₦airaland Forum

To me, this seems like David fighting Goliath, and David winning. But it appears that most Nigerians, due to zoning/religion would prefer to see Goliath win. Even if Goliath is going to be far less effective in administering the country, bringing about progress.

So what exactly is the goal of Nigeria as a country? Is it just for show? Everyone take turns, even at the cost of progress?

na_so:
Lets be practical, the time left for campaigns is really too short for Buhari to disabuse peoples minds about the general perception on his religious leanings, and getting another muslim as running mate, even if the person is as respected as Obama, would do a serious damage to his campaign.

This is Nigeria, our voters are still largely semi-literate. The real voters are the market women, motor park boys etc. They definitely would never see it the june12 way. Abiola was such a unique character, that his acts in philiantropy adequately worked for him. People generally saw him as a good , rich man with a unique grass-to-grace story and hence willing to help the needy.

May be i should not be saying all these to make the buhari camp wiser. I am a GEJ supporter, the more mistakes the opposition makes the better GEJ's chances.

I see. At least now I understand why Nigeria is not doing well as a country. It isn't just the politicians alone. With no offense to you all here who are no doubt more enlightened, it appears that many of its people are voting to make the country worse  

Anyway, maybe the ACN should field Buhari and some SS or SE man, then. . .

stranger:
roughly 40% of SWers

So if faced between the option of:

Buhari/Fashola

GEJ/Sambo

40% of SW voters will choose the latter over the former? Just purely due to religion? Despite the fact that the former choice would be far more effective at the actual job of governining the country, fixing the economy, raising the international prestige of the country?

If this is the case, I will accept it. But to me, it seems insane.

stranger:
@ Dapobear

Therein lies why it would be unfair to have a Yorubaman as Buhari's VP!
Again, you have to be very practical
Think broadly
It will do SW a lot of good if we can be patient for our turn. Support others now, so they can support us when we need them
This is the reality.

This aspect of Nigerian politics is soooo silly. If it is the reality on the ground that every is pro zoning/rotation, fine, I'll live with that. But to be quite honest, it has lowered my opinion of Nigeria as a country if that is the case. Political office should be taken by the BEST/SMARTEST/ most astute, not zoned, affirmative action-style.

If Buhari and the ACN can defeat the incumbent PDP, what right does anyone from the SS or SE to cry foul play? It is silly. With all the advantages that the PDP has as a party, they can also basically get to use zoning to stay in office?

So you are telling me that no matter how clever I am, no matter how good I'd be as a candidate, I cannot run in certain years because I'm from the wrong ethnic group? That this year is the SEs turn, or the SSs turn?

If that is the case, then that really changes my feeling about Nigeria a lot.

na_so:
A muslim/muslim ticket will not fly. Forget the June12 story, a lot of us hardly knew that MKO was a muslim, but when you now have a buhari that has been tarred with the "zealot's" brush(right or wrong), then it would be political suicide to do a muslim/muslim ticket.

Why do people keep saying this? Who is not going to fly among? Look, me personally, I will never vote for a FANATICAL Muslim type. But a moderate, Westernized Muslim like Fashola? Guys like him are ordinary, sane, and not going to cause any religious harm. It makes no sense to me that people would be against a ticket like that.

na_so:
Secondly, either you believe it or not the VP is in a strategic position to succeed the president, then you can be sure that the general suspicion of the SE and SS that other tribes that the core north and the SW want to colonise the presidency for generations would resurface. The best bet would have been say a buhari/peter obi combo that has the blessing of the ACN.

Hrm, I see. Yeah, thanks for making it crystal clear to me about this aspect of it that I guess I didn't understand.

It seeems unfortunate to me that the country operates like this. Maybe the people sef of Nigeria believe in zoning, rather than more open politics?

If ACN and Buhari are able to beat the mighty PDP with all of their machinery, it seems pretty unfortunate that some would paint that as colonization or a North/SW plot  

Really lame. So Buhari/Yorubaman ticket would be viewed as colonization/injustice/unfair? Again, really lame, this Nigerian mentality.

stranger:
Says who?
You are grossly underestimating Buhari?

He is going to deliver the North, which is a bigger bargaining chip than the SW
And who says, he needs a Yorubaman as his vice to deliver the SW

Again, he cannot win nationally if he doesn't have some southern region. Why would they just give him the ticket for free? They will extract concessions, otherwise they are mumus. And say what you will about the ACN, but I don't believe that they are fools.

