The worst thing that can happen to Northern presidential aspirations in 2015 is for Buhari to be on the APC ballot.

On Friday, 23rd August, 1985, the military government of Major-General Mohammadu Buhari decided to place me under arrest. My crime was that I wrote, among others, an article entitled: “Counter-trading Nigeria’s Future” in the National Concord, exposing the government’s scam of diverting public funds into private coffers through barter-trade with Brazil. A man by the name of Benson Norman was sent from the State Security Services (SSS) to my office to get me. Not finding me, he left a note that I must present myself unfailingly at the SSS office at 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi Lagos the next Monday morning.

However, on Sunday, 25th August, 1985, Lateef Aminu came first thing in the morning to my house to inform me that the government of Buhari/Idiagbon had been overthrown. For this reason, I am fond of telling people that God brought about a change of government in Nigeria just because of me.

Coup-plotter

Under the Buhari/Idiagbon regime, once you ended up at 15 Awolowo Road, you may never be heard of again. Decree Number 2 of 1984 empowered Tunde Idiagbon to arrest and detain anybody indefinitely without trial and without legal reprieve. After Buhari was overthrown, Mohammadu Gambo opened the prison doors of 15 Awolowo Road on public television, revealing people in various stages of UnCloth and malnutrition that had been kept in the dungeons without trial by Buhari’s hound-dogs.

As self-imposed Head of State, Buhari had no regard for human rights. Immediately he seized power, he announced that he would “tamper with” the press. Soon, the infamous Decree Number 4 was promulgated which made even the publication of the truth a punishable offence. Under this cover, Buhari jailed innocent journalists, including Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabo. He abolished civil liberties, promulgated retroactive decrees enabling him to kill Nigerians through jungle justice, proscribed civil society organizations and professional groups and exercised “absolute” power.

This same Buhari would now have us believe that he has gone through some metamorphosis and has become a democrat. I am sure you will forgive me if people like me don’t believe him. Buhari is not, has never been, and will never be, a democrat. Only in Nigeria would a man with his track record, who came to power through a military coup that illegally overthrew a democratic government, now be acclaimed as a democrat. It is on record that Buhari’s military regime is the only one in Nigeria’s history that failed to promulgate a program for return to civilian rule.

Facts and fiction

So what exactly qualifies Bihari as a democrat today? Precious little! There is nothing democratic about forming and joining political parties just in order to be the presidential candidate. Little wonder then that Buhari’s parties have a short shelf-life. Buhari would like to be Nigeria’s head of state once again. He can no longer achieve this through the barrel of a gun. The only route now open to him is through the democratic process. That is the reason why he now conveniently fashions himself as a democrat. It is merely a means to an end; no more, no less.

Buhari’s reputation as an anti-corruption crusader is also a myth. As head of state, he did not make any dent in Nigerian corruption. All we got was a cosmetic “war against indiscipline.” The counter-trade scam happened under his watch. Rather than deal with it, he sent his hound-dogs after nonentities like me who dared to expose it. That scam was no different, in scope and scale, from the petroleum subsidy and other corruption scandals that have since plagued Nigeria. The Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) that Buhari headed under Abacha was also a citadel of corruption. While Buhari himself might not have enriched himself, his cronies and those who worked under him did so handsomely.

On three different occasions, Buhari has run for the presidency. On three different occasions he has failed. That should really be enough. If, as seems likely, he were to run for the presidency a fourth time in 2015, there is no question that he would fail yet again. Try as he might again and again, Mohammadu Buhari can never be President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Buhari’s sectarianism

There is a fundamental reason behind this. Buhari is a lousy politician. He is an unbending former military dictator and not a democratic consensus-builder. Like his new ally, Bola Tinubu, Buhari is a regional, sectional politician. Such politicians are practically impossible to package and market nationally in the ethnically-delicate Nigeria of today.

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir El’Rufai, one of those Northerners who deserve to be serious contenders for the presidency of Nigeria, observed that Buhari remains “perpetually unelectable” as a result of his “insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus.” This is an elegant way of saying that politically, Buhari has an uncanny tendency to put his foot in his mouth. He talks before thinking of the political implications of his words. He shoots from the hip.

