Buhari's calling

At the dawn of Nigerian independence in 1960, Muhammadu Buhari was a gangling teenager who eagerly joined the Nigerian Military Training College Kaduna, the go to school for smart, ambitious and often patriotic youths from Northern Nigeria. A two year stint at the later named Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) and Buhari was commissioned as a second lieutenant, at a time of major political upheaval, but also great opportunity for young military officers. Just a few short years later, the young 23 year old was named Commander of an infantry battalion, a position he held during the first and second military coups. 

Buhari was one of the officers, led by another young officer Murtala Mohammed, who overthrew and assassinated then head of state, General Aguyi Ironsi (the last Igbo man to run Nigeria). Nine years later, Buhari, now a Lieutenant Colonel was one of the mid-ranking officers who overthrew another military head of state, then General Yakubu Gowon, to usher in General Murtala's government. Again in 1983, Buhari led another coup, but this time he also was named head of state and ran the Nigerian state for almost 18 months.

Between 1963 and 1984, Muhammadu Buhari enjoyed a remarkable career that included all expense paid education, accommodation, transportation etc - expenses paid for by the Nigerian state. As a former head of state, he continues to enjoy all those benefits. Also,  in that same period, he was often called upon to lead. He was Battalion commander at 23 and rose to become General Officer Commanding (GOC) of three of Nigeria's 6 Army Divisions, Military Governor of a State, Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Member of the Supreme Military Command in two three Administrations, one as the chairman and head of state of the council, and more recently as as chairman of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) - a fund setup to see to some equity in the use of petroleum resources to help mitigate the dire infrastructure deficiencies in Nigeria.

For better or worse, despite is participation in most of the coups that have bedeviled Nigeria since inception, despite his membership of the highest ruling group, in well documented corrupt regimes, and despite the accusations the continues to dog his tenure of Federal Commissioner in charge of the Petroleum Industry in the later 1970s, Buhari manages to maintain a near pristine image as an anti-corruption leader. 

There are those who argue that Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon, Buhari's de-facto number two, after the 1983 coup, was the actual anti-corruption heart of the Buhari regime, but few will argue with that government's very public efforts to force sanity and order on Nigeria and Nigerians. Many of his administration's tactics; including jailing critics, kidnapping of suspects, and flogging civilians for so-called indiscipline where crude,  disrespectful, counter productive and barbaric. But he and his administration were admired by Nigerians for their dogged focus on uprooting the malaise that ails the tottering giant of Africa. Indeed, many of those who heaved a sigh of relief after General Ibrahim Babangida  relieved Buhari of command, soon craved for the clarity that Buhari's government brought. 

Many of those same voices clamored for his return, praised his selection to run the PTF and helped elect him into office legitimately, for the first time. After three tries, Buhari, the soldier's soldier is back at the helm, this time with far more promise for a nation that continues to totter at the edge of ruins despite being blessed with vast human and natural resources. 

For the umpteenth time, Africa (and Nigeria) is arising. It is like at the dawn of independence again, when the world held its breadth waiting for this continent with huge natural resources and plenty of optimism and idealism to reach its potential. Nigeria with its young and growing population was the arrowhead of that promise, until the coups started and the civil war happened, and then the corrupt soldiers replaced corrupt politicians and everything went to hell. Almost six decades after independence, Africa seems back at that same point, poised to rise again, and Nigeria is again the arrowhead of that hope.

Buhari finds himself at a confluence of events; global attention is focused on terrorism, epidemics and by extension poverty and the hopelessness they breed and which leads to terrorism and epidemics.  AIDS decimated a generation of Africa, ravaging the health care system, and Ebola expanded on that ravage illuminating the weak seams that holds together the health care system in a continent of many resources and great wants. China's rise and impending rape (some will argue it already started) of a continent, and America's interest in establishing a greater military foothold on the continent with it's African Command. The colonial masters (and the would be colonial masters) are at the gate again, preening to return and pillage again. The local warlords have also grown richer and smatter after decades of practice, and despite the examples of Charles Taylor, Mubarak, and Qhadaffi to name a few. 

Buhari now faces a nation, many will argue, much worse than at any time in the past when he had been close to the annals of power. The education system is in complete shambles, health care is tottering on the brink, infrastructure is mostly non existent (although privatization have helped in some cases). It is easy to say it cannot get worse than it is, and that Buhari has both a challenge and an opportunity.  An opportunity to build a legacy of trust in government, reliable infrastructure (road, energy, health care, and so on), and a foundation for security and economic renewal. Buhari also faces a nation beset by terrorism - for the first time in it's history.

A re-listening to his inaugural message as the face of a military junta will reveal a man whose destiny is to help bring a tottering giant closer to it's promise. To help usher a new dawn in Africa's most populous and largest economy, and to offer hope anew to a lost generation. That was true, three decades ago. It is his calling today.