Tell me why the ACN will support Buhari for free.

You'd be surprised that most SWers actually like the guy to death
I have never met a Yorubaman above the age of 35 who does not like Buhari, he is that popular in the SW

Maybe it depends on who you know. The Yoruba I talk to about politics don't like him, at all. In any case, I doubt he can win the SW without help.

And most Yorubas believe in the spirit of fairness, I for one will rather vote for someone from the SS/SE as Buhari's vice, than have another Yorubaman play second fiddle to Buhari

What does fairness have to do with this? I'm not opposed to selecting someone from the SS/SE, but why would it be "unfair" not to do so? Just because the PDP mandates some sort of rotation/zoning doesn't mean the ACN is obliged to follow the same.

Don't forget that in Nigeria politics, as in most advanced democracies around the world, the VP slot is a very useless slot. The first lady is more powerful than the VP (after all, Hilary Clinton was more powerful than Al Gore, when Bill was the president)

It really truly depends on the personalities involved. Hillary Clinton was NOT stronger than Al Gore, that is revisionism. She dramatically raised her political profile AFTERWARDS, when she became Senator in NY, ran for public office.

Also, what of Bush/Cheney? Cheney was quite strong.

^-- That is not what the ACN appears to be envisioning in this arrangement:

Buhari and his associates in the CPC have always insisted on 'alliance' that would give Buhari the presidential slot so that the ACN will produce his running mate. But the ACN had insisted on 'merger' until the time for that elapsed based on the electoral laws.

A high level source in the ACN told Daily Trust that the last thing the ACN will agree to is an 'alliance' with the CPC. The source said it does not have to be a merger so long as it is not an alliance. The fusion he said could be in a name change, "even if it is something like ACPC."

He said the ACN is sceptical about entering into a merger agreement with Buhari because many of the members still believe that he is not yet "democratically domesticated enough" to be trusted to handle an alliance of different parties after winning an election. The fear is that General may not be accessible after election.

"But if we are all in the same political party, there is always a National Executive Committee [NEC] to call him [Buhari] and say look we want this, we don't want this," he said.

Does that sound like a party that will just give Buhari lord and mastery over Nigeria? Does it sound like a party which will allow the VP position to be toothless?

If this partnership happens with Buhari, it will happen on ACN terms.

As I said earlier, that past VP candidates were toothless doesn't mean that this next one will be.

Eziachi:
I don't know how some of you think.
Why would Fashola, people like you kept telling us how brilliant he is with Lagos, would leave that to become a Nigerian vice president that doesn't know what his job is, except representing the president at funerals and weddings?
Why would Fashola leave Lagos where he is the guy and go to Abuja, where he will become one of the guys?

1) The VP position doesn't need to be weak, it is what you make of it, and depends a lot on your own strength/intelligence as an individual.
2) In a situation in which Buhari ascends to office through SW votes and on an ACN ticket, then it can be very strong.
3) Moreover, Fashola has proven himself (imo) to be a very effective administrator. He wouldn't be just a wall ornament (like GEJ was under Yar'Adua); he'd play a strong role in setting specific policy.
4) Fashola presents himself well. He is very good at giving interviews that give off a "technocrat" vibe. If Fashola is VP, when CNN comes to do interviews to be broadcast internationally, they'll talk with him. When it comes time to do interviews or rub shoulders with Obama and leaders of other nations, with all due respect to Buhari, Fashola can and will also be sought out by the them, above and beyond what ordinary VPs are due. He simply will not be your typical ornamental VP.
5) Finally, after the 8 years as VP are up and with a job well done in improving Nigeria, increasing his prestige both nationally and internationally, he can then contest for presidency. Again, the man will only be 56 years old 8 years from now.

Another thing I like about this is that we can also then groom someone else in Lagos for national positions. Fact of the matter is that the ACN needs to grow its base of serious candidates. Moving Fashola up to VP gives an opportunity to someone else in Lagos to prove himself. Keeping the pipeline of talent moving serves the interests of the ACN party and Nigeria more generally, imo.

