A New Sheriff Is In Town

Some call it the Buhari bounce. Others
describe it as the Buhari effect. Yet some
others say it is the Buhari aura. One thing is,
however, crystal clear. Things have not been
the same in the past 100 days in Nigeria,
since Muhammadu Buhari assumed the
presidency. A new sheriff has truly come to
town.
Exactly 100 days ago, he climbed the podium
at Eagle Square in Abuja and got inaugurated
as president, 30 years after he had been
toppled from power as military head of state.
He promised to belong to nobody, and to
belong to everybody. It is a pledge that still
resonates loudly today, and will surely echo
for a long time to come.
On a day like this, you would expect a
presidential spokesman to chronicle the
achievements of his principal in office. He has
turned stone to bread, slain the dragon, and
climbed Mount Olympus in ten seconds. But
that is not what I want to do. There are some
intangible, almost imperceptible
achievements, but which run very deep, and
are quite fundamental. Those are the ones I'll
rather talk of, while we leave the tangibles till
some other day.
Oh, he's escaping. There are no concrete
achievements, some wailing wailers would
cry. True? Not true. I could have decided to
focus on the bloody nose being given to Boko
Haram in the North-East, which would see
the country rid of insurgency soon, the
rallying of leaders of other neighboring
countries to deploy a Joint Multinational
Task Force, the openness displayed about
government finances and the welfare package
instituted for states that couldn't pay
salaries, the Treasury Single Account, which
would promote transparency and
accountability in governance, the disappeared
fuel queues, fast-tracking of the cleanup of
Ogoni land, reduction in the cost of
governance, and many others. But I will not
focus on all those. The day cometh!
When a new sheriff comes into town, disorder
gives way to order. Chaos flees. Impunity is
swept away. Laxity gives way to diligence,
and people change their old, unedifying ways.
When you have a Wild, Wild West situation
prevailing, the new sheriff comes, and stamps
his authority. Old things then pass away,
behold, everything becomes new.
Nigeria had always needed attitudinal
change. That was why the Buhari regime
launched the War Against Indiscipline in the
1980s. And the war was succeeding, till a
spanner was thrown in the works through
regime change. Buhari was called all sorts of
names then: despot, tyrant, iron-fist ruler,
etc. But the discerning knew. They
understood that it was a change we needed.
And that change was postponed for 30 years.
But what is bred in the bones never goes out
through the flesh. Immediately after Buhari
returned on May 29, Nigerians knew that
discipline was back. The bird of the
homestead told the ones in the bush, and
they all sat up. No unnecessary chirping.
Stealing is now corruption, they whispered to
themselves. God help you if you get caught.
Now, consider the situation with electricity
and with our refineries. Electricity has
climbed to about 5,000 Megawatts. Some
refineries, which had not produced a drop of
fuel for years, have cracked into life. Even the
perennial queues in our petrol stations have
disappeared, vanished. Is it because Buhari
threw billions of dollars at the problems? No.
Those things simply responded to the
presence of the new sheriff in town. Those
who manned those schedules could afford to
be laid back in the past. But not anymore!
The music has changed, and the dance steps
must follow suit. And would Buhari take
credit for the newfound zeal and efficiency?
Not the plain and honest man from Daura.
The broadcaster Omotayo Omotoso had come
to the presidential villa to interview him
sometime in July. And she had asked what
the magic wand he waved was, that refineries,
long comatose, had sprang back to life. The
President responded that it would be
dishonest of him to have claimed he did
anything. He had not touched refineries at
all. But unknown to the President, he did
something. He had swept into town with his
reputation for efficiency, and for achieving
results. And the refineries, fuel supply,
electricity supply, responded to the new
sheriff. May things continue to get better till
the change becomes enduring and
irreversible. Amen somebody!
Another imperceptible but momentous
achievement is the faith that Nigerians now
have in their leader. Yes, the opposition
numbers in millions, and naturally so. A
political party had held power at the centre
for 16 years, and its loyalists would not
simply disappear, or get converted overnight.
About 12 million Nigerians had voted for the
presidential candidate of that party in the
March 2015 general elections. Would they
just cross over to the winning side? It often
takes awhile. But despite all that, a great
deal of Nigerians, a vast majority, believe in
the new sheriff. And that is great
achievement. A big deal. When the citizenry
believe in their leader, and almost can swear
by him, it is no mean feat. The NOI polls, in a
survey in July, revealed that over 70% of
Nigerians were happy with the Buhari
administration. And I can bet that the
percentage would rise, as the months and
years roll by. Faith in leadership is something
that does not come cheap.
And this one! Even our foreign reserve knows
that a new sheriff is in town, and has
responded appropriately. In June, just one
month into office, and with the plugging of
some leakages and loopholes, foreign reserve
surged from $29 billion to $31.89. Holy
Moses! Just in one month. Well, that is what
a new sheriff can do. He brings sanity,
confidence and probity to the system. And
you would agree that Nigeria needs such shot
in the arm, if we consider recent past
experiences, when our treasury was like a bag
filled with holes.
An evidence of the believability of the new
sheriff, and the confidence reposed in him, is
the disclosure that came this week from
Ambassador Godknows Igali, Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Power. He said since
Buhari came to office, not a single sabotage
of the power infrastructure has been recorded,
and it is one of the reasons that electricity
supply keeps improving. But did Buhari line
up soldiers across the power infrastructure?
Did he hire a combination of OPC, Egbesu,
MASSOB, MEND and Arewa youths to keep
vigil? No. Just believability. Those who are
so angry with the country, and would go to
any extent to sabotage development, have
decided to give the sheriff a chance. They
have heard of his reputation. A man that
believes in fairness and justice. He would do
right to all parts of the country.
Can you imagine the respect our sheriff
commands on the international scene, and
how it redounds to the glory of the average
Nigerian? American President Barack Obama
said Buhari came onto his job with
reputation of integrity and a clearcut agenda.
Ambassador Johnny Carson, also during the
U.S trip in July, said the Nigerian President
was a man of honour and integrity.
Everywhere he goes, the Nigerian President is
lauded and garlanded for his virtues. And the
image of the country is burnished and
repositioned in the process. Surely, greater
days are ahead.
Some people say the sheriff did not hit the
ground running, as he is yet to constitute his
cabinet in 100 days. And I usually ask such
people: when you hit the ground, and you
land in mud, how do you begin to run
immediately? You can only sink deeper, if you
attempt to run. The thing to do is to first
clear the mud, till you get to terra firma, and
then you can begin to run.
President Buhari has spent time trying to
clean the Augean stable he inherited. And he
is succeeding. Sheriffs can either come in with
guns blazing, shooting malefactors to
kingdom come, or simply stamp their
authority on the situation by sheer force of
personality and presence. The Nigerian sheriff
seems to have opted for the second option
for now. But we should never forget that
sheriffs are licensed to shoot. And those
shots can be lethal for lawbreakers. In a
matter of months, you can ask those who had
bled our treasury to the point of death.
They'll have stories to tell.