PREAMBLE:

This post is merely for avid readers a[b][/b]nd politically inclined persons with dynamic minds and with bias for youthful representation, geared towards changing the old order and enthroning a new order for the overall benefit of our dear country, Nigeria.

Therefore, political jobbers and rats, as well as the fainthearted or bad readers and youth haters, please stay clear or you read and grumble at your own peril.

Happy reading...

*THE ROAD AWAY FROM THE NEW NIGERIA*
BY AHMED BUHARI

Have we honestly designed realistic political strategies and alignments that will give us this victory?
When I declared to run for office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on the 1st of October 2016 it was borne out of my sincere desire to awaken the consciousness of Nigerians especially the youth to understand how we can demand for good governance and participate in the political processes that produces this good governance.

Shortly after this declaration, many other young candidates surfaced and flooded the political space. Initially it looked a bit clumsy and lacked unification but I later embraced it as it began to appear as though the time had come.

I remember having a deep discussion with Mathias Tsado in Kaduna State explaining to him why I had gotten into the field for this purpose and a few months later he declared for the same office. I reached out to him and congratulated him on his boldness and determination to join the race.

I later reached out to Comrade Eragbe Anslem who I have tremendous respect for and we slowly began to build synergy.

On the 11th of January 2018, I was invited to Sahara Reporters for an interview. After that interview, I met with Omoyele Sowore and told him about the journey I had began and he said he was aware and that it was a good one. Three months later, he declared to also run for the same office.

Three weeks after his declaration, a mutual friend Miss Adesua Okosun called me and requested I have a sit down with Sowore.

We agreed to meet at Radisson Blu Hotel in Ikeja for 3pm. Two hours later Sowore called to tell me he was running late. I waited and by 6pm I called him again and he pleaded I waited a little bit longer. I eventually decided to leave the hotel that day after waiting for him for 5 hours. He later called to apologize for standing me up and promised to reach back to me. One year later he still haven't done so. When we met at the PACT effort he still didn't apologize for not reaching out to me but I excuse him because I know very well the demand this political exercise comes with.

At this point, I knew the urgency to talk to people like Mrs Oby Ezekwesile who by all standards represents strength and compassion. I got her mobile number and called her to arrange a meeting. She requested I sent an email to her personal assistant, which I did and never got a response. The next time I met her was at the PACT process. She served as an umpire on a process that I walked out on because I didn't think we understood the political realities. Oby supervised the emergence of Fela Durotoye and instead of showing her support for him decided to also declare for that same office.

...to be continued

*WHY DID YOU OPT OUT OF PACT?*

For those who never got my own version of what happened at the Presidential Aspirants Coming Together (PACT), I wish to share a few of the events and why I walked out of a process I knew will not hold water.

I want to commend Dr. Wilson Ikubese and Mathias Tsado for their hard work towards bringing together some young presidential aspirants with the hope that we will be able to come up with a consensus candidate that will not just be a true representation of the majority of Nigerians but one that will be acceptable to all sides of the divide.

For me, I sat in those meetings with the preparation to step down for an individual that will have integrity + intent + competence that will give us the desired results. But I wasn't oblivious of the fact that the political realities and expectations from the electorate needed to be closely monitored and inform my personal decision on who to step down for if need be.

After the first meeting held at Chelsea Hotel in Abuja, we were invited to Charlie Boy’s house in Gwarimpa for a meeting with other Presidential Aspirants in attendance. Charlie Boy and Deji Adeyanju convened the meeting with some of passionate Nigerians who wanted to see this project work. The most significant activity at that meeting aside from all of us openly declaring to work together, we all also agreed to exempt a third party’s interference in what ever decision we might adopt. But more importantly, I didn’t see politicians with me in that room. It was mostly technocrats and activists driven by emotions and sentiments. I knew this was going to be a difficult quest because over time I have learnt to differentiate between politics and activism. I remember somebody calling other politicians ‘our enemies’, I quickly interjected and reminded them that it is only politics and the rule of the game will require political rules. But I don’t think anyone was listening.

I clearly told all of us on that table that individually we cannot win, collectively we still cannot win and that except we start thinking politically by inviting everyone else to our table we will still be speaking the same language.

