Nigeria's fifth democratically elected President, Muhammadu Buhari is enigmatic for some good reasons. Firstly he took over power in 1983 from a democratically elected second republic president, Shehu Shagari, in a bloodless coup and was toppled less than two years after in 1985 by Ibrahim Babangida. He contested for Nigeria's presidency in 2003, 2007 and 2011 and lost, but won 2015 and was sworn in.
His first term (2015 - 2019) saw several misfortunes. Majorly he was sick and hospitalized for a number of months. Many people believed that he died. But the enigmatic Buhari survived and returned looking younger and stronger to the extent that the conspiracy theory that he has been cloned became rife. However, President Obasanjo observed angrily recently that it was impossible for the real Buhari to die and a human clone used to replace him without people like him knowing.
It is submitted here that the months of sickness, the memories of his 1985 overthrow, and his commitment to pacifying interests in the North impeded his performance during his first term (2015 - 2019). Also dwindling oil prices since 2014 (before his takeover), and his unguarded statements added up to make his first term a not so delightful experience to many Nigerians.
However he managed to secure reelection in 2020 and appears to be enjoying better health compared to the first term. He has promised to leave Nigeria better than he met it. He recently labeled the Bandits ravaging the North as terrorists and has vowed to crush them alongside other violent extremists. And similar to the approach adopted more recently by President Biden in the U.S., President Buhari is poised to spend Nigeria out of recession using the argument that there is no debt problem but a revenue problem. Hence since 2019, the Buhari administration has been spending heavily on infrastructure development and social welfare programs at a scale that is unprecedented in Nigeria's history. He started late but appears to be in a hurry to leave behind remarkable successes.
This book reviews President Buhari's performance so far; his success and mistakes, and the political environment of his presidency. Suggestions on how to achieve success faster are also proposed. Mr. President has to turn things around quickly so that the assurances he has been giving Nigerians will not be in vain.
The book has eight chapter. Chapter one conjectures how the president's performance in the first term was seriously impaired by 'the Ghost of the 1985 Coup'. He had to find trusted allies to work with. Chapter two explains how the cabal he worked with significantly influenced his policies and programs, quite often adversely. Chapter three discusses how leading Nigeria is complicated by the heavy influences of ethnicity and corruption. The leaders are under severe pressure to favor clannish and sectional interests. Hence Nigerians have to share the failures of President Buhari and others before him until we change our orientation. Chapter four explains how the unguarded comments of Mr. President contributed to de-marketing Nigeria. Chapter five opines that the unilateral closure of land and sea borders worsened Nigeria's stagflation condition; it caused non-oil exports done informally to neighboring countries through the borders to reduce, without significantly reducing the smuggling of rice into Nigeria. Chapter six discusses what can be done to stimulate growth and take the economy out of stagflation. The published achievements of the president as at June 2021 are summarized and analyzed in Chapter seven. Lastly, Chapter eight identifies Mr. President's effort to ensure the fiscal autonomy of the State Legislature, State Judiciary and the Local Government Areas as his most important achievement so far. This effort will further deepen democracy at the grass root and make the state governors more accountable.