FEATURE ARTICLE

Femi Awoniyi
afri-courier@t-online.de
Speyer, Germany

First Anniversary of Buhari's Presidency (May 29, 2004)

t has now been one year since Mohammadu Buhari became the democratically elected president of Nigeria. The president started his tenure on a note of controversy which has been accompanying him ever since.

The election that brought him to power was accompanied by massive violence which deeply divided the country.

On the day of his inauguration, on May 29, 2003, he dismissed 552 officers from the armed forces, mostly Yorubas and Christians from the South and North. In a controversial move, he appointed a Fulani colonel, the 38-year-old Abdulkadir Barde, as army chief.

After he was sworn in by the Chief Justice of the Federation, the new president departed the Abuja parade grounds and flew straight to Sokoto, leaving the state reception, to which foreign dignitaries had been invited, for his deputy, Vice-President Harry Marshall, to preside over.

Buhari went to Sokoto to be part of an elaborate ceremony held behind closed doors for him at the palace of the Sultan of Sokoto. In attendance at the ceremony, where Buhari symbolically paid tribute to the Sultan, were the leading emirs such as those of Ilorin, Kano, Katsina and Gwandu, and the Etsu Nupe. Words leaked out that the Sultan, His Eminence Alhaji Muhammadu Maccido, asked the newly-elected president to institute a nizam Islami (Islamic order) all over Nigeria.

On Buhari's third day in office, the government issued a circular, banning Egbe Afenifere, Ohaeneze and other "parochial organisations" whose "activities promote hatred and xenophobia, thereby threatening the unity of Nigeria". The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and South-South Forum were exempted because "they are not tribal organisations". Middle Belt Forum (MBF) was banned "for encouraging or fostering religious intolerance in the North". Federal Information Minister Wada Nas advised the members of MBF "to integrate themselves into the ACF". OPC, Egbesu (Ijaw) and Bakassi were outlawed and shoot-at-sight orders were given to members of the security services, should they encounter any unlawful activities of members of the proscribed "militant organisations".

Exactly one week after Buhari became president, a statement was released by Alhaji Nas announcing the name of the number one citizen of the land to be Sheikh Mohammadu Buhari and no longer General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd.). In addition, all official plaques and letterheads of federal institutions suddenly started bearing an Arabic inscription under the words "Federal Republic of Nigeria". The Arabic text is said to mean the Islamic Republic of Nigeria. This caused an uproar leading Alhaji Nas to issue a statement advising the nation that the Arabic inscription should have meaning only to Muslims, while Christians should concern themselves only with the English name of the country. "After all, since independence, the name of the country has been a Christian one," the government spokesman said. "And Muslims did not complain."

In early June, there was outcry over federal appointments as Fulanis were seen to be favoured. Out of the 28 members of the Federal Executive Council from the Muslim North, 24 of them are Fulanis. The army chief, the directors of the SSS, DMI, NIA, are also all Fulanis.

On June 20, the president left unannounced for Saudi Arabia, stopping briefly in Sudan where he conferred with General Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir. The two heads of state left together for Medina the next day where they were received by the then newly-crowned King Abdullah Bin Abd al-Asis. Buhari and Al-Bashir were taken to Mecca by the Saudi Interior Minister, Prince Naif Ibn Abd al-Asis. There they spent 5 days with the Chief Imam of Mecca, Sheikh Abdulrahman bin Abd al-Asis Al Sudais.

On June 26, Buhari returned home. Instead of arriving in Abuja, he landed in Sokoto, where a mammoth crowd had been mobilised to receive him. In a ceremony at the Sultan's palace, Buhari presented a copy of the Koran given to him by the Chief Imam of Mecca to the Sultan for safe- and publicly addressed the Fulani traditional ruler as "Abu ash-Shaab" of Nigeria (Father of the people of Nigeria). In a bold speech, Alhaji Maccido said the time to carry out the hakimiyyat Allah (divine rule, as expressed in the Sharia) was now and challenged Buhari to prove his bravery as a Muslim by instituting Islam as state religion without regard for the consequences.