The strength of Obasanjo, which enabled him to capture the presidency on two different occasions, was that he was perceived as a broadminded politician, not overly partial to his people in the South-West. As a matter of fact, in his first election, his people did not want him. The strength of Goodluck Jonathan, which propelled him to win the presidency, was that he was able to string together a coalition that stretched both north and south of the Niger. The weakness of Buhari is that he is totally unacceptable to people outside his region.

Buhari is a Northern regional champion. As head of state in the 1980’s, his government was unapologetically Northern. No attempt was made to balance the ticket at the top. It was the only regime in Nigeria’s history headed by two Northerners. When he seized power, Buhari put Shagari, the Northern head of state he overthrew, under house arrest. But then he jailed Alex Ekwueme, the Southern vice-president. You may well ask what makes Shagari less culpable for the misdeeds of the Second Republic than his number-two man. The simple fact was that Buhari was Fulani as was Shagari; but Ekwueme was Igbo.

Impolitic words

At the height of the Sharia debate during the Obasanjo administration, Buhari declared that Muslims should vote only for fellow Muslims. This was politically suicidal for a man seeking national office. He became an advocate for implementation of Sharia all over Nigeria. He protested to the Oyo State governor, in the context of a dispute between Fulani herdsmen and indigenous farmers in the state, that “your people are killing my people.” This turned out to be unfounded and perhaps the reverse.

His threats during the campaign for the 2011 elections incited widespread violence in the North after he lost. His supporters went on a rampage; looting and killing; in spite of the fact that, by all accounts, the elections were adjudged the most free and fair in the history of Nigeria’s current democratic experiment. By the time the mayhem had subsided, over 1000 people had been slaughtered in cold blood and some 65,000 displaced.

Forgetting that a statement made in Hausa would readily be translated into English, Buhari later declared unapologetically in a BBC interview: “If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.” These are the tokens of an irresponsible politician, whose ambitions for power supersede the national interest. Who then are the dogs and baboons that Buhari has in mind to soak in blood if and when he loses yet again come 2015? Are they his children or are they those of others?

With the Boko Haram insurgency in the north, Buhari played to the Northern gallery yet again, calling the Jonathan government “the biggest Boko Haram.” Wole Olaniyi was a fly in the wall at a meeting in Kano Government House designed to persuade PDP rebel governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to decamp to the APC. Assuming that only Northerners were present, Buhari declared the Boko Haram was a “strategic plan” by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to “destroy the North.” When Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, Buhari still saw this with Northern goggles, insinuating that the President is waging war on the North.

President of the North

Without a doubt, Buhari has massive support in the North. Indeed, he is the most popular Northern politician in the North today. But that precisely remains his undoing at the centre. The more he has been identified as a Northern champion, the less attractive he has become as a national choice. Even in the North, his support base is limited to the Muslim population. He does not appeal to Northern Christians. Then there is the added factor of the opposition of his implacable opponents among the Northern elite. Men like Babangida and Atiku would rather die than allow Buhari get to Aso Rock.

One thing is certain, the South-South and the South-East will not vote for Buhari in 2015. Not only that; there are no buyers for Buhari’s sectarian politics in the South-West. No matter what Tinubu might be telling him, the people of the South-West will not vote for Buhari in 2015. We already had the template in 2011, when Buhari tried to sell himself, first by balancing his ticket with a Yoruba man; and then by making sure the Yoruba man is a Christian; a pastor no less. But it just did not wash. It will not work in 2015.

The worst thing that can happen to Northern presidential aspirations in 2015 is for Buhari to be on the APC ballot. That is a sure guarantee that the North will not be providing the next president. Buhari would be a shoo-in in an election for president of Northern Nigeria. But in an election encompassing the entire country, the best he can envisage is to be a kingmaker. He cannot be king. The nearest Buhari will get to Aso Rock in 2015 is by attending the Council of State meetings.

Bro no need to write a long epistle for a known variable.