Many people disagreed with me but more evident was the fact that most of us on that table had failed to drop our ego for the Nigeria of our dreams.

My main reason for walking out of the PACT was our denial on what the political realities are and when people like Kingsley Moghalu told me that he was clearly the best candidate and that we should all step down for him. Right there I knew we weren't going anywhere. Tope Fasua on the other hand had already taken a bow. Sowore attended the first meeting came with so many cameras granted an interview announcing he was the preferred candidate. Clearly I saw how a man's attitude will determine his altitude. I also asked why a strong aspirant like Adamu Garba wasn't invited to the process. This was not a Lagos State election neither was it a social media youth election but a Nigeria Presidential Election. If we needed to make the required impact we had to have been completely real with ourselves and understood that emotions and sentiments had no place in politics. If we cannot stretch our hands out in friendship with all people regardless of their ethnicity, faith, age bracket and political party affiliations then we aren't prepared to unite and move Nigeria and Nigerians forward.

I remember how I reached out to Fela Durotoye after the first PACT meeting that we meet and talk. Mostly to know him better and educate myself first hand how much of the politics he understood. We agreed to meet at Eko Hotel in Lagos for 1pm that Saturday afternoon and Fela called to tell me he was running late, 2 hours later he told me we should make the meeting happen by 4pm but around 4:30pm he called again to tell me he was going to be at a programme and that we should reschedule for another day. Still I let it slide because I know the instability that comes with the business of politics.

After the third PACT meeting in Abuja Mr. Fela arranged a meeting with me again but this time around he didn't show up and his phone number was switched off. This is not how we build political relationships that are true to transformational progress.

I met Tope Fasua in Abuja and asked him why he was no longer showing up at the PACT meetings, he told me he needed to complete the vision and mission he had when he created the ANRP (his political party) and that he was determined to get to the polls and register that his party took part in the 2019 Presidential Elections. I respected his honesty and we remain good friends till date. He has not only served as a critic on my policy document but a good adviser to me.

I still had series of meetings with Mathias Tsado, Victor Anilaja, Dr. Abubakar Alkali, Auwal Abdullahi, Clement Jumbo, Allistair Soyode, Eragbe Anslem and Adesina Fagberon. All these fine individuals were totally honest about finding a unifying candidate and I respect them till date

PACT still produced Fela Durotoye after a process that Kingsley Moghalu, Favor Ayodele, Mathias Tsado, Wilson Ikubese, Dare Fagbemi, Clement Jumbo, Eleshama Ide, Victor Anilaja and Godstime Iruabuchi partook till the very end under the supervision of Mrs. Oby Ezekwesile who served as the umpire. At this point I didn't like the desperation from Kingsley Moghalu and his outright arrogance on his position as the best of all the people he was seeking will vote in his favor. I consider Kingsley an intelligent man with a good economic background. He had called me a night before the PACT elections soliciting my vote but he lost my vote when he said he was better than everyone else on the table. That is not the kind of president I want for my country. Pride and arrogance are two things a leader must manage. Unfortunately, Kingsley has a triple dose of this calamity.

So as I walked into that meeting on the day of the PACT elections I had two questions on mind; 1. Do we as a PACT understand the political realities? 2. Do we as a PACT have the financial capacity to execute this project? And so as I sat down on that table and asked Oby Ezekwesile who was the umpire a few political questions and I realized she was stuck to her personal views neglecting the fact that PDP and APC have members who are Nigerians and our failure to make our effort a collective will not get us to our destination. At that point I became convinced we couldn't get it right. Unlike Kingsley Moghalu who followed the process, solicited for votes, signed the agreement, took part in the voting process until it became a stalemate between himself and Fela. According to those at the table the last round of voting was carried out between Fela and Kingsley with Kingsley so tensed and sweaty while he waited for the results. Eventually, Fela emerged and my Honorable presidential aspirant in an interview called the process a political assassination on his person because it did not favor him and in the same breath he said if it had gone in his favor it would have been credible. This was most unfortunate and a show of poor sportsmanship.

