The historic defeat of the ruling People’s Democratic Party after sixteen years in power alongside the incumbent President, Goodluck Jonathan by the All Progressives Congress in the 2015 general elections also ushered in two humble and simple Nigerian leaders who bore not just similar surname but exemplified similar character, courage and capacity in their respective personal and public lives.
One, late Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, who was elected the President of Nigeria after three unsuccessful shots at the highest seat in the land, while the other, Distinguished Senator Abdulfatai Omotayo Buhari, was voted in as a Senator representing the people of Oyo North Senatorial District – in an election that was both described as watershed and mind bending.
That moment of electing leaders who shared not just a similar surname or religion but leadership qualities caught many Nigerians by remarkable surprise. Of course, the Buhari Nigerians voted as President had ruled as a military head of state between 1983 and 1985, but had his regime toppled by another military junta led by General Ibrahim Babangida. The other Buhari, of course, had cut his teeth in the business of car dealership before venturing into active politics.
By comparison, the two Buharis, without any equivocation, shared a lot in common both in life and in leadership. For instance, both leaders, public and private, valued integrity, simplicity, humility, and authenticity. Take the late Muhammadu Buhari. He campaigned against the backdrop of systemic and institutionalized corruption that had deeply ingrained itself in the nation’s fabric. His handlers, in other words, painted him as a frugal, not flamboyant, firm, not faint-hearted leader whose integrity and honesty could help uproot and stamp out the unfathomable rot and administrative malfeasance that had undermined and stunted the growth and development of our country.
They marketed late Muhammadu Buhari as the ‘messiah’ Nigeria needed to reclaim and restore her lost glory among the comity of nations. Despite the many allegations of human right abuses that hanged around his neck as a former military dictator, Buhari, the former military head of state, was declared winner of that year’s election thus becoming Nigeria’s 15th head of state, and the second man after ex-President, Olusegun Obasanjo, to have ruled Nigeria both as a military putschist and as a democratically elected President.
In a similar vein, Senator Fatai Buhari’s exemplary simplicity, exceptional humility, and people-centered approach to life and leadership have all been instrumental to his repeated and consistent electoral fortunes, not just in 2015 but in subsequent and successive contests as well. For one thing, he is currently the most senior senator from the southwest in the 10th assembly.
That is in addition to becoming the first in the history of the Oyo North senatorial district to defeat all his opponents in a row. Perhaps, again, Senator Buhari is also the first senator in Oyo State to have his bill for the establishment of a federal institution assented to by the President of Nigeria. Warts and all, the Federal University of Agriculture and Technology, Okeho, stands tall as the hallmark of his legislative and leadership legacy.
Another similarity between the two Buharis was their decision to run for office in the 2003 general elections, four years after the return of democracy. For late Buhari, the coup that overthrew his government seems to have motivated his newfound love for democracy, having thwarted the late Shehu Shagari’s government in 1983. While Buhari, the former army general, emerged as the Presidential candidate of the APP and lost to the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Olusegun Obasanjo, Senator Buhari, the astute businessman, tried his luck under the PDP and was elected to represent the people of Ogbomoso North, South, and Orire Federal Constituency in the National Assembly. But that wasn’t the only time the two would step into the murky waters of national politics.
In 2007, Buhari, the former military head of state, dumped his former party, APP, for the defunct ANPP. For the future Senator Buhari, the change of his party was a result of internal sabotage by those who held the PDP by the jugular. While the Buhari of Katsina lost gallantly to anther Katsina born politician, late Umar Musa Yar’adua of the PDP, the Buhari of Ogbomoso was cleverly defeated by the political establishment led by the late Oyo State Governor, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala. Instead of calling it a day, late Muhammadu Buhari continued to test his luck with the creation for the defunct Congress for Progressive Change. Like his previous record at the poll, late Buhari was equally pummeled. In a sense, that persistent defeat forced the Daura born former President to tearfully announce an end to his political experiment on a national television.
However, in a surprising twist, that personal decision by late Buhari was upturned after the successful merger of the defunct ACN, CPC, ANPP, N-PDP, into APC — where he eventually became the party’s flag bearer. We learned more about the factors that influenced late Buhari’s behind decision to returned back to the political arena in 2015 through the powerfully delivered ‘Emilokan’ speech by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the buildup to the last general elections.
But unlike late Muhammadu Buhari who contested in four different election cycles but won only once, Distinguished Senator Buhari has a track record of winning elections with ease, with four victories out of five contests – making him a veteran political juggernaut in the state and beyond. He won his election for the House of Representatives in 2003 and became a senator in 2015, 2019 and 2023 representing Oyo North Senatorial District for a record, historic terms in office. In 2027, he has promised to eye the governorship seat of the state while another person take a shot at the red chamber. It is for this singular reason that lot of outright lies and outlandish invectives have been flying around purporting to muddied his ancestral lineage.
Anyone can win election by accident, or luck but no one can consistently deliver gob-smacking and record-breaking results in elections after elections by mere chance — or by pretending to be part of the people when he or she is clearly not. So, anyone trying to distort the genealogy of the ‘Omoluabi’ Senator should have a rethink — that kite did not fly when late Buhari was serially branded and labelled by the media as a fanatic who whose mission is to islamize Nigeria as the President — it will not fly now or in the future. For Senator Buhari is a master of political strategy, and his record of excellent performance, life changing empowerment, decency, maturity, presence, availability and accessibility are in the public for verification and confirmation.
This Buhari, the one that has shattered all myths in the political landscape of Oyo North senatorial district is not the one that can be pushed aside by cheap propaganda. As the Senator himself declared while expressing his interest in the next gubernatorial contest: I want the people of Oyo State to judge from a performance angle, not where I come from. That alone captured the mindset of the chairman of the Senate committee on aviation and aerospace development on his approach to leadership that is based on the people and performance
OYO101 is Muftau Gbadegesin’s opinion about issues affecting the Oyo state and is published every Saturday. He can be reached via @Upliftnuggets on X, muftaugbadegesin@gmail.com, and 09065176850.