EDIT: minor typos fixed

I also agree with violent. Imports are bad for Nigeria. If you are afraid of smugglers, then TIGHTEN up border security. Just don't give up on the problem. Those here who are advocating imports are also advocating slavery and bondage for Nigeria

blacksta:
Please explain  - cause SH Reporter have not written anything on Lagos  - I assume you are refering to the recent encounter with BRF

It was more of a general comment, not really specific to this particular post or Lagos. I just prefer the take-no-prisoners style of SR to the sycophantic approach taken by some other papers.

ayobamioje:
Wikileaks website is experiencing a huge DOA attack ( denial of access attack) currently. It's hard to connect to it. However, whatever people says about you, but behind you, though reveals their mind about a matter but doesn't necessarily dictates their subsequent actions.
Wikileaks stand for no good but evil, unless they expose other nations secret cables too.

From Twitter: http://twitter.com/wikileaks

wikileaks WikiLeaks
We are currently under another DDOS attack.
1 hour ago Favorite Retweet Reply

wikileaks WikiLeaks
Chinese government issues censorship order for WikiLeaks http:///hZlNO help us fight: http:///hZlW4

I doubt that these two items are unconnected.

~Bluetooth:
what's funny about this ? Don't you hav respect for the dead ?

I did not intend to disrespect the dead. Still, there would be no need for my possibly disrespectful comment if he'd just done a  competent job in office. There is no reason for Nigeria to be made the laughing stock of its peers  Is competent management really too much to ask for? Even these Commonwealth guys think that Yar'Adua and Nigeria underachieved. Again, people are looking for Nigeria to take a strong leadership role in not only Africa, but in the rest of the world. But we keep selecting incompetent leaders who cannot step up to the duties Nigeria has to the world.

Why was Yar'Adua sitting there silent at these meetings, versus Obasanjo who took an active leadership role? The country should be progressing, not regressing.

opuro:
just hear yourself
make dem fight for aso rock for night
say dem no go take am abi?

have you ever been to abuja?,
have you ever visited aso rock at night?
if yes, am sure you will not be yapping like this

Pretty much. I'm sure they feared for their lives. Even in a country like America, if a politician tries to bribe me in his den (and his security armed with guns), I'll fear for my safety. Not to talk of Nigeria, late at night, with not just a politician, but the president.

Nobody wan die oh

The site's search capabilities don't seem to be great right now. So I used google, just entering the input "nigeria site:cablegate.wikileaks.org" into google.

Came up with this one too:
http://cablegate.wikileaks.org/cable/2010/02/10ABUDHABI97.html

¶2. (S/NF) AbZ began by expressing pride in the US-UAE 123 agreement
and the bilateral relationship generally.  According to AbZ, the
123 is a powerful example for the region and provides a transparent
alternative to Iran's nuclear model.  The UAE views Iran as a huge
problem that goes far beyond nuclear capabilities.  Iranian support
for terrorism is broader than just Hamas and Hizballah.  Iran has
influence in Afghanistan, Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Eastern
Province of KSA, and Africa (AbZ mentioned Nigeria specifically).
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez have close, cooperative ties.  If Iran acquires nuclear
weapons, the expeditionary aspect of its foreign policy will become
ever more challenging for neighboring states.

Questions:
A) Who is this group in Nigeria which Iran has influence over?
B) Is this group militant in nature?
C) What connection is there between the recent Iranian military shipments that were found in Lagos and supposedly meant for Gambia, and whoever is being supported by Iran in Nigeria?
D) What is Iran getting out of this arrangement?


I don't want to leap to speculation, but I think this is worth thinking about further.

^--- Good work!

We need to be watching this website every day to see what new comes up.

From your link:

Nigeria
-------

¶5. (C) The Commonwealth is also keeping a watchful eye on Nigeria, Banerji noted, as it is “punching well below its weight” and President Yar’Adua’s sudden death has the potential to prompt a constitutional crisis. The Commonwealth would like to see Nigeria more active in the region and in the Commonwealth across the board. Banerji noted that Yar’Adua did not make a single intervention at the last CHOGM, contrasting sharply with former President Obsanjo
LONDON 00001385 002 OF 002
who had been active in Commonwealth affairs.

Yar'adullard

This is why we cannot afford to elect morons to the presidency. Nigeria cannot afford to keep "punching well below its weight" 

The nations of the world want Nigeria to take a more active leadership role, but we did not take up the mantle offered.

Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, on Monday gave a hint that he might dissolve the 30 local governments in the state.

Perfect! Cut down on administration costs and bloated bureaucracy. But it needs to be done in a way that doesn't impoverish the existing overpaid employees of the state. My suggestion to him is to slowly downsize the gov't, and force existing gov't employees to earn their keep. We cannot afford to be spending X dollars in salary for guys who only contribute a tiny fraction of X back to the economy. If you want to keep your gov't job, Mr Arebesola will hopefully extract at least X in value from you, ideally more than that.

