Waziri Bulama, an architect, is a man of many callings. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, former National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and member of the ruling party’s National Advisory Council.
In this interview with Sunday Sun in Abuja, he assessed and scored high the performance of the President Bola Tinubu-led administration.
Bulama equally noted that he would not advise the duo of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi to withdraw their petitions against the outcome of the 2023 presidential election.
The Kanuri, Borno-born politician also claimed that his political ally, former President Muhammadu Buhari, must be missing in his retirement the limelight he had enjoyed for several years despite his claim that he wanted to retire to a quiet life.
He also dismissed any possibility of Vice President Kashim Shettima having any form of rift with President Tinubu throughout their tenure, describing the former Borno State governor as a humble person.
What is your assessment of the Tinubu-led administration so far?
The leadership of President Bola Tinubu has done well so far. His very bold and courageous broad decision-making style is commendable. He said that he wants to copy the lifestyle and leadership style of Abraham Lincoln. The leadership style is full of brave decisions, very nationalistic, passionate about people and very empathetic about the feelings of people. Lincoln’s leadership style, in American democratic history, is seen as one of the most successful. Like Lincoln and Barack Obama, President Tinubu has a clear idea of the mission before him. Tinubu is a professional accountant, a knowledge worker who has extensive experience in auditing and financial management and stint in the treasury of an international oil company before he went into politics and sat in the National Assembly to look at the problems of Nigeria nationwide. He afterwards became a pro-democracy politician, advocating for the cause of democracy for many years. He later on ended up as governor of Lagos, where he personally turned around Lagos, a city of 20 million individuals, bigger than many countries in the world. He is bringing in this problem-solving skill of a professional. Unlike previous leaders, who are products of public institutions, the military, the public service, universities and colleges, most of whose leadership style is very circumspect, cautious and conservative, Tinubu is bringing knowledge and problem-solving skills as a technocrat. That is why, within this short period, he has hit the ground running. After all, professionals whether engineering, medicine, pharmacy or media are trained to solve problems. So far, his decision-making style and the decisions he has taken are all consistent with our expectations. We watched him carefully and that was why we supported him to emerge as the candidate of our party. He is a founding leader of our party with a commitment to ensure that our party succeeds in making Nigeria better. He is also addressing the concerns of Nigerians to ensure that the government should work for the betterment and welfare of the people to make Nigeria better. So far, so good, I will say. President Tinubu’s deeply philosophical inaugural speech states five-point areas of emphasis. Rule of law, security, turning around the economy, enhancing youth and women inclusion and fighting corruption by strengthening the institutional framework for curbing corruption. In those decisions he has taken in the last four weeks, he tried to block those major areas where funds are wasted or misapplied by the government. One is the subsidy removal issue, in which most people think that the money that directly comes out or the government pays to the oil companies is not helping Nigerians. He has blocked that by accepting the decision of the previous government that there will no more be payment of subsidy as of June 2023. The second issue is the exchange rate differential. The CBN was keeping a certain value of the dollar and the private sector or the open market kept a certain value. The limited dollar with the CBN was insufficient to demand. It is given to people who sell in the open market or black market to make a lot of gains. Tinubu has removed that dichotomy in a big decision that will save the country a lot of money. The third thing is to focus on the direct theft of crude oil going on in the oil-producing areas, creeks and communities. The Nigerian government is losing so much money there. People are just bunkering on crude oil and selling stolen crude all over the world. He has made an attempt to block that. He has also created a committee to review the tax system in the country because the tax system is full of abuses. Many people are not paying taxes; collected taxes don’t get to government coffers. There are also many reckless exemptions. The fact is that our tax collection system is also very weak. There are areas he is tightening so that money realized can fund essential social and economic infrastructure.
Tinubu has not disappointed you so far?
