enigma_otr: I'll vote for if Buhari is the man. I don't care if the man is old, or a northerner, i'll vote for him. I even want to see a person from another party being the president. Even if it is for a minute, buhari will rule this country once again.

naptu2: I still think that the best strategy for the APC is to do what Obasanjo did. They shouldn't reveal their cards too soon, but rather they should wait until late 2014 to reveal the identity of their candidate.

Whoever is selected should expect to come under awesome pressure from the incumbent.

yeboyes:

[size=15pt]I actually disagree with both of you. APC will stand a better chance if they bring entirely new faces,people with no baggage.The best for the APC is to go and Hausa /Igbo candidate WHO WILL PERFORM or Yoruba /Igbo set of candidates.[/size]

U make me laugh. So u think new faces with no baggage will win elections in Nigeria of today.
We are talking of defeating the killer party, its no kids play young man.

Goddex: Buhari without Idiagbon is like a car without engine. Buhari was a figure head president. He is a woman and very clueless. He does not have an idea of how to move this country forward. That he is popular among the uneducated Almajiris in the north is a non issue. Jonathan will beat him hands down in 2015, sorry to all of you haters.

A 73yr old that admitted he could not operate a simple computer system in 2011. He will cry again.q

2 million: ...ehmmm...all this Buhari this, Buhari that you guys are writing all over the thread, what did he achieve when he was military president?

Prof Corruption: The news is false. It's just a speculative item echoing popular sentiment and hoping to get some feedback. Tribune is the propaganda mouthpiece of PDP in SW.

Anyway, Buhari's popularity in the North is unshakable. He won convincingly in Core North in 2011 and the incumbent president has not been able to break into such regions. With the poor handling of Boko Haram issue, GEJ chances of even picking 25% in those core northern states are quite poor.

Two, the sentiments that drove electorate to vote GEJ-let's help minority, let's reward Niger Delta, Let's vote a PhD into office, Let's this man bring good luck, let's vote a humble man-are no longer present. Such perceptions are now replaced with that of corrupt, clueless, incompetent and unfortunately tribal leader. Sentiments are no longer in his favor. His performance is beyond failure, he's simply a non-starter.
P
The political configuration has also changed with ACN's dominance in the West becoming more and more unshakable relative to pre-2011 permutations. Even the East though still pro-GEJ is not as solid relative to 2011. A good vice presidential candidate who is popular in the South is now what is needed to make such ticket more meaningful. With southern sitting governors, political heavy weights following Buhari to campaign in the South and deploying resources to that end, the results ll certainly be different this time. The electoral liability of a man who has contested three times is not high. There's nothing new to use against Buhari that perhaps has not been heard before.

Will the ticket and by extension the candidates solve our problems? It's too early to tell. Cabinet composition and a number of other factors can give a pointer to that end. The opposition is now closer to Aso Rock more than ever before.

PS
A political party is more interested in who can win elections than who can perform in office. I would have preferred a Fasola/Oshiomole ticket but such can not win election in Nigeria. The best bet to electoral victory is Buhari with a popular candidate in the South.






Ur name explains ur mindset. Let Buhari win on nairaland. Becareful what u wish for or u might get it. Don't analyse too much. 2015 is around the corner.

Toktee: Wake up man,Robert mugabi iz older than buhari,italian prime minister iz older than buhari,indian prime minister iz older than buhari,how old was mandela wen he became s/african president;wakeup bro we need a leader that iz capable of redirecting the ship of thiz great country toward the promised land,the picture is there for you to see what a young man has done to thiz country,he promised minimun wage but paid it with subsidy removal,promised to fight corruption but grant pardon to looters etc......................church tins on my mind,later pls

Symphony007: That means buhari is not a man of his words, all those crocodile tears and promise that if he lost 2011, he'll never run again was all an act. Shamefull!!

truth4meal: Insincerity on what we truly want is a major in Nigeria. Is the problem of Nigeria caused by age of our leaders? NO! Is the challenges of our economy a result of an absence in technocrats? NO! Is the problem facing us as a nation and our inability to move forward a direct product of sentiments? YES! Why can't will just for once be reasonable - if age is the magic why then is a young and educated GEJ performing so horribly? Or why is Dimeji Bankole and the rest "youths" embroiled in massive corruption? Any reasonable person who is still thinking freely and not with a bought conscience will attest to the popularity of Buhari and the sincerity of the man's quest for a positive change. When we reason in terms of how old a man is and where he is from rather than the ability to perform then we are indeed our problem. Politics is a game of popularity and numbers - only Buhari can within d frame of two years be sellable cos pushing a new relatively unknwn individual as a presidential candidate is a suicide. Age has nothing to do with performance in govt and history has a lot of examples. What we need is progress - sincere transformation and "total" freedom from the bondage of PDP. Our problem is not about age, sex, tribe, place of birth and other trivia tinz - our problem is corruption, greed, insincerity, mismanagement and PDP!!! Buhari is the man! After him a young an vibrant Nigerian can emerge but not now - to clear the rot in this nation atm is not a child's play...Sai Buhari!!!

lovejo:

Justify reason why he should be Buhari/ Fashola, i'm not saying AC/APC have muslims agenda, but they have not promote any christian to a specific position in case of time like this. Ekiti is predominant muslim state and that is why Fayemi is a christian cos no muslim candidate to use and they have Ngige, but i don't think he can put enough weight cos I would have prefer Fashola/Ngige ticket, but since a northerner should be the presidential aspirant, I would be waiting for the ticket from APC.

truth4meal: And to all you singers of young president - how many of you voted ur young comrades who contested for the presidency in other political parties to serve as a form of encouragement and also as a testimony of your sincere want for a young president. How many of you belong to a political party or are u dreaming someone will one day knock your door to offer you the candidature of a party? See we should cover our face in shame that the only tin veritable against Buhari is his age and religion - and not that he is corrupt and insensitive to the plight of the masses. Because Buhari is old I should then vote a clueless GEJ cos he is young? Because Buhari is a northern I should then vote the corrupt GEJ cos he is from the south? So because Buhari is muslim I should vote the visionless GEJ cos he is a "christian"? We need to start thinking and acting like people that sincerely want a positive change. It should be progress over sentiments not the other way round...transforming Nigeria atm is not a child's play I beg to repeat! Sai Buhari!!!

