Ogunsakin Abdulkareem Adebisi
Muhammadu Buhari: Running For President With An Anti-
Corruption Bank Loan, By Femi Aribisala
One thing is for sure: Muhammadu Buhari would like to
be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He has tried three times and has failed every time. Finally
realizing it is a lost cause, he said he would not try again.
But now he is persuaded to try again. His supporters are
impressed that he won 12 million votes against Goodluck
Jonathan in 2011. However, they need to be reminded
that he lost to Jonathan by over 10 million votes.
Since the third time did not turn out to be a charm for
Buhari, what are we to call his fourth attempt? Listening
to the declaration of his new-fangled presidential bid in
Eagles’ Square, Abuja a few days ago, it is seems this
fourth time is going to be one big charade.
The sign was provided by none other than Buhari himself.
Since his one credential is that he is a man of integrity
who, as president, is expected to wrestle corruption down
to the ground, Buhari decided to burnish his anti-
corruption image by revealing that he obtained his 27.5
million naira APC nomination form with a bank loan.
However, what this declaration did was to tell Nigerians
that Buhari is a pretentious anti-corruption crusader. His
Mr. Clean posture is nothing but a public relations
gimmick.
Question marks
In fairness, some of us have known this all along. Under
Buhari’s watch as Petroleum Minister in the late 1970s,
$2.8 billion (worth billions of naira today) was missing
from the NNPC account. The matter was subject to
Senate investigation under the chairmanship of Olusola
Saraki in 1983. But before the report could be dealt with,
Buhari conveniently overthrew the Shagari government in
a military coup d’état.
Vera Ifudu, an NTA newscaster, revealed that Saraki told
her in an interview that the missing money was traced to
Buhari’s account at Midland Bank in London. For this
disclosure, Vera was summarily sacked by the NTA.
However, she appealed against her dismissal in court and
won. She even received a handsome financial
compensation for wrongful dismissal from the NTA.
Instead of clearing his name as a man of integrity, Buhari
refused to appear before the Oputa Panel set up to look
into the matter (among under things) by the Obasanjo
administration.
Buhari claims to be an anti-corruption crusader,
nevertheless, he agreed to serve under Sani Abacha, one
of the most corrupt Heads-of-State ever in the history of
Nigeria. While there has been no proven allegation that
Buhari corruptly enriched himself as Chairman of the
Petroleum Trust Fund under Abacha, it is abundantly
clear that this fabled anti-corruption crusader failed to
curb the rampant corruption that prevailed in the
organization. Group Captain Usman Jibrin, a board
member of PTF, resigned from the organization in protest
over Buhari’s irregular appointments of consultants.
In 2000, the Obasanjo administration set up an Interim
Management Committee to look into the affairs of the PTF,
under the chairmanship of Haroun Adamu. The
Committee discovered that billions of naira was stolen
under Buhari’s chairmanship.
Political platform
Now the same Buhari who would not or could not curb
corruption in the PTF wants us to believe he will fight
corruption as president of Nigeria. However, he has
chosen the APC as the political platform on which to
undertake this. But the APC is an unscrupulous political
party that is choc-full of corrupt politicians. It is the party
of Murtala Nyako who was impeached as governor of
Adamawa State for converting state money to personal
use. It is the party where Buhari himself and others went
cap-in-hand to Otta to beg Obasanjo to be their
“navigator.”
Surely Buhari knows that he cannot fight corruption by
being the presidential candidate of the APC. Whatever
anti-corruption crusading Buhari had in him in the past
must have ended when he decided to join the APC.
Should he become president, does he intend to probe his
corrupt party-members? Has he made them understand
he would be coming after them once elected? If he has,
does he really expect them to help him get elected so he
can retrieve their stolen loot and send them off to jail?
A 72 year-old man with Buhari’s experience, who was
overthrown in a preemptive coup by members of his own
government, knows that in Nigeria, nobody gets elected
as president on the platform that he is going to be an
anti-corruption crusader when he gets into office. That is
a sure signal for all the politicians in all the parties to
gang up against him and make sure he never makes it.
If you really want to be anti-corruption, you have to keep
your mouth shut about your plans until you get elected
and then catch your corrupt colleagues by surprise. You
must also have resolved not to seek re-election for a
second-term. It is not only the populace, but the
politicians in particular, who insist on “stomach
infrastructure.” But if you are talking anti-corruption while
