Why I am Undecided (Part 1).

The following holds true for me and explains my dilemma of choice for the presidency in 2 weeks.

GOODLUCK JONATHAN
1) His administration has failed woefully in meeting promises made in 2011 that some significant and progressive strides would have been registered in the electricity challenge of Nigeria. That, remains a failed promise. Inverters and Generators may be what the president however meant because many Nigerians now own both.

2) This president, while attempting to be civil in the war against financial misappropriation of funds, (otherwise known as stealing and corruption) has by his actions and body language encouraged what may arguably pass as the worst cases of corruption in the last 10 years. Individuals and syndicates like the Obasanjo era have pocketed our channels of government spending.

3) The economy is crying and bleeding. The Naira has never had it so bad in terms of equitable exchange rates standing. We are changing the dollar for over N210 from N170. The wastage occasioned by thefts when crude oil prices were high and this governments failure to save has exposed us and made our economy vulnerable. I think Finance Minister Okonlo Iweala was just overhyped. The economy is just theories and paper.

4) No significant steps taken towards curbing theft of crude. We seem helpless as a nation and the levels of impunity in those areas is alarming.

5) He has failed to position a strong reputation for Nigeria in the comity of nations and in international affairs. His inability to strike the right alliances and muzzle strategic military forces to quash Boko Haram tells a bad tale in his discharge of duties as Commander-in-Chief of our Military. This president is highly indecisive.

He has however achieved the following regardless of APC's deliberate downplay of these landmarks:

1) We cannot deny that at least the railways have started working. They may not be as fast as the ones leaving Kings Cross in London to Belgium but person wey never see the ones for London de appreciate them. Trains I took in Brooklyn weren't particular the nicest smelling around too so why don't we at least appreciate that air conditioned carriages now cross states in Nigeria.

2) The man is honest on election matters. I witnessed how the PDP lost Governorship elections about two times under GEJ's administration. He has presented elections that were relatively free and fair. I am someone who respects the sanctity of the vote and place serious value on transparency in elections. I am not sure that the APC doesn't rig South West elections. He scores highly here.

3) GEJ places importance on education and I like that about him. Whether we like it or not, the new Federal Universities have saved us some criminals of the future. They have also presented employment opportunities that would have being non existent. Add the Almajiri schools to the mix and I see a man investing in a future that he may not be part of. Kudos here.

4) I keep repeating how dumbfounded I am that Obasanjo drove on the Lagos Ibadan Expressway for 8 years as president and did not see need to fix that road. I kept asking and got no reasonable or acceptable reasons yet for that oversight. It had to take Goodluck Jonathan to start work on that road and many other roads that I have been on. I was quite impressed at his interest in fixing the roads and I think he has set us on a good path transportation wise. The airports are also being improved regardless of how cosmetic or not we think the interventions are.

5) Innosson Motors in the Eastern part of Nigeria is testimony of the interest of Goodluck in setting Nigeria up for Industrialisation. The automotive industries policies have been encouraging and have attracted foreign investment. I am impressed at these.

Coupled with the level of focus he exhibits despite all the jabs and insults hurled at him, I think the president deserves a pass mark as an apprentice in the democratic experience of Nigeria. He has not tampered with freedoms and I like that acceptance and tolerance he demonstrates even in the face of the most acerbic provocations especially from loud mouthed South West APC Governors, supporters and Okorocha.

Buhari is next...

Why I am Undecided (Part 2)

This is a sequel to an earlier post on the current president. This post clarifies why I am undecided on General Muhammu Buhari as candidate of choice for the Feb. 2015 elections.

MUHAMMADU BUHARI
1) How can a man be ousted from office for 32 years yet have no evidence that he has added as little as a pin to his academic knowledge base. 32 years is enough to write 20 books, get a Ph.D, write Journals, Memoirs, Autobiographies and just anything along the intellectual. After 32 years, I would be under a spell to have to be defending the possession or otherwise of what is the equivalent of a WAEC certificate. Gowon obtained a PhD from the prestigious Warwick, Obasanjo returned to NOUN, the open university. It is not for lack of money but because a brain cannot give what it does not have. I fault Buhari so much in this regard that no washing in the media or billboards can justify his mental laziness.

2) The desperation to be president appears to be more like an obsession than a serious interest in redeeming Nigeria. Buhari has attempted the presidency 5 times if we counted the coups he participated in. As a graduate of Psychology, I question easily, the sincerity of a man living in Nigeria and pursuing occupying the No. 1 office with so much interest and recurring zeal. At age 60, you don't want to make being president a lifetime pastime. He should have quit after age 65 since he was once president. When will younger people ever be president if a man who was president 35 years ago is still vying for the same office today?

