By Muyiwa Adetiba
I got a call from a close friend the other day that
left me speechless. He had expressed the
thoughts that he was wary of a Buhari
presidency because of the fear of Islamisation.
He is a medical doctor; well travelled and well
read.
In our younger days he used to consume Time
magazine every week religiously and we are
usually on the same page on many issues. Which
is why his comment threw me off guard.
Were he to be my mechanic or an unlettered
fellow on my street, I would have given his
comment the contempt it deserved. How can
one man in a democratic setting that operates a
constitution Islamise a whole country? To start
with, is he going to be allowed to pick an all
Muslim cabinet?
Where would his Christian Vice President be;
where would the Senate, the House of Rep be
when he starts to implement this Jihad? What
would happen to the Christian Governors, the
Civil Rights Organisations and indeed the over 80
million Christian faithful dotted over the nooks
and corners of the country? Would they just
simply acquiesce without a whimper?
Unfortunately, there are many people, fuelled
sometimes by their pastors, who hold on to this
belief in every layer of the society. They
constitute a force against a Buhari presidency.
Another force is represented by another close
friend. In fact, he is a classmate that I have
known for about 50 years. He is an economist
who was educated abroad and has paid his dues.
You would therefore expect that the economic
situation in the country would command his
attention above all else. Yet his loyalty to Mr
Jonathan is unnerving.
He conceded to me that most of his close
friends had shifted allegiance but went on to say
that if there was only one vote for Jonathan in
Lagos, that vote would be his. Why would an
otherwise suave, urban man who normally loves
to argue, lock his mind on a candidate and
refuses even to debate his choice?
The bit I was able to prise from him was
unsettling. He finds the born to rule attitude of
the Hausa—Fulani ‘very disgusting’. Again, had
this been from my mechanic I would not be
disturbed by it. But I never expected my friend of
many years to resort to a south-south sentiment.
Pray, what has the falling price of oil or its
management got to do with whether you are Ijaw
or Fulani? What have the rising unemployment
and the falling Naira got to do with tribe?
Then there are those who have made
stupendous amounts of money doing virtually
nothing in the past couple of years and who
would want the status quo to continue. I live on
the Lagos Island and they abound. My son who
is still young enough to attend these top clubs
and bars talks about people who buy bottles of
expensive champagne and Hennessey drinks to
any fly that passes by their tables.
These people are afraid that the good times
would end with the Buhari presidency. What they
are too inebriated to realise is that the economy
is in such a strait that the good times would end
for many anyway with or without Buhari.
Nevertheless, they represent a force against
Buhari.
There are also those whose economic and
political fortunes were badly affected during the
Buhari years and now want their pound of flesh.
They will use whatever they have to work on
people’s minds and dissuade them against
Buhari. And there are those who genuinely
believe Jonathan to be a better candidate. They
will fight—as is their right—to let him remain in
Aso Rock.
Many of these people will operate within the
confines of the law and democratic tenets, or at
worst on the fringes of it, to deny Buhari the
chances of getting to Aso Rock. But that is the
beauty of democracy and even die hard Buhari
adherents would expect many die hard Jonathan
adherents to fight them every inch of the way.
But it does get dangerous when people use other
means to deny the people’s will. Many of us
have heard the recordings of what happened in
Ekiti State. We now know it was much more than
stomach infrastructure that got Fayose there. It
was the abuse of institutional infrastructure.
It was impunity at its criminal height. And it
would be naïve to think this force would not be
deployed against Buhari’s ambition. Very close to
this, are those who have allegedly imported arms
and are poised to use violence if need be, to
stop Buhari. I am not for a second, saying that
this is limited only to PDP and its supporters; or
that only they have the monopoly of violence and
intrigues. I am just trying to stay true to my
theme. Many of these forces would still ring true
if it was another person trying to get to Aso
Rock.
Now we get to the most feared, most dangerous
force. The powerful, yet largely faceless group of
people who have dictated the affairs of this
country for years. Its power, like the chameleon,
is in its constantly changing ability to gauge the
mood of the country and use it to achieve its
aim which is to control power.
We saw it in the way June 12 was scuttled. We
saw it in the way the contraption called Interim
Government was installed. Or the way Abacha
took over when it looked like Shonekan might not
be able to hold the forte. They were consulted
before Abdulsalam took over and consulted again
before zeroing on Obasanjo. Neither the choice
of Yar’Adua nor Jonathan escaped their input
and blessing.
Their major goal is not the economic
emancipation of the country but to preserve the
nation so it can be milked. They would want the
elite system to continue for as long as possible.
And when it is time to remove Jonathan, it
should be on their terms and with their choice
depending on what and who they consider to be
expedient.
Make no mistake, these are not democrats and
therefore a victory for Buhari or for anybody for
that matter at the polls spells catastrophe for
them. It would mark the beginning of the end of
their hold on Nigeria. The reason our elected
leaders don’t listen to us is because we really
don’t matter and the day we can democratically
choose our leader is the day we have won our
freedom. It means we can always vote out an
under- performing leader.
This is why I am not holding my breath for
Buhari getting there in May. The force that
stopped the democratically elected Abiola is still
very much around. And it may have engineered
the postponement of the February 14 election.
Therefore, if we want to have a democratically
elected President, much depends on INEC; much
depends on civil rights organisation; much
depends on the international community; much
depends on the people. We must be prepared to
hold out if we want to choose our leaders
ourselves.
www.vanguardngr.com/2015/02/the-forces-against-buhari/

Too long

Like longman

It goes against common sense to vote against gmb

vedaxcool:
It goes against common sense to vote against gmb

yes, ua rit Bro

mormoni:
Too long

Like longman

lolzz! dn't be lazy ooo.. it's not even up to a period note in some courses

shidof:
lolzz! dn't be lazy ooo.. it's not even up to a period note in some courses

forget dat thing.
This write up too long

Rubbish story for the gods nigerians are wiser did he promise not to share oil blocks