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The Muhammadu Buhari Persona
In his recently released book, According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesman's Experience, veteran journalist and long-time spokesman to the late President Muhammadu Buhari, Garba Shehu, dedicates a chapter to sharing his insights into Buhari's persona. Below is an excerpt:
Of course, being on the Presidential Campaign Council of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2015 presidential elections allowed me to have a bird's eye view of the man, Muhammadu Buhari, who, on 29 May 2015, was elected the 15th president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Like many Nigerians, I knew Buhari by his fierce reputation of incorruptibility, austere lifestyle, decisiveness, and all that.
As I interacted closely with him during the campaigns and away from the hastings, I did not meet any surprises.
The gloves fitted. Perfectly.
That was quite comforting. For a spokesman, knowing what your principal stands for, and where he or she stands, come rain or shine, and other personal attributes and communication styles, is a crucial success factor.
That is the backdrop for the following narrative.
Buhari is a publicly aware person. In office, he took more than a passing interest in knowing what was happening in the country and around the globe and what was being written about his government, even if it was a paragraph in a newspaper. That was why he was supplied a dozen or more newspapers in the morning to start the day even before getting to the office. The delivery of his newspapers early in the day was a mandatory exercise, at home in Abuja, and wherever he happened to be. A driver went on daily trips to Kano from Daura, a journey of about two hours with light traffic, to pick up newspapers for him. (Even now, out of office, that arrangement continues).
He also loved listening to the radio and watching television. I had noticed his attention switching between the papers and the TV.
Even then, he had a disdain for public exposure, or, perhaps the camera-still and motion.
During the campaigns, when we started from the residence at Aso Drive in the Maitama District of the Federal Capital Territory, a building donated by Buhari's friend and late businessman, Ismaila Isa, for his use, the creative photographer, Bayo Omoboriowo, was in and around him 18 to 20 hours of the day, and Buhari clearly did not like what, to him, was an invasion of his privacy.
The charming photographer from Lagos, who was retained in the campaign after the contract of the company that brought him had lapsed, did not know anyone in Abuja except his colleagues in the media team and Candidate Buhari's security officer (SO) with whom he was staying.
Omoboriowo followed the SO to the residence and stayed there until Buhari went to bed before they both retreated to their accommodation in the wee hours.
With time, and Omoboriowo's nagging persistence, Buhari tolerated the flashlight and accepted the photographer as a part of his daily life. He ended working with Buhari for a whole eight years as his official photographer. And, according to Omoboriowo, throughout the time, 'President Buhari never asked me to show him the images I created.' Adding: 'If he has chosen you, he believed you have the capacity to deliver on that role… And that was one thing unique about him; he gives you the role and allows you to express yourself.'
True: Buhari is not a control freak.
Muhammadu Buhari
As president, he delegated authority to perform tasks, preferring to sit back and take accountability from ministers and heads of agencies.
He allowed his appointees a wide latitude of authority and did not, at all, want to slow progress.
If anyone is looking for a philosophy which defines Buhari's style of leadership, my experience tells me that this is it - mission command.
Buhari is never a micromanager. He is aware that micromanagement can stifle creativity, reduce employee morale, and lead to burnout-both for you and your team members.'
Micromanagement is often seen in leaders who harbour the fear of losing control or a belief that no one else can do the job as well as them, and it arises mostly where there is a lack of trust or when individuals are not physically fit. Trust. Trust. Trust.
A man of impeccable character, Buhari empowered his appointees to take ownership of their assigned responsibilities, which helped to foster a sense of accountability among them.
He encouraged them to take bold decisions, learn from mistakes and ultimately become more confident and effective.
In the exercise of the powers of his office, President Buhari's approach to governance often mirrored that of a Board chairman, emphasising accountability, efficiency and performance. This has a good model in Ronald Reagan, one of the notable presidents the United States ever had. As did Reagan, Buhari hired the best people he could find and gave them the needed resources and the latitude of authority to give the best they could to the nation although he never missed a chance to speak directly to the concerned ministers, CEOs, bureaucrats, business leaders to remove bottlenecks.
As attested to by at least two of his key ministers, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, who was also a former governor of Lagos State, and Hajia Zainab Ahmed, President Buhari never called for a day to ask for personal favour or to say 'pay this or that person', 'give this or that contract to this or that person'. Speaking of Fashola, who is also a soccer buff, he has also used the game's analogy to describe his former principal's leadership style. 'He is like a coach who prepares his team for the game and sits in the dugout for 90 minutes. He trusts them to do the work and believes there is nothing he can do,' he said in a television interview.