If you are still reading, I am sure you will be asking yourself what does Ahmed Buhari mean by 'Political Realities?' Well, political realities are those clear indicators that determine the outcome of our politics. It is imperative to understand that these political realities fluctuate depending on the time and season. For the 2019 general elections it is obvious that a northerner will emerge. Many of us will think I am a supporter of the zoning arrangement but I am not. However, I am a realistic political strategist. I cannot lie to myself. I will say it as it is. Many have said they do not believe in zoning, this is to remind them that the fact that they got an opportunity to interact with some northerners on that table and still couldn’t trust any of us breaks my heart. Clearly it was not a question of competence, antecedents, educational qualifications or ideology because all the northerners on that table had it all. But it was obviously the failure to truly look beyond ethnicity and understand that no unity government can be formed without that collective.

Unfortunately, many people will still disagree with my political calculations but those who have been on the field can clearly see that the expectations of the electorate is to have a northern president for 2019.

Very importantly, we must understand that the electorate must always be included in our political calculations. I have heard many people say it is unfortunate to think of picking a young northerner to contest against the two older contestants from the north (President Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar) while all the southern contenders give their full support to that northerner as we break the system. But when it came to selecting a running mate, all the southern contestants picked a northerner as a running mate. If it is solely about competence then how come no candidate chose another southerner as a running mate? This is not ‘rocket science’ but clearly a case of wrong political calculations. If this were the 2023 election I would have supported one of my friends representing the south with ease because I believe in their competence.

I really do not know how we think we can have a unity government or unite our people if respected and knowledgeable individuals like Dr. Christopher Kolade will call for a ‘Third Force’ meeting with young Presidential Candidates to find a consensus but failed to extend invitation to all other young northern contestants. Was this third force against the north? I was born a northerner, I did not choose to be a northerner and I hold no one any apology for this fact. This to me was unrealistic but to make matters worse those meetings he held with all southern candidates still could not produce a consensus. I had already built relationships with most of the individuals at Kolade’s meetings but none of them deemed it fit to mention to him other fine patriots they had met on the field. This sends very wrong signals. Could this be a plot against the north? Or is this an indication that the northerners they had met on the field including myself are not educated or do not have the competence? Or is this just the ethnic card playing out? I have heard many say the north believes in a born-to-rule mentality, if it is true would I have agreed to attend every single meeting I have been invited to and insist on inviting my southern patriots if the organizers are from the north? Nigeria is truly in a terrible state when it comes to how we see ourselves and most of the smiles on the faces of those you think are enlightened are all surface dressing. I have always mentioned that ‘Hate is not the first enemy of Love, it is Fear…. because fear destroys our ability to Trust’. I have made myself very available so that I dispel that fear and promote some trust in our hearts but it seems many of us have our minds already made up.
Or could it just be a coincidence that the media, which are mostly controlled by the South, have deliberately exempted me from interviews and debates? I know how some concerned individuals have protested on my behalf that I am invited for interaction and I am thankful to my team and advisers on our policies and view points as none of these interviews we have attended hasn’t clearly distinguished our smart deeply thought through approach to handling some of our most pressing issues around the economy, agriculture, job creation, housing, security, the almajiri menace, healthcare, youth empowerment, education, adoption of data management systems but most importantly reorienting the mindsets of our people.
I got Adamu Garba’s number and called him up to have lunch with me. I must confess that the young man is one smart individual. His choice of political party was also a smart one.

Unfortunately, the same young Nigerians who happen to belong to the same political party he declared for, who have always clamored for a young candidate did not support him and so the overwhelming strength of the party deciders undermined the continuity of his presidential ambition. We still maintain our political friendship till date.

...to be continued

CONCLUSION: CONSENSUS BUILDING

A fine patriot the Presidential Candidate of YES Party, Mr. Alistair Soyode had called me for a meeting. I went there with my Chief of Staff, Mr. Oyinlade Adu. Soyode is a very humble and down to earth individual who has the largest black entertainment television station in Europe. Who in his own right is not a push over. The meetings we had that period with him and some memebrs of his team like; Dr. Maryam Manzo and Mrs Wunmi were mostly to form an alliance and produce a winning strategy. Soyode is one of the candidates on this race who has always been truly honest with me on his willingness to produce a consensus candidate that will bring us a good win.

