Read Tasks Before President-elect, Buhari

In this piece, JOHN ALECHENU takes a look at the daunting task before the President-elect, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and what Nigerians expect from his administration

After three failed attempts to get the nation’s number one job, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), was in the early hours of Wednesday declared the President-elect by the Independent National Electoral Commission.

He polled 15,424,921 votes to beat his closest rival and incumbent President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, who polled 12,853,162 to clinch the job.



Buhari contested for the position of president in 2003, 2007 and 2011 as the candidate of the now defunct All Peoples Party, the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party and the defunct Congress for Progressive Change respectively.

The Daura-born 72-year-old Fulani from Katsina is on the threshold of reclaiming an office he occupied as a military ruler about 30 years ago.

He was ousted in a military coup d’état by his colleagues, who had less than 18 months earlier, shot him to power.

Buhari’s victory makes it the first time in Nigeria’s chequered political history that an opposition political party will defeat an incumbent government to take over power in an election generally accepted as free, fair and credible.

Without a doubt, the task before general Buhari is enormous. When he takes office as Nigeria’s President on May 29, 2015, his first task will be to heal the wounds of a charged electoral campaign. Just like he admitted in his first speech after he was declared winner of the elections, emotions ran high.

This fact was not lost on him when he declared: “This was a hard- fought contest. Emotions are high. We must not allow them to get the better of us. This is not the time for confrontation.

“This is a moment that we must begin to heal the wounds and work toward a better future. We do this first by extending a hand of friendship and conciliation across the political divide. We hope and pray our friends in the other parties reciprocate.”

The President-elect will be inheriting a deeply divided Nigeria with high youth unemployment, an unsafe and economically weak nation, coupled with dwindling oil revenues and an almost non-existent foreign reserve.

This is certainly not the nation he led, albeit, as a 42-year-old major general, who enjoyed the privilege of ruling by decrees. Nigeria has changed.

With a nation divided along ethnic and religious lines more than any time in the nation’s history, especially, after the Civil War (1967-1970), the security of lives and property across the nation, which had been taken for granted, has become a grave cause for concern.

Nigeria’s armed forces, once rated among Africa’s best with distinction in peacekeeping operations around the globe, has become a butt of jokes over its handling of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Citizens’ confidence in the ability of the government to meet its obligations is at an all time low largely due to massive corruption and the fall of the price of crude which has remained Nigeria’s economic mainstay.

The widening gap between the rich and the poor is one which the new administration cannot afford to ignore.

The change which Nigerians clamoured and voted for certainly revolves round the hope that they will fare better than they are currently faring.

Infrastructure has to be rebuilt and jobs created to engage the growing army of educated and restless youths.

For the new administration to endear itself to the people, it must take the issue of power generation and distribution seriously.

Several administrations have tried but failed to fix this problem which has remained the bane of the nation’s development since the advent of democratic rule in 1999.

Nigeria must, once again, take its leadership role not only in the sub-African region but the whole of Africa.

As President-in-waiting, this is the time to begin to take stock of the challenges on the ground because most will expect their hopes and aspiration which the All Progressives Party encapsulated in its slogan – Change – to be met quickly with little room for excuses.

Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar aptly captured what most Nigerians expect from their new leader in his letter congratulating the new helmsman.

Atiku said, “GMB, the journey has just begun. Millions of Nigerians have put their trust in you because they were not satisfied with the status quo. You represent the hope of a new generation of Nigerians, and you cannot afford to fail them. Our party has made a promise of change to our young people, to secure and rebuild our country, create jobs and opportunities, and improve citizens’ welfare.”

The ex-VP also stated that Nigeria needs a new direction hence they voted for Buhari and the party. Atiku also said, “When you assume our highest office, you must become the president of not just the APC, but all of Nigeria, including the people who did not vote for you. We look up to you to heal the fractures of our country and truly unite this country like never before.”

The President-elect and the ‘governing party’ must not take Nigerians for granted and should note that from May 29, 2015, Nigerians will begin to tick the list of promises made during the electioneering campaigns.

They will watch closely to see if as Buhari promised, he will end the “weekly contract bazaar” at the National Executive Council meeting.

Nigerians certainly expect the ex-soldier, who rode on the back of his zero tolerance for corruption and his personal integrity, to assemble a team of equally incorruptible and passionate countrymen and countrywomen that share his vision for a Nigeria all will be proud of.

PUNCH