By Kolawole Azeez. The toil, the till and tide, the trial and triumph of General Muhammadu Buhari in this 2015 electioneering campaigns could make an inspiration for every struggling individual to make it in life. The current massive support Buhari is enjoying along with his party, All Progressive Party (APC) is phenomenal. Was it always like that?
No.
Buhari has been on this race for 16 years. He has been contesting for four times: 3 times before and this is the fourth time (2003, 2007, 2011 & 2015). In the past three consecutive times he has been running, all these Nigerians who do not now worry whether he has certificate, whether he jailed people or whether he was even a military head of state, never looked at his side then. At a point (2007 and 2011), only a handful of Northerners supported him.

However, the man Buhari kept on pressing. He kept on struggling with only his personal money, his individual struggle, contesting and losing, moving from one party to another (ANPP to CPC and now APC) pursuing his personal quest to succeed. This means, at that time, many people did not give him a chance, but he was neither deterred nor afraid to fail again and again. He moved on!

Note that Buhari (born in 1942) is 72 and still contesting. But note also that he did not start just now. He had started this presidential race since he was in his 50s like Jonathan now or any other young presidential candidate.

Then, the people did not look at his way. But now his time has come. And it seems none can stop him since Allah is ready to crown his persistent effort and prayer. And that is the goal of this piece.

Whatever halal goal you have set before yourself, set it before Allah. Keep working at it without wavering, without ceasing. At some points at the beginning, you may stumble and may fail. Keep coming back at it, rejuvenating and re-invigorating yourself with all resilience.

Sometimes you may even fail the second or third time. That does not mean the task is impossible. It only means testing and preparing and fortifying you for a greater success ahead. And also know that a time of success will come for you when all the methods and efforts which you earlier made that failed will be made again and they will succeed this time. Why? It is Allah’s time for you.

You will need to keep learning more about the task you have set before yourself and you will be applying the new knowledge and improvements as soon as you acquire them. A time shall come when all your being and all what you have been gathering about the task will fuse into one indivisible entity that makes up your being: expertise, experience, wisdom, resilience, excellence, maturity, patience, foresight and focus. At this point, the breeze of success will be blowing around you. Then the time of your success is near ‘fatian qareeb’. However, you must start and end every bit of your work with complete obedience to the will of Allah for protection and ultimate success.

The PDP neither complained about Gen Buhari’s lack of certificate nor his old age nor even his anti-corruption drive in the past elections because they knew he was no formidable rival at that time. But now that he appears invincible, they are kicking and jerking. Now the people are ready to vote for him even if he did not have a certificate or he is 100 years old or he jailed all Nigerians for alleged corruption charges.

It is his time and soon will it be yours too in shaa Allah.

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Kolawole Azeez is the Managing Editor of Muslim Connect on www.musnect.com. He wants to push the right and accurate knowledge of Islam to every corner of the world. He also loves to inspire, motivate and encourage other Muslims to do so as they learn and practice. Musnect.com provides the platform for promoting Muslim individuals, events and activities.

http://www.musnect.com/the-toil-and-tide-trial-and-triumph-of-muhammadu-buhari/