GEJ OR GMB: FOR ONCE AM CONFUSED
By Esomnofu Arinze
arinzeesomnofu@gmail.com
08031391676

Nigeria from the very day late Pa. Anthony Enahoro moved the motion for her independence in 1960 and our first Republic in 1963 running through till the current fourth republic that we are in now have always had an election that one can predict the outcome to a 90% certainty, with a little exception to the second republic. where we did not see an Alhaji Shehu Shagari of N.P.N clinging it, but he did anyway, convincingly despite the presence of political heavyweights then, names likes Chief Nnamdi Azikiwe (Zik of Africa) of N.P.P, Chief Obafemi Awolowo of U.P.N ,Waziri Ibrahim of (G.N.P.P), the vibrant Lawyer Tunji Braithwaite who was the flag bearer of N.A.P and Mallam Aminu Kano of P.R.P, Alhaji Shagari defeated the following names polling a total of 45% of total vote casted. Though our focus is not on the 1979 elections but from that election till date the outcome of most elections in Nigeria have been in favour of the so called favourites.

These days, elections in Nigeria is most times taken with a "plate of indifference" and "a cup of care-freeness", the popular statement from the mouth of the common man is "elections in Nigeria, na one love, na still them-them day rule" some will say "no mind them, them don know who go win already" but now ask yourself in a honest manner who do you think will win this forth coming elections? automatically, if your a fan of President Jonathan you will quickly say "Yes of course, Mr President will win" or some will say "GEJ till 2019" but if you reading this is an ardent supporter of Rt. Gen Buhari then the answer to the question will be " Sai Buhari " or "clueless President will go back to Otuoke".

In Nigeria today it takes little or nothing to win the minds of many voters, some people decide their candidate to vote from Religion, some decides from a tribal perspective and please don't laugh when I say some decides on who to vote based on looks, yes looks. You just need to be tall and good looking and yes some people will say " he is our man. he has such Presidential looks " others vote on oratory ability, but I guess that's off the table since one of the top contenders did not agree to a debate.

without throwing caution to the wind, we will all agree that the two main contenders for the forth coming pools is President Jonathan and Rt. Gen Buhari, briefly and concisely let's look into the achievements and not so good things about the two topmost contenders.

President Jonathan have been a acting President for two years and is less than 3 month to the expiration of his 1st tenure as President which translate to him spending close to 6 years at the helms of affairs of the country. In his time as President, President Jonathan have improved in an obvious manner rail transportation in the country, as I write Lagos can boast of working air condition trains and Abuja can boast of advanced light trains.

Also the President Jonathan adminstration built Almajari schools in the north thus transferring hundreds of kids from roadside begging to the classroom.

The President Jonathan led administration privatize the power sector, and also fixed the then "death trap" benin-ore express road which made the core users of that road endeared the President to their hearts.
statistically the Jonathan led administration claimed to have reduced poverty by 50% and unemployment by 45% but I won't dwell much on these statistics for they are yet to be proven.

Because of the Jonathan Agricultural transformation agenda Nigeria's crude import bill have reduced from about $7billion to about $4.3 billion dollars annually. The President Jonathan led administration set aside N50 billion for agricultural mechanization fund.

Also in President Jonathan led adminstration, Nigeria have the biggest Rice mill in Africa.

Briefly, let's look at the not so good things about President Jonathan's adminstration.
President Jonathan's administration have been dented with various corruption charges and not one of the heavyweights have been successfully persecuted, but actually the reverse is the case for in Nigeria today lots of corrupt people have been celebrated. Example of such people is Stella Odua , the former aviation minister who allegedly spent $2.5 million on bulletproof cars, and four months later she was forced to resign, next she was made a Chief in her hometown.

Another unsolved corruption case is that of former house speaker Faruku Lawan and Femi Odetola who got away with $600,000 bribe scandals despite audio and video evidence, the case today is a closed case. Also the Police pension trust fund that ran into billions of Naira was embezzled, suspects were brought to court till date none have been persecuted and these people continue feeding fat on the sweat of others.

And lastly during President Jonathan's administration $49 billion dollars went missing in the Nigerian treasury and later they said it was "only" $20 billion dollar and instead of looking for the missing money, they decided to go after the whistle blower, the C.B.N governor Mallam Lamido Sanusi.