During a courtesy call to Vice-President Marshall a week later, Christian leaders expressed their fear that the situation was getting serious. The number two man asked Christians not be "unduly alarmed" as these developments showed that Islam was only enjoying a new surge of popularity in the country. The Christians had wanted to visit the president who "for reasons of time" turned their request down.

On August 1, the Christian chapel in the state house (Aso Rock) was demolished in the presence of the visiting Chief Imam of Mecca and Sultan Maccido. The Secretary to the Federal Government, Dr. Mahmud Tukur, explained that the demolition was done for the "aerial decongestion" of the grounds of the state house. A new chapel would be built in the Vice President Lodge under construction in the outskirts of the city, the Fulani government scribe explained.

During a visit of a delegation of the Tabital Fulako (for World Fulani Congress) to Sheikh Buhari on July 28, the president announced automatic citizenship for Fulanis wishing to settle in Nigeria and directed Northern states to issue them "deeds of indigeneship". The leader of the organisation, Kadiri Yahaya, a Cameroonian businessman, thanked Buhari for attending their last big gathering in January 2001 in Bamako, Mali.

On August 29, the governors of the oil-producing states, after a meeting in Port Harcourt, protested the withholding of their allocation from the 13 percent derivation fund since Buhari became president.

The Federal Minister of Justice, Prof. Auwalu Hamisu Yadudu, and Alhaji Nas explained that the payment to oil-producing states was stopped because it amounted to discrimination against other states. Nas expanded in his statement, saying that, "to give one example, 80 % of all food produced in the country comes from the North; hence if the same principle of derivation were applied, then these states would get about 48 % of federal revenues". He refused to explain how he came up with the figures. The aggrieved governors went to court. Case still being heard.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff Barde, who has now become a general, warned the communities inhabiting the oil-producing areas not to engage in any activities that could disrupt oil production, warning that the army had the "order, determination and capacity" to quell any disturbances. The governors of the states were also warned by the Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources, Professor Jubril Aminu, not to make any provocative statements that could cause civil unrest as the federal government would not hesitate to declare a state of emergency in such states without any recourse to the National Assembly.

On September 5, a new Muslim Militia group, the Soldiers of Allah (SOA), was launched with fan fare in Katsina. In a ceremony presided over by Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlalla, the leader of the Lebanese group Hizbollah, and Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, about 25,000 young men openly pledged to "die for Islam". Sheikh Fadlalla calls for "universal war on unbelief in Nigeria". SOA would train about a million "fighters for Islam" in four years, vows Sheikh Zakzaky. The visiting Lebanese clergyman promised to travel round the Islamic world to raise funds for SOA.

On November 1, Sheikh (Dr.) Ibrahim Datti Ahmed, the National President of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria, issues a fatwa declaring Dr Hammed Kusamotu a murtad (apostate). Sheikh Ahmed called on "any good Muslim" to kill the Yoruba lawyer for committing apostasy. Kusamotu had warned against the use of Islam for un-Islamic ends in an article published in the Punch. The Yoruba scholar of Islamic law suggested that Islamic literature must be read in the light of history. Kusamotu fled the country as the police said they could not guarantee his safety.

A minor disagreement between a Fulani cattle rearer and an Igbo taxi driver in Kano on November 12 led to massive riots in which about 25,000 Southerners, but mostly Igbos were killed. A peaceful march organised simultaneously in Owerri, Enugu and Aba to protest the killings a week later turned bloody as soldiers opened fire into the crowd. In a house-to-house battle in Aba with radical youths, about 5,000 people were killed.

In a release, Sheikh Buhari blamed "Zionist elements" for the disturbances. In a chat with the press, Nas condemned "Ngbati newspapers" for exaggerating, asking rhetorically, "what did you do while OPC were massacring Northerners during Obasanjo's presidency?" The government spokesman later recanted the statement following massive criticism.

