Buhari Moves into Aso Rock Villa

The ripples of the tsunami which occurred in the elections of the leadership of the leadership of the National Assembly, is one which will take a long time to subside. Former Vice-president Atiku Abubakar has tried to douse down the tensions that he has hijacked the party structure of the APC for his 2019 bid. In a statement released by his media team, they summarized the recent events succinctly;

"He notes that the recent outcomes of the National Assembly election contrary to insinuations are products of interplay of politics which is itself in constant motion".

A lot of undertones of manoeuvre domicile in this statement. Meanwhile, our president has moved into Aso Rock, her Excellency moved in ahead of her husband last week Thursday. I believe the business of governance stated in earnest June 22nd 2015. Going forward, Nigerians are expecting a departure from the go-slow disposition of the president. However, Buhari's larger than life aura was in high gear when the president paid a well televised visit to his farm in Daura, flanked by his son and some other persons, he exhumed that lifestyle of an ordinary but modern fulani farmer. The president went to the farm in his sparkling white babariga, I noticed he didn't wear singlets, who wears singlets to a farm? However, Nigerians are expecting much more than the image making display of the president. We are in the fourth week of this dispensation and Nigerians are impatient and are eager to breath an air of change, for me positive change. While we continue to wait on his Excellency, reasons for not appointing ministers have been given as a result of the late submission of the Joda Transition Report of the last administration. The president clarified at the sidelines of the AU summit that the delay is also a period of due diligence as the consequences of his actions are solely his responsibility. However, we wait to see what becomes of the list given that some front-line stakeholders have been dislodged and uncertainty hovers over who handles what portfolio. However, last week, the president stated that,

“I wish I became Head of State when I was a governor, just a few years as a young man. Now at 72, there is a limit to what I can do.”

The PDP have begun to settle in as the opposition given their ouster in the last elections at the federal level and this statement was like throwing small amount of meat into a den of hungry and angry lions. Supporters of the ruling party and the opposition had a field day throwing tantrums at each other. While the APC came to the defence of their flagbearer, stating that we as Nigerians do not comprehend English language enough to know what Buhari means, they stated that it implies something much more than reading that statement literally. If this statement was an adage or should be taken literally, its left for the open media to discourse and dissect. However, the morale of the story is that the elections were highly charged and so much propaganda were infused into the polity. APC's house of cards is fast falling apart faster than they expected. When APC concocted lies, hypocrisy, propaganda, old wines, unholy alliances and all sorts of negativities to find their way to Aso Rock, they forgot that whatever a man sows, they shall reap. They sowed wind and they are reaping whirlwind. Good a thing men don't control the consequences of their actions to large extents. Lies like age is just a number in less than 21 full days into Buhari's presidency is being exposed, the effects of mountain and volume of files to review before taking decisions are already weighing in. Tell me any African president over 70 years that has achieved any significant growth in their country in such measure that is comparable to the developed world. At a point the old man should be chilling in retirement or best be in advisory position to younger leaders, he is taking on the toughest job in Africa and in fact the developing world.

As noted earlier, Atiku Abubakar who is jostling and positioning for purported presidency in 2019 is currently 68 and will turn 72 in the next four years. The job of leading Africa's most populous and largest economy is not a job for very old men. At 70, a man has lived enough to retire. So the president's confession is surely the truth, one which would have undermined his election but a truth he cannot run away from as president. Only the gaffes and innuendoes of the president is enough to tell us that being the president requires a younger Nigerian, it is quite unfathomable that a person who is the president of Nigeria calls Germany,"West Germany". Jesters, mockers and all those online comedy producers who had a field day making and poking fun at the former president especially her former Excellency are relishing the opportunity to continue their trade. However missing in this fray is Doctor Damages on SaharaReporters, it is time to make fun of the president.

Scrutinizing the president's innuendoes and gaffes have become old fashioned because the APC have achieved their aim. The measure they meted out to PDP will be appropriated to them. This is just a feel of it. The loquacious Lai has not stated interpreting the words of the old man. Good a thing as the days come by, given the complexity of the work of governance and the fast rate with which presidents grow old in office for instance Obama, I am 100% assured that Buhari is not growing younger, so expect more of the same. Its a bumpy ride for the next four years. They voted for change, change they get.