A brief look into Gen Buhari, one will say, here is a man that have held Public office in Nigeria without any case of corruption attached to his name, he is a firm believer of equity and also he frowns against indiscipline that was why he introduce "war against indiscipline W.A.I" during his military carrier.

The Buhari regime frowns so much at corruption that was why many corrupt politicians were jailed and individuals that could not explain the source of their wealth were so scared to flunt their wealth for the fear of being nab.

Looking into the things not so good about the "people's" General, once can't rule out the kidnapped sage of Umaru Dikko, call him Mr corrupt or whatever name you chose to call him, there were still other legitimate ways to bring him to book but the Buhari led régime chose an illegitimate method of kidnapping that ended up shattering our diplomatic ties with Britain.

Also many argued that some of the jailed individual as well as some politicians then, were given a quick trail and was given little or no room to defend themselves.

Some were jailed without trial at all. Also the khaki boys became wreck less, unleashing their venom at will on defenceless citizens, and anytime the afro beat legend Late Fela speaks against such brutal treatment by the men on "khaki" he would be beating and flogged to point of death. All of the above happened under the military regime of Gen Buhari which one can easily argue that such are the things associated with military regime.

Now this is where the confusion starts to creep in, last week in Kaduna during an A.P.C presidential rally, the A.P.C presidential candidate Gen Buhari made a statement that got even his supporters wondering, hear him “On the issue of past corrupt leaders facing trials in various courts across the country, I would allow the courts to decide on those cases, but whoever that is indicted of corruption between 1999 to the time of swearing-in, would be pardoned. I am going to draw a line, anybody who involved himself in corruption after I assume office, will face the music.” the above statement to me is a big compromise on the "Buhari character" the Buhari character to most supporters is a strong willed hand that is not scared of calling a spade a spade not withstanding the consequences, so that above statement by the Gen is a clear indication that his team is now having a clear say on how his adminstration will be runned and thus given room for more compromise. And at the end of the day, some people will still end up scot free from corruption charges.

Nigerians, are you confused? as for me my confusion have gotten to the highest of height.But one fact that stands above my confusion is that one of the two analysed candidate will be our next President.

Even on the day of election am sure my head will want to vote candidate A,but my thumbs might touch candidate B, that's the level of dellima am in right now.

All my life have always been able to determine what I want and what is good for me. but now dear readers am confused, I don't want to trend in Religious or tribals path but rather who can't get the job done among our two top presidential candidates, this is where I seek your help, my dear readers...

who should i "March with" come March 28, and why should I march with the person, please evidence based answers will be most appreciated to clear my head from the confusion that lingers in it.

Nice write up. But if I'm to vote by ur write up I will surely go 4 GEJ, cos fighting corruption is not the work of the president alone but nigeria at large. Buhari can't fight corruption with the method he apply back then, because the constitution will highly restrict him. A president can not just send for the arrest of any person who is accuse of corruption until proven guilty by the necessary bodies (even Tinubu and Saraki can test to that) and even if he can it will be to hunt his political enemies. Imagine GEJ arresting Tinubu and Saraki (I'm talking of pple with accuse case of corruption o) how will it sound to the yorubas and Nigeria(witch hunting). so the right persons to tackle corruption is you&I and the head of these available body like (EFFC, Court and other). Someone will quote me that it is the president that is appointing this head don't forget GEJ also appoint JEGA and he has not compromise( ask APC). So fighting corruption depends mainly on nigerians

[b]THINK 2WICE::::::::::::::*Buhari Child Zara Is Paying Over £40,000 / #
12million
Naira as School Fees Developing Her Future and
Career.

*Jonathan's Children Have Being Moved To
London For
Studies and Residence while Developing Their
Career and
living In Affluence.....

*Atiku Abubakar Children Are Abroad Schooling....

*Tinubu's Children Are Abroad Schooling and
Living in
Affluence,
They Are All Developing and Investing In their
Children To
Continue To Rule Us After They Are Gone.....

You are there As A Jobless Graduate Wearing APC
and
PDP Customized Vest and Polo, Chanting
"Change"
Holding Brooms and Carrying Umbrellas Chanting
"Transformation" Killing Yourself, Fomenting
Trouble and
Constituting Nuisance to the Society because of
Peanuts
that can't make you a better person......

