Cries during Buhari, cries after Buhari…

The term ‘Wailers’ gained a special kind of popularity during the days of General Muhammadu Buhari as the president of a democratic Nigeria. Wailers was the era’s unscrupulous definition of crying Nigerians. Buhari’s civilian administration took “The Wailers” far away from its original titleholders in Jamaica and pinned it on any Nigerian or group of Nigerians who had voiced their frustration at his poor, aloof government, or had complained about the parlous state of the nation under him. The Wailers which we used to know was that accomplished band led by that iconic reggae music great, Robert Nesta Marley. His Wailers gave us countless illustrious songs and sounds. Bob Marley and The Wailers is synonymous with sweet music and sweet memories.

But the government of that era, through the ingenuity of Senior Femi Adesina, made wailers become one abhorrent adjective. Many of us were grouped among the Nigerian ‘wailers’ when Buhari’s civilian administration hit us personally. Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, Senator Shehu Sani and Ezenwo Nyesom Wike were some of the prominent people in our group. At one time or the other, these people spoke the minds of millions of Nigerian ‘wailers’ when they pointed fingers at the Buhari administration for its ineptitude and insensitivity.

It was the second time in my life I would be hit so hard by Buhari. The first time was as a student of Holy Ghost Secondary Technical School, Umuahia. I didn’t feel any pain when I joined General Buhari’s innovative WAI Brigade in 1987. But I began to feel him when my father found it even more difficult to meet his responsibilities as he fairly easily did before Buhari came into the life of our country as head of state. Soon after Buhari took the reins from December 31, 1983, my father’s wages as a labourer in the University of Ibadan were swallowed up by inexplicable inflation. He lamented and wailed; and I am sure he was not alone.

Between 2015 and 2023 when Buhari served as the civilian president of Nigeria, there were wailings—again. People of all classes and creeds cried of hardship. Even some of his passionate supporters, who were also members of his APC, regretted voting for his return as a civilian president. He brutally broke the filial fraternity of his North. His lovers and haters are still wondering if Nigeria will be able to totally uproot all the division Buhari planted in those eight years of his civilian administration.

Former Governor Samuel Ortom and his Benue State was of the APC stock but in the face of relentless and unfettered attacks by herders, soon fell into the lower category of wailers. Plateau, Kaduna, Sokoto, Zamfara and Niger States were also barely coping with brutal herdsmen attacks. Down South, the entire South East region and all it holds became “a dot in a circle”; Ondo State saw hell driving towards Amotekun and Oyo State has Sunday Adeyemo Igboho’s and other stories to tell. Sunday Igboho, by the way, is still somewhere in exile. Let’s leave it at just those… The generic name ‘wailers’, like a huge basket, was large and fit  enough to contain all the Nigerians who dared to raise their voices to ask for better, more responsive governance under Buhari.

On the other side of the divide are also those who got close enough to taste that fabled human side of Buhari. When people expressed relief and outright joy that they had seen the back of their nemesis, these fortunate few said Buhari was some kind of seraph. These select crop of people, to whom Buhari was a benevolent spirit, argue vehemently that he was the man we really needed only that he was mismanaged by the instrumentality of the Nigerian system.

Thus, where we have wailers, we also have hailers. One of such hailers, Dr. Olutayo Omotoso, a first class academic who proved his mettle from Nigeria to England at the University of Newcastle and others, told his Buhari story through a Facebook post. He relished how he became a PTDF Scholar in 2018 from nowhere, but of course had graduated First Class. He was just a struggling brilliant student whom fortune smiled on through the Petroleum Development Trust Fund Merit Scholarship in 2018. It was still in the same vilified Buhari era of 2015 – 2023.

Dr. Omotoso seems to capture it for the hailers: “Notably, over 75% of the successful candidates in that cycle were first-class graduates, a fact from the statistics taken by one of the PTDF presenters during our induction. Thanks to PTDF leadership for upholding meritocracy. This was not mere coincidence, in my opinion. It was a testament to a system that, for once, seemed to reward merit over connection. That scholarship, like many other processes under his administration, offered a glimpse into what Nigeria could be: a nation where excellence is enough.

“That meritocracy was further validated by what followed. I went on to emerge as the overall best graduating student in my MSc programme at Newcastle University, earning a Certificate of Achievement and a cash prize. That success became the springboard for yet another competitive scholarship I later won for my PhD. And I was not alone—many other PTDF scholars from that same cohort tell similar stories of academic distinction and recognition.

“These outcomes reflected a renewed faith in fairness and meritocracy—an optimism that was ultimately curtailed by entrenched interests, ‘the cabals’. Sadly, history reminds us that even strong-willed reformers are human. President Buhari’s prolonged illness, in my view, created a vacuum—and in that space, the old order began to creep back.”

Make of Omotoso’s experience what you will, but the stories cannot all be told in the same way. The weeping of some men can be a rare sight while for some, it is their celebration. But they weep, they mourn, they despair and they celebrate. Human misery or otherwise come in different, unpredictable packages. It is easy for each victim to distinguish his pain and joy. Each distinguished hailer or wailer should simply ramp theirs to the philosophy of The Oriental Brothers in their hit song: Akwa Uwa. Whatever fate hands you is yours to deal with. If it is good fortune, you will not deliver it at the doorstep of your neighbour. Likewise, if it is the other way round, you will also not relinquish your fortunes to the hands of your neighbour.

There were cries during Buhari and there are still cries after Buhari. There was rejoicing during Buhari and there is still rejoicing at the end of the life of the same Buhari. Are the cries justified? Are there vindications for the different types of cries over pre and post-mori Buhari? Are the mourners and the others justified? Everything here is relative. Take yours and “Let God be God.” But it is not acceptable for mourners to be chided while it is also unacceptable to stop people from expressing themselves with regards to how they feel about Buhari – living or dead. To all of us there must be a necrology. What would you be remembered for? What would be your epitaph?

However, the turncoats in this time of Buhari’s mortal transition episode are the obvious hypocrites. They spoke their minds when he was alive and have now resorted to erasing the earlier thoughts they expressed now that he has died. Senator Shehu Sani once said: “Buhari has wasted Nigeria’s time for eight years. He has appointed people who failed and he has kept on extending their period in office. That is very wrong. He has accused all governments of corruption and pilfering; all the ills of Nigeria he accused the previous governments. Here, his government has proven to be one of the worst in the history of Nigeria.” He is among those who told Nigerians to respect the dead when Buhari died.

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