President Muhammadu Buhari is a good, patient man, who means well. Those who knew candidate Muhammadu Buhari well would swear that in government, Buba Galadima would end up as his right hand man. Buba and candidate Buhari used to share a common virtue – honesty and integrity or so the saying goes.
Things didn’t go as envisaged and both men parted ways. But Galadima’s beautiful daughter, Zainab Buba, was besotted by the outward appearance of her father’s quondam friend. Against the usual run of play, she got what she thought was an appointment letter to work at the Presidential Villa.
That letter granted her access to the inner sanctum of the Buhari presidency. This young bookworm with at least three master’s degrees and a degree in accountancy soon settled down to make a difference, tasking her brains with projects she thought would impact the ‘talakawa’. Obviously while reviewing the security reports on her father’s hostile activities, she was posted to the Vice President’s office where she barely had a chair or table to sit on. It did not deter her. She must have read somewhere that people’s brains make waves for them without realising that it’s a misnomer in Nigeria.
As she would later realise, the beautiful proposals she wrote returned with her visionary recommendations upturned. While she visualised the eradication of poverty among the female folk as the foundation of development, government saw a vote-grabbing scheme it gave an exotic tag – TraderMoni.
Zainab expected to be paid for her seminal contributions. Nobody told her what an infamous newspaper publisher is known to tell his employees who complain that they have not been paid – do you think the ID card I gave you is for fun? In the Villa, they don’t talk with all their mouth especially while at dinner table; they expect the wise to know. Zainab’s Naija eye of perception needs fine-tuning. If she expected things to work according to the books has been disappointed, she has not given up. Check her interview with Daily Trust TV and another with BBC Hausa and you see a young lady who trims the wick of her candle of hope.
While at the villa, on the few occasions she bumped into the president, the taciturn Sai Baba would order something be done to remedy her situation. He would be assured that it would be done, except that they did nothing following Buhari’s unwritten code of governance.
Zainab was a toddler of three years when Buhari was kicked out of Dodan Barracks. Whatever she thought she knew about the general must have been gleaned from her ‘enemy of state’ father.
The young lady is long suffering. Buhari must have expected her to influence her father to retrace his steps. It didn’t happen and Zainab is yet to be paid for her services to the country. But as her father had envisaged, she is free to cite in her resume that she worked at the villa except that she is unlikely to get a reference letter from Buhari.
You could not be the daughter of ‘enemy of state’ father and expect to make a career in the evil service of the state. The guys at the Buhari Media Centre do not like giving opportunities to those who do not subscribe to their definition of loyalty. Sai Baba himself does not believe in giving equal opportunities to those who gave him 95 percent and those who want a fraction removed from his notoriety.
This long epistle is necessary to explain some of the recent issues that tend to portray the president as a wicked dictator who punishes dissent faster than he rewards loyalty. We all know that the president would have loved to keep his friends close and his enemies closer except that such a gesture might be misinterpreted.
Therefore, when Hadiza Usman, an inner-caucus member of the current ruining class, had the audacity to use her private Twitter handle to chastise the government she serves for the so-called level of perceived insecurity in the country Buhari would have none of it. The president would have expected a press statement blaming the keyboard for eavesdropping on its owner’s inner thoughts or Russian hackers at their worst. Such expectation is a requirement especially if you head the Nigeria Ports Authority, NPA, an agency that has more banana peels than the National Assembly had under Olusegun Obasanjo.
Tony Anenih, the great Mr Fix It, did not write a memoir, but there is something to be learnt from Bode George who soiled his naval garment with the oil of sleaze and paid dearly for it. Having cerebral young but politically naïve Northern women in hot spots would get tongues wagging in an area where women are meant to be rarely seen and hardly heard.
Heading NPA meant that you had Sai Baba on speed dial. You could talk to the commander of chiefs without Isa Pantami eavesdropping on your conversation. To by-pass such a privilege for a tweet like a common hailer is breaking the 11th Commandment that commands you to always sing the praises of the government whether it is right or wrong.
Having broken the rule, Hadiza ought to be the central guest on NTA Newsline or put Imoni Amarere or Seun Okinbaloye on speed dial swearing her enemies were after her. She should have said that she was 18 years old the last time she tweeted and has since matured.
It is a grave offence that the daughter of Bala Usman waited for her minister to call the president on her. Now she’ll have to lose sleep while forensic auditors checked if she ever made a mistake. The fact that the NNPC books have not been audited notwithstanding, it is immaterial that two firms have audited NPA accounts, when you are disloyal, your reputation goes before you. She should have learnt from the sacked chief justice whose corruption allegations have remained inconclusive. Ditto investigations into the activities of Ibrahim Magu.
As the scriptures say, judgement must begin from the house of the Lord! This regime could tolerate the heckling of outsiders, but a sneeze from the inside is worse than COVID-19 symptoms. Father Mbaka was a great prophet until he asked the president to resign; now he faces the anger of his supervising bishop and if Femi Adesina has his way, possible excommunication by the Holy See for seeing reality.
Meanwhile, as Madam Hadiza was wailing, parents of abducted Greenfield University students negotiated with terrorists to avert further bloodshed. They secured the release of their children. Those of the Kaduna School of Forestry have followed suit and secured liberty for their wards. Nigerians know better than depend on their government for anything except being cajoled to vote. They negotiate for everything they need including their right to life.
Our dynamic president first pretended that everything was okay with Nigeria. When that failed, he admitted that there were challenges. Then he begged for help. Then he threatened to unleash the flames of aljahim on those perpetrating insecurity. Lately, just to show flexibility, he has begged the bandits to embrace peace a word they hate as much as they hate hell. Let’s hope they listen. As for Hadiza, if she returns, it’ll be because she has learnt her lesson – never argue with your mouth full.