Even If You Have No Paying Jobs, Why Not Do
Apprentice
Or learn a Skill that will make You more
Productive today
in the Society. Why Not Do Volunteering Jobs
Instead Of
Looking For Big Pay Jobs!!!!

Stop Being A Disgrace To Your Discipline, Stop
Wearing
APC Vest and Carrying PDP Umbrellas Because
That is the
Wish of Politicians For You...

They Know If You have a Good Job, They Can't
Use You
As A Thug / Propagandist.

If Buhari will Not Bring All His Ten Children To the
Street
For Campaign and Jonathan Will not Bring his
Children
and Blood Brothers To The Street For Campaign,
Then You
are a Disgrace To Your Family If You Don't Stop
Masquerading Yourself As PDP and APC Agents,
Because
Up Till Now, I have Never Seen Buhari 's Children
and
Jonathan's Children On The Street Wearing APC
Vest and
Holding Brooms, Neither Have I seen Jonathan's
Children
Carrying The PDP Umbrella Even On Social Media (nairaland inclusive)
Let
Alone In the Street....

I don't say you shouldn't give your vote to the person you like because is your right to do so, but my brethren! Cast your vote wisely don't be an instrument of devil.
A Word Is Enough For The Wise......


[/b]

@OP. You've got a very heartwarming writeup (Kudos)

Now without overwhelming you with irrelevant facts.
The number one problem in Nigeria today is "CORRUPTION".

If we can give a candidate who can outrightly bring corruption to its bearest minimum Nigeria will become great.

Even if GEJ decides to achieve a lot from his various economic policies, his gentle stance on fighting corruption will not allow him to succeed.

With corruption, Power Privatization will not work, Security challenges will persist among others.

Buhari said he will not probe past government officials indicted of corruption, but will not condone it in his administration.

To some extent, he is right; Should he decide to start probing them, the implication is that:
#He would lose focus on economic development
#He would likely be accused of witch-hunting, by the opposition.

Now, let's weigh the two political parties on corruption:

As at today, no APC member has been convicted guilty of money laundry or any form of corruption by a court of law.

On the side of PDP:
You find exConvict Alameseigha, Bode George etc

So I resolve to persuade you to pitch your tent with GEN. MUHAMMADU BUHARI of APC

Thanks

I will encourage you to vote BUHARI.

With Buhari you are sure he will fight corruption, restructure the system, huge development, stronger security, devalue power to States, and many more.

But Jonathan is just a continuation of the present failures.

Without stopping Corruption, there is no amount of money you put into the system that will bear fruits. Sai Buhari.

To those undecided voters who think the election is like voting between the "Devil" and the "Deep Blue sea"...you got a better alternative #VoteKOWA

A fresh face in governance is the real change we all should clamour for...a female president to upset all political calculations and Permutations. The change that would stop hatred and bitterness among political supporters both online and offline

This change is KOWA...the real change

Lol

Zuria:
To those undecided voters who think the election is like voting between the "Devil" and the "Deep Blue sea"...you got a better alternative #VoteKOWA

A fresh face in governance is the real change we all should clamour for...a female president to upset all political calculations and Permutations. The change that would stop hatred and bitterness among political supporters both online and offline

This change is KOWA...the real change

What has prof remi sonaiya done before ma

Why do we lie to ourselves? GMB was a dictator yes? But GEJ is using the military and his criminal friends to do exactly what you accuse GMB of!

They are both dictators but atleast one is honest, disciplined, fights corruption and isn't a coward. by this write up though one can see its more pro GEJ, you are not confused you are voting GEJ!

adaweezy:

What has prof remi sonaiya done before ma

Aside from what you may have read online about her...she ran a mentoring group way back in OAU which impacted positively on students of the school and I dare say their immediate society.

She's morally sound, approachable yet a disciplinary, not elitist...so she's someone we can identify with as not having Political Godfather.

agriboom:
Why do we lie to ourselves? GMB was a dictator yes? But GEJ is using the military and his criminal friends to do exactly what you accuse GMB of!

They are both dictators but atleast one is honest, disciplined, fights corruption and isn't a coward. by this write up though one can see its more pro GEJ, you are not confused you are voting GEJ!

bro am not for any for now for am still yet to make a decision. I gave good and bad of both candidates