By Emmanuel Chigozie Osuchukwu
The die is cast. The
much awaited 2015 watershed elections is upon us. Many critics have predicted
that Nigeria’s future hinges on the 2015 Presidential election and whether
Nigeria survives as a nation depends on the outcome of the forthcoming
elections. True or false, the elections are taking place at the time of
Nigeria’s most trying period. The country is arguably more divided and under
threat than any time in its history. In 1966-1970, Nigeria faced a singular
threat of secession by Eastern region and all the other regions rightly or
wrongly joined hands and clobbered the East to submission. Today Nigeria is a
nation at war with itself and faced with multi faceted threats. Whoever wins
will not have an easy task in reconciling an obviously fractured nation. Who is
best placed to undertake this onerous task is the supreme responsibility of
Nigerian voters to judge.
The options are clearly
defined. In May 2015 Nigeria will swear in either Dr Goodluck Jonathan of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd) of All
Progressive Congress (APC) as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I will state categorically that faced with the choice of embracing the devil
behind or jumping into the deep sea in front I will prefer the one that will
not consume me instantly. Hopefully, I can negotiate with the devil behind and
live to fight another day. As a non swimmer I would be dead instantly. Buhari
represents the deep sea as a non swimmer and I will state my case. Dr Jonathan
is the most uninspiring and frustrating leader but he represents something
hopeful for Nigeria and I can take a chance with him, hopefully to make a more
decent choice in 2019. That hope on Goodluck Jonathan has been reinforced by
the fact that both Retired Generals Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo are
now flirting with Buhari, their erstwhile colleague in revisionism. Buhari represents the repugnant and sinister side
of Nigerian politics and APC by implication stands severely compromised.
Who is this man
Buhari? Buhari is a 73 year old retired General. He was actually not retired
but booted out of the Army by his colleagues who assessed him as being too
dangerous to rule a complex multi ethnic nation like Nigeria. His antecedents
prior to assuming office in 1983 as Head of State and Commander in Chief of
Nigerian Armed forces is unremarkable except he is inextricably implicated in
the horrendous events of the counter coup of 1966. Men and officers of Eastern
Nigerian origin were liquidated in great numbers in particularly Abeokuta and
Ibadan. Buhari was based at Abeokuta where the greatest damage was done. He has
not explained his role on those bloody 3 days and his defence that he was just a
junior officer does not hold water. The significance of this is that Nigeria;
45 years after the ensuing civil war should discard anyone who played any role
in the darkest days of its history. Buhari in any case rose in the military and
again in 1983 played the most destructive role in Nigeria’s political growth.
He rolled out the tanks in 1983 and overthrew the elected government of Shehu
Shagari and as such truncated Nigeria’s democratic growth. Buhari’s leadership
maintains the record as Nigeria’s most despotic and insensitive government
ever. The only government so far that the Head of state and his deputy hailed
from the North and both were Muslims. He passed laws reminiscent of the dark
ages. When his colleagues got frightened they quickly disposed of him. General
Ibrahim Babangida who deposed and replaced him as Head of State had this to say
of him in 1985:
"Let me at this point attempt to make you understand the
premise upon which it became necessary to change the leadership. The principles
of discussions, consultation and co-operation which should have guided decision-making process of
the Supreme Military Council and the
Federal Executive Council were disregarded soon after the government
settled down in 1984.
settled down in 1984.
Where some of us thought it appropriate to give a little more
time, anticipating a conducive atmosphere that would develop, in which affairs
of state could be attended to with greater sense of responsibility, it became
increasingly clear that such expectations could not be fulfilled. Regrettably,
it turned out that Major-General Muhammadu Buhari was too rigid and
uncompromising in his attitudes to issues of national significance. Efforts to
make him understand that a diverse polity like Nigeria required recognition and
appreciation of differences in both cultural and individual perceptions, only
served to aggravate these attitudes."
Again I will quote
people close to Buhari and on better authority to characterise him. Nasir
EL-Rufai on Muhammadu Buhari in 2010 had this to say:
"Against all canons of legal decency,
he Buhari used retroactive laws to execute
three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history. The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day."
three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history. The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day."
Mallam El-Rufai went on ‘’to remind General Buhari that he has
remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state,
and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His
insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already
well-known."
During the recent 2014 APC
presidential primaries, Atiku had this
to say of Buhari:
“I believe that the next president of our country, who by the grace of God will be
produced by our great party, must be someone who is a unifier, bridge-builder and not someone who bears ethno-religious bias. Above all, he must embody a vision of a Nigeria for all.”
“I believe that the next president of our country, who by the grace of God will be
produced by our great party, must be someone who is a unifier, bridge-builder and not someone who bears ethno-religious bias. Above all, he must embody a vision of a Nigeria for all.”