As Nigerians were impatiently waiting for change, the legislators threw spanners into the wheel of progress, there were media reports that they have approved a whopping N9 billion as wardrobe allowance. Nigerians like already wounded animals pounced on them mostly online to show their displeasure. News later filtered in that the amount they will actually take home annually was .5 million which is a fair deal. However, all these are unofficial. Am not sure if there is anywhere on the National Assemble website where the full details of salary and allowances are fully stated. In a related development, the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) has said that it will not release the details of the president and his vice assets declaration, citing federal laws that constrain them from doing such. In fact, it is not uhuru yet, those who expected a holy man to man Aso Rock are beginning to think twice. Although corruption will reduce, the gains will not be significant if this democratic dispensation is starting on this footing. For those who are following up with the promises Buhari said he will fulfil, this might one of those official secrets which will never see the light of the day.

Flashing news beamed in the horizon last week when news filtered into the airwaves that the presidency was auctioning off the 9 aircraft including the two models of Gulfstream in that fleet. There was an air of optimism while APC and Buhari's supporters applauded, the presidency disappointed their fans that the news should be disregarded as false alarm. Our president loves his flamboyant aircraft and jets. For your information, the president prefers the latest of Mercedes benz models, the S600 made for class, power and men of influence. Governance in Nigeria is expensive, however, the present government shows signs of being frugal given the antecedents of the president as a modest farmer.

The refineries which have been undergoing turnaround maintenance are expected to pump 5 million liters into the economy as from July, 2015. The president has settled down in Aso Rock. Nigerians expect the ministerial list and also a fence mending meeting between the president and the stubborn sons of APC, Saraki and Dogbara who have both hijacked the leadership of the federal legislature. While APC has demanded letters of apology from the duo, Goodluck has been gallivanting around the world. Some of his foot soldiers have called for bestowing him with a noble prize for not plunging Nigeria into political crisis.

As the president resumes fully the business of governing Nigeria, expectations are high, citizens want to see and feel the change. While the states are in very bad state of financial crisis begging for bailout, the international community are looking up to Nigeria to tackle Boko Hara and lead Africa,we are counting down to the first 100 days.

All focus is on Aso Rock.

The Second Week of Buhari's Presidency: Taming Tinubu

President Muhammadu Buhari spent most of his first week in office outside Nigeria. Some commentators on national issues had the temerity to chide his excellency on his new found penchant for hitting the skies in the same fleet that Jonathan was crucified for maintaining. I have not heard any of his ardent supporters talking about reducing the presidential fleet. However, the president who I believe started off as a travelling president knows that he has enough goodwill at home, therefore in a bid to garner some legitimacy abroad and accrue some international support, started off by jetting to Chad, Niger and Germany for security meeting on Boko Haram insurgency and the meeting of the world's elite countries, the G7 respectively. While I will not concern myself with the gaffes that characterized his attendance and speeches, I have been more interested in the wishlist which Prime Minster Cameron requested Nigeria's president to bring to the epoch meeting. I expected his spokesmen to have addressed the media from the sidelines of the G7 meetings regarding the wishlist extensively. However, that did not happen. However, we do know that the G7 have pledged their support to "engage, cooperate and collaborate” with his government. As published on Premium Times, the G7 noted that they perceived some level of seriousness from the incumbent which warranted their support. However, it is pertinent to note that excerpts from his spokesmen indicates that the president did not have elaborate and elegant plans which the G7 could scrutinize immediately, therefore, they admonished Buhari to:

“...to come up with the specifics on his requirements, assuring that they would study the requirements either individually or collectively and offer help. They asked to know the nature and the scale of the problems in order to know the nature and the scale of the assistance they will provide. Suffice it to say that they assured President Buhari that ‘Nigeria will find a partner in the G7.'”

While the president was relishing the company of his new found friend who would have avoided him in the past as a dictator who truncated Nigeria's democracy, a feat which all the members of the G7 who are democratic countries are averse to on his way back from his German trip, he was to touch down at the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport, Abuja on Tuesday 9th June, 2015 by 1.00 am Nigerian time as reported. The stability and tranquillity that characterised the atmosphere as bequeathed by former President Goodluck Jonathan was to be interrupted abruptly within the next few hours of his arrival. Just like epic movies, we were to be treated to a suspense filled political drama, which anyone who knows Nigeria political environment could have expected but not in the form that it came. My friend during a conversation in the recent past, was of the opinion that Nigeria is predictable. However, the events that took place on June, 9th keep my good friend wondering if it was the same Nigeria he used to know. He was screaming, "old boy", severally as our law makers exceeded his expectations.

