Buhari’s Sluggish Action Breeds Mischief — By Frisky Larr

These days, almost every Nigerian with a computer keyboard and the ability to formulate any sentence in English (no matter the quality) is a political analyst.
Such self-styled talents and geniuses parade themselves on private blogs and postings on the social media drawing often, primitive and substandard conclusions on matters of serious political relevance. On the face of it, this shouldn’t be a problem to any actor and participant in the democratic process.
After all, freedom of expression is a fundamental column of the democratic edifice. However, it does not forbid grammatical blunders. There are limits that every informed mind is also fully aware of. Slander and treason are very popular limitations to freedom of expression. But we’ll come to that later.

Certificated illiterates and self-ordained political gurus

As already stated above, no one would ordinarily care about the conniving and disingenuous nature of the several millions of “certificated illiterates” (to quote Pat Utomi) littering the Nigerian social media scene, were it not for the inordinate exploitation of this mean manifestation of emptiness by interest-prone politicians. Since the last presidential elections that produced retired General Muhammadu Buhari as president of Nigeria, the social media have witnessed a stark proliferation of self-ordained political gurus and masters of political intelligence. They seem to have no other function but rabble-rousing to the detriment of intellectual growth and personal maturity. They never engage in debates for the academic exercise of learning and teaching i.e. giving and taking as it were, but furiously seek to impose their own will on dissenting voices while drawing support from like-minds in a comfort zone that reassures them that they are right on track.
Then you realize the game of sponsorship that was launched by former President Goodluck Jonathan that culminated in the appointment of a special assistant on new media. The special assistant recruited foot soldiers that were planted in every critical online forum to glorify mediocrity with a level of commitment that bordered on submission to the guru of a doomsday sect. They paid websites to scuttle critical thinking and sing the praises of government. To them, life began and ended with Goodluck Jonathan and this mindset of a skewed and very badly calibrated perception of reality persists until the present day.

The era of professional media publicity

Unfortunately, however, there is a new kid on the block. Since Olusegun Obasanjo (no matter what view anyone may hold about him), Nigeria once again, has in Buhari’s leadership, a government that is set on a clearly defined course. Like Olusegun Obasanjo, I have my doubts that Muhammadu Buhari ever reads Nigerian newspapers. I have my doubts that Buhari has the time to care about petty naughtiness and trivialities on Facebook and Twitter to warrant the waste of public funds on the appointment of Simlins and Renos.
Today, the government is being showcased with more sophistication and less volubility. There are no more gutter languages from purported medical doctors functioning as presidential mouthpieces or certified Abatis, with little clue on media ethics and professionalism. Today, public pronouncements by government spokesmen are terse, professional and to the point. No ranting on perceived enemies. No more incitement of president to fight the wrong enemies for personal aggrandizement.
Precisely this quality now seems to be going down as a sign of weakness in the minds of the gullible rabble-rousers and losers in the battle of “yesterday’s men”.

Obsession to political past and the Buhari’s guilt

Yet the new president is not wholly without guilt. While the uncouth agitation of political enemies that are bent on testing the limits are often allowed unfettered grounds in the name of upholding the principles of constitutional democracy, President Muhammadu Buhari, is today, also partly haunted by his own political past that bears a baggage of bitterness and recklessness.
There are very many who believed, for good reasons, that the misuse of Boko Haram at the turn of the millennium was predicated on the notion of making Nigeria ungovernable to a Southern president. Top on the list of frustrated politicians at the time was retired General Muhammadu Buhari who was kept away from the seat of power in elections that were contrived by both sides with the stronger getting his way.
Comments are not hard to come by, which showed Muhammadu Buhari at the time, as spreading the protective cover of fellowship over Boko Haram. The comments “An attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the whole of the North” was attributed to the former head of state at the time. This adds up to previous pro-political sharia comments of all shades and colour that sought to destabilize the government of former President Obasanjo. Nothing is known (at least in public) if Buhari walked the talk at any point and did anything to actively build-up such anti-stability forces of evil.
Since the destructive activities of Boko Haram were largely confined to the North of the country, former President Jonathan is known to have adopted the now infamous lackadaisical approach and seemed to have allowed Boko Haram to fester uncontrolled and was even quoted by Obasanjo as saying “It is the North killing themselves”. Indeed, there were some suggestions that Jonathan probably also tried to use Boko Haram to his own advantage at some point, and this notion was backed by several questions that begged for answers.