3) Buhari has watered down and diluted the 'Integrity' mantra he represents. Anyone living in Lagos will attest that the money being spent on TV, Media, Outdoor advertisement cannot be in the small billions. The Buhari I knew years back would not sign off such elaborate and ostentatious campaigns. He has failed to question the source of these monies. These are stolen funds and laundered money and his enjoyment of the spend may suggest that the so called ideals he postulates may be dead on arrival.

4) Buhari and his gang terminated civilian rule. The real worth of that action is that it was an assault on the collective will of the Nigerian people alive in 1983. Shagari might have been corrupt as alleged but what greater corruption is seizing power through the barrel of the gun after we managed a clean break back to democracy? The gods of democracy may be working against him because he now wants to reap from what he frontally destroyed. E fit no be president of democratic government ever again. Nature no de play. We would have had democracy for 40 years now and definitely better off.

5) Buhari represents the old order. I long for a break from political leadership that cannot differentiate what iOs, BB10, Android and Windows OS is. I want leadership that can govern from Blackberry phones. I want a president that will be IT savvy and technically proficient enough to make his government effective through deployment of IT for governance thereby increasing the effectiveness of leadership and very likely saving costs. This must be strange news to Buhari and I am afraid that many scams will be presented to him and which he will be signing innocently because the truth is, the new Nigeria we want to define, is beyond him.

The PDP is however no match for Buhari because:

1) Buhari represents a clean break from the stained and soiled pretenders to the office of President that the PDP has presented for over 15 years now . Here is a man whom I heard did not enjoy the luxury of a generator in his home in a nation where a civil servant could be a major shareholder in 'Mikano'. His allegiances are by far fewer and so Nigeria can for the first time in a long while expect to enjoy sincere political leadership - at presidency level.

2) Buhari's age comes at an advantage because now his name is more precious than Diezani's jets or Oduah's BMWs. A man at his age is not one to boss around and so I expect that the hard calls and tough decisions that the PDP has fails to make will be daily taken by Buhari. He will not soil the Buhari brand and Nigeria can expect his personal convictions to play out in her favour.

3) His party has demonstrated that governments can work at any level. In view of the fact that his party will be influential in his administration, Nigerians can expect a paradigm shift in the thrust of policy making and planning as it relates to expected good governance. I think Abuja will be a fantastic federal capital under a Buhari/APC leadership. I also believe that the advantages of an IT led government/economy will be better enjoyed under a Buhari government.

4) The groundswell of support that General Buhari commands across the country is unprecedented - that is all a president needs to take his people through tough but necessary times. He is better poised to enjoy increased support in the fight against Boko Haram. Citizens will have in Buhari, a man that they like enough to want to assist. It is rare to have a person hold charisma for as long as Buhari has and it is hoped that Insurgency, among other issues will be curbed accordingly through his popularity with the rovers and talakawas.

5) General Buhari's sterling performance at the PTF may be pointers that within acceptable limits, Nigeria will enjoy a boost in infrastructural development.

Coupled with a zero tolerance stance on corruption, leakages will be blocked so that government can have more funds for developmental purposes. Corruption is a huge challenge for all and sundry and the man to wage that mighty war in capacity of Commander is General Buhari.

I hope you guys see why being undecided until the Presidential Debates is highly justified.

Thank you panel and my accurate time keeper.

Nice work op.
Its a kinda dilema, considering the fact that none of them has a stainless record. We can only wait to see whose sins Nigerians ll be willing to overlook.

Na like chad dey come save us today what a disgrace

ArchEnemy:
Nice work op.
Its a kinda dilema, considering the fact that none of them has a stainless record. We can only wait to see whose sins Nigerians ll be willing to overlook.

Part 2 updated up there sire.

Very Funny!
Sir, with all due respect your time is up....
leave the throne and let someone else try even though he is not a saint too.

Save yourself the dilemma, vote KOWA...the only party presenting the real change we need

Typing

I prefer Buhari to Jonathan cos Jonathan is a disappointment, imagine a president saying that Stealing is not corruption, if a No 1 citizen can say such, can U imagine the amount of money He would have embezzled.
Buhari is more Justified to be the president than the Clueless president.

Why keep your decision on the two candidates when there are 12 others? Consider alternatives to the Change and Transformation mantras.