After all, Jonathan is clueless while Buhari is full of clue .......smh

Under the Buhari/Idiagbon regime, [size=15pt]once you ended up at 15 Awolowo Road, you may never be heard of again[/size]. Decree Number 2 of 1984 empowered Tunde Idiagbon to arrest and detain anybody indefinitely without trial and without legal reprieve. After Buhari was overthrown, Mohammadu Gambo opened the prison doors of 15 Awolowo Road on public television, revealing people in various stages of UnCloth and malnutrition that had been kept in the dungeons without trial by Buhari’s hound-dogs.

We will resist the above ever happening again. Buhari can never reintroduce the dreaded "decree 2" which stops citizens from criticizing their govt. Many don't know the prize of freedom, having enjoyed so much freedom under GEJ, we won't be cajoled into keeping quiet and not criticizing govts excesses.


P:S
The likes of saharareporters, nairaland etc would not be able to operate under a Buhari dictatorship, few people realize this.

wetin remain again? Buhari retire frm politics pls b4 u end up in prison! Dat man Hand no get any clean spot!

See them shitting on their pants because Buhari declared today. Choi!

U hv said it all

@activatenigeria I think you are over-flogging and begging the issue! We have seen this particular epistle once too many times, which goes to show that you the pro-GEJ's have nothing else to say against Buhari! PERIOD!!!

Before nko. Who will he preside over? Certainly not me and my state. May be the hungry paid bloggers by Tinubu. Not my region.

I hope we all know that this is a Democratic settings. No matter what Mr Aribisala has against GMB, I think we still need transition of government. Buhari can neva make decree in a Democratic setting, He will rather forward a bill which will be delibrated on by the legislators. So the Buhariphobia should stop.


WE NEED CHANGE!

Civory:
@activatenigeria I think you are over-flogging and begging the issue! We have seen this particular epistle once too many times, which goes to show that you the pro-GEJ's have nothing else to say against Buhari! PERIOD!!!

God bless you jare!

ola6:
Before nko. Who will he preside over? Certainly not me and my state. May be the hungry paid bloggers by Tinubu. Not my region.

we are made to believe that the entire SW is for buhari.is that true?
cos i see no reason any sane being will vote this man into power again

he can only visit aso rock but never as a residential quarters but just a mere visit.
it pains me when i see people blindly agitating for buhari who is one of d problem we are facing in this new era of nigeria.

This man so call Aribisagba is known with fabrication of lies. I wouldn't blame him because people like him seem to have discovered that reporting truth is not financially profitable and as a result, many of them quickly join wagon of fake journalism to Aso rock in Abuja like one of parrots in the villa. You see, when you look at the situation it is so easy to identify judas among us. They pretend to be in support of masses while they are waiting for opportunity to come. They go on air lambasting government in their temporary job and if their noise doesn't earn attraction the employ another method. You see some of them jumping from one party to another. Some of them call their father bad names just to secure contract with raining government. All your tactics are known to us and you have no place hiding.
I'm happy this man didn't point anywhere here where Buhari allotted country property to himself. He made mentioned of discipline as achievement of Buhari without mentioning number of refineries that was functioning. The rate at which criminals were been convicted was not achievement to Aribisagba. The drug barron that were arrested particularly big men of those period, some of them are still alive praying for Buhari not to emerge president again. Anyone who do not believe in his curse is a son of gold digger then or gold digger himself. Only thief and corrupt officials will never want Buhari as a president.

The rattle snake called Buhari can and would never rule this country again as far as Nigeria is still united.

We must all ensure that Buhari will sign an agreement to accept the outcome of next years election whether favourable or not.

My fear is just the aftermath if he losses.

May God protect us all from violence.

There's no lie in this write up. 2015 will shame all APC apologists. Atiku came and is gone, Buhari came and was gone, ACF & NEF came and went, G7 came but took to their heels, Sanusi came but got disgraced, Ameachi and Nyako are today dejected men, even Obasanjo shouted but is left grumbling, Elrufai speak s today in hushed tones, Tambuwal has long retreated to his shell, Kwankwaso is now playing the victim....yet none entities are still hoping against hope.
How I wish you guys understand politics in Nigeria.
Nothing is wrong with dreaming, only that it sometimes may result in suicidal inclinations.

tinkinjow:
There's no lie in this write up. 2015 will shame all APC apologists. Atiku came and is gone, Buhari came and was gone, ACF & NEF came and went, G7 came but took to their heels, Sanusi came but got disgraced, Ameachi and Nyako are today dejected men, even Obasanjo shouted but is left grumbling, Elrufai speak s today in hushed tones, Tambuwal has long retreated to his shell, Kwankwaso is now playing the victim....yet none entities are still hoping against hope.
How I wish you guys understand politics in Nigeria.
Nothing is wrong with dreaming, only that it sometimes may result in suicidal inclinations.

