YOUR RIGHT TO KNOW: BUHARISM Buharism is a term rooted in the Politics of Nigeria, referring to the economic principles and the political ideology of the military government of Nigeria headed by General Muhammadu Buhari from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985. It was characterized by radical but progressive move away from a political economy dominated by parasitic and subservient elite to one in which a nationalist and productive class gains ascendancy. Buharism represented a two-way struggle: with external global capitalism and with its parasitic and unpatriotic internal agents and spokespersons. Buharism rejected the forceful approach of the Washington Consensus, but rather held that for a crisis-wrecked country to successfully improve its Balance of Payments through devaluation there must first exist a condition that the price of every country’s export is denominated in its own currency. As such condition do not exist, Buharism believed that, for any country that Washington Consensus conditions do not exist clearly enough, there are alternate and superior approaches to solving the problem of its economic crisis. Therefore, instead of applying devaluation to get the then crisis-wrecked Economy of Nigeria back on track, Buharism rather employed a policy of curbing imports of needless goods, curtailing oil theft and improving exports through counter trade policy of bartering seized illegally bunkered crude oil for needful goods like machineries, enabling it to export above its OPEC quota. The term Buharism, si not same as glorification of the man Buhari as Sanisi Lamido Sanusi noted in the 2002 article titled ‘Buharism Beyond Buhari: A Response to Mohammed Haruna’. Sanusi stated “The economic principles and the political ideology underpinning the Buhari government transcend Muhammadu Buhari and they formed the kernel of my paper”. So also did Max Siollun observed in ‘Buhari and Idiagbon: A Missed Opportunity for Nigeria’ that “Ironically, the same people who prematurely rejoiced at Buhari and Idiagbon’s downfall are the same people who today recall their tenure with nostalgia. If Buhari and Idiagbon had been allowed to stay in office for as long as Babangida did, they would have changed Nigeria forever – for the better. As usual, Nigerians have only themselves to blame for creating the circumstances that led to their downfall. Journalists who thought that better times lay ahead post-Buhari need only recall the murder of Dele Giwa to see how wrong they were. The prisoners who thought that life would be less harsh under Babangida and Abacha should recall the consistent harassment and death of Gani Fawehinmi and Moshood Abiola respectively. People complained about the draconian Decree 2 of 1984 – the State security (Detention of Persons) Decree which permitted the Federal Military Government to detain any person considered by the Chief of Staff, Supreme Headquarters to be a security threat, for up to three months without charge or trial. Civil liberties organisations fumed and breathed a sigh of relief when Babangida took over, expecting Babangida to repeal Decree 2. Babangida not only retained it, but extended the detention period under Decree 2 to six months and used it to detain those civil liberties and pro-democracy movements that had welcomed his assent to power. Those that felt that Buhari and Idiagbon were too “harsh” for imprisoning corrupt public officials, executing convicted drug dealers and armed robbers, should ask themselves whether they are proud of the fact that the average European cannot point out Nigeria’s location on a map, does not know its capital city, but “knows” that Nigeria is a country where corrupt people, drug dealers and other criminals come from. Those that criticised the WAI for attempting to militarise civilian society need to ask themselves whether they prefer the undisciplined, corruption infested society that is Nigeria in 2003.” Nigeria missed a golden opportunity to change for the better, but another chance is presented to us now. But will sentiments and selective memory allow us grab this last chance? Time shall tell. Triple A October 21, 2014 Adapted from: Buharism Beyond Buhari: A Response to Mohammed Haruna by Sanusi Lamido Sanusi on 6 September 2002 in London Buhari and Idiagbon: A Missed Opportunity for Nigeria by Max Siollun in October 2003 Buharism. (n.d.). In Wikipedia. RetrievedOctober 10, 2014 from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buharism
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 15:51:46 +0000
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