To be honest, I don’t know whether to
rejoice or sympathise with Gen. Buhari
anytime I read all the sweet comments
about him on social media — especially on
Twitter. I don’t know any presidential
candidate who has been so idolised in
recent times — which is an excellent
accolade any politician will gladly take. On
the one hand, it is good for him. He will not
be complaining at all. No politician will
complain about such good fortune,
especially with only a few weeks to an
election. On the other hand, my God! The
expectations are sky-high. Incredible. From
what I am reading, Buhari is expected to
perform nothing short of magic in Aso Rock
if he wins the presidential election.
I’ve been there before — as a reckless
enthusiast. I had similar expectations about
President Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. I
voted for him based on his past. But I was
totally disappointed less than six months
after he came to power. I had thought
Obasanjo was going to fight corruption as
he had solemnly threatened, only for him to
appoint Chief Tony Anenih as Minister of
Works. I thought Obasanjo was going to
build more refineries as he had promised
while reminding us of his exploits in his
previous life as head of state, but we
continued importing fuel till he left office. I
thought Obasanjo was going to address the
electricity problem but we were producing
megawatts of darkness throughout his
tenure.
Buhari’s growing popularity, particularly on
the social media, scares me at times. In an
attempt to market him, some chaps have
gone overboard, designing and spreading
beautiful disinformation about him such
that even the former head of state has had
to come out to clarify one. For instance,
there is a message being circulated that
Buhari’s daughter is married to an Igbo
man. Those who invented the rumour had a
good intention: they wanted to prove to the
world that he is not a bigot. But Buhari,
perhaps honest to a fault, has denied it. He
said none of his children is married to an
Igbo man. Interestingly, the rumour was
attributed to Obasanjo by one of the
broadcasters!
Many quotes are invented and attributed to
Obasanjo these days. One says: “I prefer that
Buhari becomes president and sends me to
jail than for Jonathan to be re-elected and
then destroys Nigeria.” This is said to have
been written by the former president in his
trilogy, “My Watch” — which the originator
of the rumour has probably not set his eyes
on. How can Obasanjo want to go to jail
again? Is it a nightclub? He was jailed for a
phantom coup by Gen. Sani Abacha. And he
was lucky to come out of Yola prison alive.
He narrowly escaped death when a wall
collapsed beside him while he was studying
the Bible one morning. Why would he want
to go to jail again?
There is even another social media rumour
that Buhari does not collect his full pension.
A Blackberry broadcast I got a while ago
said while all former heads of state collect
N27 million per month as pension, Buhari
rejected the “bogus amount” and asked to
be paid only 10% of it. The person who
originated the rumour said he personally
went to the Ministry of Finance to confirm
the figure. But, in fact, the total pension
package is N2,909,122.75 per quarter — as
confirmed to me by a former head of state.
The breakdown: pension, N878,676.20;
upkeep, N1,050,000; salaries of personal
staff, N845,446.50; telephone, N75,000; and
postal services, N60,000. Buhari never
rejected any part of it. For goodness sake, it
is his legal right. Why would he not collect it?
Good enough, Buhari has not anchored his
campaign on any of these phantom stories.
He has based his campaign on two
promises — to fight corruption and to
tackle insecurity. These issues speak directly
to the heart of the average Nigerian. Boko
Haram has made our lives miserable. What
we thought was a mere neighbourhood
gathering of some religious zealots some
years ago has developed into a massive
bomb that is shattering the peace and
eating away at our territorial integrity.
Buhari, as a retired general, is expected to
wipe out Boko Haram if he wins. Also,
corruption is, to put it mildly, a pounding
headache. As a celebrated man of integrity,
Buhari is expected to finish off corruption
with one blow to the head.
Unfortunately, many Nigerians could be very
fickle. Imagine the nicknames young people
would start calling Buhari on Twitter by this
time next year if he has not performed some
magic — assuming he wins the presidential
election. They derided President Umaru
Musa Yar’Adua even on his deathbed.
President Goodluck Jonathan’s honeymoon
lasted for barely six months. The guys that
called him “breath of fresh air” started
calling him “shoeless and clueless” as soon
as he withdrew fuel subsidy in January
2012. I don’t think Jonathan ever recovered
from the massive blow the subsidy issue
dealt on him.
Buhari’s honeymoon, if he wins, would not
last for six months, trust me. One of the
confessions of Obasanjo in 1999 was that
the world had changed remarkably since
1979 when he left power. As a military man,
he could get things done by fiat. As a
democrat, he needed to go through the
National Assembly to get a simple budget
passed. He needed to “lobby” them to make
laws for the good of Nigeria. Judges were
dragging their feet on corruption cases until
he resorted to self-help through the EFCC.
These are some of the realities Buhari would
also face if he wins. The Nigeria he led in
1985 is not the same today. Getting things
done in a democracy is a different ball game
altogether.

IS NOT BUT IS BETTER THAN ALL THESE OJUJU CALABA

You can't blame the youths, most of them don't read their past history all they do is chat and believe in lies they hear daily. You can't blame them. In time everything will be clear.

Buhari has never claimed to be Jesus Christ or Prophet Mohammed.

Gen. Buhari and his supporters have always stated that he is better than Jonathan and has the political will to revamp the economy, curb corruption, fight insecurity, create jobs, empower Nigerians and initiate massive development - and that makes Buhari the right man this 2015.

Sai Buhari.

General Buhari may not be the messiah but if we are to compare Him with those we have at the helms of affair today, I believe General Buhari is better off. We don't need a messiah that is 100% perfect, its only God Almighty that is 100% perfect.
GMB all the way.


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