TheCable

It came as a bombshell: “Buhari never promised he was going to do anything in 100 days, that’s the honest truth.”

It would have been dismissed with a wave of the hand had it not come from Lai Mohammed, the official mouthpiece of President Muhammadu Buhari’s All progressives Congress (APC).

In his argument, Mohammed claimed that when running a campaign, “all kinds of literature will emerge with all sorts of volunteer groups”, so it is his belief that only two documents matter: the constitution of the party, and the manifesto.

“Those are the only two documents that are registered with INEC you can go to court on or hold a party accountable for,” he added.

So, the argument is raging: Have the people been deceived? Did Buhari actually release a list of promises to be fulfilled in his first 100 days in office?

NO, HE NEVER DID

Lai: Says Buhari “never promised anything” in 100 days

Despite all the noise that Buhari’s perceived withdrawal from his promises has generated, there are three solid reasons to believe he cannot be held responsible for his ‘100 days covenant with Nigerians’. One is that Lai Mohammed denied it. The second is that Garba Shehu, the president’s senior special assistant on media and publicity, denied it. The third is that this denial was echoed by Femi Adesina, his special adviser on media and publicity. If there is a fourth reason, it has to be that John Oyegun, APC’s national chairman, has denied it as well!

YES, HE DID

Rally for Buhari in Osogbo

NO OVERSIGHT: In the lead-up to the presidential election, there were lots of media publications and public perceptions that either Buhari or the APC itself was forced to deny. Buhari was accused of harbouring so many dangerous plans: nursing a northern agenda, planning to rule with military-style iron fist, scheming to Islamise Nigeria, jailing Nigerians unceremoniously as he allegedly did in the past. From press statements, to local and international media interviews, to campaign ground speeches, Buhari and APC addressed lots of concern capable of obstructing their victory at the polls. At no time they make an attempt to disclaim his ‘covenant’ with Nigerians, which was to be fulfilled after 100 days. A denial, at this time, may have suited the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whose media team was largely deemed static and reactive. But APC’s media machinery was so robust, fast-moving and intuitive that it could never have missed a document as important as a list of its candidates 100-day promise.

FAMILIAR THEMES: The items on the ‘covenant’ are consistent with everything Buhari and the APC said at campaign grounds. Buhari’s most important campaign promise was to fight corruption. In that ‘covenant’, it is written thus: “Personal leadership in the war against corruption.”

At campaign grounds, he typically gloried in his background as a retired military officer and on that evidence, he promised to end insurgency in the north-east. In the document that APC is now disowning, this is how it is stated: “I have had the rare privilege of serving my country in the military in various capacities and rose to become a Major General and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. I defended the territorial integrity of our nation. I pledge to: As Commander-in-Chief, lead from the front and not behind in the comfort and security of Aso Rock to boost the morale of fighting forces and the generality of all Nigerians. Give especial attention to the welfare of our armed forces and their families; lost heroes and their families and the victims of insurgency.”

Buhari always promised to reduce wastefulness in governance and reduce the political class’s huge consumption of the nation’s wealth. A part of this covenant reads: “All political officer holders earn only the salaries and emoluments determined and approved by the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission RMFAC.” Incidentally, this is one promise he is on the brink fulfilling.

Buhari speaking at the presidential campaign rally in Edo state

FAMILIAR DENIAL: The latest denial is just one of APC’s new denial game. It was public knowledge, before the election, that Buhari would publicly declare his assets if he won. As a matter fact, assets declaration was the first item on the promises made in the ‘covenant’.

“I pledge to: Publicly declare my assets and liabilities. Encourage all my appointees to publicly declare their assets and liabilities as a pre-condition for appointment,” read the opening lines of the document.

Buhari did declare his assets to the Code of Conduct Bureau; but after public criticism that the declaration was not made public, the president’s spokesmen claimed that the promise of “public” assets declaration was never made.

At the time of making the denial, they surely had forgotten that Garba issued a statement earlier, saying: “By declaring their assets, President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo may have not only fulfilled the requirements of the Nigerian Constitution, but also fulfilled the first of their many campaign promises. While seeking election into the highest office in the land, the President had promised Nigerians that he would publicly declare his assets as soon as he took over government…”

As the assets declaration saga has proven, this latest denial of Buhari’s 100-day promise is all too familiar and has all the markings of a game capable of self-reinvention all through the current presidential regime.