My dear friend Mr. Mathias Tsado who I speak to regularly on the phone had called me and requested we sat down for a meeting in December, 2018. I obliged and we had a meeting at the Piano Lounge in Transcorp Hilton Abuja. He spoke very honestly on the need to support a candidate from the northern extraction who is a nationalist but most importantly had the financial capacity to deliver a presidential campaign in Nigeria. He suggested that I visit Mr. Gbenga Olawepo Hashim. I called Mr. Hashim and we agreed to meet in his office (note: in all the meetings and visits made I am always the one going out to meet them)
Unlike most candidates like Fela Durotoye who will be waiting for someone to broker a consensus meeting, I have reached out to every single contender with a clear indication that I do not have all the answers but collectively we could find a solution. Today some individuals claim that they have always made themselves available for possible consensus meetings but have forgotten that they deliberately avoided meeting when they were reached out to.

I still commend Kingsley Moghalu despite his lack of political understanding he responded to my call for a meeting between both of us. I told him we needed to form a synergy, the kind of synergy that will create a spark in the political space. In my words, I told him I have unreserved respect for his economic understanding but based on the expectations of the electorate let us join hands and shock the political space and run an Ahmed Buhari/Kingsley Moghalu ticket. Integrate our policies, strategies and our teams. I also added that even if we do not succeed in 2019, we reverse the presentation and give the people a Kingsley Moghalu/Ahmed Buhari ticket in 2023. Unfortunately, Kingsley was mostly focused on the fact that he was older, more experienced and more educated. But you see, on making political decisions these elements are important but not totally the determinants of the people’s choices.

I told him the synergy will not guarantee a win but it would have given him the opportunity to debate Professor Yemi Osinbajo and Mr. Peter Obi on what will be the biggest debate ever on the Nigerian Political stage. But Kingsley didn’t see it as so. He quickly interjected that he finds the zoning topic unfortunate. My Chief of Staff who was present at this meeting then asked him why he had settled for a running mate from Kano State and not a competent individual from the South? He said; to strike a balance. I laughed and told him, my dear Prof… that is zoning. Kingsley then told me that he knows he will win the 2019 elections and that I am welcome to join his team. We shook hands and called it a night.

At this point I was slowly concluding that most of these candidates knew their races were not going to produce a victory but to build political capital against the 2023 elections. Sadly, they were clearly undermining a great chance that would have changed the entire tempo.

I still found to called yet another presidential candidate Mr. Emmanuel Etim and agreed to have lunch together. I waited for over an hour and then placed my order, as I was really famished. I finished lunch still rested for a bit and eventually Etim arrived with an apology for his lateness. We exchanged pleasantries and couldn’t talk much as time was already far spent. I was happy he showed up because the end goal is to build political relationships.
As we all managed to keep up the tempo, another fine patriot who still believed in the need to have a consensus candidate called for another meeting. Dr. Ayodele Favor despite all odds, he took his time to beg candidates to reconvene. The meeting was set for 10:00am that fine morning in Lagos but up until 10:30am the Chairman of that meeting Professor Wole Soyinka who was present at exactly 10:00am was unhappy that many invited candidates had not showed up and requested we kicked off the meeting. During his speech he clearly mentioned that two other candidates had previously met with him some months ago seeking his support for the mission they had embarked on and that he clearly could see that they didn’t have what it took to resolve our impending problems. He did mention however that he sensed their true passion but didn’t think they were ready. He even added that one of them in a recent interview he was watching goofed, as he couldn’t respond to very simple and direct questions asked by the journalist. He added that I am able say this without denting his ego as he is not present here with us. The meeting was attended by Dr. Felix Nicholas, Dr. Wilson Ikubese, Miss Godstime Iruabuchi, Mr. Victor Anilaja, a respresentative from Dr. Adesina Fagberon Byron, a representative from Mr. Alistair Soyode, Mr. Clement Jumbo a representative from Alhaji Mohammed Shittu and a representative from Maj. Gen. John Gbor. Mr. Fela Durotoye came 2 hours into the meeting after the departure of Professor Wole Soyinka and at about 1:30pm that afternoon we called it a day and agreed to reconvene in Abuja in two days.