Tinubu has not really disappointed me so far because of his decision-making style. There is a saying that history will forgive a leader for taking a bad decision, but will not forgive him for taking no decision or delaying the decision. I see his impulse and response to issues as a decision-maker positive. Secondly, the quality and timing of decision-making are savvy. His decision-making is driven by consultation. His leadership style is not to sit down and dish out instructions. He consults extensively, not just professionals with knowledge in the areas, but also stakeholders in other areas of government across the country. His approach to decision-making, quality and timing is really very impressive. As a strategist myself, I am really happy with the timing, the quality and the approach of President Tinubu.
Are politicians insensitive to the plight of suffering Nigerians?
We already have four areas of focus. They are areas that are not working for the good of the public. Money hitherto wasted is recovered or blocked and deployed to those areas that would benefit the poor and the ordinary people in the country. The transition, from past culture to this new system of doing things would generate some uncertainty, particularly fuel price increase that jumped up threefold. Clearly, there will be temporary pain. However, it is not a decision that will just go like that without commensurate relief for the citizens. The funds that will be realised from those savings will be deployed in those areas that will bring succour and relief to the citizens. Temporarily, Nigerians will actually feel the pain because the cost of fuel has constrained transportation and impacted ripple effects on the cost of goods, foodstuff and services. There is serious fear all over that survival is getting out of reach. It is a very serious matter, but it is temporary. The government is definitely taking steps to take money from areas where it is channeled to or enjoyed by some rich or privileged people so that these funds can be deployed to where that can benefit the ordinary Nigerians.
Do you entertain any fear that there may be a crisis between Shettima and President Tinubu, especially with the Lagos boys around Mr. President?
I don’t see any reason or have any doubt that such will happen. I don’t also entertain any fear that there will be any crisis between the Vice President and the President. I have known Shettima since the age of two. Our families are in the same neighbourhood. He is a very humble young person. He had very good grooming. He is from a religious family. His father was a religious scholar and his mother a princess. He got the best of home training. He is very humble. His nomination into that office was singularly the grace of God and Asiwaju Tinubu. What worked for him was his previous record as a banker, public service and political exposure. He knows that he must remain extremely 100 per cent loyal to Tinubu. There is no way there will be any crisis of any sort because he knows that Tinubu gave him that position. His own success would be to support Asiwaju to succeed. In any case, the position of Vice President, or Deputy Governor, as we know in this country, is a spare tyre that carries out duties delegated or subletted to him by the chief executive. He is so humble that he never calls me by my name. There will be that mutual respect and I don’t see him causing trouble.
Do you think that there will be a cabal in the Tinubu government as we saw in the Buhari administration?
They have different leadership styles. Buhari’s leadership style is very personal because he is an outsider in politics and deeply contemptuous of the political class. He was very personal in addressing issues and never delegated decision making, for instance, to the party. He never really had a team to advise him, except those so-called shadowy figures. But, it wasn’t formal because at one point, he was told that there were two people running his government and he demanded to know one decision they took or forced him to take. But Asiwaju’s leadership style is generally open. He is consultative and draws in all the stakeholders in consultative decision-making. He won’t leave any grail area for anybody to exploit. His inclusive approach to decision making will not leave any room for anybody, unknown character to create a bridge, either between the President and the Vice President, or between the President and the National Assembly. As governor of Lagos state, he adopted a political model of engaging people at all levels. It was very successful. He had what was called Lagos State Advisory team, made up of senior leaders, retired public servants, traditional rulers, and institutional leaders that periodically advised him on fundamental things affecting Lagos State. That leadership style is entirely different from the experience under President Buhari, Jonathan, or Obasanjo.
What has been the relationship between the Tinubu-led government and your party, APC?
The relationship between our party and the National Assembly, between our party and the executive led by Tinubu, has been perfect and fine. It is still early in the day, but there is no conflict.
How optimistic are you about the presidential petition in the tribunal?
