THE DAURA MAN IS VERY CLEVER –BY MARTINS OLOJA
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| President muhammadu Buhari. |
This
week’s topic is indeed the conclusion of the whole matter I began three weeks
ago on a thematic area: ‘Why Buhari is man of the decade (1&2)’. It
has been part of my periodical ‘Buhariwatch‘. I just want us to reflect on
where the rains have been beating us in this country of anything is possible. I
want all the knowledgeable ones to come with me to a point where I want us to
have some understanding that this Daura strong man, our current leader, is not
as clueless and ignorant, after all, as most of us have been portraying him.
In
other words, I have a gut feeling that most of us who have always been
pontificating on the vision and strategy of the Daura man in Nigeria are the
ones who are actually clueless about the dynamics and use of power – in a
country we hardly understand. I mean a country where the power elite do not
have a consensus about what they want their country to be. I appreciate
opinions of my brothers and sisters who have been outraged about a mere
rhetoric on President Buhari being suggested as a ‘Man of the Decade’. But I
mean it. The Daura lanky man is my ‘Man of the Decade’. I would like people to
understand that Buhari, our leader at this time, is the man the iconic Chinua
Acbebe actually calls “the white man” in his classic Things Fall Apart.
Let’s
understand this puzzle through Achebe’s setting:
“Does
the white man understand our custom about land?” “How can he when he does not
even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own
brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How
do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The
white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We
were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our
brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the
things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
This
(plot) exchange occurs at the end of Chapter 20 during the conversation between
Obierika and Okonkwo in the novel. In the discussion, which centres on various
events that have come to pass since the arrival of the colonialists, Obierika
seems to voice Achebe’s own thoughts on colonialism. Upset by the fact that the
white men have come and completely disregarded the Igbo sense of justice,
Obierika points out the impossibility of the colonialists understanding
anything about the Umuofians without speaking their language. He points out the
ludicrousness of denigrating unfamiliar customs.
According
to this plot, yet, Obierika does not lay the blame wholly on the side of the
white man. He feels also that the Umuofians who have converted to Christianity
have consciously and wrongly turned their backs on their own “brothers.” This
assessment complicates our understanding of the novel, as Achebe prevents us
from seeing matters in clear-cut terms of good (black) versus bad (white).
Indeed,
Achebe elsewhere attempts to demonstrate the validity of some questions about
Igbo culture and tradition.
If
religion and tradition are seen as the threads that hold the clan together, and
if that religion is flawed and that tradition vulnerable, it becomes hard to
determine who is at fault for the resulting destruction.
Certainly,
Achebe does not blame the villagers. But, while this quotation displays his condemnation
of the colonialists for their disrespect toward Igbo customs, it also shows his
criticism of some clan members’ responses to the colonial presence…Or so it
seems.
In the
same vein, I would like us to understand that: The Daura man, (like Achebe’s
white man) is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his brand of
politics. We were amused at his craftiness and allowed him to win election and
re-election. Now he has won our brothers, and our country can no longer act
like one. Despite that, he has taken control of the three arms of government.
He has retained control of the intelligence and security services. He has a
strong hold on all the armed and paramilitary forces. He has in his firm
control the police force. He has also deftly used his resourceful ‘kitchen
cabinet’ (some call cabal) dominated by senior journalists to take control of
the mainstream media. He appears to have pacified so many pipers. He therefore
calls the tune as he controls even the pipe. He has also seized the presidency.
The public intellectual with whom he shares the mandate has been kept busy,
fighting for his reputation. He has the entire justice system in his hand.
Three of the four anti-graft agencies can’t betray him. In fact, the fourth one
is just there. Wait a minute, the ‘glocal’ agency in charge of financial
intelligence too is headed by a technocrat who hails from a village close to
the First lady’s in Adamawa state. He has all the governors’ forums at his beck
and call. One is headed by Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, another one
is headed by Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, another is headed by Governor
Udom Gabriel of Akwa Ibom State and the central governors’ forum is headed by
Governor Kayode Fayemi, his beloved son, in whom he is well pleased.