Addressing a large gathering of journalists and members of his party, the Action Congress of Nigeria, in Osogbo, the state capital on Monday, Aregbesola also faulted the collection of an N18.3bn loan by the former administration of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola

The Poverty Development Party strikes again! What business do they have collecting such large loans in states with very poor internally generated revenue figures?

The governor described a piece of advice by ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo that Osun and Oyo states should end their joint ownership of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso as ‘wicked and unfair.’

This I'm not sure I agree with. I feel like the state govts are involved in too much business that is best left in private hands. But I don't have enough information to support or condemn Aregbesola's position one way or another.

The governor urged supporters of his party not to bear any grudge against officials of the ousted PDP-led government.

Quite clever, Mr Aregbesola

The governor also promised to make radical changes in the educational system in the country, especially at the tertiary level. He decried the exorbitant fees being charged by the University of Osun as well as the inability of indigent Nigerians to send their children to LAUTECH.

Eh, now this I'm not so sure of. Yes, we need to keep costs down. But the "exorbitant fees" are probably representative of how much it costs to educate a child. Good things in life don't come cheaply, and education also in general is going to cost a lot of money. If you force the University of Osun and LAUTECH to lower their fees too much, will that not make both institutions financially insolvent?
This type of problem must be attacked on both ends. You need to reduce costs, but also raise money for the students to go to college.

Aregbesola said his administration would complete the proposed international airport at Ido-Osun near Osogbo

Err, this I'm not completely sure about  It is only like a 3-4 hr drive from Lagos to Osun.  Is it really worth spending gov't resources on this, right now? Should be lower on the priority list.

PhysicsQED:
I think that that's a massive understatement. If you read the Omoigui's article.

I read it, yes. But was trying to avoid throwing my hero completely under the bus, lol 

Uhh, I don't know if you actually read what I posted but  it wasn't fear. Discrimination in infrastructural development based on ethnicity, use of tax funds for development based on ethnicity, language use in government, representation in key decision making, discrimination in awarding scholarships based on ethnicity, developing rubber in the West and holding up development of rubber in the Midwest when it had been the rubber center of the whole country (and still is), and discrimination in road construction based on ethnicity isn't what I would call sparking fears of domination. That's called discrimination. You don't counter it by "assuaging feelings." You counter it by stopping it or letting the region have autonomy.

Indeed. Simply put, he f*cked up. You do not antagonize minorities in that way.

The North and the Middle Belt have religious and cultural unity. Furthermore, with regard to how the North has influence over an area (the Middle Belt) composed of people truly different from it (despite some of the claims to the contrary on this very thread), while the West has no influence on another group of people, the Midwest, different from the West, you simply can't compare the West with the North. Truth is neither the West nor the East ever operated at the level of political competence of the North. The North was operating on the level of Uthman dan Fodio, who had argued against the preference of one tribe over another (in a very interesting short political piece I will post on this board sometime later) in the governing of an emirate and the appointment of political positions back in the 1800s.

Easy enough to argue against discrimination based on ethnicity when you belong to the minority ethnic group (Fulani) that just conquered the majority, no?

The boy and his father were puzzled and somewhat afraid at being summoned by the Sardauna apropos of nothing only to be surprised that he had actually invited them to his personal home to congratulate the boy and express how excited and overjoyed he was about a Northerner doing so well in examinations. Could we say, if we are honest with ourselves that a similar incident in another area (besides examination) could have occurred in the South, where clan pride, ethnic pride, city pride, is so enormous? Of course not.

If a genuine ally, then yes. I'm an ethnocentrist, and view certain groups in Nigeria as rivals and possibly enemies. But aside from those two groups, others can certainly be genuine, longterm allies. I don't think the comparison you are making is quite fair.

The civil war was fought after Ojukwu refused to give up the minority areas of the East to federal control. Had he done so, they would have gotten the autonomy they wanted and had it be granted by a minority like them (Gowon) without having to be "saved" by the whole North and ending up under Northern control. The East gave up the minority areas later than the West but at the cost of bloodshed and death. That's nothing to be jealous of. But with regard to that, let's see come 2011 if in fact, the Eastern minorities ever will gain real autonomy (the break up of Nigeria). Otherwise, they left decades of Enugu control, only to be subjected to decades of Kano/Sokoto/etc. control.

