Like the previous few years, Nigeria transited into 2019 with the insurgency in the North-East leading the host of security challenges it has faced. The year was just two days old when President MuhammaduBuhari acknowledged that, but assured that there had been some improvements and the challenges would be overcome.
“There is no doubt that we will fully overcome these challenges and win the war against terrorism in Nigeria,” he said in a tweet in January.
It was a year that gave early warning signals that as far the presidency was concerned, it would not be and easy ride.
Amina Zakari, minimum wage
President Buhari soon faced the storm created by the appointment of Mrs Amina Zakari, his niece, as the chairman of the result collation committee for the 2019 general election. Critics savaged the appointment because they suspected that she may not be fair to all concerned if allowed to handle that important assignment. The president also began a struggle with the organisedLabour, which threatened a strike action over the failure of the Federal Government to send an Executive Bill to the National Assembly on the report of the Tripartite Committee on New National Minimum Wage. He was forced to plead with the workers to allow him to concentrate on fixing the nation’s infrastructure. As the 2019 presidential election campaigned peaked, Buhari was also faced with the question of who was in charge of marketing him to Nigerians, given the speculation that he may have used and dumped a former Lagos State governor, Senator Bola Tinubu. But he came out to forcefully declare that the man referred to as the national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) was fully at the helms of his campaign. “Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, my co-chairman, will be fully in charge, and is going to be on 24-hour vigil.
That is to say, the operational buck of this campaign stops at his table, and I therefore urge all of us in the leadership of this campaign, in the field operations on the campaign trail and in the secretariat to consult with Asiwaju whenever guidance is needed,” the president said while launching the APC Presidential Campaign Council.
An awkward controversy soon arose as an audio tape emerged that allegedly recorded the Director General of the campaign council, RotimiAmaechi, appearing to vilify the president. The main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), expectedly fed on it, saying that the leaked audio confirmed that President Buhari’s “incompetence, nepotism, insensitivity and corruption, and not the 16 years of the PDP in government, that are responsible for the myriad of problems facing our nation.”
The controversy did not stop Buhari from forging ahead, as he inaugurated the Bismarck Rewane-led Presidential Advisory Committee on New National Minimum Wage in anticipation of a pending workers’ wages review.
Justice Walter Onnoghen
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, however, tried to upset the apple cart by firing a pungent 16-page open letter accusing Buhari of sundry sinister plots. The Presidency thought that letter was in bad taste and considered it as the last push by desperate politicians who could not handle the president politically and had resorted to subterfuge. Not long after, a unique situation arose: the president suspended the Chief Justice of the Federation (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen and in his place, swore in Justice Ibrahim Tanko Mohammed in an acting capacity. He explained that in taking the unusual step, he took directive from the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), saying that since the CCT versus the CJN issue broke, judges had acted with alacrity towards the suspended CJN and as well, Buhari expressed dismay at the rate the Supreme Court under Onnoghen set free people accused of corruption.
Amid the outrage of the CJN’s suspension, Vice President YemiOsinbajo survived a helicopter crash when the aircraft carrying him crash-landed in Kabba, Kogi State. It would be the second time in the life of the present administration that Osinbajo would be getting involved in a helicopter incident. On June 8, 2018, the chopper that took him to the Nigeria Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada, Abuja, could not take him back to the villa as it made a forced landing about 30 seconds after take-off with Osinbajo inside.
President Buhari admitted early in the year that things had not been easy for him since assuming power in 2015. In a video message to Nigerians in February, he however, said despite the tough times, progress had been made. “It’s not been an easy journey but with sincerity of purpose, perseverance, dedication and most importantly support from individuals like you, we have made great progress,” he said. As the Election Day approached, Buhari ordered the nation’s security forces to shoot down ballot snatchers. He secured the backing of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in this and in rationalising it, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said: “Absolutely. I mean if you want to intimidate voters to steal the mandate of the people, you should be able to face the wrath of the law.”
Second term
A bruising campaign was followed by the presidential election on March 9, 2019 and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared President Buhari re-elected. This was contested by his major challenger and candidate of the PDP, former Vice President AtikuAbubakar.
In April, President Buhari gave hope to the Nigerian workers when he signed the new national minimum wage Bill of N30, 000.
The president commenced his second term in office significantly, in silence. After his swearing at the Eagle Square, Abuja on May 29, he sidetracked the tradition by failing to address Nigerians, having apparently reserved his speech for June 12, which he had declared as the new Democracy Day. In June, he appeared to have given his nod for the implementation of state police in the country after directing the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to work with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to produce modalities for the implementation of recommendations of the commission’s panel among which was the establishment of state and local government police.
