The newspapers were awash over the Christmas weekend with the story of President Muhammadu Buhari confirming at long last, in a documentary on his 80th birthday, that he is who he is and not who some “mischief-makers” said he was.
Who did they say he was? A Jubril from Sudan. Others were not specific, but were ready to wager that he was an imitation of Muhammadu Buhari, the original. And why would anybody see a man going about his business, moreso, a Very Important Personality (VIP) at that and publicly declare him an imposter? Or was it a ghost? The answer is complicated.
As he enters the home stretch of his rather turbulent presidency – turbulent for country and turbulent for himself, President Buhari was ready to confess publicly that he was indeed, pained by the public conjecture, sown by the said mischief makers. He did not find it funny, he said, that he was an imitation of himself, an imposter from up Sahel, inserted into the presidential villa at Aso Rock, to fill in the void created by the muted demise of the authenticate resident of the quarters.
How possible was such substitution in the first place? Again, the answer is complicated. It not as straight-forward as it may seem. In Nigeria, many things are possible. There does not seem to be a limit to the elasticity of abuse, mischief and impunity in Nigeria, especially in government circles. The experience of Nigerians at the hands of their leadership elite, has taught the people to be ready to accept anything, including the most bizarre of situations. Consequently, nothing is too far-fetched to be found in government closets in Nigeria.
Look at it this way; if about two million barrels of crude oil being produced by the country daily, can officially be declared stolen on daily basis and no one knows whence the cargo goes and who sells or steals it, what is man, one man, that he cannot be stolen and be substituted with another and everyone keeps a straight face? In case, you say, but such a VIP has tight security around him, remember too, that Nigeria’s oil production and terminals are manned by “crack” teams from relevant arms of the country’s security forces. Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), using very modern technical equipment, supposedly monitor the lifting of oil into tankers. Yet two million barrels of oil disappears constantly without trace.
Take note also, that all of about N89 trillion said to have been collected officially as stamp duty by relevant government agencies and paid traceably into bank accounts for about five years, are currently subject of curious debates concerning its whereabout.
When the story of the stupendous amount presently caught in the “cloud” as it were, broke a fortnight ago, courtesy of Mohammed Gudaji Kazaure, a member of the House of representatives from Jigawa State, the story seemed a little bit outlandish.
Kazaure, who introduced himself as secretary of a Presidential Committee on the Reconciliation and Recovery of All Stamp Duties, has remained determined, hollering and swearing that he knows what he is saying, that such a staggering amount of money is presently missing from the coffers of Nigeria.
Increasingly, there is a growing public belief that the man is not just an eccentric, one of these improvised activists. The response of the Presidency to the matter, did not help any suspicion that something is indeed, amiss. N89 trillion? Collected over time from Nigerians as Stamp Duty and then tucked away into various bank accounts in various banks. The Central Bank of Nigeria is said not to be willing to retrieve the money and pay into identified coffers of the federal government. The holding banks are said not to be ready to account for or let go of the loot. N89 trillion. Who then, can blame Nigerians, if they believe that their president was seamlessly swapped with some fellow from Sudan? What has Nigeria and Nigerians not been subjected to by its leaders?
Whatever the case may be, President Buhari said he did not find the matter of some people suspecting him of being Jubril of Sudan funny, especially as he was said to have passed on, whereas he was very much alive.
Even as the mischief behind declaring a living man, a president of his country, a clone of his original self, may be painful and humiliating, it may be pertinent to point out the circumstances that made people buy such fiction as Jubril of Sudan in Aso Rock. The tendency of President Buhari to, literally and metaphorically, disappear from duty at various critical times during his presidency, provided ample room for mischief makers to creatively fill in the vacuum.
It is on record that for a long in the early years of his tenure, President Buhari was away from the country, attending to his health. Even when he was physically present in the country, there were more than few instances where it was quite difficult to believe that he was on duty. Those were the situations where critical matters of state were begging for decisive action, but the president kept mum.
Such a situation is currently playing itself out once more and again, the president is yet to be heard. The anomalous situation in which the Department of State Services (DSS), the prime intelligence agency of state is stalking the governor of the Central Bank of the country, declaring him wanted for offenses that are not yet clear, should, under any reckoning, attract intervention from the president. Mum remains the word from Aso Rock.
First,DSS quietly went to the court to seek approval to arrest and detain the CBN governor, Dr.Godwin Emefiele. The Federal High Court in Abuja declined the DSS application, saying there was no strong evidence for the DSS to back up its allegations. The security agency left the court and has, from various reports, mounted a man-hunt for the man, the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria. The CBN helmsman has even been accused of terrorism. How? Nobody has explained.
Is Emefiele a criminal or a terrorist? If there is basis to formally charge him for any of that, should the president not have a say in the matter. Where exactly is the president on this tardy matter? Who is the DSS working for; Nigeria or some powerful interest group? When was Emefiele’s sins discovered?
Since the CBN under Emefiele embarked on the re-designing of the Naira, followed by the policy of limiting cash withdrawals for individuals and corporate bodies, the CBN governor has obviously not had peace. For money bag politicians heading to the 2023 elections and plotting how to deploy cash, as usual, to influence the outcome of elections, what Emefiele did was a declaration of war. They are fighting back, clearly.
The coincidence of the midday discovery that Emefiele is a terrorist and the insistence of the CBN on tightening cash flow before elections makes this whole onslaught on Emefiele suspect. Add to that the springing up of all manner of ready-for-hiring CSOs protesting for Emefiele to go and it is clear that a campaign is on. This column has been critical of Emefiele in the past,but what is going on at the moment is an aberration. Where is President Buhari? At least he has assured all that he is the real man.