I was of the opinion that the president ought to have stayed back in the country for the first few days of his presidency to bring some order to the polity more importantly, to be fully present at ongoing negotiations about his party's preferences for the leadership of the National Assembly. My argument is that going to Chad and Niger was not a priority in the face of the escalation of Boko Haram that week. Also the relocation of the Army Command Center to Borno State needed the attention and close supervision of the man who came up with the initiative. Meetings with these countries could have come after studying the situation thoroughly within a few days coupled with the status report on the relocation all of which have great implications for the war against terror. While the president wanted to show his countrymen and women that he was serious about stopping the insurgency, he created some lacuna and leadership gaps whose ripples are yet to subside.

In the face of the lacuna the absence of the president, Gov Fayose and some other PDP stalwarts mobilized immediately to exploit the dissent which existed in the APC from some of its members who did not like the consensus candidates which the APC proposed through mock elections. In fact, several flashpoints just like a well orchestrated opera predicated the drama which enveloped the country. It was reported that Senate President Bukola Saraki, at that time a contestant for the coveted position refused to attend a meeting called by the Vice-president to reconcile the differences of APC lawmakers. In fact, some reports had it that Saraki referred to the VP as "common commissioner", however, Saraki's people were to release a press statement debunking such ignorable action from their master. While APC was being sway by wave of instability, alliances, friendships, negotiations, win-win arrangements were formed, crystallised and established across party lines between members of APC and lawmakers from PDP. In a twist of events, the PDP which has earlier stated that it had no intention of presenting candidates for the leadership of the national assembly, backtracked and released a press statement which stated that they have adopted Saraki and Dogbara as their candidates in direction opposition to APC anointed members.

From all indications, the president tired from his trip, I guess jet leg weighed in, retired to sleep and APC spokesman was to release a press statement calling all APC members to the International Conference Center (ICC) for a meeting with the president the next morning as from 9 am. As Nigerians woke up to another day of power tussle amongst the political gladiators, the online community, bloggers and rumour mongers who have fully exploited the press freedom that pervades the polity swoop in on the expected events of the day. For the pundits and APC apologist, it was a done deal for the party's anointed, Lawan-Akume ticket for the senate and Gbaja for the speaker of the house. Where I was in Abuja, I didn't have access to TV so I followed the events online. There were conflicting reports flying in from different sources. Some had it that the national assembly is under lock down by security agencies who were driving away Nigerians who have come to felicitate with their own who were elected to the legislature. Most of the pro-APC online newspapers were more concerned about the meeting going on at the ICC where the president was expected to meet APC lawmakers to cajole them or better still admonish them to vote the party's preferred candidates.

I searched for anywhere online where I can follow the inauguration live and I found Premium Times. At a point there were reports from one of the reputable newspapers that the event has been postponed, as I was refreshing Premium Times, breaking news popped up and it was the election of Saraki as the Senate president. The air waves went agog with speculations of what might have transpired having in mind that the president was supposed to be meeting with APC lawmakers at ICC.

At this point a quote which was brought to my attention by a friend on facebook, suffices perfectly. A timeless quote by an erudite political ediabili (juggernaut), a former Senate President, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo famed for his penchant for mastery of the use of english. He said;

"It takes political sagacity to fathom the political arithmetic."

While the dust was still settling, consternation was rife and the atmosphere was charged, everyone sort to know how the coup at the NA came to be. News began to filter in that Saraki was returned unopposed by a group of 59 senators who were in attendance at the proclamation of the 8th National Assembly of the Federal Government of Nigeria. About 49 of these senators were PDP lawakers who were all in attendance at the proclamation and inauguration of the 8th NA. The singular question on the mind of many Nigerians was the constitutionality of that act, if it could stand. Elementary knowledge of lawmaking tells anyone that a two-third majority is needed to pass any law or carry out any action while a one 1/3 is needed to form a quorum for any assembly of the NA. Given that the Senate, has 109 members and over 2/3 were present, that election was one of the most suspense filled manoeuvre ever in the Nigerian political scene. While the citizens were yet to come to terms with the conflicting news and events, Senator Ekweremadu of the PDP emerged the deputy senate president after flooring Senate Ali Ndume of APC. At this point, this drama had cross the boundary, epic, it was no more mere manoeuvre, a political crisis was brewing and everyone began to wonder why APC lawmakers about 51 of them were not present at the proclamation of the assemble. Earlier, it has been noted that they were expected to meet with the president to iron out issues of who will fly the party's flag. Now Saraki and the PDP having seen the gaps created by the irreconcilable differences, the quest for the number 3 and 4 positions of the FRN was at stake and personal interest held sway, anything was possible so long as it was constitutional.

