with evidence for posterity. The truth must not be buried under a heap of lies and self-deception by those who benefited from his maladministration of Nigeria. Finally, those who ask that we speak nothing disparaging about the dead, need to be reminded that what they are about to read was published while the man was alive. HYPOCRISY AND LYING WAS HIS GOVERNMENT’S POLICY “Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtues.”
De La Rochefoucold,1613-1680. Vanguard book of quotations, VBQ, p 96. Those who seek to ride to power in 2027 by presenting Buhari as a man of integrity, whose robes they intend to wrap around themselves should forget it. The integrity claimed is a figment of their collective and individual imagination. Buhari was not virtuous as advertised; he was extremely successful at deceiving all of us; especially after becoming President and appointing the best dissemblers government money and power can assemble. He and his promoters forget too easily that records exist of his tenure; which call into question the claims still being made of his integrity.
Below are excerpts from an article published in July 2017 – two years and two months after he started his first term. I challenge anybody to point to any demonstration of integrity in all the instances cited. Writing under the title: “Hypocrisy, Honesty, Integrity and Leadership”, the following facts were revealed. There was more, but three would do for now. First, as candidate on three previous occasions, Buhari had carpeted Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan for maintaining Presidential fleets of aircraft larger than most domestic airlines.
“On May 29, 2015, the former candidate became President. I waited for the Presidential Order – “Get rid of those planes” or “Reduce the size of the Presidential fleet.”. It never came. Second, Buhari “never concealed his contempt for leaders who left their health sectors in shambles and went abroad for their own treatment.” During the campaigns he promised to establish six world-class centres in order to stop the need to travel abroad for healthcare by Nigerians. As President, he not only failed to redeem his promises, he went abroad several times for treatment; and eventually died in a London hospital.
Third, nothing else exposed the carefully camouflaged character defects which his Ministers and Special Advisers have been attempting to promote better than his daughter’s wedding. According to a news report, which was not refuted, and video clips by some invitees “GSM sets worth N500,000 each were given away to those who could afford to buy them on their own.” Furthermore, the couple met, not in a Nigerian university – private or public – but in Surrey, United Kingdom. That was the man portrayed as frugal and who cared about the poor who overwhelmingly voted him into office.
Character is not like a babanriga which a man can put on and remove as he likes. It is like your skin. Just as a leopard cannot change his spots and crocodiles would shed tears as they devoured helpless victims, President Buhari was not better than any of his predecessors; and, from information available to me, he is not better than his successor.
UNKEPT PROMISES CONCERNING CORRUPTION, TERRORISTS “Promises, like [cream crackers] are made to be broken.” Jonathan Swift, 1677-1745 Breaking promises was routine for “Mr Integrity” – Buhari. He campaigned on ending corruption in government. Among others, he promised to declare his assets if elected. He never did. That was just a tip of the iceberg.
Below is a news report which was emblematic of the Buhari administration. “Jonathan’s Ministers behind oil theft – Buhari, PUNCH, July 23, 2015, front page.” Buhari said the documents at his disposal indicted some former Ministers and other top government officials of massive fraud including oil theft …. Some former Ministers were selling about one million barrels per day.” A few days after being sworn, Buhari released that self-indicting statement. Was it the truth? To begin with, no single Minister or top government official of Jonathan’s government was prosecuted for selling one million barrels a day of Nigerian crude in eight years of Buhari presidency. The question is why not? Surprisingly, the answer to “why not?”, can be deduced from the false accusation itself.
At a time when Nigeria’s crude production was barely 1.4 million, it beggars the imagination how a Minister can sell – and impliedly pocket the revenue – for one million barrels. Buhari , obviously, had started his tenure by telling a colossal lie against Jonathan. No integrity there. Flood in Ibadan, which affected my house and archives, prevents me from citing the exact date in 2021 when the Buhari government promised to release the names of those financing terrorism in Nigeria. That was another promise he never kept. Until his last day in office, no list was released; nobody was arrested or prosecuted for terrorism in the North.
Meanwhile, Mayetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, MACBAN, had risen to become the fifth ranked terrorist group in the world by an international watch group. MACBAN would threaten Governors in the North Central and massacres will follow; yet no arrests were made. Herdsmen slaughtering thousands of farmers was not terrorism according to Buhari. THE GREATEST FRAUD IN NIGERIAN HISTORY “It was beautiful and simple; just as all truly great swindles are.” O Henry, 1862-1910. VBQ p 239
The greatest fraud ever perpetrated by any government in Nigeria occurred under Buhari. His accomplice in the grand larceny for which our grandchildren will pay dearly was the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN. The abuse of the Ways and Means provision to the tune of N30 trillion – without authorization by the National Assembly, NASS and without accountability for the disposal of the funds – will remain a record for dishonesty by a Nigerian President.
This was not a simple mistake. The constitutional breach was deliberate; the refusal to account for ho the funds were spent was premeditated. I had in my possession copies of the Auditor General of the Federation’s reports from 2017 to 2021. They all exposed massive corruption in government under Buhari. Every Ministry, Department and Agency, MDA, was involved.
The worst three were the CBN, NNPC(L) and Defence. Even the Ministry of Justice and EFCC were carpeted several times. All the audit queries were ignored and nobody was punished by Buhari in eight years for not responding to queries. He became the accomplices of looters. Finally, only God knows to what extent Abacha’s loot was re-looted; properties forfeited to the FG were fraudulently disposed of and how much Baba knew about the greatest fraud in Nigerian history. But, I am aware that a book is in progress to open the can of worms which Buhari’s eight years rule has left behind. THANKSGIVING I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who have visited my page during 2025. Almighty God will make 2026 a better year for all of you.