Correct post!

tinkinjow:
There's no lie in this write up. 2015 will shame all APC apologists. Atiku came and is gone, Buhari came and was gone, ACF & NEF came and went, G7 came but took to their heels, Sanusi came but got disgraced, Ameachi and Nyako are today dejected men, even Obasanjo shouted but is left grumbling, Elrufai speak s today in hushed tones, Tambuwal has long retreated to his shell, Kwankwaso is now playing the victim....yet none entities are still hoping against hope.
How I wish you guys understand politics in Nigeria.
Nothing is wrong with dreaming, only that it sometimes may result in suicidal inclinations.

Never has so much noise being made about so small a man.

It speaks to the moral and mental bankruptcy of the Janjaweedian Apeeshit that they have to rest all their electoral hopes on a washed up, failed dictator whose pretentions of fighting corruption (actually his only qualifications to the highest office in the land) has been shown to be hollow by the humongous sums of money that gets missing everywhere he is in charge. $2.8 billion at NNPC, 53 suitcases as head of state and billions of Naira as PTF head honcho.

I can bet my last claro that even BinMumuhari himself knows that he has a snowball's chance in hell of being the president.

tinkinjow:
There's no lie in this write up. 2015 will shame all APC apologists. Atiku came and is gone, Buhari came and was gone, ACF & NEF came and went, G7 came but took to their heels, Sanusi came but got disgraced, Ameachi and Nyako are today dejected men, even Obasanjo shouted but is left grumbling, Elrufai speak s today in hushed tones, Tambuwal has long retreated to his shell, Kwankwaso is now playing the victim....yet none entities are still hoping against hope.
How I wish you guys understand politics in Nigeria.
Nothing is wrong with dreaming, only that it sometimes may result in suicidal inclinations.

arrrggggggggggg aaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggggg diaris God oh!

There is no need saying this all over again we all know that buhari will failed woefully come 2015






He should stop dreaming of becoming the president of this country

On Friday, 23rd August, 1985, the military government of
Major-General Mohammadu Buhari decided to place me
under arrest. My crime was that I wrote, among others, an
article entitled: “Counter-trading Nigeria’s Future” in the
National Concord, exposing the government’s scam of diverting public funds into private coffers through barter- trade with Brazil. A man by the name of Benson Norman was sent from the State Security Services (SSS) to my office to get me.

If this coup-plotter could jail a citizen for simply "publishing an article exposing his corrupt acts," I cringe at the thoughts of what this dictator would do if he wins. For all we know, if any article unfavourable about him hit NL's frontpage, he'll order Seun's arrest.

"BUHARI MIGHT BE TOO OLD,OUT OF IDEAS,AND A FROMER DICTATOR BUT JONATHAN IS WEAK, CLUELESS AND ENCOURAGES CORRUPTION AND NEPOTISM.

MY POINT IS , WITHOUT JONATHAN AND BUHARI , IS IT THAT NO ONE ELSE CAN LEAD NIGERIA. WHAT A SHAME TO HAVE TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM , A VERY BIG SHAME TO NIGERIANS." we deserve what we get.

#FactsaAboutBuhari

reading this article was just a complete waste of my time. If the APC presents GMB as its candidate then believe me he will be president in 2015. it is madness to keep doing the same thing and be expecting different results. we have tried the PDP for 16 year and this is where we are. time for a change.

tijankabba:
reading this article was just a complete waste of my time. If the APC presents GMB as its candidate then believe me he will be president in 2015. it is madness to keep doing the same thing and be expecting different results. we have tried the PDP for 16 year and this is where we are. time for a change.

True na, contesting for presido and losing three consecutive times and still contesting again. but Buhari no go listen to you na. wetin you want make me do?