On a particular day, the president called Alhaji Lai Mohammed, his Minister of Information and Culture to ask him for a favour. Mohammed's mind began to race up and down as to what this first of a kind request could be. 'Yes, Mr. President, please go ahead.'
The president went on to say that he committed himself to an event in Lagos, the following day and that he simply could not go and was wondering if the minister would squeeze out the time to go and represent him. Can you imagine?
An important lesson to be gleaned from Buhari's eight-year journey as president is when he effortlessly delegated authority to Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.
Meanwhile, when Chief Olusegun Obasanjo held sway as Nigeria's president and commander-in-chief, early signs that the Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, exercised real or substantive power vanished after a while, with the president stripping him of responsibility, one after the other, including that assigned by the constitution to chair the National Economic Council until it got to a point in the relationship when Obasanjo whimsically announced the removal of the vice president from office and put the building under lock and key.
During the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar'adua and the Vice President Dr Goodluck Jonathan, no delegation of authority was ever contemplated even when Yar'adua was gravely ill. It took a massive national effort - past presidents, opposition politicians, the civil society and, in the end, the application of a Doctrine of Necessity by the National Assembly - to get power handed over to Jonathan.
But it was a similar situation, although not entirely the same, throughout the five years Jonathan was president: Vice President Namadi Sambo never acted as president. However, this may partly be because President Jonathan enjoyed a record of good health while in office, at least publicly.
The difference Buhari made in this respect was that on a couple of occasions when he had to go for medical treatment in the UK, he volunteered to hand over power, in line with Section 145 of Nigeria's 1999 Constitution, to Vice President Osinbajo, by writing to notify the Senate as the law demands.
This set a national precedent of a vice president assuming power and responsibility, albeit in acting capacity, signing Executive Orders, appropriation and other laws, swearing in ministers and a Chief Justice of Nigeria.
But, what is there to say about Buhari's leadership style, considered by not only a few Nigerians as deliberately slow - they even called him Baba Go-Slow? The president often told his audiences how difficult it had become to drive the country in the desired direction without breaching the norms imposed by democracy as a system of government.
'When I was the military head of state, (1983-1983), I arrested many people and jailed them for alleged corruption. It was for them to prove that they were innocent. Under the democratic system, it is the other way round. You must prove them guilty before they are put in detention,' he once said.
At this juncture, it is significant that as Nigeria's civilian president, it was Buhari who instituted a 'Democracy Day' (12 June) to honour M.K.O. Abiola, the presumed winner of the 1993 presidential election annulled on 12 June of that year by the military President, Ibrahim Babangida.
Regarding his simple lifestyle, as president, most of the things he ate were very basic food that is recognisable by, and associated with and consumed by the lower strata of the Nigerian society: tuwo, pap, akara, beans, wheat, plenty of salads, poultry and mutton.
He ate healthily.
Once, he was informed that the budget for Aso Villa's catering needed to be raised slightly higher and he asked to be told what the existing budget was. When they told him that N10 million was needed for the State House including the vice president, the guest houses, and the banquets in honour of visiting leaders and so forth, he screamed and asked that this be pruned instead.
'Look at my table, what do I eat, how much does it cost?' he protested.
For several months after assuming office, in May 2015, President Buhari held long meetings with federal permanent secretaries and heads of the various government agencies and departments, as he sought to get a full picture of the state of things. It is one of the reasons why he took some time to constitute his cabinet.
In the meeting with Buhari, the Permanent Secretary, State House, Mr Nebolisa Emodi, informed him that he was in receipt of N400 million from the Treasury to buy five customised armoured Mercedes Benz S-600 (V222) cars for the president's use. The proposal to buy the vehicles had been made at the twilight of President Jonathan's administration but he reportedly shelved the approval for his successor (Buhari) to handle.
'What is wrong with the cars left behind by the former president?' Buhari asked Emodi. He then told him: 'They are all right for my use.' He continued with the vehicles used by former President Jonathan until one of the two Mercedes broke down on his way to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
At the briefing with Emodi, he approved his plan to reduce the State House's operating costs while directing him to 'strengthen its finance and accounting internal control mechanisms and capture all State House expenses within the approved budget to avoid the frequent recourse to the so-called Presidential Intervention Funds.'