I'm not jealous, I'm pissed that Awolowo was maneuvered into giving up his minorities before everyone else did. And one can argue that the North hasn't given up theirs, to be honest. Ideally he'd have managed the situation better to keep the Midwest happy with the situation, not get himself locked up, and built up the Western territory properly. Something like the way Canada has in recent times managed to keep Quebec very happy, ensure enough resources go there, minimize cultural offenses, etc. Then again, I cannot blame him too much, he tried the best he knew how to do. And it is easy for me to talk about what he should have done with perfect hindsight. It is just extremely annoying that he alienated a minority group (Bini) that should have been a strong ally.

The Action Group was trying to overthrow the government (something they were apparently actually guilty of) and was blamed for violence in the Western House of Assembly (of which they were innocent) and in the Western region following election rigging (Akintola+Bello (and thus Balewa, implicitly, although he may not have been aware of it) were chiefly responsible for the rigging) against the AG.  Awolowo and some other people (such as Enahoro) as leaders of the Action Group were pinned by the government. An inquiry, in which he was denied the right to properly defend himself with a lawyer of his choosing, claimed he was trying to overthrow the government out of his insatiable and uncontrollable desire and ambition to rule Nigeria at all costs. This is really a matter for another thread though, and maybe someone like Katsumoto, who believes all the charges were trumped up charges, including the claim that the AG was trying to overthrow the government and  Awolowo was the ringleader, could answer your questions. There are others with a better grasp of the details that would suggest whether he committed treason or not than myself, though.

Yeah, I bought the civil war book you mentioned earlier and read it over the weekend. But still haven't quite found a book covering this particular period of time. Hopefully Katsumoto or someone else will suggest one.

Becomrich}:
In nigeria, what they do is run a christain/muslim or muslim/christain

Westernized Muslims are fine. I can vote for a Muslim/Muslim ticket like that. It isn't as if Fashola or Tinubu are religious zealots, sharia proponents, etc. In fact, it is hard for me to think of any nutcase Yoruba Muslims. I've never met or heard of any, though I guess they have to be some somewhere in the world.

stranger:
Even if he were to be interested in running
I still do not understand how Fashola would help/enhance Buhari''s candidacy

Either ways ACN is badluck
You cannot become the president using ACN as a platform; the whole "we sucked Awo's manliness" isnt going to fly anywhere beyond the SW.

Atiku tried it, he failed woefully.

I disagree. If the PDP alienates GEJ and the Ijaws, then the presidency is ripe for the taking with a Buhari/Fashola ticket. Why will GEJ help them rig elections if they won't let him be president, for example?

Atiku failed because nobody likes or trusts him. If you are a northerner, you'll vote anybody halfway decent over him. Buhari >>>> Atiku in the North.

Kobojunkie:
correction -- a lot of Baggage.

Fashola has made it clear that he has no intentions of running.

Then we need to launch a campaign to draft him. DraftFashola.com? Your country needs you!

stranger:
He infact did commit murder in Lagos state, so many innocent victims killed that he got away with.
The guy is ruthless.

He is a drug baron. Made his money from drugs
He is very well known in the Chicago area.  .  .  Google Tinubu drug and read the FBI report on him.

Have you seen pictures of Tinubu's mansions in Nigeria.
Tinubu is a pig. Like I said, he wouldnt survive the scrutiny on his private life

Did you not remember how Gani Fawehinmi almost derailed his tenure as governor of Lagos-State?
Even his partner incrime, Afikuyomi, will advise you not to run with him
No sane politician will run with Tinubu. None! Nada!.

Everything about him is fake
If Tinubu tells you something, best not believe it. Nothing about his true.

He does not even know who his mother is?
Always lying, and he is a woman beater as well

So many baggage.
Again forget about Tinubu

I googled and read. It looks like he laundered money. But he was intelligent enough not to get directly involved. He was just the guy washing the money clean. He didn't sell the drugs himself, probably didn't even consume it. I don't see how money laundering is any worse than bribing US Congressmen.
Tinubu was never jailed, and still visits the US. If he were indeed wanted by the US, he'd have been arrests or locked up. Like I said, he was very clever in ensuring that he wasn't involved in a way that could be tied directly to him.

Anyway, if he has all those other personality flaws and commited murder in Lagos, then sure, he is not suitable. But nobody can tell me that money laundering is worse than bribing a US congressman.

