As the real journey begins…

Also published in Daily Trust

Today’s historic transfer of power is a remarkable achievement of a goal conceived by tens of millions of Nigerians almost thirty years ago, and which has been democratically pursued over the past twelve years culminating in Buhari’s assumption of the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, today.

Though this event is indeed significant, being the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria where an incumbent federal government, having lost a re-election bid, peacefully hands over power to a winning opposition party, as it is also pretty uncommon in African and other emerging democracies elsewhere, yet, its significance is overshadowed by the significance of the hope that the person taking over the presidency represents for the overwhelmingly exhausted Nigerians.

One needs to consider the circumstances and the backdrop against which Muhammdu Buhari has earned the trust of Nigerians, and indeed how he has become an important source of hope for them. Though Buhari’s twenty-month reign as military Head of State thirty years ago was massively popular particularly during its first few months, Nigerians grew too impatient to cope with the transitory inconvenience and the manageable difficulties temporarily associated with the transition period from the culture of pervasive corruption, widespread indiscipline, systemic dysfunction, systematic mediocrity and social disorder that had defined the previous civilian administration, to radical socio-economic, cultural and attitudinal reforms, which Buhari vigorously pursued.

Nigerians therefore considered his regime too strict, and that resulted in public resentment against it, which the subsequent military coup plotters maliciously exaggerated and capitalized up, among other flimsy excuses, to eventually overthrow his government and send him to jail.

However, the ensuing culture of institutionalized theft, blatant impunity and reckless economic mismanagement that subjected Nigerians to poverty of an unprecedented severity, and social instability, which also kept worsening under the successive military regimes and civilian administrations in the country, made Nigerians appreciate the merit of Buhari’s mission. 
They learned, albeit the hard way, that Buhari’s strategic reform polices particularly as they related to fight against corruption and indiscipline were indeed what the country needed in order to grow into a politically stable, economically prosperous and socially civilized country.

Also, ever since then millions of Nigerians continued to nostalgically miss Buhari’s promising regime and wondered if the country would ever be fortunate enough again to have a leader with similar leadership qualities. That had however remained a mere dream for a long time until Buhari decided to join politics when it developed into an achievable goal.

Now that after three consecutive unsuccessful attempts over the past twelve years, the goal has been achieved, as Buhari is being finally sworn in today as President of Nigeria, Nigerians have achieved an important milestone in their national endeavour. This is especially considering the fact that it comes amid the country’s worst ever economic crisis, which has been exacerbated by unprecedented scarcity of all essential resources that drive the wheel of modern day life. 
This is in addition to the endemic culture of mediocrity in the delivery of the already ridiculously insufficient and inefficient public services, which undermines the remaining elements of modern civilization in the country. It also comes while the pervasive sense of despair in the country has reached its worst level, which explains Nigerians’ huge expectations.

Without downplaying the significance of the efforts and sacrifices made by millions of Nigerians in the struggle to achieve this historic leadership change at the federal level, it is important to bear in mind that, the real journey towards building a new Nigeria has just begun. Also, the task ahead is much more difficult; hence it equally takes much more efforts and sacrifices to achieve the actual objectives behind the exceptional sense of patriotism and selflessness they have displayed during the political struggle to achieve this change. 

Any unwarranted and/or miscalculated compromise in this regard will simply means losing the fruits of whatever hard work and sacrifices made to achieve this change, which Nigerians certainly can’t afford. Buhari’s presidency per se is not the ultimate goal of Nigerians, after all, and must not be regarded as such, either. It is simply a means to achieve good governance that guarantees the best possible quality of life for all citizens.

Besides, it is in the interest of Nigerians in particular to make good use of this opportunity to salvage themselves and the future generations of Nigerians from the persistent and largely leadership-inflicted misery engulfing the country. Because, Buhari as a person has little to lose in the event of Nigerians’ failure or unwillingness to cooperate with  him to lay  solid foundations for sustainable socio-political and economic reforms in the country.

Moreover, the man is already fulfilled, and most importantly, he has always been too content to be tempted into living beyond his legitimate earnings even though he has been a governor, a minister and even Head of State when he was much younger and when the temptations were particularly tempting and hard to resist. Also having earned his unrivalled reputation in integrity, he is definitely determined to keep it up to the end in order to reap the fruits of his labour in the hereafter, God willing.