Having initially suspended Onnoghen, the Presidency later announced that Buhari had accepted Onnoghen’s voluntary retirement. Buhari was also later to sign the June 12 Democracy Day bill into law and declared the day a national public holiday. He followed this up by naming the Abuja National Stadium after the late hero of June 12 struggle, M.K.O. Abiola.
Ruga
The new four-year tenure proved an auspicious time for the wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, to reconfigure herself. She announced that she would no longer be addressed as the wife of the president but as the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “When my husband was newly elected, I personally chose to be called the wife of the President. But, I realised that it causes confusion from the state as to whether the wives of state governors are to be addressed as the first ladies or wives of the governors,” she declared in a tweet.
As the weeks went by, President Buhari revealed the real reason why he moved against Ononghen despite the outrage from pro-rule of law advocates. “I had to deal though reluctantly with the former Chief Justice, because there were millions of dollars, euros not to talk of naira which were not declared,” he told some leaders of the pan-Yoruba sociocultural group, Afenifere, at the presidential villa, Abuja. The Presidency also found itself stepping back from the Ruga initiative (cattle Fulani settlements), which had caused much consternation in parts of the country. Osinbajo explained after a meeting with governors representing the six geo-political zones that the initiative was inconsistent with the National Economic Council (NEC) and the federal government’s approved National Livestock Transformation Plan.
In reconstituting his government, Buhari reappointed Boss Mustapha and Abba Kyari as the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Chief of Staff (CoS), respectively. But he was inexplicably silent on the fate of the National Security Adviser (NSA), an office occupied by BabaganaMonguno. The year in review also witnessed Buhari’s signing of the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement after initial reluctance.
Closure of land borders
Perhaps what had the most significant impact in terms of the perception of the Buhari presidency during the year was unwittingly the Revolution Now protests led by Sahara Reporters publisher and former presidential candidate, OmoyeleSowore. When the protest was first called, the presidency mocked it for its inability to muster enough support. “Today, millions of Nigerians went about their businesses: work, seeking employment, attending school/college and caring for their families. By doing so, the millions defended our country’s hard-won democratic rights – by ignoring calls on social media to join a phantom ‘revolution’,” a statement issued by GarbaShehu, Senior Special Assistant to the president on media and publicity had said. However, arrest and detention of Sowore against court order granting him bail and the subsequent invasion of the court by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS) during an attempt to re-arrest him, attracted local and intentional condemnation and portrayed the Buhari presidency as having little regard for the rule of law.
On swearing in his new cabinet, President Buhari created five new ministries to accommodate the expanded Federal Executive Council (FEC) in what was seen as a roll back of his policy of running a lean government. The president also authorised the closure of the nation’s land borders in a move to curb smuggling. He was soon to depart for the United Kingdom for a 15-day private trip after an official visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This journey came against the backdrop of his directive on the reduction in the number and duration of foreign trips for ministers and other categories of government as a “cost-saving measure” to achieve fiscal prudence, which caused him to remove travel allowances known as estacode.
He was still in London when it emerged that some aides of the vice-president had been denied access to the villa. The presidency later confirmed that 35 of the aides were sacked in a move to save cost. “The Presidency wishes to confirm that there is, on-going, an unprecedented overhaul of the nation’s seat of government, arising from which a number of political appointments have either been revoked or not renewed in the second term. The exercise, which has been ordered by the president, is to streamline decision-making, cut down multiple authorities and reduce the cost of administration,” Shehu explained in a statement, despite frantic denial by the office of the vice-president.
First Lady
The First Lady blew open the intrigues that had long been suspected to play out within the presidency, as she openly accused Shehu of being loyal to and used by the president’s nephew, MammanDaura, thought to be the head of a villa cabal, rather than the president. She alleged that Shehu was meddling in her family affairs and all but called for his resignation.
The year 2019 was drawn to a close in a controversy sparked by Buhari’s perceived growing authoritarianism and lack of regard for the rule of law. The Punch newspaper group cited this as the reason for its decision to prefix the president’s name with his military rank, Major General, and to refer to his administration a regime where he appears in their newspapers and online platform. It was a decision that riled the presidency, despite initially positing that there was nothing untoward in addressing the president by his hard-earned military rank. Reactions from in and outside Nigeria suggest that the world may be viewing the administration differently and as the year 2020 rolls in and the government struggles to meet its objectives, the Buhari presidency is likely to come under increased scrutiny on its adherence to the rule of law and human rights observance.