In the middle of all of these, January 2019 had arrived and I got a call from Hajiya Rabi Cengiz another Presidential Candidate inviting me for yet another ‘Third Force’ meeting. I honored her call and presented myself in Abuja for the meeting. At the meeting I met with other Presidential Candidates like; Dr. Onwubuya Breakforth, Professor Jerry Gana, Dr. Davidson Isibor Akhimen, Dr. Obadiah Mailafia, Maj. Gen. John Gbor, Mr. John Dara, Rev. Dr. Felix Johnson Osakwe and Mr. Chike Ukaegbu (the only young candidate who made it to CNN and Al-Jazeera and the youngest of us all)

In all honesty, this third force in Abuja was truly more organized, more experienced and more open as to how a consensus should be done. It was a room with more Northern candidates and I was determined to get the other half of the younger southern candidates on board so that we not only show that as young people we were ready but also that we had the competence but most importantly to strike that balance of age, ethnicity and experience.

After observing the direction the old candidates in Abuja were towing, I mentioned at the next Abuja meeting with the young third force candidates organized by Dr. Ayodele Favor held at Chelsea hotel Abuja that there was another meeting going on with a sizeable number of candidates and that a possible merger will give the process more credibility for both groups. We all agreed to join them at Peneil Apartments in Wuse 2 and everybody at that meeting showed up except for Fela Durotoye’s Vice Presidential Candidate who didn’t show up and didn’t let us know why she turned it down. Some speculated that Fela asked her to stepdown from the process. Kingsley Moghalu’s vice presidential candidate and his party chairman were also present but didn’t show up for subsequent meetings?

As you read this, I am sure you are asking yourself why Omoyele Sowore is missing from all the possible consensus meetings? Well, it is obvious he believes he can do this alone.

As we proceeded everyday with series of meetings held at Peniel Apartments, more young candidates kept dropping, leaving the older candidates in charge. This was really disappointing as I could clearly see that we weren’t prepared to understand that this mission couldn’t be accomplished without the old, the young, the saints and the sinners. It has got to be a collective. And how on earth can you effect a change from the outside? We didn’t show readiness to drop our ego or step down for anyone knowing fully well that we were still going to be running a race to no where.
We had debates with the older candidates and from the young people’s perspective; only Chike Ukaegbu and myself were still present at the exercise. In all honesty, we both outshined our elders on the table. But we needed more than our ideas. We needed to pay attention to the general acceptability by the electorate and most importantly the financial strength we were bringing to the table.

In trying to find a consensus candidate, I visited Chike Ukaegbu at his office in Abuja to discuss the way forward. It was evident that he wasn’t ready to step down for any candidate and was prepared to loose alone. I respected his position and encouraged him to still attend the meetings.
I sat down many times with everyone on that table as we spoke very openly on agreeing to support a candidate. I told them I am prepared to drop my ambition and support whoever emerges if the individual can show me evidence of having the financial capacity to deliver a presidential election, the existing political structure I will merge with my followership and structure and resume campaigns with the consensus candidate but all the people on that table couldn’t prove to me that they were ready and so I honorably delivered my discontinuity speech and I took a bow.

Please can anyone say myself and my team haven’t swallowed our pride and presented ourselves to the polity?

I have never revealed all of these because I do not want us to play politics of bitterness, emotions, sentiments and sensationalism.

After all said and done, we still need to salvage our Nigeria and without over flogging our unfortunate mistakes and the eminent losses, I will go a step further by making sure our policy document gets adopted by whoever wins the 2019 Presidential Election since I can’t get into office in 2019.

After all it is about our nation.

As I have always said; this is not an AMBITION, it is a VISION.

*Ahmed Buhari*
*Presidential Candidate for the 2019 General Election under the Sustainable National Party of Nigeria.*

Very Good.

I had not read this write up when I called Obiageli Ezekwesili and Omoyele Sowore POCKET Activists.

Omoyele as I see him will be a very hard hearted leader while Oby is the type of person who never sees good in another man's idea.

Naughtysite:
Very Good.

I had not read this write up when I called Obiageli Ezekwesili and Omoyele Sowore POCKET Activists.

Omoyele as I see him will be a very hard hearted leader while Oby is the type of person who never sees good in another man's idea.

And that "Politics is mainly about individual interest with little concern for the society at large, especially within the Nigerian context", comes to play in this intrigue.