Vunderkind
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The doggedness of Nigeria's president-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, may have earned him a place in Aso Rock, but that is only the first step in a million-mile trek that will test even the young and energetic.
If anything, General Buhari's anxiety should be piqued with every chant of 'sai Buhari!' he hears, because that cry of solidarity can change in the blink of an eye, depending on how he plays his cards after May 29. General Muhammadu Buhari will be under a lot of pressure to deliver on his campaign promises as most Nigerians - including the ones who actually voted for him - are still skeptical about him.
One of the recurrent themes in the just-concluded election was the analogy of 'the devil and the deep blue sea,' alluding to a dearth of options that made Buhari even worth a consideration at the polls. The general school of thought is that Buhari emerged winner of the elections not because he was an excellent choice, but because incumbent president Jonathan was a depressingly underperforming leader.
A virtual stopwatch will be hanging over the 72-year old former dictator's head when he assumes office on May 29, and with each tale of mishap or omission, with each reportage of dismal news, Nigerians would question their choice. It is therefore up to the general to ensure that he executes immediately ground projects and communicates via a good PR team (hopefully, the APC's will be more reliable and actually professional than what President Jonathan had had to put up with.)
There are also five key questions General Muhammadu Buhari would have to answer to assuage the thirst of Nigerians:
ALISON MADUEKE
Nigerians would like to know, once and for all: was there actually $20 billion missing? If so, how do we prosecute and recover the stolen funds? This is a promising shot for the General to refresh his anti-corruption image with the tackling of such a sensational issue. Seeing as it is already international fodder - and the focus of Eurocentric conversation - if Buhari decisively tackles the $20 billion issue, he would have one more gold medal to hang on his wall.
Nigerians will expect to see General Buhari put Alision Madueke, the current Minister of Petroleum, through some strain, productive strain, the end result of which must be the giving up of one or two culprits (Nigerians have gotten quite blood-thirsty in recent times.)
JONATHAN'S (ALLEGED) SNIPERS
Who can forget the allegations made by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in his (in)famous letter to President Goodluck Jonathan? In the letter, the former president accused Goodluck Jonathan of 'growing' snipers to take down his political enemies.
While these allegations have been waved aside as largely preposterous, accountability must be the watchword all-round.
Post-elections, the APC has cried that its political allies and comrades are being picked off the map by special PDP assassins, and this forces the reopening of this particular issue. Obasanjo should be persuaded to shed more light into his accusation or, once and for all, clear President Jonathan's name.
BOKO HARAM
The Boko Haram situation is a leaky bucket and the sooner General Muhammadu Buhari goes about stopping it up, the better his standing with Nigerians. Some of the crucial questions he'd need to answer include: who is/are funding Boko Haram? How compromised is the army?
There remains the vague suspicion that the president-elect knows more about the insurgents than he is letting on so his approach to tackling the insurgency must be as transparent as possible. (Nigerians would like to know once and for all, if Abubakar Shekau is dead or alive.)
AMBITION
Perhaps the president-elect would decide to explain to Nigerians, once and for all, why it seemed so important, urgent even, for him to return to power. This has been one of the reason for national unease: that a man would contest and fail over and over again and - without breaking stride - continue to contest the elections.
'You would be silly to assume he's repeatedly contesting out of his patriotic love for this country,' a social commentator once said while Buhari was running for office. 'I fear what he might unleash when he's given the seat he's lusted for these 30 years.'
General Buhari would need to explain, in lucid terms, why he's been running for office with feverish, near-obsessive intensity.
SHARIA LAW
While the more intellectual political pundit would argue that it is essentially impossible for the president to pass a Sharia bill - considering the power of legislators - the ordinary man (who, incidentally, makes up the greater number of Nigerians) will need to hear it from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
Yes, General Muhammadu Buhari will need to explicitly promise not to Islamize Nigerians in their sleep.
Written by JUSTIN IRABOR