When he fell ill and handed over to Vice President Osinbajo to act as president, some officials, not the VP himself, inquired about a security vote from the late Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari.
Malam Abba told them that the President kept nothing to that effect.
That his austere and disciplined lifestyle was not a make-believe was on public display when Omoboriowo photographed the president on 4 September 2017 watching the return leg of Nigeria-Cameroon World Cup Qualifier match in Yaounde, Cameroon from his home in Daura, Katsina State.
Omoboriowo, the restless photographer, had barged in on the president requesting to have his picture taken as he watched the match between Nigeria's Super Eagles and Cameroon's Indomitable Lions. It certainly did not occur to him that he was opening a window to the austere world of Muhammadu Buhari.
Omoboriowo, then 28, said afterwards that it was the best picture of his then-fledgling career. He started taking photographs in 2007 as a student at the University of Lagos, 'just for the fun of it' and 'with a borrowed camera' before winning several awards… and becoming the president's official photographer.
What did Nigerians see in that single photograph?
From the social media channels of The Presidency official channels, the president's, the Special Adviser, Femi Adesina and others who reposted the picture, we had thousands of comments, likes, shares, retweets, QRTs (when what is now X was Twitter), etc.
At least 80 per cent of all these were positive.
Two narratives to add to these positive sentiments will further illustrate the essence of the Buhari persona.
During the 2015 presidential campaigns, Buhari was ushered into a lavishly furnished guest house of a serving governor. Each of the single seats was as big as a settee or a bed, if you like. President Buhari jocularly commented that the chairs alone have filled up the room:
Why this big, he asked to the hearing of the people there.
Two, when in December 2016, he gave out his daughter, Zahra, in marriage to Ahmed Indimi, one of the sons of Mohammed Indimi - one of Nigeria's individuals of huge wealth - the president ruled out the use of government funds in all the activities. His reason was that this was a private family event and should be kept as such. To him, this was a country struggling with its economy and that should husband state resources as prudently as he does his personal resources.
To be sure, the biggest of the challenges Buhari faced was systemic corruption.
History will judge if he made an impact in changing the mind-sets of Nigerians to be honest and sincere in their dealings among themselves and with government business, but no one, not even the opposition, would deny that he did his best by first leading through personal example.
He tried to strengthen the office of the auditor-general of the federation and insisted on severe punishment for the disregard of audit queries, which had become a norm, but the task of changing the immorality which was widespread in the Civil Service was near impossible.
In seeking a holistic approach against corruption, the president promoted the adoption of e-government initiatives and innovative technology: He found very progressive policies on the drawing bonds including the Bank Verification Number (BVN), Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the IPPIS Payroll service which the Goodluck Jonathan Administration failed to implement, and promptly put the mechanisms in place for their implementation, and this led to the near annihilation of the so-called ghost workers in the Civil Service and the saving of trillions of Naira.
In dealing with contractors and contracts, that is where you find oil on the hands of many leaders.
President Buhari did not use power, discretionary or otherwise, to issue contracts. Open bidding was the way to go and when approvals were needed, the President-in-Council insisted that the path to due process must be followed.
There are many around Buhari who hold that the spectacular falling out between him and his superior in the military whom he cherished and much respected, President Olusegun Obasanjo, was on account of the demand, reportedly put to him by Obasanjo, that the contract for the Mambilla Power Project be given to a contractor he preferred.
On this, Buhari politely told the former president to allow him to handle this in his own way, following the due process that was in place.
By the remoteness of his personal disposition, his strong will, aversion to graft, strong Islamic principles, contentment and simple lifestyle, Buhari effectively stayed above corruption and controlled it around himself.
The chance to spell out this message clearly to senior government officials and the business community came on 6 November 2015 when a delegation of the Board of Directors of the giant construction company, Julius Berger, handling government contracts such as roads, railways, bridges and facilities management, visited him at the State House.
He told the delegation led by Mr Mutiu Summonu, who was once Group Chair of Shell Nigeria: 'We have been informed that percentage cuts - 10 per cent or more - are built into your contracts, to be shared among government leaders and civil servants. This must stop. We will not accept kickbacks.
'We have equally been informed that you, as handlers of major contracts, build homes for government leaders. You buy expensive cars and maintain them for the beneficiaries. When they or close relations fall ill, you take them to hospitals abroad, including the use of air ambulances when that is warranted at no cost to them.