The uncertainty over who becomes the senate president is a good thing. When APC was balkanizing PDP in the last dispensation, they did so with reckless abandon. It will be better for PDP to queue behind Saraki, have an agreement like APC did with Tambuwal, and throw spanners into the wheel. Now this is democracy. As much as APC is right in wading into the disagreements, let PDP utilize their 49 member strength to take over the Senate so that our senate will not be a rubber stamp for Buhari, no more aye and nay. Their will be counting of individual votes. This were my thoughts before the drama of June 9th.

In this middle of this loss, was the staggering Jagaban of Lagos politics, Senator Bola Tinubu. He was opposed to the candidacy of Saraki and Dogbara, the senate president and speaker respectively. He had his candidates in Senator Lawan and Rep. Gbajabiamila for the upper and lower house. However, what baffles the mind is the fact that even the political gladiators and ruling party forgot that democracy is all about building coalition and partnership, how the APC forgot that democratic principles, practises and precepts do not supersede laws of the nation and they are not cast in stone beats the imagination. Again how they could not gauge the political maturity of politicians in Nigeria were all questions that boggled the mind. The forgot that we are in Nigeria. To get feel of the reasoning behind the belief that the mock elections they carried out days before the elections was binding on the APC lawmakers, their attack dogs have filled the airwaves with examples of how it is done in Washington,you can read one Bayo's take on the issue on Sahara Reporters here. However, it is rocket science to know the reasoning behind the miscalculations of APC. I response to a friend on the lack of political philosophy of political parties in Nigeria, I quipped,

Do they have doctrines and direction in the first place? There's no philosophy, its a congregation of those who want to live off the national coffers. Politics is the easiest way not to work in Nigeria. Get into office, the machinery of governance has been set through the civil service. Just ensure that it is functional enough to keep the nation afloat and make minor improvements and the rest is history. We are practising party system and the decision of the party supersedes that of the individual member. In fact in sane democracies, the leader in congress, be minority or majority leader becomes the defacto choice for presentation as the speaker or Senate leader. The members were elected under a party and they are answerable to their constituencies on the platform of the precepts and direction of the party. Imagine a democrat opposing the party stance. In the US now, all the republican presidential candidates are saying that the bailout of GM didn't work which is the party position. It was just yesterday that a journalist corrected them that it worked because they didn't do their home work, they were just echoing the position of the party to garner votes. Now when they get into power, it is the party that guides them. So APC is right in intervening in the disagreements. As for ideology, we are still far from the ideal. People just come together in the name of a party to get access to government, that is the status quo for now and in the near future.

So as much as the opposition were right in projecting their candidates, the lack of fundamental foundations of political parties were their waterloo, little did they realize that they have been bringing in fire wood infested with ants in the run up to the 2015 elections. I scribbled somewhere online, Coup'd etat. I can't wait to read Lai vituperations of democracy under siege. Unprecedented. We are building a model of democracy for Africa. Buhari is coming against the Mafia. Immediately after the elections in the legislative arms of government which produced candidates who were not the party's anointed ones, the loquacious APC spokesmen filled the airwaves with his usual vituperations of rejection of the results. It was becoming very clear that the APC were opportunist who saw nothing good in action that was not in their favour. One writer chronicled the statements Lai when they started their political dribbling few years ago when they ursped the PDP and enabled the immediate past speaker, Governor Tambuwal of Sokoto State to become the speaker, to the chagrin of PDP. This and other series of event culminated in the demise of PDP as a ruling party. You can read the piece here.

However, the feel from the electorates was that what happened at the national assembly was good for our democracy. It instituted a balance of power. It heralded the dismantling of the emerging Tinubu political dynasty. It became clear that Tinubu is a local player, only in Lagos state. Let him control the Mafia in Abuja, then we will know that he is a man to be reckoned with nationally. They have just shown him where the limits of his influence ends. After deceiving the gullible masses who were powerless, let him extend his control to the Senate where powerful entities like over 15 past governors have made their abode!

As the dusts were settling, the UK voiced its support for Saraki led senate. The logic was not far fetched. You know this people have an innate and inherent character of support for opposition. Its not rocket science to have know that once one of the G8 except Russia is supporting you, others will queue behind. Forget about APC, they don't want to come to terms with the fact that their new founder access to power seem to be overwhelming them. They bullied and lied their way to power, now the problems of Nigeria are so complex that it will expose the most intelligent person as a novice, the power configuration is sparse and not concentrated at one point and an attempt to foist such concentration cannot stand. Examples, the voting pattern and then this humiliation of Tinubu. How can Tinubu be an overlord for the entire 6 regions when even in any of this region, there's no shortage of godfathers who number more than 20 each? The bloodless transition from PDP to APC which the West want to brandish as example to other fledging democracy is what they needed. Have you heard any of the countries accusing Goodluck Jonathan of any misdeed? With time, we will get over this. APC is just whining like a lame dock and you know, when you beat a child, you don't expect the child not just to cry. Everything depends on Buhari, the locus of power in APC seems not be clearly defined and within the next few weeks, Buhari will chose to be the leader of the party or cede that place to Tinubu or better still power sharing because of the history of the merger and emergence of APC. I don't see the party discipling anyone or disintegrating for now because that will amount to the highest political naivety of the century.