Reacting to Buhari’s quest to rule Nigeria, Sheik Gumi,
the respected and sometimes controversial Islamic cleric cautioned him to
withdraw his ambition to rule Nigeria again. He amongst many reasons expressed
the view that Buhari has become too controversial and divisive that a nation
hanging on the precipice could not afford to be led by a man with his
reputation. He added a very interesting angle to his advice. He said that
Buhari has often been sold as an incorruptible man who would fight corruption
single handedly. Sheik Gumi had a different opinion. He said that Nigeria’s current problem is
beyond fighting corruption and there are more critical issues than the agenda
of a single minded crusader. I agree with him because Buhari has failed to
appreciate that majority of the people in public office are thieves and he
would have a very limited success in dealing with them in a civil democratic
setting. We need to survive as a nation before we talk of fighting corruption. New
generation of people, new ideas and new ways of doing things is what Nigeria
needs.
Buhari has stayed very long in public life for us to know
him very well. His record in office and his public utterances are enough for us
to know him as a stubborn, single minded dictator with extremist views. Buhari
has not hidden his strong closeness to his religious and regional base. His record
including very provocative utterances indicate a man with little consideration
for views or interests of people who do not share his world view.
Unfortunately, extremist leaders have a way of commanding a cult following by
people who see things from same narrow prisms. This is the concern about
Buhari’s candidature. His mob would like to convince us that a good man has
been denied a chance to rule Nigeria. They will forget that he has had his
chance and thrown out by his contemporaries as being highly unsuitable and
dangerous. He has since then tried on three different elections and rejected by
Nigerians as unsuitable. In 2011his rejection sparked off one of Nigeria’s
ugliest election mayhem. Only a diehard and unpatriotic egomaniac, knowing the
implications of his likely failure will subject his country to another possible
conflagration.
All Progressive Congress
(APC), Buhari’s political party is a party of several contradictions and
unworthy of being taken seriously. Political parties are defined and
identifiable through their leaders and what the leaders profess. Progressive in
Nigerian political parlance indicates a liberal and modernist leaning. What a
contradiction that APC is being led to the polls by a confirmed ultra
conservative and religious bigot. There is nothing in Buhari’s DNA that
indicates that he would accept any ideology that is contrary to his well known
position. So what is APC? Buhari has been looking for a political platform to
fulfill his burning ambition to rule Nigeria. He commands a cult following
among a section of predominantly Northern Nigerians who see him as the champion
of whatever fringe interests they believe in. These views are obviously not
shared by majority of Nigerians. It has dawned on Buhari and his followers that
their narrow geo-political and religious base places serious limitations on
their efforts to rule Nigeria. The South-East and South-South geo-political
zones are impregnable fortresses of PDP. The most likely ally remaining was the
maverick Bola Tinubu with a sizeable control of South West politics. Bola
Tinubu, a street wise political businessman in a somersaulting move in 2011
elections delivered his support to Goodluck Jonathan to win the elections.
Buhari has now engaged in a marriage of convenience with Bola Tinubu hoping to
mobilize the South West votes in his favour. APC is simply a platform of
convenience that will disintegrate if the primary objective of winning the
federal seat of power fails. Buhari is not a party man and will never be
amenable to party control. Since his adventure into civil politics he has never
served any period of political tutelage to understand the nuances of democratic
practice. He has always built political vehicles to take him to his destination
and to disembark once the journey becomes unrealizable. The present APC
passengers are predominantly disgruntled PDP members who will return to their
original PDP home once the elections are over. APC has nothing to offer Nigeria
in terms of resolving its real issues.
PDP is a problematic political organization but it has
one feature in its favour. PDP is truly pan-Nigerian political machinery. All
the acceptable and non acceptable political leaders of Nigeria have conspired
to belong and run Nigeria from this behemoth called Peoples Democratic Party of
Nigeria. PDP leaders in Sokoto, Kaduna or Adamawa share the same interests as
the PDP leaders in Imo, Ondo or Bayelsa and they genuinely believe that they
have equal rights to share the spoils of political participation. Critical
issues of concern in Nigeria can only be safely discussed and managed in such pan
Nigerian settings, hopefully when the current set of politicians have been
weaned off. Nigerians must ensure that it is not done under the political
contrivance of two mavericks like Buhari and Tinubu.
(Emmanuel
Chigozie Osuchukwu is a London based writer. He can be reached on emmanuelosu@hotmail.com
or tel. +447880600236)
Thanks for reminding those who has forgotten , Infact Nigerians should think better than playing with their lives. from Sunny boy ,
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