Peeling off the layers of President Buhari’s brand of socialism

One of the most admirable things about President Muhamadu Buhari’s ascent to power in 2015 was the sustained support from the millions of Talakawas in the North. The admiration of these courageous Nigerians for the President is perhaps second to none. I have met few of them. Their support borders on fanatical and it is unchanging. By late 2014, following the emergence of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the President as the party’s flag bearer, they have managed to add another set of Nigerians, now especially in the West, that were prepared to do all they could for the emergence of the President’s political aspirations. This new set of Nigerians contributed both time and money towards the victory of the President in the 2015 poll.
These Nigerians, many of them also voting for the first time, were convinced by the rhetoric against corruption, and donated their resources for the success of the campaign. The aspiration of these Nigerians was noble and simple. They see the 16 years of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as responsible for the rise in corruption, and the corruption has led to poor economic performance and gross inequality. So, for many of these Nigerians, they reluctantly reconciled the economic performance of the first coming of President Buhari and the promises made by the APC. The admiration for the President was that, as one of past Nigerian Presidents, he did not enrich himself through the public purse,
However, almost four years of the Buhari presidency, the first thing any keen watcher of Nigeria’s politics will notice is that the support for Mr.President has reduced significantly amongst the later set of converts to the President’s political aspiration. Many in the APC will deny that. What is not deniable is that the support for Mr. President amongst every level of support received in 2015 has dropped, become lukewarm, and or simply unexcitable. Many of these Nigerians have been left disappointed, in despair, and in worse economic conditions than they were in 2015.
It is in this context that one should view the recent purchase of the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential nomination form for the President. A day after the leadership of the APC announced the timetable for the party’s primaries and the costs of its forms for the different positions, a group christened Nigeria Consolidation Ambassadors Network (NCAN), led by its leader Sanusi Musa boughtthe party’s presidential nomination form for the President for N45 million. According to this group, since Mr. President has not stolen from the public purse, it is left to Nigerians such as the group to buy him the nomination. Ironically, it means every other aspirant buying the forms are corrupt individuals.
But this smacks of gross hypocrisy at many levels. Adams Oshiomole may be the chairman of the APC but the President is by all means the leader of the party. So why did he allow the form to be sold at that price? Having succumbed to the hypocrisy of denying others the possibility of contesting against him in the APC presidential nomination process or using the process to raise money for the party, and given the impression it was a party decision, even carefully arranged to happen while the President was away, the only way to achieve the full hypocrisy is to arrange a group to buy nomination forms on the behalf of the President. Meanwhile, the whole media was there. How did they get to know which and when the group was going to buy the form? It’s no different from the President playing ignorance regarding the funds for the 2015 elections, and the forthcoming 2019 campaigns. Others can spend on behalf of the president as long as the president keeps the job of fighting corruption.
To understand and appreciate President Buhari’s fight against corruption, one needs to take a cue from the history and behaviour of socialism. And this history teaches us that the most critical underlying notion and concept of socialism is sharing, following the argument that individual liberalism failed to address social concerns during the industrial revolution, including poverty, social oppression, and gross inequalities in wealth. Socialism was thus an alternative to liberal individualism based on shared ownership of resources. Having met two people with such tendencies at close quarters, I have no doubt that their interest is in the final product and not the process, both as a beneficiary and as an allocator. They hate profits, but like the taxes paid by profits makers, they hate profits but like the jobs created by profit takers. It is common for them to push salary increases but not work ethic, living wages but not dedication to work. In the case of the allocator, it is also important that the poor continues to believe they are one of them.
So, having this understanding, back to President Mohammadu Buhari. He is not interested in personal wealth. Oh no, he is not. It is the reason many continue to tout his credential against corruption. According to this behaviour, he is more interested in aligning with the struggling poor, and their problems traced to the elite, but not bad economic policies. The president fits into the characterization and behaviour of leaders of every kind of socialist movement. They tout their representation of the poor, but exhibit the symptoms of the wealth on behalf of the poor, either as representatives of their union, or at the expense of the State, as the President. No, I am not suggesting the President is particularly enjoying the perks of office more than his predecessors. No he is not, but he has not reduced them, either.
In conclusion, Mr. President has inadvertently lost the generation of Nigerians that believed he was different. They had supported him on social media, and more importantly, paid into the coffers of the party for the President to emerge victorious in 2015. Ahead of the 2019, this group of Nigerians are missing, their voices silent, both on Facebook and Twitter. Though not convinced about the aspirations of the PDP yet, have realised that all leaders are elites, only in different ways. Some pursue power for the purpose of wealth, while some are contented with just the power for the sake of it.

 
Ogho Okiti