[dropcap]W[/dropcap]hatever is happening in Nigeria today is good. It is a reply and a response to all those who say General Babangida and the others prevented General Buhari from changing Nigeria in 1983-1985.
The people who overthrew General Buhari in 1985 were his colleagues and comrades. They were also, mostly muslims like him. They joined the army together and have been around the corridors of power together.
They knew General Buhari more than the Bola Tinubus, Rotimi Amaechis and some of the All Progressives Congress, APC, politicians you see around Buhari today.
They knew that General Buhari did not have the capacity to lead Nigeria by himself. They knew that he did not have the ability to quickly process thought. They also came to know that he did not have the ability to engage in intelligent discussion and interrogative arguments. More to it, they discovered they could not shield his incompetence.
And so, on August 27, 1985, the same people who made him military head of state, came together and agreed to overthrow him and retire him to his farm in Daura, where for the past 30 years, he has been herding cattle.
At that time, Germany was divided into East Germany (German Democratic Republic) and West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany).
30 years later, General Buhari was brought again to become President of Nigeria. In all these years, he has written no memoirs, no books and no article in any journal. Unlike General Gowon or Obasanjo, he did not go back to school or attempt to improve himself educationally, intellectually or mentally. He did not even attempt to improve his knowledge of current affairs and world politics.
Buhari still thought that Germany was West Germany. He did not know that the West and the East had collapsed into one Germany in 1990.
This was the man they had brought to lead Nigeria again.
Now, the same conditions that brought about his overthrow in 1985 have come again. This time, in a far worse form.
The Buhari presidency is about to destroy even the democracy that enabled his ascension to power in May 29, 2015. Nigeria’s Independent Electoral Commission INEC can no longer hold successful elections in Nigeria. In the pass one year, INEC has had more than a 100 inconclusive elections.
Unemployment in Nigeria has risen by more than 100% in the past on year. Poverty has steeply risen. Banks are retrenching staff on a weekly basis now. The price of food across Nigeria is on the rise. Airlines are shutting down. Businesses are leaving Nigeria.
A directionless government is plunging Nigeria into economic oblivion.
Thanks to the neophyte economic team of President Buhari, Nigeria, once Africa’s largest economy has fallen.
Nigeria may just be on the verge of a revolt.
It is left to be seen whether they same people who gave him political power in 2015 can come together and conspire to retrieve it as was the case in 1985.
Nothing seems impossible in Nigeria anymore.
George Kerley is an entrepreneur, writer, social justice advocate, and political analyst who is passionate about the development of his home state, Rivers and the entire Niger Delta region. He can be reached by email HERE.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
