Before Buhari Appoints His Advisers

       President Muhammadu Buhari

It is a standard universal norm that no

leader leads without advisers, and time

has ascertained that a leader who acts

solely on his own judgment is sure to fail.

Consultations and taking of advice are

therefore composite foundational elements

of leadership. The institutional office of

the Special Adviser, with its functions, is

hence vital in the due discharge of

governance. Indeed, the success or failure

of a regime rests as much on the ability

of the leader as on the competence or

otherwise of his adviser(s).

Underscoring this point, the 1999

Constitution of our country (as amended)

creates at the federal level the Council of

Ministers and offices of Special Advisers

for the good purpose of executing the

powers and functions due to the Office of

the President. This invariably means that

the stability and good governance of the

country are dependent on the sound

character, right practice and good

judgment of the President; while the well-

being and quality judgment of the

President depend on the knowledge, skill

and honesty of his official advisers.

Blessed therefore is the president with

truthful, knowledgeable, intelligent and

right-doing advisers to remind him if he

forgets, to assist him if he remembers, to

correct him (in secret and with respect) if

he is wrong, and always lay to him the

complete facts of every issue that may

come before him to decide.

Advising a leader, therefore, is an onerous

task that necessarily requires very special

proficiency to perform. Great political

thinkers are agreed that the adviser needs

five basic attributes, if his work is to be

fruitful and satisfactory:- i. Wisdom,

whereby he will perceive clearly the

outcome of everything into which the

Principal may enter; ii. Knowledge,

whereby implications of actions of the

Principal will be open to him; iii. Courage,

so as to act as and when appropriate on

the Principal; iv. Honesty, so that he will

treat all things and men truthfully without

exception; and v. Discipline, so as to

keep official secrets secret at all times. If

the President is able to appoint suitable

men, then he is most likely going to

succeed, for ‘a good adviser is like the

ornament of the King’; but if he is unable

and appoints unsuitable men, then his

regime is most likely going to fail.

Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher,

said that when a ‘king’ has an unsuitable

[ignorant] adviser, his reign will be like a

cloud which passes on without dropping

rain. He then warned that since what is

most important in the polity is the

‘kingship’ institution, no effort must be

spared in getting the right adviser to help

protect it.

Instructively, in our presidential system of

government, all advisers are solely

appointed by the president. This means

that the quality of advice is also solely

dependent on the kind of advisers the

president assembles to himself. In

appointing advisers, the president’s skill

or lack of it to distinguish the great

disparity that exists between men who

are suitable and men who are not itself

can decide the ultimate destiny of his

regime. To this extent, therefore, the

president must necessarily think deeply,

consult widely and select carefully in

matters regarding the appointment of

advisers; and thus when ultimately

making these appointments to ensure that

only competent and very skillful advisers

are chosen. On this account, I support the

president in taking his time to select his

governing team.

Given that President Buhari came to office

with the confidence and goodwill of

Nigerians behind him, all genuine lovers

of the President and the country would

not want him to lose peoples’ confidence

and goodwill; because in politics, as the

saying goes, it is easier to gain peoples’

confidence than to regain it. So it is of

utmost importance that before the

president appoints his advisers and

ministers, his actions or inactions in the

meantime must also not diminish his

political standing. I say this because of

three recent happenings on the political

landscape, which ordinarily ought to have

re-enforced the president’s political

goodwill but all failed to do so, and

instead are drawing unwarranted

criticisms and even possible loss of

peoples’ confidence.

First is the inauguration of the National

Assembly (NASS). Being a first time

democratically elected president under the

platform of an opposition party with the

zeal to initiate and implement change in

the country, the president undoubtedly

needs the NASS to perform. To this end,

in my opinion, the president should have

corporally inaugurated the NASS so as to

create an interpersonal relationship with

members. This would not only have

forestalled the current crises in the NASS

and the ruling party, it would have

instead created a strong bond of goodwill

and confidence-building between the two

arms of government, thereby earning the

president huge political capital with the

legislature.

Besides, as probably more than 70% of

the APC members in the NASS would not

have won election on their own merit but

were elected on account of Buhari’s

‘APC-sak-wind-of-change’, I believe

many of them were eager to physically

see the man whose name swept them

into fame. The president’s failure to seize

this opportunity and personally inaugurate

the NASS was a political misjudgment

and a product of either bad advice or no

advice at all.

Second, is the recent policy statement by

the presidency on the removal of military

checkpoints nationwide. Without doubt,

military checkpoints have become

nightmares for most citizens, especially

those living or traveling in the northern

part of the country. Other than the

superfluous time-wasting at the

roadblocks, and the accompanying

extortions of innocent citizens’ hard-

earned money, there are also cases of

dehumanising tortures and even killings

inflicted on Nigerians.

It is therefore desirable that these

checkpoints are removed or moderated in

such a way as to bring relieve to our

people. However, it would have been

advisable that before such decision is

taken and pronouncements made, wide

ranging consultations were made with

critical stakeholders so as to arrive at the

best form and method of handling the

issue. In this regard, consultations should

have been held with state governors, the

Police commands, DSS commands, Road

Safety commands, NSCDC commands,

and even with local government chairmen

and key traditional and religious leaders.

These consultations are important on two

aspects – first, they can help formulate

alternative security devises that are

locally initiated, people-friendly and

practically effective; second, it will be

politically beneficial to the president

because he will be seen to be carrying the

people along in his policy formulation and

implementation processes. The failure to

do that is again the result of bad advice

or lack of it; the result of which

occasioned the current embarrassing

reversal of this policy in certain parts of

the country. Such mishaps not only can

inevitably create a poor impression of the

thoroughness of the president’s policy

initiatives, but also will be accompanied

by a debilitating loss of peoples’

confidence in the president’s method of

governance. This is the last thing the

president needs to kick-start his

administration, especially given the good

impression of his character and ability

that pedestalled his election.

Third, is the appointment of the Director-

General of the DSS. Surely, the former

Director General, Mr. Epenyong richly

deserved his sack for having turned such

a highly delicate and professional agency

into a political tool of a governing party,

but in appointing his successor the

president should have been well advised

to be political about it – i.e. being

sensitive to the national sentiments and

sensitivities! Since he wanted to appoint

Musa Daura, who is eminently qualified,

and Daura being the president’s home

town, and having already appointed two

previous officers (Accountant General and

INEC) both from the northwestern part of

the country, the president should have

appointed at least one southerner in

another agency along with Daura for the

purpose of national politics. Even though

the president may mean well in his

actions, still he needs not give his vast

political opponents the data to paint him

in bad light as a regional irredentist. Such

a perception, rightly or wrongly, is not

good for the president’s political image.

–Ardo, Ph.D sent in this piece from Abuja