Fir’aun (Pharaoh), Haman, and Qarun (Korah) are the three most terribly corrupt and tyrannical people during the lifetime of Prophet Musa (Moses[AS]). Their tyrannies are classical. An Islamic cleric in Zaria Kaduna State recently likened Buhari and Tinubu to Pharaoh and Haman. Lamenting on the prevailing terrible situation in the country, Sheikh Auwal Sheriff asserted—in a cocksure manner—that in terms of inflicting hardship on the masses, description of Buhari and Tinubu perfectly dovetails with Pharaoh and Haman. Could this be just an emotional outburst out of sympathy for the masses? Indeed Nigerians are not warming up for hell; we are literally in Tinubu’s hell. My prayer is that we should not end up in the eternal Hell in the life after death. Because in this present hellish condition, many will most likely fall into grievous sins just to get some morsels pass through their mouths to their stomachs. Suicide rate is already on the rise. We know what leads to it. We also know that it is ranked among the major sins in religious literature.
But before I discuss the ugly comparison made by this cleric and for which he was invited and reportedly grilled by the Nigerian Secret Police, DSS, let me ask a question. Is “paradise” or hope of “paradise” possible under President Tinubu? Yes, but… He needs to be selfless, frugal, and deny himself comfort to a fault. He needs to be patriotic, transparent, sympathetic, and empathetic to a fault. He needs to be prayerful and Godly—also to a fault. He needs to surround himself with competent, trustworthy, and righteous people who have incurable hatred for corruption. (they could but mustn’t be the “Lagos boys.” Abuja no be Lagos, na Nigerian Capital). Only with this, in my opinion, shall he make any headway. The previous APC regime to which Tinubu was a national leader—and from which he cannot exonerate himself—has destroyed the country beyond comprehension. APC under Buhari completely removed the bar of governance. Tinubu inherited nothing but liabilities—ironically from himself (being part and parcel of Buhari regime).
Back to the ugly comparison. This is not the first time Buhari would be compared to Pharaoh. The first time I heard of such comparison was about four years ago. It was one old Hausa man who should be in the same age bracket with Buhari. In a viral video then, the man lamented he had never benefitted anything from Buhari. He was Buhari’s fan like many of us before he became president and mess things up. He took his condemnation of Buhari to an unbelievable level when he swore by Almighty God that Pharaoh is way better and nicer than Buhari. This is shocking! Asked if there is anything he had benefitted from Pharaoh to rate him over Buhari, the old man answered in the affirmative. How? He said; “I benefitted of course. I read Pharaoh’s stories and Allah rewarded me but if I were to read any story of Buhari…”
What the old man was saying, being a Muslim, is that he read the stories of Pharaoh scattered all over the Qur’an and he was rewarded by Allah since reading the Qur’an is rewarding. That is true. The man does not look like a learned person but I learnt from him something I never thought of. I never knew that Pharaoh, though extremely callous and corrupt, could be a source of reward. Or should I say I know but I did not know that I know until this man enlightened me to know that I know? I am certainly not alone on this.
Reading the story of Buhari is obviously not rewarding. When this old man was educating us on the uselessness of Buhari, at least to him, we were not aware that some people were already compiling some books to praise Buhari. We later learnt that some books were written purposely to re-package Buhari, or to use their words, “to show the human side of Buhari that was never known.” What many of us know is the Pharaonic side. Anyway, that is the beauty of democracy—freedom to like or dislike and freedom to express how you feel. While many think Buhari is a Pharaoh, if not the Pharaoh, some are convinced he is an angel. In fact Mr. Femi Adesina stopped going to church because his pastor criticized Buhari. In summary, according to this old man, and I agree with him, reading about Pharaoh is rewarding—if it is from the Qur’an—but reading a million books on Buhari is not rewarding. To that extent, Pharaoh is better.
This old man is not alone. A learned sheikh recently echoed the same sentiment. This is serious! Let’s start by asking: who is Pharaoh? To quote one of his many descriptions in the Qur’an: “Verily, Fir’aun (Pharaoh) exalted himself in the land and made its people sections, oppressing a group among them, killing their sons, and letting their females live, verily he was of the mufsidun (i.e. those who commit great sins and crimes, oppressors, tyrants, etc.)”. (Q 28: 4). Let’s replace Pharaoh with Buhari in the verse above. How does it sound? Does the reading flow? Do you have problem reading the verse when Pharaoh was substituted with Buhari? Sheikh Auwal Sheriff from Zaria definitely did not have any problem. But I have some problems.
Pharaoh only killed the sons of those he oppressed. Bad governance (or if you like oppression) under Buhari was gender and age blind. Under Buhari, bandits and kidnappers kidnapped, tortured, and killed the young and the old, men and women, rich and poor; no one was spared. On this, Pharaoh was kinder. Another great difference between the duo: Pharaoh actually instructed the slaughtering of the oppressed sons, Buhari as far as I know did not directly instruct bandits to kill, to rape, to kidnap, and to create general atmosphere of insecurity. Certainly, his government was terribly bad such that it facilitated all that. On this, Buhari is not as worse as Pharaoh. Buhari, though likes unearned praise and is so self-important, to his credit, he never called himself god. Pharaoh, in an unambiguous term, said to his people: “I am your lord, most high.” (Q79: 24). On this, Buhari is far better.
Again, Pharaoh never believed in God as a submissive servant, Buhari claims he is a Muslim. Why he was so cold when he ruled, despite being a Muslim, is ironic. Perhaps those who know his human side would need to educate us. Pharaoh, as the Scripture tells us, ended badly and was drown in ocean as punishment. Buhari ended badly as a president but he is still alive. And certainly, no ocean in Daura. Not only that, he still has the opportunity to seek God’s and Nigerians’ forgiveness if he thinks there is a need for that. Therefore, those who said Buhari is like Pharaoh or worse than him did not absolutely get it right.
Generally speaking, I think Buhari is better. On some of the specifics which I addressed above, I have highlighted where Pharaoh is better. Now, did Buhari hand over power to Tinubu the way Pharaoh did to Haman as the cleric claims? This is not very clear. It is true that Pharaoh commissioned Haman to do the unthinkable. He instructed him thus: “O Haman, Kindle me a fire for [baking bricks of] clay, and then build me a lofty tower, that haply I may have a look at the god of Moses (Musa) although, behold, I am convinced that he is of those who [always] tells lies.” (Q 28: 38). Similarly, Buhari, as if he instructed Tinubu to do the unthinkable; “On the day of your swearing in, declare the removal of oil subsidy. Then continue punishing the masses from where I stopped. Make sure life becomes more unbearable for them and try hard to surpass me in starving them, if possible starve them to death.” As if to say that instruction must be obeyed, President Tinubu vowed to continue from where Buhari stopped.
In conclusion, President Tinubu can do away with Buhari. He needs not be like Haman. I wrote an article titled “Who is this Zulum and Why is he Different?” three years ago where I praised Governor Babagana Zulum and compared him to ‘Umar Ibn Khatab for his solicitousness and doggedness to serve the people of Borno State. Sadly, here is Buhari being compared to Pharaoh in his lifetime. People will always liken us to those whom they think we behave like. If President Tinubu chooses to be the Messiah who shall clean this mess, fine and good. May God help him. Then, attitudes of the suffering masses will change towards him. But for now, ebin pawa o!
Abdulkadir Salaudeen
salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com
