بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
President Buhari Hands Over to Tinubu: Different Player, Same Game.
News:
President Buhari of Nigeria left office on 29th May 2023. While handing over to Bola Tinubu of the same party, All Progressives Congress (APC), Buhari stated in his farewell speech that he was leaving the country better in 2023 than when he came in in 2015.
Comment:
The track record of former Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is abysmal. Levels of deprivation dramatically increased under his rule where more than 80% of the population was plunged into biting poverty such that Nigeria earned the monicker ‘poverty capital of the world’. Inflation rose 59 times from 8.2% in 2015 to 22.22% by April 2023. His economic policies kept intensifying the hardship of the people. The border closure in 2019 lasting 1 year 4 months and the disastrous ‘cash swap policy’ started in December 2022, to name but a few. Nigeria’s public debt rose twice as much under former President Buhari when compared to previous governments since 1999, and foreign debt ballooned three times more than the combined figure recorded by the past three administrations! On the political front, Buhari’s trademark was always ‘anti-corruption’. Yet, government agencies and departments under him were repeatedly siphoning off public funds like the former Accountant-General of the Federation or the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Buhari’s government pardoning two convicted former State Governors decisively exposed the fallacy of his ‘anti-corruption’ drive.
Still, none of these failings are exclusive to Buhari’s government. His sole indictment is the magnitude of his failure in comparison to previous administrations. Earlier tenures are equally known to have carried out incredible levels of malfeasance or committed comparable crimes against public interests. The overall decline in the lives of the population, the perpetual rise of insecurity, unemployment, debt and inflation within the country spanning different administrations leading up to Buhari’s tenure shows a disturbing trend that cuts across governments and ruling political parties. Nor does the future hold much brighter hope if the country continues on the current secular democratic system.
Expectations for improvement were stratospheric for Buhari when he came, far more than they are for President Tinubu, yet here we are now. There is no cogent reason to conclude that this abysmal situation will improve with President Tinubu. He will continue to run the same system as his predecessors and all current indicators show he intends to proceed with similar capitalist policies, if not more zealously. His maiden move of subsidy removal is proof enough.
When will we realize the problem with the country is not merely ‘bad leadership’ but an inherent factor of a failed and corrupt man-made system? Replacing one player with another who will carry on playing the same game will never solve the problems. The solution lies in returning to the Just ruling system of Islam, the Khilafah (Caliphate) based upon the method of the Prophethood. This is a system that is built on transparency and accountability via State institutions like the Court for the Acts of Injustice (Mahkamat al-Madhaalim) and the elected Council of the Ummah (Majlis al-Wilayah). A system whose economic policy is geared towards equitable distribution of wealth by protecting and maintaining the public right in wealth acquisition. Should we choose to ignore this sublime solution and insist on clinging to the current oppressive, unjust system, the outcome is only one. Allah (swt) says:
[وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا] “And whoever turns away from My remembrance - indeed, he will have a depressed life,” [TMQ Surah Taha 20:124].
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Salim Mohammad