still seeking the nomination of your party, it must be
because it is well known to your corrupt colleagues that
your anti-corruption stance is merely for public
consumption.
Cleaning up APC
It is not surprising, therefore, that despite all the noise
about anti-corruption coming from Buhari and his
cohorts; he has failed to fight against corruption in the
APC. We did not hear him raise a voice against the
incongruity of a so-called progressive party demanding a
cynical nomination fee of 27.5 million naira for its
presidential primaries. One would have expected a truly
anti-corruption crusader to make the point that the
nomination fee is unacceptable. Instead, Buhari readily
acquiesced to the requirement in order to safeguard his
all-important presidential ambitions.
Since Buhari cannot, or does not, fight against this
corrupting nomination fee in the APC, and insist on its
reduction to something far more reasonable, how can he
expect us to believe that as president in a political system
with the separation of powers; against a legislature likely
to be controlled by the PDP; he would be able to fight
corruption? Somebody is fooling somebody here. Or else,
somebody is living in a cloud cuckoo land.
Charity, they say, begins at home. If Buhari is truly anti-
corruption, he should begin his crusade in the APC. Is it
progressive for a political party in Nigeria to ask its
candidates to come up with 27.5 million just for the
nomination papers for an election where only one person
will emerge as the winner? Is it not corrupt politicians
that are likely to have this type of easy-come easy-go
money? Is this not an open invitation for the winner, if he
actually manages to secure election to the presidency, to
recoup this extortionate fee from public funds?
Anti-corruption bank loan
What did anti-corruption Buhari do about this outrageous
APC requirement? This is where the whole matter
becomes ridiculously implausible. According to Buhari,
rather than fight against the measure, he took out a ban
loan to pay for it.
Buhari told us about his “loan” out of embarrassment; in
a pathetic bid to validate his anti-corruption credentials.
But this so-called loan indicates that Buhari does not
understand what it means to be anti-corruption. For
Buhari, anti-corruption is a posture; it is a swagger; it is a
badge; but it has no bite and, in the usual Nigerian
fashion, it will be prosecuted with hypocrisy.
Buhari wants us to believe that he cannot afford 27.5
million naira. Nevertheless, he rides around in a bullet-
proof Jeep and maintains a convoy of Land Cruisers. He
cannot afford 27.5 million naira. Nevertheless, he
declared his candidacy lavishly in Eagle Square, Abuja.
Did he also take out a bank loan for that? Four months to
a make-or-break election, Buhari would have us believe he
has no money. How does he propose to finance his
presidential campaign? Is he going to take 1 billion naira
loan from the World Bank for this?
Dubious loan
Why would a bank lend Buhari that amount for a
presidential pie-in-the-sky that failed to materialize three
times in the past? Is that not likely to be a bad loan? How
long did it take for the loan to be processed? What did he
put down as anti-corruption collateral? How does he
propose to pay the money back? Mr. Integrity needs to
spell all this out for the sake of his fast-disintegrating anti-
corruption credentials.
I did not know loans are so easy to secure in Nigerian
banks today. Perhaps Buhari could introduce me to his
bank manager. I would also not mind taking this kind of
soft loan. I am sure I can always come up with some
unproductive excuse or the other for it. Is such a loan
even legal today under Nigeria’s stricter banking laws?
How many honest Nigerians can afford to give a non-
refundable 27.5 million naira to a political party, on the
off-chance that they will be able to secure the party’s
presidential ticket? If they win the nomination and even
get elected president, how would they pay back the
money?
Not presidential material
It is clear that Buhari is not only lacking the money to pay
for APC nomination papers, he does not have the funds to
pay for advisers, to counsel him about what to tell the
public and how to prosecute an effective presidential
campaign. His advisers might have educated him that
there is something called “fund-raising.” Surely, the most
popular politician in the North-West can find some of his
ardent supporters to give him 27 million naira. Certainly,
a former governor of the Central Bank can easily cough
up the money.
Buhari wants to fight an election that will take place in
four months time. From what he tells us, he does not
have 27 million to prosecute that election now. If this is
true, he is not the right man to be president of Nigeria.
For a man who is running for election for the fourth time,
that is the height of cluelessness. It shows Buhari is lousy
at marshaling resources. Otherwise, he is fooling nobody
but himself

