By: Okoi Obono-Obla President Muhammadu Buhari was a disciplined, orderly, and principled personality who loathed the vices and...
By: Okoi Obono-Obla
President Muhammadu Buhari was a disciplined, orderly, and principled personality who loathed the vices and desires that the typical Nigerian elite craved, which had become their way of life and philosophical approach to existence. This was why the Nigerian political elite and establishment did not like him. Yet, it was precisely for this reason that the masses in Nigeria loved him and made him their folk hero.
In 2015, when President Muhammadu Buhari was elected, his victory was greeted with applause because Nigerians believed he was coming to fight corruption and restore normalcy. However, only a few months after he assumed office, the momentum died down and his anti-corruption crusade failed to achieve its promise.
What derailed that mantra? Many factors played a role. Chief among them was the type of people in his kitchen cabinet, particularly Abubakar Malami, with whom I worked. Malami’s attitude toward corruption was ambivalent, even nonchalant. He earned Buhari’s trust because he was a stickler for the rule of law and due process, and as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, he naturally became close to the President. Perhaps this proximity allowed him to influence Buhari.
Malami went after me, and he also went after Ibrahim Magu, the Acting Chairman of the EFCC. We were the strongest anti-corruption fighters. After I was removed or suspended, Magu was removed about six months later. That effectively killed the war against corruption. Malami wanted all the anti-corruption agencies under his thumb and control—not for altruistic reasons, but for personal and political leverage.
Conclusion: Buhari’s anti-corruption crusade began with promise but faltered due to misplaced trust and internal contradictions. What started as a movement of hope ended as a struggle undermined from within, leaving Nigerians with unfulfilled expectations.
@ Okoi Obono-Obla
No comments