Dissecting President Buhari’s Unprecedented Goodwill From Northern Youths Since 2015 -By Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh

As we countdown to elections proper, having gone into the campaign period as pre-scheduled by the INEC; many wonder – despite the abysmal performance of President Muhammadu Buhari and regardless of the story about two powerful figures in the government who were spoiling things for him as recently alleged by his wife – what was behind the goodwill in which the president still enjoyed from the northern youth especially of the illiterate population.

To this population, it was ‘Sai Baba’ even though a great number among them could barely afford a good one-square meal a day. The other day, I happened on someone who berated an urchin who came begging and I couldn’t help but laugh at what the fella said. He said, “You vote Buhari and you dey beg me to give you because of Allah. Go meet Buhari to give you now.”

In fact, someone have said that the enormous goodwill being enjoyed by this president from this population can only come from god as if to say he is a better Muslim than the others. If you ask me, I believe that this goodwill has some critical underlying sentiments attached to it as we would shortly read.

Careful observation however, suggests that there seems to be a negation to the popular assertion that such goodwill was of god. The questions commonly asked are: Is Baba a better Muslim than Atiku or Kwankwaso or Saraki? Has he done any better than the previous administrations fighting corruption? What are the factors that influence this unprecedented goodwill?

The president, it is believed is still liked for the following reasons.

1.      The illiterates love him because he shares their sentiment of hatred for western education/civilization.

2.      They love him because in him they see a northerner who was a strong champion of religious supremacy.

3.      They love him because he is strongly tribal.

4.      They love him because he is against other northern leaders who are detribalized.

5.      Finally, they love him and are ready to die for him because in his book, President Buhari believes that an illiterate northern youth was 10 times more important than any professor from the north and the south of Nigeria.

Another popular opinion for the unprecedented goodwill, which is not convincing enough though, is the fact that the youth were told that if PMB becomes president, the general standard of living will improve as the prices of basics commodities like food stuffs, fuel, kerosene and electricity will crash. The fault of this misconception is that it failed to explain the reason why despite a complete inability of government to fulfill the promise; the goodwill still persisted.

What he said some years ago about the Boko Haram war was that it was orchestrated to depopulate the region. Since he became president, captured Boko Haram members are treated more importantly than the Nigerian soldiers. The reality is that the insurgents have been degraded to a very minimal state before he assumed power but soon, the need came to revamp the group perhaps in order to take credit for exterminating the group; then came the Chibok girls swap that was hotly denied by Alh. Lai Mohammed.

What happened in Metele, Borno state is a clear-enough evidence that the group is not only revamped but strong for if not; you tell me how more than 40 gallant soldiers would die like that in one ambush. Instead of the depopulation of the northern youth as it was put years back; it is the other way around. Also, a group that they claimed to be undergoing ‘deradicalization’ is being conscripted into the army in order to help government fish out the groups’ strongholds.

All these are well known realities. The soldiers in the field have started talking and our group is gathering information – some of which are already public knowledge – and soon, the real stories will be known by all. The goodwill is after all one that was not only fake but founded on a thousand lies. These youths – based on stories they are told – see in this president the incarnation of the Late Premier Sir Ahmadu Bello (of blessed memory).

They note his courage as well as his love of the northernization policy. Not a few will forget the great jubilation that rent the air after Alh. Buba Galadima’s popular sayings in 2014 that “Mai takarda? Ko baci da takarda, zai zoma shugaban kasan nan.” Translated: What is certificate? Whether he has it or not, he must become president. An average illiterate youth from the north normally cheer up for three reasons.

1.      For religious reasons especially if it is bigotry in nature. And,

2.      For ethnic reasons.

3.      Misconceptions about Nigeria’s heroes past.

Cosmopolitanism is never a language on the slate of the Almajiri. They come to a southerner only to beg alms beyond that a southerner is not a friend. There is today a widening divide however, between the exposed, enlightened and educated northern youth and the scruffy, ill-mannered and illiterate youth. Opinion leaders in the region are beginning to understand for the first time the importance of making the region globally competitive as against the dark arena it has been since the days of the First Republic.

There is growing emphasis on education, cosmopolitanism and best behavior. It is now clear that the origins of power, prosperity and poverty (as Daron and James put it) depended not on population nor on landmass but on the enthronement of relevant institutions and, on shaping the mindset of the people (I would add).

Since the disappointing expedition of President Buhari, educated folks in the region are quite reluctant about openly supporting his re-election bid because they know that what the region wants is competent representation at the center and not a champion of the illiterate as the best the region had to offer. To this population; his failure all-the-more brings to the fore the once suppressed argument that education has become an emergency for the region.

And as we countdown to the D-day come February next year, those who feel that restructuring of the federation was of immense benefit to the north are already pitching their tent with the PDP presidential hopeful – Alh. Atiku Abubakar. Importantly also, they are careful for their decision now as they have come to see how it affected the region even more than it affected any other region.

Recall that when in 2014, the region in alliance with the southwest contrived a plan to throw out GEJ, it was done with much malice; as if the consequence would affect every other member of the federation except the north and the southwest. They know better now. Today, more Nigerians have died in the north than in the south-south.

In conclusion, PMB’s goodwill is not celestial or magical but is a goodwill that is founded on misconceptions, bigotries and racism. It is a goodwill that existed because the one who enjoyed it fitted into the mythical frame of the historical Sir Ahmadu Bello. The educated that still support him do so for unpopular or selfish reasons.

Comrade Ifeanyichukwu Mmoh is an advocate for attitudinal change, a researcher and authored (THE ORIGIN OF IGBO MARGINALIZATION IN NIGERIA). 08062577718.