In a special statement on November 29, the federal government recognised the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria as a quasi-official institution mandated to train Sharia judges and other personnel, establish and run Sharia courts in "states where the government is uncooperative". The 4.2 billion naira budget of the body would be defrayed by up to 80 percent by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the rest will be taken care of by a Saudi foundation.

On December 22, Alhaji Aminu Bah was installed Sarkin Jos. Riots broke out the next day. A combined deployment of soldiers and Muslim militias from Katsina, Kano and Sokoto quelled disturbances which within a matter of days had spread to surrounding towns. About 100,000 people, mostly Christians perished in the 5-day unrest. Government insisted that only 5,000 had died. Following the outcry over the role of the militias, Major-General Barde said that they would be integrated into the armed forces. The leader of the SOA, Sheikh Zakzaky, assured the government of his co-operation but insisted that the militias would have a different command structure and that the commander-in-chief of the militias would remain the Sultan.

Within five weeks of December 15, the Sharia Council established "Independent Sharia Court" in all Northern states, Oyo, Oshun, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti and Edo States. The council also plans to set up the court in the remaining states of the federation "within the next 18 months", Dr. Ahmed announced. Christians were assured by Yadudu that only Northern Muslims and other Muslims who voluntarily submit themselves to its jurisdiction would be tried before the court.

On February 25 this year, former military leader, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd.), sustained serious injuries in an "armed robbery incident". The month preceding the incident had been marked by controversial statements made by the evil genius of Nigerian politics, criticising Fulanis of marginalising other Muslim Northerners. For example, Babangida condemned the practice of recruiting Fulanis from other West African countries like Mali, Guinea, Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso and Cameroon into the armed forces. It is rumoured that out of 50,000 new recruits into the army, about 40,000 are Fulanis, most of whom are not Nigerians.

The government reacted by withdrawing the security detail of the former military president. Three days later his convoy ran into an ambush of armed robbers while returning from "consultation" with his friends in Jos. About 15 people were killed by the assailants. Former head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd.), challenged the government to find the culprits, openly expressing doubts about the police claim. Villagers around the crash scene claimed to have witnessed Fulani-looking soldiers laying an ambush for IBB.

Abubakar faces a barrage of criticism from Fulani politicians and intellectuals, including Dr. Mohammed Siddique, political adviser to the president, who accused the former head of state of "massive looting" prior to his departure from office in 1999. On January 11, the federal government instituted an administrative panel to probe federal finances during Abubakar's rule. All efforts of Abubakar to meet with Buhari over the issue failed as the president refused to grant him an audience. On March 18, Abubakar fled the country with his family to Britain, where Babangida has been receiving medical treatment since the incident. Both generals have since been calling the government undemocratic.

Voices are getting critical of Buhari's style of leadership not only in the South but in the North East and the entire Christian North. In March, a newspaper columnist dubbed Chief Marshal Vino (for Vice-President In Name Only) for his obvious powerlessness in the government. It is said that in the absence of the president, the federal executive council is always presided over by the Secretary to the Government, Dr Tukur. Alhaji Nas defends the government by citing countries like Kirigistan and Pakistan "where the practice is common".

The United States, Britain and other key Western countries seem to be satisfied with making statements calling on the government to "respect democratic rules and freedom of worship". Analysts charge that the West is under pressure from the Saudi royal family not to interfere in the internal affairs of Nigeria. Western oil companies have been rewarded with very generous production-sharing agreements.

A year after becoming president, Sheikh Buhari has yet to venture south of Abuja, while he has already visited Sudan, Mauritania and Saudi Arabia five times each and has met with the Sultan in Sokoto about 29 times. The president has also not addressed the press since his inception in office one single time. Alhaji Nas said Buhari "would not submit himself to insults by Southern journalists at a press conference". Questions are sent to the presidency in writing, and written replies are returned a week later.

Nigerians are growing apprehensive. Foreign businesses are winding up their operations in Nigeria. Foreign investment has totally dried up as even many Igbo businessmen are said to increasingly invest their money in Togo and Benin Republic.

What happens next is anybody's guess as the government has acquired a reputation for giving the nation shock treatments.