The Cattle Rearer Chronicles — A Season of Red Lines, Rats and Reality Checks
The Gift that keeps on giving. An apt description of the Buhari administration and its generosity to critics, satirists, cartoonists, comedians and the like. There’s very little work required when there’s an unending stream of material, the challenge is deciding what to go with at any given time. Not even the Jonathan administration (easily the most vilified in Nigeria’s history) gave up this much, this consistently and in an unerringly retrogressive fashion. No government has blown this much goodwill in such a short space of time, a truly spectacular descent from the heady heights of that brilliant “I belong to everybody, and I belong to nobody” speech.

2017 has been about absenteeism, albeit sickness induced. Having been away for a cumulative 5 months of the 7 and a half months of the year so far (recent absence was for 104 consecutive days), President Buhari returned to the country amid fanfare. In his address to the nation upon his return, the President chose to focus on the insecurity across the nation. Given his background in the military this was always seen as his strong suit. However, things appear to have gotten worse and the president sought to reassure the people and energize the military in its continued battle against Boko Haram as well as according to him, other threats such as kidnappings, farmers vs herdsman clashes and ethnic violence.
While the focus remains rightfully on the North East, President Buhari took it a step further by introducing a new phrase into everyday Nigerian lexicon, see excerpt of speech below:
“In the course of my stay in the United Kingdom, I have been kept in daily touch with events at home. Nigerians are robust and lively in discussing their affairs, but I was distressed to notice that some of the comments, especially in the social media have crossed our national red lines by daring to question our collective existence as a nation. This is a step too far.”
Full speech can be found here. National red lines. In particular, “our collective existence as a nation”. Coming from someone who was a key player in the Nigerian Civil War and fought on the Nigeria side it is quite understandable. The Biafra connections were further underlined when he recalled his agreement with the late Emeka Ojukwu in 2003 that Nigeria’s unity is non negotiable. Unfortunately, Buhari’s antecedents do not support this so called passion for unity. It is the same Buhari who after he became president, was asked about inclusion and his response was an ill advised spiel about how the 97% that supported him can expect more than the 5% that did not. He has not visited the South East since he became president and on national TV was in vehement support of the DSS disobedience of bail granted to Nnamdi Kanu (leader of Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) movement).
While I do believe in and would fight for (literally and figuratively) the unity of Nigeria, to say this is non negotiable is ridiculous, to say the least. Nigeria is not a homogeneous entity. It was put together by Lord Lugard via the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern Protectorates for sake of administrative convenience. Apart from being the same race, there are very few (if any) similarities in culture, languages or traditions. If Scots (who are more like the English than the Igbos are like Yorubas or Hausa-Fulanis) can have a referendum to decide whether to leave or remain in the United Kingdom, then surely sub national groups in Nigeria have the rights to the same, as protected by UN Charter. A refusal to acknowledge this further stokes the flames of dissent and allows extremists hijack what could otherwise be a peaceful national discussion. The outcomes of the 2014 National Conference are a good place to begin the dialogue and work towards a win-win for all. Rather than approach the issue with sagacity befitting a man of his age, Buhari chose to issue threats and sound tough…..in 2017.
President Buhari was also quite clear on his discomfort with ongoing conversations in the Social Media space, referencing this in his speech. Coming on the heels of the recent National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) regulations targeting what it termed “hate speech” on radio and television, it portrayed a government keen to control the narrative especially with a new election season upon us. It is ironic given that President Buhari finally won the presidency after 4 attempts, riding the wave of anti government sentiment that was engendered primarily via social media. Perhaps having seen first hand the effect and how it helped unseat an incumbent, the president is unwilling to take the chance of lightning striking twice. It remains to be seen what form the social media clamp down (if it materializes) takes.
Having whipped up disappointment and discord (amazing for a speech of less than 5 minutes duration!), the Presidency thought to provide a bit of comic relief. News came out that the president would be working from home while his office underwent some renovations as a result of rat infestation while he was away. Unfortunately, not a lot saw any humor in this as it was another gaffe in a long line of embarrassing faux pas to plague this administration. Foreign and local media have carried the news, cartoonists and satirists are rubbing their hands with glee, taking advantage of fresh material, so freely provided. It beggars belief that the highest office in the land becomes derelict simply because the office holder is temporarily away, no matter how long. Government is a continuum and the housekeeping staff have a lot of explaining to do if this is true. If (as some say) this is some excuse to cover the fact that the president needs to continue recuperating out of the public eye, then the disappointment in the caliber of people responsible for shaping communication from the presidency, runs much deeper.
Beyond the comic relief, the reality remains that Nigeria not only has a president out of touch with current reality and perhaps ill equipped to address the matters at hand. To compound the issue, he is also largely incapacitated by a grave illness. The country is struggling on many fronts with a floundering economy, escalating insecurity, an increasingly impoverished populace and corruption still very much a part of the public space in spite of “body language”. It is clear that the required leadership is severely lacking and has been for quite a while, even before the enforced absence. The vacuum is becoming now quite apparent and the jostle to fill it has begun in earnest. It is up to the people to ensure that the parameters for making their choice take into account the learnings from the last 10 years, but more importantly the last 2.
As the saying goes, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Nigerians will only have themselves to blame if the 2019 elections do not yield a much different, more favorable outcome.
