Buhari, a Washington trip and the rest of us

At this time of writing, Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari is in Washington DC on what some would call a seeming breakthrough visit by a Nigerian leader to the American peak of governance, the White House, in a relatively long while. Given the apparent cold shoulder that the U.S administration had extended to the Nigerian government in the past few years and the fact that the visit is coming only days into the inauguration of Buhari as President, and even when he is yet to assemble a full complement of governing personal, let alone articulate sure-footed policies that would form the thrust of his term in office, it is clear that this ‘shift’ is essentially symbolic.


But even that has to be put in context. With some 60 percent of the total population of West Africa and about 15 percent of the total population of the 54-nation continent (which in turn make up over a quarter of the total haul of 192 states that comprise the United Nations), Nigeria is arguably no pushover in the comity of nations. It is therefore not the mere ‘good luck’ of the ruling APC at this point in our history (pun and all!), but rather the very non-strategic mismanagement of our natural weight that had led to our past marginalization in global affairs.


And it should never have been so. At Independence on October 1, 1960, the influential American weekly, Time magazine, looked into its crystal ball and all it could see was a veritable world-beater that needed only a few years to prove its worth. The spectacular successes that had been demonstrated in the immediate past seven years - when the three regional premiers who had been given limited self-governance powers had chalked giant strides in education, infrastructure, industrialization and political organization - was for them a veritable foretaste of the glory that lay ahead.


Again, when the leaders of the newly independent African states began to hold talks within the ‘Monrovia’ and ‘Casablanca’ blocs to forge the initial outlines of the continent’s first multi-state supra-national gathering, the Organization of African Unity, Nigeria’s voice and vote was a strong factor in ensuring the successful harmonization of the contending ideological aspirations and the result was the July 25, 1963 summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.


At about the same time, the Congo crisis became even more intractable and Nigeria was one of the first nations to be requested to come and help put out the fires. We went there and did our bit.


Indeed, so decisive was Nigeria’s voice back then that when General Murtala Mohammed who served as Nigeria’s Head of State for just 200 days spoke out in favour of an end to apartheid and colonial rule in Africa at the July 11, 1975 OAU summit, it was in the self-assured strength of a leader and people, who, to paraphrase the gospel artist, Sinach; know who they are! ‘Africa had indeed come of age.’ And the whole world was listening:


“Mr. Chairman, when I contemplate the evils of apartheid, my heart bleeds and I am sure the heart of every true blooded African bleeds. Africa has come of age. It is no longer under the order of any extra continental power. It should no longer take orders from any country, however powerful. The fortunes of Africa are in our hands to make or to mar. For too long have we been kicked around; for too long have we been treated like adolescents who cannot discern their interests and act accordingly…The time has come when we should make it clear that we can decide for ourselves…”


We can continue to list other strong stuff from our past but space constrains us. However this would include the first time outing of Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State when he and his colleagues attempted to use the institution of the military to correct the national shame that the Shagari administration had become and which in the face of its very grave leadership failings at the time had yet gone ahead to award itself a very vexatious second term in office. A coup is a coup is a coup but this writer knows more than a few Nigerians who were sincerely not amused by the scepter of Shagari continuing in office back then!


It is however also on record that during that first time out, Buhari very well knew the colour of national pride, honour and self-reliance that he insisted on exploring alternative, though controversial, approaches to resolving Nigeria’s economic crisis rather than acquiesce to adopting pro-imperialist solutions that have almost never worked in favour of beneficiary states anywhere. Hobbled as we are even today, it is that Buhari whom we expect to see in Washington. May God help Nigeria.




Note: This piece was penned on July 13, 2015