Lagos State is not and cannot be equivalent to Nigeria. If Tinubu can control the entire Yoruba, other regions are republicans and would always have a set of leaders like advanced nations not just one leader. With over 15 ex-governors Senators, and Tinubu was hallucinating about controlling everyone. The final rejection of Gbaja was the strongest signal because I thought they would have even considered him as a strong man. They put him in his proper place. Controlling Lagos is equivalent to being a godfather in many African countries talk more of controlling Nigeria where you have over 1000 rich men and god fathers like Tinubu. Imagine the US or China having only one leader? That's not possible because it will turn that person into a tyrant!

Calls were amplified from the Tinubu camp for the sanctioning of Saraki and Dogbara by Buhari. I queried, why not say Buhari should become a tyrant and re-enact the 80's. Wake up we are in democracy! This is the first taste of his new found democratic beliefs. He said that he is a converted democratic. He has seen what it means to practise democracy where people act within the limits of the constitution even if their actions will not augur well for him. It is quite malicious that some persons had the effrontery to insinuate that Buhari was disrespected. How can you ask a an independent national assembly to proceed on a meeting with your consent and at the same time arrange another meeting with your party members. Is Buhari the president to serve APC or the generality of Nigerians? Nigerians were kept on frenzy by power grabbers who want appropriate and annex all available political power. When the same men applauded and glamorized impunity and inundated the polity with tension, holding the people on hostage through their threats of parallel government and subterfuge, they forgot that the law of karma exist and that in a democracy there are rules. Its akin to giving an opponent a clean tackle in football. For those peddling false information, David Mark is not the senate leader. Buhari cannot be a general, he even dropped it from his name. This is democracy, such a government, where Obama is up against an opposition congress.No one even now knows what Buhari's policy on corruption is and the situation is now compounded by the events of yesterday.

While arguments and counter arguments on the outcomes of the National Assembly leadership continue to dominate national discourse, the fundamental fact is that what transpired at the national assembly was constitutionally legal. The president has voiced his support and immediately after that before the end of the week, he jetted to South Africa for the African Union Summit. Before he left, he chaired the meeting of our neighbouring countries on the security challenges of Boko Haram. The high point of that meeting was his rejection of a rotational leadership of the central force. That makes sense, given that we will be contributing most of the resources and the fight in mostly on our territories. As a man who rose to level of general in the army, he should know the act of war better than most people. While we are trying to battle Boko Haram, we have amnesty international indicting our top military personnels for actions that amounts to war crimes.

As the president headed to South Africa without much to show for the faith that the Nigerian people have reposed in him, there has been indications that the president is falling below expectations. Believe me or not, we needed a break from the monotony of PDP. However, the issue is Buhari seems not to be the right man for the job. After one week plus in power, we cannot tell exactly what the man is doing or wants to do. I can see a very happy man who has achieved his life ambition to be Nigeria's president given his short-lived first outing. Again, the northerners just wanted power and they packaged their best product and sold it to Nigerians who like a bored person wants a change of scenery. Now that is the challenge. Everything seems to be taken off on the alter of secrecy. I wish the 9-point agenda will be released even as a paraphrased address presentation, so we begin to know how ''the messiah" intends to salvage the deterioration. If there must be change, it has to start from Abuja so that states can emulate that model. As at this Monday, the ship of state is still rudderless. Forget about the junketing and positioning, nothing tangible and concrete is on ground. We have problems that require state of emergency declaration, expedited approach and a sense of urgency to nip in the bud. Just like a puzzle, two weeks into Buhari's presidency, Nigerians are still trying to put the piece and piece together to know exactly what the president wants to do or not do.