I'm a Buhari supporter. I was reading this write-up with intent thinking it'll make me change my mindset about the General until I got to this point...

late 1970s,
$2.8 billion (worth billions of naira today)
was missing
from the NNPC account. The matter was
subject to
Senate investigation under the
chairmanship of Olusola
Saraki in 1983. But before the report
could be dealt with,
Buhari conveniently overthrew the
Shagari government in
a military coup d’état.

Buhari did not overthrow the Shagari government you dimwit!! When will you people stop this foolishness?

Buhari military government
Major-General Buhari was selected to
lead the country by middle and high-
ranking military officers after a successful military coup d'etat that overthrew civilian President Shehu Shagari on December 31, 1983. At the time, Buhari was head of the Third Armored Division of Jos. Buhari was appointed Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and Tunde Idiagbon was appointed Chief of General Staff (the de facto No. 2 in the administration).

We did not hear him raise a voice
against the
incongruity of a so-called progressive
party demanding a
cynical nomination fee of 27.5 million
naira for its
presidential primaries. One would have
expected a truly
anti-corruption crusader to make the
point that the
nomination fee is unacceptable.

You want him to raise his voice and tell the APC Chairman what? "That he should reduce the price because he, Buhari is an anti-corruption person? You've forgotten that he's only a member and not a dictator there? If Buhari was the APC National Chairman are you most certain that the Presidential form would still be 27million or less? These are the question you all should be asking yourselves (TANoids] instead of jumping from thread to thread trying fruitlessly to tarnish the General's image.

Charlatans trying to spin Buhari's innocous statement as regards how he bought his Expression of Interest form himself

I think some people would have applauded him if he bought the said form from an embezzled loot........

@op you have just given me more reason to vote for Buhari.

Thank you!

Surely, the most
popular politician in the North-West can find some of his
ardent supporters to give him 27 million naira. Certainly,
a former governor of the Central Bank can easily cough,
up the money.

Yes he got the money from a Bank loan, if he paid the money himself you TANers would still have something to say...

Buhari wants to fight an election that will take place in
four months time. From what he tells us, he does not
have 27 million to prosecute that election now. If this is
true, he is not the right man to be president of Nigeria.

Are you serious?
The hate and propaganda on this man by JonaTANians is getting alarming...Haba, what kind of serious rubbish is this? Read this:

Speaking after collecting the form, Buhari
said but for the fact that he was a member
of the party at its highest level, he would
have complained about the high cost of the
form.
Buhari said, “It’s a pity I couldn’t influence
this amount to be reviewed downward as
was done in the case of the ladies. I
looked left and right, I couldn’t read
sympathy on anybody’s face.
“So, I kept to myself but I felt heavily sorry
for myself, because I don’t want to go and
ask somebody to pay for my nomination.
“If you recall-even the last ones (elections)
I have (contested), -I always try to pay for
myself, at least for the nomination form.

[s] For a man who is running for election for the fourth time,
that is the height of cluelessness. It shows Buhari is lousy
at marshaling resources. Otherwise, he is fooling nobody
but himself. [/s]

I give up. The writer of this shiit is brainless. Thank you for indirectly campaigning for the General.

This is the most useless propaganda I've read against General Buhari.

Even a child that was born since the day Buhari started contesting for president and failed 3 times,has grown up to know this Man just want to steal from Office. And as of my age i know this Man is a D . Don't ask me what that D stands for because you know it already.