In this interview, Professor Ango Abdullahi, a former vice chancellor of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria and chairman of the Northern Elders Forum, differed on what Buhari represented in politics and why the current crop of leaders in the North cannot be trusted to lead.

Recently, the North lost some prominent and elderly personalities, such as Aminu Dantata, Justice Uwais, Jibril Aminu and former President Muhammadu Buhari. How do you see the future of the region, especially looking at the loss of these very important personalities?

Well, as Muslims we know that from God we come and to God we shall return. Death happens every day.  In the last four months we have experienced loss of fairly prominent personalities. We must also remember that the North has been going through this for ages. For those of us who saw when Sardauna, Abubakar (Tafawa Balewa), Mallam Aminu Kano and others like Tarka and Saraki died, it is a normal process. It all depends on timing and perhaps the circumstances of such deaths. It appears you are concerned about the timing of the passing of the four personalities you mentioned, perhaps in the context of the political situation in the country, with particular reference to the North. I think this is what you are alluding to. And when you look at each one of them, one of the youngest who just died is Buhari.

Each of them held very high offices and by some coincidence, each one held an office until he reached the pinnacle.

If you look at them in the context of the services they rendered to the country, and perhaps more specifically, their relevance to the issues in northern Nigeria and so on, there is no doubt that the country has lost a lot, more so the North. Certainly, we wish that these people were very much alive today, but God destined their departure at this time and they went. We have to accept that.

How will the North fare with the exit of Buhari? 

 To me, Buhari was an accident in politics. I didn’t know him until he became the military head of state. From when he joined the army, he would have been very much our junior. One must accept that when he came into office, he certainly was not a politician. And with due respect, I don’t think he knew much politics. At the time the Shagari government was kicked out, looking at the challenge before him at that time, one would have expected that he would find competent, hardworking, honest northern politicians or politicians generally in the country to assist his administration as a military head of state. Of course, this is what Gowon did. 

Gowon became head of state at the age of 33 or 34 and what he did was to invite Aminu Kano, Awolowo and other politicians to run his government. And he succeeded for nine years, including fighting a civil war without borrowing one kobo. That is the major difference between General Gowon as a military head of state and Buhari. He didn’t get good political leadership, whether from the North or anywhere else to really guide his administration. 

That’s why, unfortunately, he made all the kinds of mistakes that people were complaining about. He almost ran the administration as if he was running soldiers in the barracks. People were being jailed for 250 years etc. There was no law to consider offences, whether of politicians or others. That was his biggest difficulty in the beginning. 

 But as a person he must have meant well. He had his own deep convictions, but that would not serve the reality of the situation at that time. The reality of the situation demanded that he brought in people with different ideas – good ideas – to help organise a good government. In fact, because of that he failed and as he soon fell out with the military people that brought him to power, they decided to kick him out. 

To some extent, he learned a little bit from his experience as a military head of state. Even when he returned, people still had confidence that he was the man they needed because of his personal convictions about the country, as well as his pronouncements about corruption, honesty, discipline etc. People still trusted that he would run a good civil government and the country would benefit. I think that was what propelled the support that eventually brought him to power as a civil president. 

But he repeated the same mistake he made when he was military head of state. He didn’t take the correct assistance, whether in the form of ministers, advisors or whatever, to come and help him run a civil governance. It was very difficult. I must say here that I didn’t see that personal experience. 

The late Dan Masanin Kano, Maitama Sule was the leader of the Northern Elders Forum and we were very much behind all the efforts that would bring Buhari to power to replace Jonathan. After winning the election, Maitama Sule himself led about 40 of us to visit Buhari to congratulate him, and for him to preach because sometimes Sule was a preacher.

We told him that none of the people was anxious to get political appointment as all of them had served in various positions and retired honourably. They were willing to help his government free, without salaries or contracts; they were not pursuing money. Of course I was there. He thanked Dan Masanin for his advice. 

In addition, here on my farm, 40 bullet-point advice was also given to him to guide a lot of things that were apparently going wrong early in his administration. Unfortunately, he went for those he wanted to trust. For some of us who spoke earlier, that administration was not running well.

 Fortunately for me, when I went out to speak against his government at that time, his wife even supported me, saying, “A lot of the people in this government have no voting cards;” meaning that they were really not politicians as such but people searching for opportunities, whether for appointments or contracts. That is what eventually ruined the Buhari administration: incompetent and dishonest people. There was a lot of stealing. Nobody can deny this. He has died but you also have to speak on facts of history. 

Is that to say the North did not benefit from his government? 

Well, I wouldn’t say that because he was not running the government on behalf of the North, he was running a Nigerian government. But the North has its own problems and had a right to present them for solutions at the federal level, as well as the states. Perhaps because he would ignore advice, they too ignored advice; and that’s why the collective failure and suffering of the North was understandable. 

 At the federal level there was not much; and at the states you had boys or young people who saw themselves as administrators or rulers of people rather than leaders. This is what really happened in the last administration. He was a good man but unfortunately, his political acumen did not help him to really get the correct frame for successful operation of a civilian government in a political setting.

 As a military man, orders must be obeyed, but in the civilian setting, questions are asked and argued. You may ignore them but at your own peril because people will say yes when they think it is yes, and no when they think, it is no. Unfortunately, this is what happened in his case. He was not lucky. Whether it was his fault or that of some people close to him, he didn’t find very competent, honest and dedicated people to help him run a civil administration.

Do you think the crop of politicians we have in the North can be trusted to lead?

The right people can take the leading position in the forthcoming elections. To answer that question, you must also look into history. Where were they? Were they not there as governors? Did they solve problems of their respective states? Or have they solved the problems of the North? They were virtually responsible for what we are in today in the sense that we are looking forward to having somebody better than the present president of the country.

I haven’t seen sufficient evidence yet. Nigerians are tired of the kind of political system that has been imposed on them.

Even this American presidential system is not being operated according to the rules that apply in America today. I will give you an example – I have not seen a single primary election in the United States or an election to an office where a candidate was declared winner by getting not less than 50 per cent of the votes. But here, Tinubu had eight million, Atiku had  around six million while Obi had  over six million too – all of the numbers put together is not a lot. In fraction, Tinubu had only 26 per cent of the presidential votes, so how could he be our president? In the American system, there is no way he would be declared president until he scored more than 50 per cent of the votes cast for that election. So we are running a system to suit our individual needs, rather than collective democratic needs of our people. 

Another recent example is that each local government was assigned a chairman – I consider it to be an assignment – not election. How do you allow a system that allows a governor to appoint an independent electoral commission for his state.

Is the Northern Elders Forum looking for a suitable direction for the North? 

As a politically active group, the NEF keeps an eye on the way Nigeria is going and makes sure that the North is getting a fair deal in relation to other parts of the country. That’s all. It is up to people to see that they complement this. And they can complement this in so many ways, but the most effective way is through elections. Nigerians should elect people that will not betray them. Most of the people that have betrayed the North are the ones running around now looking for positions again, either as president or whatever.