Many of those who want Buhari to emulate presidents like Obama forgot that Obama had written books, articles, made laws and articulated his policies before becoming president. Now they want Buhari to emulate Obama when he does not have any elaborate plan for Nigeria which we can see, scrutinise and be hopeful about. Even two weeks into his presidency, they are wasting space on Sahara Reporters telling Buhari what he can learn from Obama instead of dissecting and analysing Buhari policy thrust and direction which are non-existent. Even the G7 noticed this lacuna and mandated him to come to the G7 with his wishlists, who knows if he was able to come up with one. A leader should take initiative and lay down the vision but what Buhari has in stock is rhetoric of fighting corruption and propaganda of BH. In response to the guy, I giggled: You will continue to come up with your wishlists until Buhari gets his acts together. However, at this point, he may find it difficult, its like going about a venture without an elaborate plan. Maybe you can teach Buhari because I know Sahara Reporters have the ears of the president. For now the uncertainty of Buhari's actions is very high and that is not good for the smallest business talk more of a complex system like Nigeria.

As we get into the third week of this democratic dispensation, the president is in South Africa attending the AU summit. He even told reporters that he doesn't know citizens are anxious about his slow disposition to tackling the numerous ills that bedevil the country. Nigerians are eagerly waiting for the magic wand, and as the president returns from his AU summit, many hope he will pack into Aso Rock and face the business of governance squarely. Hope he doesn't jet out again.

The Beginning of Change - The First Week of President Buhari's Presidency

I happen to find myself at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on the day former President Goodluck Jonathan handed over Nigeria's flag to his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari. I was having lunch with a friend. As we drove towards Hilton Hotel, uneasy calm filled with an air of apprehension hovered. You could not but think about the unprecedented "phone call" from Goodluck to Buhari which saved Nigeria from plunging into crisis head on. I remember digging the internet some years back to confirm the assertion from the CIA and their foreign affairs counterparts that Nigeria will disintegrate in 2015. That apprehension kept me pondering the unperturbed peace which permeated the atmosphere, in fact, it was a festive mood. After the lunch, as we made our way out of Hilton, I and my friend were treated to an usual spectacle, a red carpet reception of about 7 (seven) African presidents as they arrived in VIP to rest before they proceeded for the Presidential Gala night. It was pomp and pageantry instead of war and crisis. However, it was later that day that I learned that the president 'neglected' his guests and headed to his Jumat prayers. That I envisaged as the president missed the official Jumat of the inauguration activities the previous friday. This action was greeted with condemnation from several quarters including the visiting heads of state some who were offended while Buhari supporters saw his actions as flawless.

It is imperative to note that Nigeria is a religious country. However, as a plural society with different religious inclinations, the president of Nigeria first allegiance is to the nation and it is believed that such an occasion as important as the reception of various presidents of Africa and international dignitaries should not be treated with levity. No wonder the superpowers and most other presidents in the international community shunned the inauguration as their advisers would have envisaged such a lacuna. As the most populous country in Africa, given the enterprising nature of Nigerians and our ability to be pacesetters, other sister African countries are looking up to us to be the rallying point and a big brother. Africa must have a leader and Nigeria is in a good position to take over as that leader. While some have insinuated that the president is a religious extremist based on his antecedents, his actions on daily basis confirms that assertion. In other not to draw the ire of Muslims, I would have expected the president to have excused his guest, held short prayers like 30 minutes and rejoined the reception to deliver a powerful message to African leaders that they have to get their acts together and emulate Nigeria, which is building a model of democracy for the continent.

Related to the foregoing, the President has started his international diplomatic shuttles in earnest and to the ire of many Nigerians, he has spent the first one week of his presidency outside, away from those who gave him the mandate. While international support and cooperation is imperative to moving Nigeria forward, the problems that burgeons the nation need to be tackled from the home front. For us to be respected worldwide, we have to show that we can lead in Africa. The president preferred to attend the G7 summit and ignored the World Economic Forum’s Africa summit holding in Cape Town. That was billed from 3-5 of June and I believe that Buhari should have been at that forum to outline his Economic agenda from the African perspective. As the author of the referenced article on Quartz noted, all eyes were on the man who would not be there. I do not want a president who will ignore things at the local and continental level and thinks that hobnobbing with the international community is the solution to our problems. We are no longer colonies, we are our own people and we should determine our lives.

