Nigeria: While Buhari’s away…
Posted on March 8, 2017 by Patrick Egwu Ejike
Relations between the Absent President, the Acting President, the
“cabal” and the APC were complex and often tense before. The could get
all the more so.
Acting President Yemi Osinbajo (left) toasts with President Muhammadu
Buhari (right). Credit: GCIS.
For all the criticisms that could be levelled against President
Muhammadu Buhari since coming to office, he has been nothing but
meticulous when it comes to following the constitution in handing over
power to the vice-president during his absences.
Since his inauguration in May 2015, the 74-year-old has temporarily
transferred presidential powers to Yemi Osinbajo in this way on three
occasions. The first was a five-day vacation in February 2016. The
second was for a medical trip to the UK in June 2016. And the third
was for further medical treatment in the UK in January.
For this latest trip, Buhari wrote to the National Assembly on 19
January informing them that Osinbajo would take over the presidential
powers, in compliance with the constitution, during his ten-day
sojourn. At the start of February, Buhari wrote again, explaining that
he was extending his leave indefinitely.
What exactly Buhari is being treated for remains a mystery, as does
the exact state of his health, and this lack of official information
has fuelled plenty of speculation and rumour.
But in the corridors of government, the show must go on. And under
Acting President Osinbajo, it has. In fact, in the six or so weeks he
has been in power, Osinbajo has received commendation for what is seen
as a series of successes.
An efficient caretaker?
One action for which Osinbajo has been praised is visiting the Niger
Delta where militant attacks on oil pipelines have led to the loss of
an astonishing million barrels of oil per day. Buhari had previously
cancelled two scheduled visits to the oil-rich region, but as acting
president, Osinbajo has met with local representatives, embarked on a
peace tour of the region, and promised a new way of doing things. His
calm demeanour when listening to angry locals on a visit to Benin City
even led commentators some to extol his “un-Nigerian” behaviour of
quietly sharing in the pain of the people.
Osinbajo’s spell in office has all been busy in other areas. Under
Buhari’s direction, he has launched a 60-day plan to lift the country
out of recession and boost the economy. He met with high-ranking state
officials to address the high cost of food prices and mandated the
Presidential Task Force on Food Security. He has approved a handful of
large-scale infrastructure projects and signed seven bills into law
while rejecting four. And he has just sworn in Walter Onnoghen as the
new Chief Justice of Nigeria.
The perception of the acting president’s positive and efficient
performance has also benefited from an appreciating naira, leading
Senator Ben Murray-Bruce of the opposition People’s Democratic Party
(PDP) to tweet:
“Whatever the acting president is doing to increase the value of the
naira is working. We appeal to him to teach his boss this magic he
has”.
Various analysts have also commended the practical and proficient way
in which Obasanjo has taken on his interim role.
“The country is moving on smoothly and the presidency is very much
effective. Within the period [Buhari] is away, we have witnessed a lot
of progress,” says Chris Isiguzo, Vice-President of the Nigeria Union
of Journalists and a public commentator. “The vice president’s visit
to the Niger Delta has stopped the bombing of oil installations and
the Boko Haram insurgency has greatly reduced.”
All credit due
However, not everyone is best pleased with the rising popularity of
the acting president. In particular, those close to the absent
president have made efforts to ensure Buhari gets credit for any
successes that occur while he’s away.
In February, for example, Osinbajo made a surprise visit to the
Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and, finding the
facilities in a state of decay, expressed his deep dissatisfaction.
Shortly after, all ten directors of the Nigerian Civil Aviation
Authority were sacked.
In response, Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika, a
long-standing Buhari ally, released a statement taking pains to insist
the firings were unrelated to Osinbajo’s visit. “It must be made clear
that there is no basis to link both events together,” he said. “It
will be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration,
at inception, placed aviation among top priority areas”.
Babafemi Ojodu, Buhari’s Special Assistant on Political Matters, has
also publicly insisted that all Osinbajo’s actions are directed by
Buhari and that he is only carrying out the absent president’s ideas.
All credit, he argues, must still go to Buhari.
“There is nothing that has been done since the vice-president started
acting that did not start under the president”, he said.
Perhaps those most concerned about Osinbajo’s popularity, especially
given the disappointment that had surrounded Buhari’s own leadership,
are the individuals known in some circles as the “cabal”.
[#IStandWithNigeria protests: “We can change Nigeria and we are coming
together to do just that”]
[Nigeria: The shattering of the Buhari mythology]
This is a group of individuals close to Buhari and who are thought to
have a heavy influence in the presidency’s decision-making. It is this
group to which First Lady Aisha Buhari referred in October 2016 when
she claimed the government had been hijacked by just a “few people”.
“The president does not know 45 out of 50 of the people he appointed
and I don’t know them either, despite being his wife of 27 years”, she
told the BBC.
This so-called cabal is believed to include: Buhari’s uncle and
Chief-of-Staff Abba Kyari; Minister of State Hadi Sirika; his nephew
Mamman Daura, who has no official position but has been referred to by
the press as Nigeria’s “Unofficial Vice President”; and Secretary to
the Government of the Federation Babachir Lawal.
In October, Lawal asserted in an interview on Channels TV, “I am
honoured to be a cabal in this presidency”. And in December, Buhari
protected him after the Senate requested his suspension and
prosecution over an alleged breach in handling contracts for the
Presidential Initiative for the North East (PINE).
This perception of preferential treatment has drawn some strong
criticism. “We must in every respect fight corruption within the
kitchen as we do in the veranda,” says Senator Shehu Sani of the
ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). “If we don’t, then we are
being hypocritical.”
Shifting power
It is alleged that this group of influential individuals has
essentially removed Buhari from the APC in that the ruling party no
longer has significant input in his decision-making. But with
president out of the picture, his powers formally transferred to
Osinbajo, and his return uncertain, the influence of these individuals
has diminished, at least temporarily.
“Osinbajo is now a sitting president and nobody can take it away from
him because power was constitutionally handed over to him”, says
political scientist Jonah Onuoha. “Power was transferred to him to be
an acting president so no scheming can succeed against him until
Buhari returns or it is constitutionally otherwise stated.”
What happens when Buhari returns, however, remains to be seen.
Relations between the APC, the so-called cabal, the absent president
and the acting president were complex and often tense before
Osinbajo’s seemingly successful spell in the top seat.
The VP’s newfound popularity and prominence could complicate these
associations even further, especially as Nigeria starts looking
towards the 2019 elections amidst rumours Buhari might not contest
again.
Nigerian papers are already reporting that Atiku Abubakar, a former
vice-president and fellow Northerner, is making plans to run
regardless of Buhari’s intentions. Meanwhile, Bola Tinubu, a central
player within the APC and the man many see as Osinbajo’s mentor, is
understood to have ambitions for the top job too, an aspiration
perhaps strengthened by his protégé’s growing reputation.
“As long as [Buhari] is alive, they will probably put him in the
government house and other people can run the government for him”,
says Onuoha. “But if his ill health continues like this, other
political forces will emerge to take over from him”.
“Northerners will insist to push for another northern candidate and
already Tinubu is already indicating an interest to contest, but not
when Buhari is contesting. And if he [Tinubu] doesn’t contest, he will
insist that Osinbajo contests for the post so that power can come back
to the south west.”
If that latter eventuality comes to pass, Osinbajo may be pleased with
how his six-week audition has played out so far.
Patrick Egwu Ejike is a Nigerian journalist.
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One thought on “Nigeria: While Buhari’s away…”
VIP says:
March 8, 2017 at 1:55 pm
Buhari sure has a good heart!
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