By Ochereome Nnanna
I WAS enthusiastically looking forward to the public unveiling of President Muhammadu Buhari’s declared assets, and I will tell you why. Buhari is one of the most intensely branded political leaders in Nigeria’s history. Since he started running for president in 2003, a consistent mental image of him has been monogrammed in the minds of millions of Nigerians, such that even his foes often accept his portraiture as “Mr Integrity”. In the North, they call him: Mai Gaskiya (Man reputed for telling the truth always).

Here is a man who, even in the heat of the 2003 presidential campaign, was absolved by former President Olusegun Obasanjo of the $2.8 billion “missing” NNPC fund. Buhari was Minister of Petroleum under Obasanjo’s tenure as military head of state. Buhari is probably the only known public officer to be openly vouchsafed by the usually self-righteous Ota chicken farmer. It was a spectacular testimonial for Obasanjo to do so even when Buhari was his major opponent at the 2003 presidential election.

I covered the 2007 presidential election in Katsina State, being that two of the foremost contenders, Buhari of the All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) and Governor Umaru Yar’ Adua of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) came from there. On polling day, we visited Buhari in his country home in Daura on the border with Niger Republic. Before he appeared to talk to the visiting media team, one of his aides, Alhaji Zakari Ya’u Darazo, disclosed that the former head of state was squatting in the home of a relation. The roof of his own humble bungalow next door was blown off by a storm and he could not afford the cost of mending it!

Add this to the story which made the rounds in 2012 that the then former presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) was ejected from his N20 million rented home at 11, Queen Elizabeth St, Asokoro, Abuja over his alleged inability to pay his rent, even when the cost was reduced to N15 million. Fancy that: a former Petroleum Minister, former Head of State and ex-Executive Chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) not having a comfortable home in Abuja! It sounds unbelievable, even unfair, when you juxtapose him with his fellow win-the-war former military rulers such as Generals Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, TY Danjuma and even (to a much more modest extent) General Yakubu Gowon, who remain firmly rooted as the overlords of the Nigerian commonwealth.

Juxtapose these, also, with the cases of the first elected President and Vice President of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Usman Shagari and Dr Alex Ekwueme, respectively. When Buhari came to power on December 31st 1983 and started the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), he set up the various Military Tribunals for recovery of government funds and property from “corrupt” politicians. President Shagari was put under house arrest, and according to elder statesman, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai in a recent Channels Television interview, the windows of Shagari’s glorified cell were painted black to prevent the sunshine and daylight from entering the house, thereby making it impossible for him to see the world outside.

He was even luckier, because his Deputy, Ekwueme, was whisked away to Kirikiri Maximum Prison. They were both accused of corruption. But much later, a Judicial Panel headed by Justice Sampson Uwaifo which looked into the Gestapo-like military tribunals of the Buhari era not only cleared them, but also declared Ekwueme not only innocent of corrupt charges but that he actually came out of government poorer than he went in! Till today, Buhari has not found it fit to apologise to these two gents for the miscarriage of justice of his military days. Instead, the now famous “body language” of the “new sheriff in town” shows he would do it all over again.

The truth of the Shagari/Ekwueme matter is that they were the only former leaders who came out of their tenures as president and vice president without buying up blue-chip companies, oil wells and becoming fabulously rich after public office at the presidential level. In my ardent wait to see Buhari’s declared assets, I was anxious to decide if he fitted into this Shagari-Ekwueme mold given the contrary indications we often get to sow seeds of doubt about him. As my president and leader, I want to be able to know just how far I can rely on Buhari’s brand reputation, always bearing in mind, however, that no man on this mortal plane is without his own fair share of blemish.

Coming further to the just-concluded presidential campaigns, we were also treated to another round of Brand Buhari’s alleged impecuniosity in spite of the juicy high public offices he has occupied in the past. This helped in buying over a lot of young people, especially the change-demanding electorate to Buhari’s side during the campaigns. Buhari’s campaign team “leaked” a story saying the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had to borrow the N20 million for the purchase of his presidential nomination from a bank. His campaign team also adopted the Barrack Obama strategy and sent out a request for Buhari’s supporters to contribute to his campaign fund.

I am not sure if the team has rendered an account of how much was realised from that effort as Obama did, and what has happened to the left-over, if any, as former President Yar’ Adua did when he made public his assets declaration in July 2007.

With this consistent branding over the years, Buhari’s pledge to fight corruption sounded credible, and even the main opposition, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has committed to supporting his anti-graft war.

On Monday, we will turn the other side of the coin because every coin has two sides: the obverse and the reverse sides. I will tell you the story of Diogenes the ancient Greek philosopher. We will see where President Buhari and Diogenes meet and where they part ways. Make it a date.