BUHARI: STALLION IN THE OTHER ROOM; EUNUCH IN THE POLITY

By Ofonime Honesty

The year was 2009. Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’adua (May God bless his soul) was Nigeria’s president. No thanks to illness, the president was outside the shores of the country. His prolonged absence created tension in the polity, and the situation nearly snowballed into God-knows-what when the Hausa service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) stepped in.

BBC Hausa arranged a telephone interview with the ailing president. Yar’adua spoke and assured Nigerians that he would return to the country when his doctors pronounce him hale and hearty. Pronto, the reputation of BBC Hausa soared.

While the interview doused tension in some quarters, the level of apprehension was raised in other quarters. Countless Nigerians were questioning the wisdom behind the choice of medium. Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) and the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) owned by federal government were snubbed when Nigerians wanted to hear an all-important message from the leader of their nation. But the bottom line was that, Yar’adua spoke! What happened after that notorious interview does not deserve to be over-flogged in this write-up.

I am told that the romance between BBC Hausa and northern politicians did not start with Late Umaru Yar’adua. And the romance has not stopped either after his exit. It seems that any northern politician who has an ‘important’ thing to say must rush to the studio of BBC Hausa.

Take a roll call: Former Head of State, Ibrahim Babangida; Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; Former Nassarawa State Governor, Murtala Nyako; Notorious rabble rouser and self styled elder-statesman, Professor Ango Abdullahi and others too numerous to mention are regular guests of BBC Hausa. Even President Muhammadu Buhari is a popular client of the station.
Hiding under the guise of discussing “State of the Nation”, they spit very sensitive words into the polity. And Nigerians were stunned when Ango Abdullahi went there to vomit that the North is not benefiting from her union with the South.

As far as Nigeria is concerned, BBC Hausa cannot go on hiatus. And while Nigerians were concentrating on licking recession wounds, the station released another hit track - President Buhari’s wife, Aisha, went there with itching lips.

Ever since Pa Buhari became President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Aisha has arguably been a peripheral figure. Gone are the days of Goodluck Jonathan when the first lady was popping up everywhere, boring us with manly antics and thrilling us with strange grammar. And Aisha avoided being in the spotlight till few days ago when she stepped into the studio of BBC Hausa. See, superstars are made in the studios of BBC Hausa.

Yes, she was in the mood to talk the talk. And she talked not minding whose ox is gored. Hurricane Aisha raged and did not even spare her husband. She spoke the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Methinks Aisha told Nigerians what they already know. She confirmed the rife belief that President Buhari has been politically castrated. According to her, the President is a mere pawn in the hands of those who have hijacked government. As if that was not enough, Alhaja Aisha revealed that neither her nor Mr. President knows the appointees forced on him (President) by the power hijackers.

When asked to reveal the identity of the power hijackers, Aisha’s response was aptly blunt. Hear her: “You will know them if you watch television.”

She did not leave the studio of BBC Hausa without sounding a salvo: “…I have decided as his wife, that if things continue like this up to 2019, I will not go out and campaign again and ask any woman to vote like I did before. I will never do it again.”

Dear readers, as far as the identity of the alleged power hijackers is concerned, Aisha was kind enough to give us a clue. She pointedly advised us to be watching television if we wanna know them.
Truth is, we know them! Are they not the corrupt saints who grace our TV screens on daily basis on the guise of courtesy visits to Mr. President? Their past stink to high heavens yet they are received as angels at Aso Rock especially when they are on the mission of discussing how Goodluck Jonathan stole Nigeria.

Those who literally raped Nigeria while in power and masterminded all sort of maladies in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yet when the problems they sowed bore evil fruits, they distanced self from the party by tearing membership card, are very much welcomed with open arms by Mr. President. And something tells me that when the chips are down, having gathered so much data about goings-on in the presidency, these persons would go public with controversial revelations and allegations in the form of open letters and petitions. Haven’t we witnessed their antics before? Being insatiable, once they feel that their idiosyncrasies are no longer tolerated, Buhari will curse the day he became President of Nigeria.

And instead of letting sleeping dogs lie, President Buhari during a state visit to Germany stirred the hornet’s nest. During a joint press briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Pa Buhari in a futile bid to belittle Aisha’s earth shaking revelation unequivocally declared that he has more political experience than his wife who is a political greenhorn. He added this: “I don’t know which party my wife belongs to, but she belongs to my kitchen and my living room and the other room.”

Pronto, Nigerians went gaga with emotions, and the president did not care about our feelings when German broadcaster, Phil Gayle of Deutsche Welle, came calling for clarification. The president held his ground and rhetorically declared: “I am sure you (referring to the interviewer Phil Gayle) have a house. You know where your kitchen is. You know where your living room is. And I believe your wife looks after all that even if she’s working.”

Truth is, the president was evasive. He failed to convince us that he has not been politically castrated by power hijackers. Instead he sounded the wrong notes by bragging about his prowess in the ‘other room’. If Aisha actually belongs there, keeping that room in order and learning new skills of the room would have been on her schedule, not sneaking out to the studio of BBC Hausa? Nigerians did not vote for a stallion of the other room but a man who we believed had the charisma to lead this nation aright.

Our economy is on a downward journey, and Mr. President and the ‘strange faces’ in his cabinet seem bereft of foolproof strategy to reverse it. We need a President who brags about his ability of steering the ship of governance. His performance in the other room is the least of our worries. In this country, the precarious economy has dragged out men and women from their ‘other room’ –they now work round the clock just to make ends meet. Can a poor man who has eight mouths to feed and send to school continue being a stallion in the other room? Victims of Boko Haram insurgency living in Internally Displaced Camps don’t have a place to call home, so ‘the other room’ is beyond the reach of many Nigerians.

As Mr. President, the buck stops on your table. Blaming Goodluck Jonathan for all the failures of the present administration is an evasive strategy. For instance, a 60 year old man who has 10 kids should not blame his late father for not leaving wealth behind when his kids cry of hunger.

It is high time Buhari and the “strange faces” in his cabinet started charting a roadmap for Nigeria’s salvation. Nigerians need a stallion in the polity, not a eunuch. I beg to pause!

(Ofonime Honesty is a journalist and general affairs analyst. 08025286082 honestyofonime@yahoo.com)