Professor Soremekun analyses the recent President Muhammadu Buhari’s public declaration of assets, saying that the president is not a typical Nigerian.
Have we really had any novel policy thrusts since Buhari took office?
As I contemplate the Nigerian condition or non-condition, I continue
to marvel at contemporary happenings. The nirvana is certainly not here
yet. Still, it is possible to discern new ozone in public life.
Suddenly, public officials are more responsive.
The refineries appear to be working. Petrol queues, for now at least, are gone. Electricity supply seems to have improved.
And therefore one is tempted to ask: What has happened? Have we
really had any novel policy thrusts since Muhammadu Buhari assumed the
Presidency of the country? As a student of public affairs, it is
possible to answer this question in the negative. Yet, there is new
ozone in public life.
It does not take much to appreciate that, what has happened so far is
that the president’s reputation and sheer force of personal example
have probably sly truck the fear of God in people who run our institutions.
Buhari’s recent public declaration of his assets
The upshot is that a novel and positive lease of life seems to
pervade the land one striking instance here is President Muhammadu
Buhari’s recent public declaration of his assets. As we all know by now,
these assets are now in the public space.
And if those details are true, then what has been declared should
sear the conscience of all past and present public officers,
particularly at the highest of levels. Here is a man, who has been in
control of vast resources as a military governor, minister of petroleum
and a former Head of State.
Yet, all that he could claim to own are houses and lands in places
like Port Harcourt, Kaduna and Abuja as well as N30n in his bank
account. To be sure, by the general Nigerian standards, Buhari is not a
poor man. But by the jaded and conscienceless standards of his peers, he
certainly comes up short-at least in materialistic terms.
Some people with warped values are even likely to snigger and ask: Is
this the entire worth of this man? Probably yes. But on the platform of
morality, very few of his peers can really hold up the candle to him.
And this is partly why, I have dared to state here that, Buhari is
not a Nigerian. If he was the typical Nigerian in public life, he would
be in possession of trillions, cash wise and non-cash equivalents in
other areas like properties and jets ownership.
Even then, the declaration in itself has sparked off implicit and
explicit comparisons, which seem to indicate that this man stands out.
Indeed, some people with a dark sense of humour or out of sheer wonder
and concern have pointed out that the average local government chairman
in Nigeria (where else?) is richer than Buhari.
And of course and as we all know, this may well be true. But, what is
perhaps much more revealing especially in these times is that other
public officials are refusing to be drawn into the ring of public asset
declaration. Take our elected governors for instance. Either out of
ignorance or mischief, they are saying that there are no statutory
provisions which require them to do so. Very much the same bankrupt
postures can be observed on the part of the senators and members of the
House of Representatives who, by the way, are supposed to be
distinguished and honourable.
Why Buhari’s contentions are very instructive
Meanwhile, and as revealed in newspaper reports, Buhari appears to be
exasperated by the fact that, despite his attempts to come clean with
what he owns, he appears to have opened up another round of controversy
on this issue. In a sense, this is only to be expected. Vultures as they
are won’t have to feed on something. Which are why, the General’s
contentions are very instructive. According to him, in the course of his
public life, he has declared his assets four times since 1974. At the
risk of being contradicted, I do not think that any Head of State or
public official has come forth in this way.
However, for the records, as well as balance, it is relevant to state
here that in the recent past, former president Umaru Yar’Adua, and his
then deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, respectively declared their assets. But
when the latter mounted the saddle as the point-man of our system, and
the self-same issue came up, he pointedly and memorably remarked: I do
not give a damn! Which is just as well. For in a rather Freudian and
self-indicting way, Jonathan was known to declare in another context
that some of our leaders behave like motor park touts!
But even then, before I am done, since Buhari has bitten the bullet,
it may be useful for other public officials to do the same. I am
referring here to governors, ministers, and the invisible army of
invincible permanent secretaries. And to President Buhari, he should
take heart. After all, my ancestral folk, in their eternal wisdom, have
always said that if you indict someone for cooking a bad soup, what will
you do to the person who has cooked none?
Last line: I am sure that the hidden dimensions of Buhari’s assets would
have been exposed by now if such information was available.
Soremekun is a Professor of political science at the National Open University of Nigeria.