Let us
go back to Ogidi, where Achebe is still speaking: “He has put a knife on the
things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”
But
like the Achebe’s white man, he says that, our customs are bad; and our own
brothers who have taken up his religion and joined his party also say that, our
customs are bad…How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned
against us? Let’s think a little here: During the last (2019) election, the
strong man of Daura, like the pied piper of Hamelin, also got all the governors
of the five southeastern states to his side. Even the governor of the state
Peter Obi once governed, Anambra state, did not support Peter Obi’s aspiration
to be Vice President of Nigeria. The governors of the three PDP-controlled states
in the South East, Enugu, Abia and Ebonyi states were against the choice of
Peter Obi as a running mate to Atiku Abubakar. So many times, the then Deputy
President of the Senate on PDP platform) Senator Ike Ekweremadu also threatened
to (decamp to the ruling party). Lest we forget, the governor of Anambra state
(on APGA platfrom) was so pro-Buhari then that he reportedly called the leader
of Ohanaeze Ndigbo ‘an idiot’ for publicly supporting Atiku-Obi ticket before
Buhari’s visit to Anambra state.
The
contextual report here is that though the people of the East might have
supported the Atiku-Obi ticket, all the governors’ hearts were with Buhari.
What was the level of political support from the PDP-dominated South South to
Atiku? Did the governor of governors of south-south states, Nyesom Wike fully
support the PDP presidential candidate? How many times did anyone see all the
PDP governors from the South with Atiku-Obi campaigns during the 2019 election
processes? Didn’t all the Peter Obi’s brothers turn against him according to
the gospel of Achebe? Did they not all work for the success of the enigmatic
Buhari? Didn’t they all put a knife on the fragile Biafran thing that has held
them together in the East because of the phenomenal Daura man?
Where
was the understanding or indeed the elite consensus on how to defeat Buhari
they didn’t know in the old Eastern region? When state apparatus (was)
mobilised against the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter
Onnoghen on the eve of general elections, was the first missile not fired from
a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) from South South who said he never had
$10,000 dollars in his account for all his more than 50 years as a lawyer? How
many Professors and indeed gurus from the Onnoghen’s region could see the nexus
between the trial of CJN Onnoghen and the President of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA) Usoro Usoro at the same time? How many big lawyers joined
Onnoghen’s Adegboyega Awomolo (SAN) to ask why the pending four appeals at the
Court of Appeal (on the case) were not mentioned while his (Onnoghen’s) trial
was raging at the Code of Conduct Tribunal? Now that things have fallen apart,
answers to these questions will continue to blow in the wind until the Wise Men
from the (Middle) East arrive for the strong man’s third term bid.
Did you
read a public relations gaffe by Nigeria from the ongoing United Nations
General Assembly (UNGA)? There was a report from one of the president’s men
that in a fit of triumphalism, the President was speaking in a local language
about the place of the Fulani nation in the world today. The setting was
Nigeria’s day at the United Nations last week when the three powerful Nigerian
representatives on the stage were prominent Fulani: The President,
Muhammadu Buhari, the United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Amina Jane
Mohammed, a Fulani, President of the United Nations 74th General
Assembly, Professor Tijjani Muhammad Bande, a Fulani, were all beamed to the
world. The man we describe as clueless, planned that glorious moment for his
nation. He already knew that Hajia Amina he supported to be UN Deputy Secretary
was already there when he also nominated a world-class scholar, former Vice
Chancellor, former Director General, NIPSS, of Fulani extraction, Professor Bande
as Nigeria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 2016. Abike
Dabiri-Erewa’s damage control statement explaining that the presidential aide
should have mentioned three eminent Nigerians instead of three Fulani, last
week could not take the steam out of the pre-eminent position the Daura artful
man earned for his nation last week.
That is
why I have no hesitation in recommending this quiet operator of our time,
President Muhammadu Buhari who has achieved more than the founder of the Sokoto
Caliphate, Usman dan Fodio (1754-1817) and Alhaji, Sir Ahmadu Bello
(1910-1966) for his nation as the indisputable “Man of the Decade”.
Note: This article was first published in The Guardian
of Sunday August 18, 2019, on “Inside Stuff with MARTINS OLOJA”. Used by
permission.
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