Irrespective of this lacuna, the president has towed a good line to pay heed to the fact that we also need international support albeit incompletely. As he heads to the G7 summit which has taken Russia out of the equation, permit me to imagine Nigeria as a replacement for Russia in the G8. Is it possible for Nigeria to be in that group, yes, but it depends on our leaders and how well Nigeria's trajectory of development in the next 10-15 years moves. As the president heads to the G7, the happily returned prime minister of the United Kingdom has tasked Buhari on the expectation as he joins the world's most advanced and elite club in a summit. As I noted earlier on the comments section, the request from Cameron was met mostly by a backlash. However, in response to others opinion, I started below:

Most people don't get what Cameron is asking for. APC and Buhari got this presidency through unconventional ways of propaganda and rhetoric. Now that is not what you apply to solving the complex problems of a developing country. You need a policy thrust, a policy direction, an elegant plan which will be followed to rescue Nigeria from the purported decay. Now that is what the West want to see if they are to cooperate with Nigeria. Not all the aggression, covert and overt, and cooked up lies against PDP and Jonathan. We cannot exist in isolation, we need foreign direct investment (FDI), we are going to sell oil and we will borrow funds. They need a broad and detailed policy base of the Buhari's administration, not the kind of conference that was hurriedly put up the other day. You don't go to G7 to tell them you will fight corruption and BH, you need to tell them how you will use sophisticated method of economic development to tackle issues. You need to outline your foreign policy, now we have become a model of democracy in Africa, what role are we going to play and how? Africa needs us and I didn't hear Buhari mention anything like that. As one guy on Sahara Reporter said, that speech was 'vague' and 'illusory'.

As I noted earlier, some are averse to the foreign trips that have become the trademark of the Buhari presidency. Late Yardua was the opposite of Buhari as he rarely travelled. Goodluck was better, it seems Buhari wants to surpass them all. However as many such as Chief Olu Falae voiced out on Vanguard, the president would have stayed home with his primary constituency in the first week of his presidency to plan and ponder with various interest groups and with a broad spectrum of Nigerians from whom he will get inputs with which he will depart to meet with our friends to discuss issues of paramount importance to Nigerians. However, he is the president and he calls the shots.

As we continue to enjoy the peace with anxious outlook to know the direction the next four years will look like under this dispensation, activities and clues have been emerging slowly. On May 30th, we were greeted with the news that the president has declared his assets to the agency, Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) responsible for such declarations in Nigeria. However, many were taken aback when the declaration was announced as an official secret. While some understood Buhari's promise of asset declaration as an open affair as chronicled here - Buharimeter- a website by group of civil society who wants to take the president to task over his promises, staunch supporters of the president came to his rescue saying that he has fulfilled his constitutional requirement. The news filtering in after the uproar is that the detials of the declaration will be made public after verification by the CCB. However, we have to wait for the expiration of the first 100 days which the president himself set as limits for his assets declaration. The next day, the high point was the appointment of spokesmen for the president, Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu respectively as special adviser and senior special assistant respectively. My take on their appointments was:

I hope their first assignment today Monday 1st June 2015 will be to address the media on the president's declaration of assets. We need facts and figures, physical assets and liquid cash. Change is here. We need to start on a clean slate. No skeletons to hide. We are watching!

That did not happen.
We are still expectant as that will be done after the verification by CCB.

While the president is relishing his ascendency to the topmost position of the federation, issues of national and economic importance have continued to pervade the polity. I will not have done justice to this review if I don't mention the nagging issue of fuel scarcity that has become the albatross of the first week of Buhari's presidency. However, as usual we will overcome. Again, the contentious issue of fuel scarcity, a seemingly easy problem to solve given that the raw material needed to arrive at all the finished products we require as fuel for all kinds of land moving and flying machines is abundant in the Niger Delta. I will not dig deep into this issue but I will mention the request from some professional organisation in the oil and gas sector who have lend their voice on how the president can handle this issue and save Nigerians the recurring scourge of incessant fuel scarcity. Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) in support of a Civil Society organisation, Conscience Nigeria, has urged the president to work at increasing local capacity before removing fuel subsidy. My thoughts on this are as follows:

This is the problem with Nigeria. Removing fuel subsidy is a strategic decision whereby the government would decide to remove the subsidy under the parlance of elaborate plan and policy thrust to contain the resulting vagaries. What is required is a framework and timeline which will be based on consultations and extensive planning over a period of time - at least 3 years- to ensure that adequate measures are put in place to cushion the effects on the masses, deal with increasing local production to a certain level, putting down a legal framework to overhaul the petroleum sector because we are dealing with a system and their is interrelationship existing amongst the various components. You don't just remove fuel subsidy, you will create problems that may eclipse fuel subsidy. This is why many of us show disdain at the Buhari's presidency because of the lack of sound policy frameworks that he intends to employ in tackling the complex hydra like problems bedevilling Nigeria.

