HURRICANE BUHARI Nnamdi Ebo
Describes with relish the Muhammadu Buhari phenomenon
Ahurricane or tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterised by strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain. Depending on its location and strength, a tropical cyclone is referred to by names such as typhoon or tropical storm. In addition to strong winds and rain, tropical cyclones are capable of generating high waves, damaging storm surge and tornadoes or twisters which sweep swathes of territory.
The storm system of Hurricane Buhari started rotating when three major opposition political parties spearheaded by renegade governors merged on Wednesday, February 6, 2013 into a new party which they named the All Progressives Congress (APC). The merger involved the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) with a decamped governor from the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
The APC provided the platform which Nigeria’s leading opposition parties were going to use to wrest power from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which had a 16-yearold-strangling grip on Nigeria. The APC had their red eyes fixated towards 2015 but the fourth-time presidential ambition of one of the movers of the initiative loomed large. This soldier-turned-politician or dictator-pretending-politician as his critics shouted, emerged as a potent threat to the success of the APC endeavour. The threat was effectively managed so it didn’t upset the merger initiative.
Hurricane Buhari was slowly brewing, the APC had chosen the broom as their party symbol and they strategised and I wondered what these get-together people were going to do with their brooms made from straws. I slapped my face as I remembered that brooms are cleaning implements used for sweeping floors. I also remembered that night soil men carried brooms in the sixties which they used to sweep away human waste. What or who did they plan to sweep away? Meanwhile the target or shall I say the leaders and acolytes of the PDP, the people or thing(s) to be swept away, were busy deriding the opposition APC: ‘strange bedfellows’ ‘gang of never-do-wells’ ‘they can’t work together’ ‘they’ll soon fizzle out’ ‘Tinubu cannot work with Atiku’ ‘Fashola and Tinubu cannot see eye to eye’ ‘Buhari cannot stand Tinubu’ ‘Rochas is too ambitious’ ‘Amaechi won’t get the VP slot’ ‘They all cannot work together’ etc.
The storm suddenly turned into a tornado when the soldier-turned-politician, 72-year-old Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd.) was chosen for the APC presidential ticket, after votes by 7,214 delegates. Buhari got 3,430 votes at a party convention in Lagos. All his opponents congratulated him and they hugged and smiled and Tinubu applauded and the northeast, northwest and southwest geopolitical zones had cemented their formidable alliance. Sooner than later, diminutive Professor Yemi Osinbajo emerged Buhari’s VicePresidential candidate. The PDP watched in amazement and it dawned on me that Tinubu can work with Buhari, Amaechi did not get the VP slot but they’re all working together.
By this time, the tornado in Lagos had metamorphosed to a hurricane and Hurricane Buhari started generating strong winds and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produced heavy rains on presidential campaign stops where “Sai Buhari” and “Sai Baba” resonated with alacrity and the Buhari brand debuted and the PDP went ballistic. By this time, the PDP realised that this indeed was a hurricane, not the same Buhari who couldn’t afford to campaign in 70% of Nigeria during his three previous attempts to occupy Aso Rock. Hurricane Buhari had started gathering strong winds and generating high waves on campaign trails in Lagos, Kano, Abeokuta, Kaduna, Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, etc.
The PDP presidential campaign organisation took a berth in AIT and Buhari-bashing became a news media and television nightmare for Buhari, Bola Tinubu, Adams Oshiomhole, etc. Femi Fani-Kayode, Bello Fadile, Ayo Fayose, Doyin Okupe and other PDP stalwarts went after Hurricane Buhari: Fani-Kayode hurled all manner of degrading opprobrium on Buhari. However, Hurricane Buhari was impervious as its high waves continued to sweep across the land.
Before the presidential poll, Fani-Kayode had claimed that PDP was winning 23 states. It later turned out that Hurricane Buhari had already swept through the claimed states. Then came March 28 and Hurricane Buhari started sweeping swathes of territory with unassailable result counts and collations at voting stations, leaving destruction, devastation, gnashing of teeth, and despair in its wake – from closing the political careers of some governors, senators, lawmakers and entrenched politicians who thought they were political juggernauts. Now, Hurricane Buhari has berthed, we hope that it has finally lost its wind. What a hurricane!