Eko Ile:



Fashola the governor of lagos state is a Muslim, but his wife is catholic

Gej is a Christian and he wears his faith on his shoulder, he knelt.down before fake apostles of God, but all that translated into what exactly as credible achievement?

Religion is not going to give you constant electricity and.good infrastructures

slimghost:

What can't it be Fashola/Buhari or Fashola/Ribadu? Huh? Or the yorubas dare not move ahead of their masters? Well am so so happy APC presented Buhari. 2015 is almost here.

musiwa25: it is not possible for a Fashola/Buhari or Fashola/Ribadu ticket.. because they are both muslim.

Eko Ile:


Ignorance......

Eko Ile:

Maybe because Yoruba people are realistic people and they don't have inferiority complex...

slimghost:

If you lot are realistic, you would have known that Fashola is far more competent than Buhari. If APC is truly a party of progressives with the interest of Nigeria at heart, they would have nominated Fashola and asked Buhari to help him get block votes from the North. Now am not saying that Fashola will defeat GEJ in a presidential election, but he will definitely be a stronger opponent than Buhari. Didn't yall get the memo? Buhari is a born loser! Nigerians (at least SS,SE,MB and part of SW) don't want him

Rhino.5dm:
What is progressive in choosing a 70 something years old man? The proponent of this merger party are indeed sick, bereft of any progressive tendencies if Buhari is their candidate. Even my dog knows that Buhari is an expired product, who cannot win election in Nigeria of today.

I can safely conclude that PDP and by extension Jonathan(sic) is going to remain in Aso Rock come 2015. indeed this is another political blunder and harakiri by the oppositions. So they'll print posters with Buhari for president in 2015? smh!

cogitoErgo: Buhari = absolute failure, and more power to PDP!

aletheia:
. . .A week, they say is a long time in politics, but several worrying signs do indicate that the proposed merger will fail to dislodge the PDP and its almost inevitable collapse will end up making PDP even more dominant.

1. The ACN/CPC alliance must show that it presents a clear change from the ruling PDP. Unfortunately it has not done so. Instead it proposes to lure several governors and house of rep members from the PDP and there are moves afoot to get Tambuwal to run for President under its banner. If this materializes it would be a Dilemma with voters asked to choose between PDP-old and PDP-new. Certainly a fair number will decide "the devil you know..."

2. That ACN/CPC is trying to attract a number of PDP bigwigs into their party is an admission that they realize that as things currently stand they cannot defeat PDP except they can find a way to factionalize and weaken the party. This is exactly the scenario that played out in the Ogun state gubernatorial election where the combined votes of the 2 PDP factions far outweighed that of the ACN. It is doubtful if this strategy can be replicated at the National level.

3. Despite all the noise about the proposed merger, we must bear in mind that it has not materialized. The legal requirements for party mergers are quite stringent. Each party must hold a special convention wherein delegates vote to adopt the new party by name. Unfortunately for the APC/CPC alliance the PDP has successfully outmanouevred them in this regard. Expect the APC acronym to be tied up in court litigation for the better part of the year. This is a distraction that the new alliance can ill-afford. By the requirements of the law, if the merging parties choose another name, they are required to hold special conventions to ratify that new name, thus it becomes an easy matter for the PDP to preempt APC/CPC by registering other parties with acronyms similar to any chosen and then heading to court when INEC refuses to register them. I have it on good authority that the ACN/CPC know this and hope to mobilize public opinion as a counterweight to the PDP's shenanigans.

4. Managing General Buhari's ambitions. Already, the esteemed General has indicated his interest in contesting the 2015 elections; and therein lies the bind. He is both an asset and a liability. He is an asset in that in the last elections, he commanded 11+ million votes, mostly in the NW and NE, but he is also a polarizing figure. If he is the candidate of the APC/CPC alliance, then they will lose the election for the demographic fundamentals have not really changed. In the last election, Goodluck Jonathan had 22+ million votes, twice as much as General Buhari. A Buhari candidacy is not going to shave off 5 million votes from Jonathan.

5. The lessons of the last election have not be learned by the opposition. Nigeria runs a presidential style democracy modelled after the USA and in many respects it mirrors that of the USA, even down to the drop in mid-term approval ratings. Presidential elections are won and lost on a state by state basis not on a regional basis. Thus the "battleground states" will be in the SW. The mistake being made again by the opposition is that they approach the presidential elections as if it was Parliamentary elections of the 1st Republic. The PDP understands this very well and thus knows that it can afford to come in second in the Presidential elections in all of the SW, NW and NE and still win the Presidential elections at the National level. All it needs is to just not lose badly in the aforementioned regions. And this brings us back to point #2 above: the best way to defeat the PDP is to divide it. How to do so while offering a clear alternative?