'Our finding is that nothing you give is free. All such costs are built into government contracts. We don't want that to continue.
'You have built a strong reputation over the years for doing good jobs, delivering them on time. The roads you built all over this city (Abuja) are still in good shape. You built the State House, Aso Rock Villa. So, we will continue to patronise your services. But the high costs will be checked.
'From now going forward, the added costs and all this padding must end. If we ask for quotations from you, tell us the actual cost that the project entails. No 10 per cent, no added costs.'
An eerie silence greeted the riot act as read by the president. No one in the room complained against his assessment nor was there any dissent.
On another occasion, Chris Aire, a Nigerian American icon in the global luxury watch and jewellery industry, gave me a wristwatch studded with diamonds, with the picture of the president embossed on its face. When I presented the timepiece to the president, he commended the success of Aire's RED GOLD brand overseas, stating that he should keep the flag of Nigeria flying, but directed that the gift be politely returned. I dutifully did so.
Where did I even meet Aire? I think at the lobby of Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, where in 2012, he had opened his first boutique.
Among the key arguments for the Petroleum Industry Bill passed into law by the National Assembly in July 2021 and signed by President Buhari a month later, is that it seeks to curb what critics say is the 'absolute power of a president to award, revoke and renew licences.' At the pleasure of past leaders, influential individuals had oil wells gifted to them.
In an interview he once gave, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who was Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, from 11 November 2015 to 29 May 2019 and group managing director of the then Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) (now a limited liability company) from August 2015 to July 2016, said President Buhari as petroleum resources minister and head of government never directed him, not even once, to issue the gift of oil block, this or that licence, contract or any sort of authorisation but insisted that everything should be done through due process.
Aware that the judicial system is notoriously slow and punishment as a deterrent to others in dealing with corruption was slow in coming, the Buhari Administration, in a bid to ensure openness, transparency and accountability in the justice sector and curb corrupt practices and abuse of office, formulated, in 2017, a new National Policy on Justice.
Approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in 2019, the policy sought to ensure fair and speedy trial, effective enforcement of court orders, promotion of human rights, access to justice, especially for the weak, poor and the vulnerable, strengthening the capacity for holistic use of ICT and supporting, among many other things, fair, credible and violence-free elections.
It also sought to fully ground the independence and impartiality of the judiciary.
To provide for more efficient prosecution of criminal cases and proper guidance for prosecutors and investigators, administration, in 2016, put in place the National Policy on Prosecution, Code of Conduct and Guidelines for Prosecutors.
In a policy seeking to strengthen the institutional framework of anti-corruption agencies, close existing gaps in anti-corruption initiatives, and to reduce the damaging effects of corruption in society, government, in 2017, developed a 'National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS).'
There were also, among many reformations, new policies on plea bargaining guidelines for Federal Prosecutors, Amnesty and Decongestion Programme (2023), Anti-Torture Act (2017), Guidelines on the Registration of Companies Limited by Guarantee, FCT Courts Practice Direction on Custodial and Non-Custodial Sentencing.
To tackle the monster of corruption, the administration vetted 28 bills and 27 regulations and other statutory instruments leading to the enactment of 11 Acts.
Some courts were designated as special courts for the trial of corruption cases.
Twenty of such operated in Abuja, Port Harcourt and Lagos.
Six courts were designated as Gender-Based Violence (GBV) courts by the Chief Judge FCT while a Virtual Court was established at Kuje Correctional Centre.
Smart Courts were established in Kainji, Niger State and at the Kirikiri Medium Custodial Centre for the review and prosecution of ongoing high-level terrorism/corruption cases.
Of the no fewer than 1,000 terrorism cases filed at the Federal Ministry of Justice, 826 were profiled and investigated for onward prosecution in 2022.
Buhari has a long legacy of contributing to public causes ranging from education to the welfare of the underprivileged. These donations have come from personal savings before he came to office and during his years in office. As a matter of personal choice, he did not allow the spotlight of publicity to shine upon his charitable contributions. He did them quietly.
As president, the office conferred ample opportunity on him to affect the lives of citizens in many ways.
He again never wanted publicity on them, even in cases where his actions and intentions were called into question.
An example was when a former vice president, Dr Alex Ekwueme, fell ill and the attention of the president was drawn to the need for his urgent treatment in the United Kingdom as well as the financial difficulties that his family faced then. President Buhari approved £120,000 which was used to take Dr Ekwueme to a London hospital for treatment to start.
