You Made My Day Mr. President

By Ogbonna Nwuke

I couldn’t have imagined this was possible. Not even in my wildest dream could I have thought it possible.
But truth is, it is happening.
Under the watch of a man that some persons consider very uncompromising and vindictive, Nigeria is at last addressing a sordid past, and laying the foundation stone for a better democratic future.
Last week, the President took all of us completely by surprise. He said his administration had decided after careful consideration to honour Chief MKO Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 general elections with the highest honour which is reserved for Heads of State and Presidents.
He similarly announced that June 12 would be celebrated from next year as Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
Also honoured were Alhaji Babagana Kingibe who ran as Abiola’s deputy and Chief Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, who fought relentlessly to re-validate the election of MKO.
In one clean swoop PMB simply took hold of the monstrous conspiracy that had buried truth for 25 years and threw it into a thrash can.
For once, I could see a true Commander-in-Chief in action; a true commander with a sense of history; and a commander with a vision for the people that he leads.
Across the land, as the news spread, ordinary Nigerians wondered if it could indeed be true. But the will to do so was not lost on those who know PMB well.
As a young soldier, Buhari had given chase to Cameroonian soldiers in defense of Nigeria’s honour until Defence Headquarters ordered him back to the barracks.
He had taken on a group of Islamic radicals who had encamped on the North without any hesitation as a soldier, displaying the kind of resolve that he now has while tackling Boko Haram as President of Nigeria.
Uppermost in his heart at all times has been the need to uphold Nigeria’s sovereignty and ensure in line with Constitutional provisions that Nigeria remains a united and indissoluble country.
Until now, we have had all kinds of leaders. Leaders with toothy smiles who smiled through every situation and pretended to be intellectuals. Leaders who tried to make the rest of us believe nobody could do a better job of managing the government and people of Nigeria better than themselves.
We’ve had leaders too, leaders who have come to form a habit of turning all of us into readers of lengthy, sometimes boring letters.
Of course there have been leaders masquerading as harmless persons who never had a problem with anyone.
If you ever had any problem at all under their watch, you probably had such problems with their wives!
Yet, for some of these leaders that we have had, the country Nigeria has even become more like a private estate. So, if you want anything done, just about anything, you need their permission.
If you were to want hands to run the country’s ministries and parastatals for instance, simply tell them and they would fix it!
Three years ago, a leader rarely given to smiling and all kinds of frivolities came riding into town.
They said he was a bad example for democracy, even suggested he was too old to be around the corridors of power and accused him of extreme tribalism.
Who could have thought that behind such a stern looking face, lies such a heart of gold?
Who could have believed that a former soldier could feel this kind of compassion? In a country that is used to talking about North and South, who would have believed that a Northerner would go out of his way to restore the place of a Southerner humiliated on the eve of his election victory and left to die?
The mere thought that others before him did nothing to justify the electoral confidence, which June 12 brought to the table when Abiola coasted to victory, may have been sufficient to force him to backtrack.
Buhari didn’t.
He rallied his troops and simply charged forward. Today, the whole world is talking about our dear country.
I’m so thrilled.
Many Nigerians are too and the reactions that have so far greeted the President’s action is proving that the gesture to wipe the slate clean has been well received.
It is not possible to make omelettes without cracking eggs. So, it is possible that among those who have led Nigeria, there might be some soured minds.
Obasanjo, a major beneficiary of the June 12 saga had decided to do nothing about his kinsman. He rather chose to pick May 29 as Nigeria’s Democracy Day.
It is clear that for a man who simply wants to be seen as “Mr. Nigeria”, the reversal of the May 29 date might hurt him, perhaps deeply.
There is another leader whose desire to be seen as the “evil genius” was overwhelming.
His name is Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida. He was the one who annulled the June 12 election considered the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history.
What a shame that IBB is still living to see how cruel history could be. What has happened is the greatest indictment of the action that he took years ago before retiring to enjoy his loot at the mansion on the hill top.
IBB owes this nation an apology, if for nothing, because his action, long after he left office, led eventually to the death of MKO, the winner of that election that he truncated.
I know, deep in my heart that IBB would never ask for forgiveness. In any case, I doubt that Nigerians are in the mood even to accept his apology should he contemplate it.
Some people are already asking for all those who had a role to play in the matter to be brought to book.
It would be nice to see IBB and his cohorts pay for their crime. Many years after the Second World War, the Jewish nation is still hunting for those who were part of the holocaust. So there is no reason why IBB and his friends should escape punishment. As for OBJ, it is time someone told him a single tree doesn’t make a forest.
Nigerians are tired of his ways; tired of his overbearing presence; and tired of the pretentious display of patriotism that flows from him.
After dealing with the rehabilitation of the victims of the Biafran war and erasing a dark spot in our history through the restoration of MKO, Kingibe and Gani who are connected to the pro-democracy era, Buhari is apparently teaching OBJ a lesson on how to be truly patriotic.
I remember an interview that OBJ had with the BBC. His interviewer had literarily told OBJ to his face that he was allegedly part of the corruption in Nigeria. OBJ wouldn’t need us to remind him. That encounter was on “Hard Fact”.
Any one can say anything about Buhari, but it would not pertain to corruption. That is a major difference between the one who would want to run a second tenure election and the one scheming to raise a team of so-called OBJ boys to seize power though the ballot box.
All said, these past few days, I have been so proud to be called a Nigerian. Why not? From the honour of MKO, the President went ahead to sign laws that would end the dependence of State Houses of Assembly as well as State Judiciaries on State Governments.
As a result of the first line charge introduced by the Buhari era, Nigeria’s concept of the separation of powers has been greatly enhanced.
It is up to the State legislatures and the State Judiciaries to build the appropriate capacity required to guarantee their autonomy as arms of government.
Henceforth, State Governors can no longer determine when the assemblies would sit or when funds meant for their operations would be released to them. That is over.
In the same vein, Chief Judges don’t need to go cap in hand to beg for their statutory allocations any more.
Mr. President you have made my day. Now I know why God probably chose you. Why despite many attempts in the past to get to the Presidency, he kept you for a time like this when the nation needs to heal wounds that have left it sharply divided.
Ride on Mr. President.