Nduka Nwosu
PROLOGUE
Three significant occurrences preceded the crafting of this essay or prologue. A mid-night study was a digest on national unity as propounded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He argued persuasively that a small or diminished Nigeria would not be fun afterall, that is, in case the minions in anticipation of fiefdoms where they would wax and rule supreme after separation, are expecting anything to the contrary.
He laid his facts in a narrative that is unarguably the best I have read from him. A big Nigeria, is the canvas, the theatre of great dreams, he postulated. And in any case, fiefdoms were going out of style. Obasanjo was the modern day Wiener Spies, the art historian who chastised Wilhelm Brucke, Max Ernst and Auguste Macke, for venturing into France shamelessly and in supplicatory piety, to condescending coaches and role models of the French art movement.
The second occurrence was the Thisday and Arise Television’s superlative focus on Mr. President. The optics were non-pareil. Whether the Star Wars and Steroids gave Mr. President a June 12 boost or not from remote and unknown circumstances, he was appealing as the new masquerade unveiled. His guarded smiles danced from one end of his cheek to the other, reminding one of Thomas Hardy’s character, Gabriel Oak in Far From the Madding Crowd.
Whereas Gabriel is presented as a young man of sound judgment, easy motions, proper dress, and general good character, his contrast almost altered all his fine qualities. Gabriel Oak is lukewarm regarding religion, what the Bible and I guess the Quran, detest in human character. Be for the Devil or for God. Do not stand in-between, according to the Book of Revelation. Sadly that is where mankind is. Gabriel is presented as a man “who went to church, but yawned privately by the time the congregation reached the Nicene Creed.” If Buhari as a statesman yawned privately regarding what he hates or loves, he these days puts on a powdered face, with a wrinkled but subtle smile holding on to the same argument since May 29, 2015.
The rebranded Buhari is exactly a Gabriel Oak in character except that they share two uncommon traits in religion and name. He wears as always, his renown and fame like a pair of overalls comfortably, bestriding the world like a colossus that fate has imposed on him..
The third occurrence: the same Buhari was in Lagos after that world class exposure the next day and got a robust reception from the Southwest. It was like the coming home of the son of the land as he announced among other things he would mark up the salary of policemen.
Three years ago Buhari became a born again with his pronouncements of June 12. That spirit of democracy can be revived and directed to the Southeast.
The born again Buhari needs to project June to the land of Biafra, the home of the rising sun. What does it cost but just that? Biafra sounds serene, eternal, beautiful and beloved in spite of its ruins. It projected and still does, the can-do possibilities of tomorrow for the Nigerian nation. We can leverage on that as a people.
Spread your smiles Mr. President like your friend Gabriel, and take another chieftaincy title in the spirit of reconciliation. Promise the Igbo a birthday package: you would re-build a few bad roads traversing the major towns and connecting them to the Southsouth. What happened to the Second Niger Bridge and the port Vice President Alex Ekwueme initiated? Get the dredging on course and be true to thine own self. What about some key appointments in the military and government? Why not.
Sir Benjamin Franklin who made Freemasonry a second religion in America, was often referred to as the First American for his inputs into the American Constitution that designed strong institutions and weak governments. It was deliberate. Can Buhari in the spirit of June 12 look back and in 24 months from now become the leading advocate of Restructure-risation, not Fulanisation, and earn the coveted title of The First Nigerian? Plato in the Republic, putting words into his master Socrates, defined politics as a dirty game. Buhari can up the ante by re-defining politics as a game of subtle humour in a democracy.
When he suffered defeat from the US Supreme Court, not the electorate, Vice President Al Gore remembered what his father told him: defeat shakes the soul. Unlike Gabriel, Buhari shares similarities with Gore. We saw Buhari shed tears profusely lamenting he may never be president in his life time, accusing the Supreme Court of empowering the wrong candidate. His soul was shaken. Sadly Buhari seems to be gyrating in break dance, pounding his chest as a great kinsman of his people. This is a provincial legacy, not the act of great statesmen like Zik of Africa, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and the Right Honorable M.I. Okpara.
Now that he is on his way out, Buhari should at least leave the country not in pieces but with the peace he met when his sponsors dragged him back to the life he least expected. Biafrans shed tears when they anticipated a Republic that collapsed before their very eyes. Buhari and Biafrans should forgive each other. That is the true meaning of no victor, no vanquished.
