Buhari’s sartorial mutation 3 BY OUR REPORTER ON DECEMBER 25, - TopicsExpress

Buhari’s sartorial mutation 3 BY OUR REPORTER ON DECEMBER 25, 2014BACK PAGE / COLUMNS, BROKEN TONGUES General Muhammadu Bu­hari, former Head of State and presidential candi­date of the All Progres­sives Congress (APC), is wearing a new look. He is struggling to be a new man. His newness must be one of the briefs of his image mak­ers. They must have been charged to give Nigerians a new Buhari. A man known for his fanatical disposi­tion, Buhari tried to shed that toga recent­ly when he, surprising, began to preach against the freestyle bloodletting that has been going on in northern Nigeria. Many who knew the former Head of State did not believe that he was the one condemn­ing Boko Haram’s dance of death. The volte face did not sound like the man who threatened in May 2012 that the monkey and the baboon would be soaked in blood should the 2015 elections be manipulated by the ruling party. He was addressing members of his then political party, the Congress for Progressive Change, from Niger State. Buhari’s threat of bloodletting received widespread condemnations from Nigeri­ans. It reminded the people of the post-election violence of 2011 that claimed many lives believed to have been sparked off by the inflammatory remarks of the former head of state. Indeed, Buhari and some other prominent northerners have, for reasons that are not far to seek, been associated with Boko Haram insurgen­cy. There have been insinuations, in the absence of any concrete evidence, that some members of the northern political and monied elite are the brains behind the Boko Haram terrorist activities. Buhari, owing to his belligerent disposition, was believed, rightly or wrongly, to be a part of the northern conspiracy that sustains Boko Haram. Given this war-mongering background of Buhari, it was a great surprise to hear him condemn the insurgents. The con­demnation sounded out of place. It did not represent appropriately the Buhari we know. For some skeptics, Buhari’s latter-day disposition is deceptive. It is sheer political gimmick. Such people believe that it is being done to create the impres­sion that Buhari has dropped his war-like toga. But whether we believe him or not, the man is carrying on with his newness. His speeches have changed. He no longer spits fire. His speech writers have changed the tone of his public declarations. Most of his speeches and press statements are written in lucid prose. They give an im­pression of civility. They try to tell us that the man from whom they issue forth is not all boots and bullets. He also has some sound ideas to contribute to the upliftment of the society. That is the new Buhari that we have been trying to understand. It has been tough reconciling the old and the new. The oddity inherent in the curious mix has hampered us to no end. We hardly know what to believe or what to dismiss about the man. We were yet to come to terms with the new Buhari when the man decided to take us a notch higher. This time, the man has moved to the realm of practicality. He is no longer preaching against terror. He is not trying to sound tame and civilised in his speeches and statements. He has actually gone down to demonstrate a certain pan- Nigerian disposition through his new-fan­gled sartorial bent. The man’s dress code has changed. From being known as a north­erner who dresses in the typical overflow­ing agbada and its accompanying long cap, Buhari, for the first time since we know him, dressed the English way , complete with suit and bow tie. He looked good in it. But the strange appearance overshadowed the sense and style of his dressing. We largely considered his English appearance to be a joke. But our man was to prove that he was not out for any joke. He took on the Igbo attire with the red cap to match. We were yet to chuckle when the man switched over to the Niger Delta mode of dressing. Buhari has virtually traversed all segments and cultures of Nigeria through his dress codes. The underlying message in all this is that Buhari, the one easily dismissed as a reli­gious bigot and ethnic irredentist, wants to wear a pan-Nigerian outlook. He wants to be seen not as a sectional leader, but as a nationalist who recognizes all the shades and colours that make up Nigeria. We must understand Buhari’s moves for what they are. A former military ruler who came into office through force of arms, Buhari was also ousted the same way he came. His stay in office was short but eventful not necessarily as a result of any known achievement, but because of the iron fist disposition that he brought to bear on governance. When his regime was overthrown, Nigerians began to remem­ber him as that leader who introduced the queuing culture to the country as a way of life. However, for reasons that we are yet to understand, Buhari has, ever since, continued to work towards returning as Nigeria’s number one citizen. Since the return of civil rule in 1999, Buhari has contested elections to the office of the president thrice. He lost on all the occa­sions. His present quest is the fourth in the series. Buhari appears to have pursued his ambition to the point of desperation. He appears to be consumed by it all. Hav­ing lost three times, Buhari, probably, does not want to lose the fourth time. That must be the reason for the despera­tion. That must be why the man is doing unusual things in order to be accepted. Ordinarily, this new disposition of Bu­hari ought to be a model to be aspired to. It would have been a virtue if it was to flow naturally from the former head of state. But the snag here is that what the man is doing is forced. It is artificial. The man does not believe in what he is doing. He is only trying to fill a gap. He is just trying, as they say, to fulfill all righteous­ness. In fact, the man does not believe in those appearances. They are only meant to amuse and entertain. There is no doubt that Nigerians are being entertained by the histrionics. They are amused by it. They know it is a poor show. It is appear­ance, not reality. In fact, it is easy to test Buhari on this score. If he has become a new Nigerian as he would have us believe, then we will expect him to sheathe his sword. We will expect him to play the patriotic Nige­rian and give peace a chance in the likely event of the presidential seat eluding him again in 2015. A man who exudes the lev­el of Nigerianness that we see in Buhari must disown any situation that will get the baboon and the monkey to lock horns. Very soon, we shall know whether Buhari is pretending or if he is truly a born-again Nigerian. sunnewsonline/new/?p=97047