President Buhari stopped me from going out with the information when I wanted to counter the false accusations by some groups that the administration had ignored the former vice president's need for treatment abroad. He said we did it because he deserved it and not for any gain.
President Buhari followed this up by sending the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, who then had barely spent a week in office after taking his oath, to go and see Ekwueme.
When the SGF was at the hospital, his attention was drawn to a former Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Dahiru Musdapher, who was also on admission there.
President Buhari sent a messenger to the CJN with an amount of money to support his treatment, as well, even though he belonged to a different arm of the government, the judiciary.
When Vice President Ekwueme died, President Buhari authorised a state burial. The family's choice of the British Airways to fly the body to Abuja was respected, and after a Service of Songs which took place in the federal capital, the body was flown to Enugu by the Air Force using a C-130 aircraft for the continuation of the funeral.
This noiseless action of helping people in need was equally extended to the late Second Republic Senate President Dr Joseph Wayas, despite him not having served in the Executive Branch of the government. Money was sent to the UK hospital of his choice, and he was transferred to another hospital in Canada following the family's request.
This money was later to become a subject of dispute between a son of Wayas and his several wives, who did not agree among themselves.
At this point, the president was advised to stay off the palaver.
On this, too, he said it should be quietly done.
Speaking at the commissioning on 15 May 2018 of the new headquarters building of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Buhari expressed near helplessness at seeing suspected criminals driving up and down the cities in expensive cars because, as he explained, the rule of law and democratic tenets say that they are innocent until proven guilty by the courts.
He stressed that he would not bow to any form of pressure and vowed his determination 'to hold public officers accountable, no matter how long it takes,' adding, 'In my first attempt (as a military head of state) to fight corruption, corruption fought back successfully.
I was detained for three years and only released after my mother died.
(Despite) that, my objective of fighting corruption remains steadfast.'
His government ensured that there was no control whatsoever over the agencies responsible for investigating and prosecuting corruption cases. In addition, not only were the anti-corruption agencies made independent, but the Buhari government also strengthened them through the promulgation of key anti-corruption legislations including the NFIU Act 2018, Proceeds of Crime (Recovery and Management) Act (POCA) 2022, the Amendment of Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) incorporating the Beneficial Ownership Register, Anti-Money Laundering Act 2022 and Witness Protection and Management Act 2022.
The POCA 2022 was a significant achievement because Nigeria was under an international obligation to pass the law to enhance its fight against corruption.
Tenacity. Resilience. Perseverance. Determination.
These are also the virtues of President Buhari worth highlighting.
Do not forget that he contested for the presidency of the Federal Republic of Nigeria multiple times before his victory in 2015 - in 2003, 2007 and 2011.
And, in each case where he lost, he went to court to contest the outcomes, even up to the Supreme Court, and, in the process, inspiring so many people.
Clearly, he is an exemplary leader on many counts.
Buhari demonstrated authentic leadership which involves being true to oneself and transparent in all interactions, inspiring trust and loyalty among his followers.
He is known to have grown up with an enthusiastic desire to serve and his choice to serve in the army was not, therefore, by accident. For him, being a leader is not an advantage to enjoy all the privileges, but one in which to offer service.
I recall his answer to the question by the late Pini Jason who had interviewed him on 23 December 2005 under the aegis of the Chinua Achebe Foundation, in respect of his vision for Nigeria: 'Nigeria has great potential. This is the only country we have, so we should all work to salvage it! We have been blessed with great human and natural resources. We need to develop a nation where all Nigerians can be participants in our development, usher in an era when honesty, hard work, discipline, are once again virtues, where the talented are not scorned but can use their talent for development, where all Nigerians feel accepted.
The Nigerian elite (for the most part) is competent enough intellectually experienced and patriotic. They need to harness their skills appropriately and effectively to help lift the country out of poverty.
Development will require that we make the sacrifice, get together and bring this country out of the mess it is in. We need to curb corruption, make the leaders accountable to the people, and develop a culture of leadership by service (to the people). That is my vision. Perhaps, we are waiting for someone to come from outer space to work marvels for us. And that will never happen.'
This vision drove him to contest for the presidency four times, winning at the fourth outing.
His unwavering commitment to serving the nation and its people is the true meaning of servant leadership, and it is something that other leaders need to learn.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).Demikianlah Artikel The Muhammadu Buhari Persona
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