Ruthlessness in and of itself is no sin. Nigeria is a jungle that requires ruthlessness and cunning to survive and prosper in.

I love SaharaReporters. They understand that the media cannot be too buddy buddy with gov't. The media is supposed to be the watchdog of the public.

reporter?:
If Buhari choses the right candidate from AC as his running mate, say someone like Fashola who a lot of people admire, he could win it all.
Buhari will undoubtedly sweep the majority of the North, and AC will deliver SW, EdO, a big chunk of Kwara, and part Kogi.

If Atiku wins the PDP primaries, he'll win some middle belt states and SE, and lose at least half of SS in the general elections and the rest of the nation.
Combination of Buhari and AC will definitely give PDP a good run.  This is the best option for Buhari to get the much needed Southern alliance, without it Buhari is dead in water.

The best option for PDP at this point is Jonathan, he is the only electable candidate they have.

I am fine with Fashola moving up too. He has a great track record, and is young enough to succeed Buhari.

Really, all I want the ACN to do is to field the strongest ticket possible. Not some weakling Ribadu ticket. If we actually fight hard, we can beat the PDP, I think. Putting out Ribadu means we aren't even trying to compete.

EDIT: Fashola is only 47 years old. Which is perfect. . .

@fstranger: What crimes did Tinubu commit that were worse than bribing a US Congressman?

Did Tinubu commit murder somewhere and escape scot free?

Anyway, I understand your point about Tinubu's temperment/influence not being what it should be. But if it is just about crimes commited, I doubt he is worse than Atiku.

BTW, have you seen pictures of Atiku's mansion in Potomac? Like I said, I doubt Tinubu is any dirtier than Atiku.

Yeah, I dunno what the deal is with this constant misspelling of another ethnic group. Show some basic respect by spelling it correctly.

Atiku is buddies with a disgraced Lousiana politician who was arrested and caught with enormous amounts of money hidden in his freezer. Yet he has a very good chance of winning the PDP ticket.

I don't see how Tinubu is any worse than Atiku.

If I had the choice I'd much rather pick a Buhari/Tinubu ticket over an Atiku one.

@fstranger: Fair enough.

@fstranger: Think of the practical benefits. If you support this ticket and it wins, the power of the PDP is absolutely broken in the country. Not only that, but Buhari cannot become president without some southern group supporting him. If the SW supports him, then that causes the relationship between Buhari and Tinubu to be one almost of equals.

And as I said earlier, Buhari is a very old man. Tinubu on the other hand is only 58. Surely you see the possibilities here? In theory, 8 years of Buhari and then 8 years of Tinubu afterwards is highly, highly possible.

Remember, it would not be the PDP and their idiotic zoning rules calling the shots any more.

Why not at least try this ticket? We all know that Ribadu has no real chance of winning. This one can give the PDP a real run for its money. At the very least, it sucks away resources that they'd use elsewhere, maybe causing them to lose some governorships. When you fight a battle, you attack your enemy in as many ways as possible.

Also, it is becoming quite clear that the PDP primary will be a bloody (figuratively) contest. Maybe Atiku and GEJ will weaken each other so much that there will be an opening for another group to take away both of their lunches.

stranger:
Who is going to vote for Tinubu, those area boys that Fashola is trying to get rid off?
Tinubu, except for when he ran for Senate, has never won any elction in Nigeria
He lost the 2003 election to Funsho Williams

Again, how is he going to deliver SW
Who is going to vote for him?

Me, I dislike Tinubu but dislike Atiku even more. So I easily vote for Buhari/Tinubu over Atiku/Igboman.

I like GEJ more than I like Tinubu, but it is clear that it is quite a bit more useful if ACN captures the presidency.

You have to leave sentiment aside and think practically. This is a game of power. I'm willing to swallow any dislike I have for Buhari and Tinubu if it achieves certain objectives.

Tinubu CAN deliver the Southwest, and without rigging votes, even. Which more appealing options are there for a SWer?

Ribadu is useless as a frontliner for your ticket. Would be a decent #2, though.

I like the Buhari/Tinubu ticket a lot. Also, Tinubu is only 58 years old. 8 years from now, he would be 66. Hrm, I would have been content with just kicking the PDP out of the Southwest this cycle. But it appears that a lot more than that is possible. . .