It will be inappropriate for me to talk about the outcome of the judicial processes because we are all before distinguished judicial leaders and those that are aggrieved. They have taken their cases to the court and placed them before the judges. We have also stated our own case. So, it is left for the judges to decide. I have said previously that we are better placed to win this election in 2023. And we won this election by meeting the two major points the Constitution requires for winning the election. The first is scoring the majority of the total votes cast, and winning 25 per cent of votes cast in at least 24 states. In this case, Tinubu met both requirements, not only that he won the highest votes cast, but he also got the required 25 per cent of votes cast in 36 states, which none of the candidates met. It wasn’t a landslide victory, but a clear victory for our party. We worked hard for it. It wasn’t just something that came on a platter or with ease. The quality of elections had improved and we had to struggle for every vote.
Will you advise Atiku and Peter Obi to withdraw their cases from the court?
President Tinubu, in his inaugural address, extended a hand of fellowship to them. Both Atiku and Peter Obi are all great leaders in this country who have paid their dues. They also have a great deal of followers. They enjoy the support of many Nigerians, but as it were in elections, normally, one way or the other, somebody has to win. At the moment, both are in court and I believe that after court pronouncements, they would review their strategies and their positions. The natural thing to do is to follow their cases to a logical conclusion. If the case is terminated at this point, in the eyes of some of their supporters, and partisan followers, they may not be happy with them. It is better for the cases to go on to their logical conclusion and after they will do a serious stocktaking, perhaps by that time, a decision as to how to relate to and consider the invitation from Asiwaju to join the government to run this country together will be considered. I want them to consider that seriously.
What are your fears about the Tinubu-led governments?
At the moment, his approach to decision-making is very good because it is very consultative, inclusive and very democratic too. If this approach to decision-making is sustained, I will be very happy. But, the problem with people who enjoy public confidence is that hubris, over-confidence, comes in sometimes. Trusting in your abilities and then sometimes taking unilateral decisions. If people trust that you will be consulting them on fundamental decision-making, and then suddenly some major decisions come and you break the tradition of inclusive decision-making that will disappoint many people.
What will Nigerians remember former President Buhari for?
I was very close to President Buhari and I was a key player in that era. We worked hard, sacrificing our time, talents, and resources. Among us there were many who passed away in the course of this struggle, some ended up in prison, while some lost their limbs. Actually, quite a lot of sacrifices were made for the political successes of former President Buhari, from 2001. The three elections where he failed to make it, and the three elections he managed successfully in 2015, 2019, he was president and the 2023 elections, where he led his party to victory, he has an enviable political history. As for the legacy former President Buhari left behind, you have to look at his long sojourn into politics, where he took power in 2015 and where he left power in 2023. You need sufficient data to make the comparison. You also have to allow this new government with a new leadership style to execute some programmes to see Buhari’s leadership in context. But suffice it to say that on the fundamentals, history will be fair to him. He kept Nigeria one, found Nigeria one, preserved Nigeria’s unity and handed it over to another leader. Unity is the most important thing because leaders swear to protect the country and the constitution. History will be fair to him that he preserved and made Nigeria remained one. The second is that he participated actively in forming APC, which is a broad-based national party committed to building institutions and promoting the rule of law. He was able to preside over three elections successfully. That also is a great deal of achievement in a country where parties are struggling and the weakness of parties has been the bane of our political instability in Nigeria since 1960 because they are incapable of managing their own crisis. And they, therefore, lose the confidence of Nigerians, leading to military interventions. It is to his credit and that of his political partners, as well as many foot soldiers like us, behind him and Tinubu, to sustain our party and ensure it wins the confidence and trust of Nigerians to win another election. But there are many people that may have different views because some people that expected appointments, and projects that didn’t get were disappointed. A famous American Senator and retired politician, Mario Cuomo, said that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose.
What do you think Buhari will be missing now outside the government?
Philosophers, men of knowledge, historians and the clergy used to say that what the heart of man desires is respect and admiration. Buhari was in the limelight and treated as a messiah at some point. Throughout his leadership, he was seen and respected highly by global leaders, local leaders, and the ordinary masses that saw him as a messiah or some kind of cult or prophetic leader. I am sure Buhari will be missing that limelight, that standing as a messiah and always being in front of the cameras. He will miss being in the centre of power in the country regardless of his claim that he desired a quieter life and staying with his livestock.
Credit: Daily Sun