The president is still outside the country for the first 9 days of his presidency. The fuel situation has been diffused a little bit, queues are still visible at the fuel stations. It was the patriotism of Ifeany Ubah,a hard-line supporter of the immediate past president that saved Nigeria from consternation and anarchy. While some have praised his love for country, others have labelled him a sycophant who is jostling to curry favour or avoid being prosecuted by the present administration for yet to be known wrong doings in the past administration. If not for anything, he was the leader of Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria, the flagship support group of former President Jonathan's re-election bid. Be it as it may, he saved Nigerians so much pains and hard life. Just as he is vilified for doing good, the former president has been on the receiving end. The beginning of the many travails which may be the norm in response to Buhari stance on corruption. Even Buhari acknowledged the benevolence and magnanimity of Goodluck's behaviour as crucial to the sustenance of our democratic institutions, some ignoramus have been been yelling at others who dare to call Goodluck Jonathan a hero. Among those who have magnified these calls are the beautiful singer, Adokiye and Sylva, former governor of Bayelsa State. While one cannot place the context and reasoning and would choose to ignore the girl who should have concentrated on her beauty and what she knows best and be sensible before commenting on national issues, I have strong words of caution for Sylva as I responded on Vangurd thus:

Its understandable coming from Sylva, however, you cannot change the obvious. Goodluck's benevolence and magnanimity is why you can open your nonsense month and talk in a peaceful Nigeria today. The crisis would have swallowed loud mouthed hypocrites like you.

Within the week, what most of knew since the emergence of APC was confirmed in an interview with the Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Alhaji Ibrahim Ahmad Coomasie, a former Inspector General of Police, that what was branded change is a northern agenda to grab power. I stated further that, Coomasie are actually right. Many of us in the know have echoed the same sentiments. Many were hoodwinked into believing the 'change' mantra. However, the former president's men, his party and including himself were complacent. The south has never been united. The south is a tripartite union. The north have never been sincere about Nigeria's leadership, they always have hidden ambition, to grab power. As the House of Representatives and Senate are preparing to elect their leaders, the former governor of Delta had for seen a scenario where the President, Senate Presidency and Speaker are all from the north. This he unequivocally submitted as untenable as a nation.

Many in the South South, including Asari have echoed similar sentiments as is unfolding. In fact, he made it known that Goodluck Jonathan was his own waterloo as he refused to listen to their pleas. However, I believe Nigeria is better for the present situation. Even though the truth must be told, however we have to move on. If not for anything, the South South would have realised that the North have always cherished their friendship because of what they are endowed with. They have realised that it is good to be at peace with your neighbours. The animosity that existed between Prof Eyo Itah and Nnamdi Azikiwe have been resolved. It is South Versus North, the way it was originally before the amalgamation. That is the fault line. I hope the SW will realise themselves soon. It's only a matter of time. Because the North have never been sincere about Nigeria's leadership. Of all mighty men, a weak man was selected to lead a war made for men of valour, just like weak men, he chickened out. He opted for peace, he loved his life so much, it's a lesson for future politics, being a good man does not equal good leadership. You need people with very strong resolve, those who can even make a government ungovernable to grab power.

In conclusion, the first week of Buhari's presidency has been inundated with violence and death caused by fuel tankers plunging into markets, houses and passers-by and continued attacks by BH. As the presidency has started off with international diplomatic shuttles, he hasn't completely ignored the home front, he sent and have gotten approval for 15 advisers, 3 short of the number his predecessor had from both arms of the National Assembly. As he returns to take over fully the reins of power, he has huge challenges to surmount and Nigerians and the international community are waiting in earnest for breath of positive change.

I wish President Buhari will succeed. However, our wishes do not determine the future all the time, its our actions and inactions that shape the future and cause the forces of nature to obey us. As Buhari echoed in his inaugural address, "We have an opportunity, let us take it"

Five Reasons Why Buhari's presidency is good for Nigeria

I have adduced these reasons why Buhari's presidency is good for Nigeria.

1) The emergence of Buhari and APC is good for deepening and entrenching the democratic culture which we as a people have adopted, a culture that is inherent from our various civilizations.

2) We have become a model of democracy for Africa. The influx of who-is-who in Africa at the inauguration has given Nigeria the platform to emerge as the heartbeat and de-facto leader in Africa. This is a prerequisite for a permanent seat at the United Nations.

3) Wealth is being spread more than it would have been under a continued Goodluck Jonathan and PDP continuum as the wealth of the country would have been concentrated on the few who have been at the forefront since 1999 under PDP.

4) It showed that every region in this country is equally important as unity in any region can be a determinant in any election. Parties have learned that having presence and being active in every state in Nigeria is essential for wide acceptability as a national party.

5) Every section of this country has hope of participating in this democracy as a stakeholder, is guaranteed the topmost position of the presidency. .