Buhari’s last Democracy Day speech and unfolding legacies

 

We’re counting down to the end of the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.). Last Sunday, June 12, he made his last Democracy Day speech as president. By this time next year, he would have acquired the toga of an ex-president. How time flies! This time in 2023, the seventh general elections would have been held, winners would have been inaugurated and on the next June 12, we would be listening to the first Democracy Day speech by Buhari’s successor. Such is life. Life is in phases; men are in sizes. 10 kings, 10 seasons!

I have had the privilege of reviewing the president’s last Democracy Day speech on several media platforms namely Voice of America, Silverbird Television, Citizens 93.7FM Abuja, TV 360 and WAZOBIA Max TV, where I have to address the viewers in pidgin English. To my own mind, the president was economical with words in his speech. In the 24-paragraph speech, he only gave a brief history of the June 12 struggle, his appraisal of the just concluded political party primaries ahead of the 2023 general election as well as his regime’s efforts at fighting insecurity and terrorism.

In recalling the memory of June 12, the president posited that “On June 12, 1993, Nigerians saw the best in our citizens as we all went out to vote peacefully. By June 24, 1993, we also saw the worst of our leadership as the elections were annulled.” While I agreed with the president that the just concluded party primaries were peaceful and orderly. I, however, disagree that most candidates ran issued-based campaigns. I followed the primaries like the president and did not travel out as the president did on several occasions in the course of that two month’s event, what I saw was not issues-based campaigns but obscene monetisation of the party nomination process.

I am surprised that the president did not as much as utter a whimper on the high Expression of Interest and Nomination fees charged by his All Progressives Congress, which sold the forms at N100m. The president did not condemn the “dollarisation” of the party primaries by his party members as well as those of the main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, who heavily induced the party delegates with dollars. Did he not receive security reports on this or he simply chooses to ignore the unwholesome act? Under the president’s watch, election has become a brazen bazaar by members of the Billionaire’s Club! Is this a worthy legacy to bequeath to the incoming administration?

The president said another positive that came from the 2022 party primaries for him was the significant increase in women and youth participation, particularly across all parties. I wish the president had compared the statistics from the last party primary in 2018 with that of 2022 to give more insight into the extent of the increase. To my own mind, while many women and youths aspire to be candidates, only a handful won their primaries. This is despite the discount given to them on the Expression of Interest and Nomination Forms. The rationale behind this poor performance is due to the high level of bribery and corruption in the entire nomination exercise.

I concur with the president on his charge to the candidates to embark on peaceful and issues-based campaigns. He was also on point when he informed the voters that in the last seven years, his government across all tiers has made significant investments to reform and enhance our electoral laws, systems and processes to safeguard our votes. This is so very true. In 2018, the president signed into law five constitutional amendment bills some of which border on elections namely the popular Not Too Young To Run bill, party deregistration bill (section 225A), financial autonomy for State Houses of Assembly and State Judiciary, among others. It would be recalled that on Friday, February 25, 2022, the president made history by signing into law the fifth Electoral Act in this Fourth Republic which started in 1999. This piece of legislation which I have reviewed severally on this page has the capacity to enhance the credibility and inclusiveness of our elections if faithfully implemented. This law will be put to test in Ekiti State on Saturday, June 18 when the electorate in the state will go to poll to choose the successor to the incumbent governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

On the issue of insecurity, which the president flagged in his 2022 Democracy Day speech, I agree with his submission that to overcome insecurity “…we must all contribute. It is not the job of government alone.” Indeed, we must all cooperate with our security agencies by reporting any suspicious characters and activities to law enforcement agencies. We can only have a safe country if we are able to prevent crime, not after the crime has been committed. Spot on admonition!

It is heart-warming to learn from the president that the security structures of the country have been reformed and that some of the defence assets procured by his regime three years ago have arrived and have been deployed. It’s also soothing news that “Our cyber security and surveillance systems are being upgraded to further enhance our ability to track and trace criminal elements.” I can also testify that Buhari’s regime is recruiting and training new personnel across all our security and intelligence agencies to strengthen the country’s overall security. Just last Saturday, 5,800 soldiers graduated from Army Depot in Zaria while the president gave a standing order to the Nigeria Police to recruit 10,000 constables every year.

Buhari ended his last Democracy Day speech as president with a commitment to a free, fair and transparent electoral process, while also pleading with all citizens to come together and work with government to build a peaceful and prosperous nation. Well, so much said but what is left unsaid gives me cause for worry. Nothing is said about the economy and anti-corruption which are the other canons of his presidency. The economy is comatose with spiralling inflation, high unemployment and grinding poverty. There is unease in business environment as manufacturers and service providers shut down factories and other businesses due to high cost of production, no thanks to the protracted energy crises. Diesel now sells for close to N800 per litre, petrol which is being subsidised with N4 trillion in the 2022 budget remains scarce in many states including Abuja where we have been queuing for the essential commodity since January.

The country’s anti-corruption rating has been low due to grand and petty corruption which has become pervasive in the country. The recent arrest of the Accountant General of the Federation, Ahmed Idris, for mega corruption to the tune of about N170 billion is a case in point. This is the same person who purportedly has been helping the government to weed out ghost workers and saving billions of naira through the Integrated Payroll Personnel Information System now being caught using bogus consultancies and proxies to siphon billions of naira out of the nation’s treasury.

What will be Buhari’s legacies? Laws, some sunshine laws. For example, the earlier mentioned constitutional amendments and Electoral Act, Petroleum Industrial Act, National Disability Act, Police Equipment Trust Fund Act as well as the revised Police Act 2020, the revised Company and Allied Matters Act as well as the recently signed anti-corruption laws viz. the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Bill, 2022, and the Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Bill, 2022. To his credit also stands the revival of rail transportation.