Buhari/Tinubu beats Atiku/Igboman, I think. Atiku will lose the North to Buhari, Tinubu will deliver the SW, the Ijaws will turn against the PDP if Goodluck is defeated. So Atiku/Igboman wins where, just the SE?

Buhari/Tinubu also can very likely beat GEJ. SS/SE are not enough.

Overall, I don't mind this ticket. Tinubu is strong enough to curtail any poor tendencies of Buhari.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201011291716.html


Talks have reached an advanced stage between the Congress for Progressive Change [CPC] and the Action Congress of Nigeria [ACN] to produce General Muhammadu Buhari as presidential candidate of a joint CPC/ACN ticket for the 2011 elections with former Lagos State governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as his running mate, top sources in both parties told Daily Trust in Abuja at the weekend. The sources denied media reports that the talks had collapsed.

High level sources in the two camps confirmed to Daily Trust the possibility of the Buhari/Tinubu ticket but said there are still challenges ahead. Our sources said that though the Tinubu associates feel the ticket is 'perfect' in view of the political strength of the two men in the North and Southwest respectively, some Buhari associates are treading cautiously to avoid compounding the 'erroneous' perception of Buhari as a religious zealot should he run on a Muslim/Muslim ticket in the election.

Some of his associates who reason against the Muslim-Muslim ticket are said to have advised that Buhari should consider picking a running mate from the Southeast. In view of this, they are said to have commenced discussions with some Igbo leaders including former vice president Alex Ekwueme. But CPC leaders who reject the Southeast running mate idea have told the General that there is at present no politician in the South East who has the standing that Asiwaju Tinubu has in the South West.

Tinubu's position was enormously enhanced in political circles by ACN's serial regaining of Edo, Ekiti and Onus states from the PDP through the courts. Even though Ondo State's Governor Olusegun Mimiko, who also toppled the PDP through the courts, officially belongs to the Labour Party, he is seen as another Tinubu ally.

A top source in the ACN who sought anonymity said the Buhari/Tinubu combination is not a serious impediment, and that Nigerians are only going to take it as "another doctrine of necessity." He said he believed that even the Christian Association of Nigeria [CAN] will welcome Tinubu's candidature because of his "sense of justice to the various religions" when he was governor of Lagos State.

The source said, "Nigerians will see it as another doctrine of necessity. We must look at Bola Ahmad Tinubu as a person that is acceptable to the Christians. As a governor, he promoted harmony among all religions. I know that there is a mosque and chapel in the Lagos government house where he ruled for eight years.

I know he returned schools to missionaries, both Muslims and Christians. So I do not see that as a serious impediment. And don't forget that there are certain parts of Nigeria, the south west in particular, where religion doesn't play too much role as a factor in politics. In south west, it is more about personality."

But even if serious talks are revived between the two groups, there are a number of tricky details to contend with. For instance, going by the electoral laws, it is now too late to do a merger of political parties. The question now has to do with the nature of agreement to be entered into, and whether such an agreement will only apply to the presidential election or across board.

Buhari and his associates in the CPC have always insisted on 'alliance' that would give Buhari the presidential slot so that the ACN will produce his running mate. But the ACN had insisted on 'merger' until the time for that elapsed based on the electoral laws.

A high level source in the ACN told Daily Trust that the last thing the ACN will agree to is an 'alliance' with the CPC. The source said it does not have to be a merger so long as it is not an alliance. The fusion he said could be in a name change, "even if it is something like ACPC."

He said the ACN is sceptical about entering into a merger agreement with Buhari because many of the members still believe that he is not yet "democratically domesticated enough" to be trusted to handle an alliance of different parties after winning an election. The fear is that General may not be accessible after election.

"But if we are all in the same political party, there is always a National Executive Committee [NEC] to call him [Buhari] and say look we want this, we don't want this," he said.

It would be recalled that a group of Democratic Peoples Party [DPP] members led by 2007 presidential candidate of the party Alhaji Attahiru Bafarawa had agreed with the then Action Congress [AC] and transformed into a new party, the ACN.

Meanwhile there are indications that General Muhammadu Buhari is under pressure within the CPC as a group of key supporters have told him that his only chance of ever becoming president lies in reaching some kind of understanding with a strong political group from the South, in particular the ACN.

Daily Trust learnt that the key allies have insisted that he must explore a working agreement with the ACN since the party has shown some interest in his candidature except if he wants "to go down in history as always being a candidate but never a president."

Buhari was said to have been challenged by the supporters during a meeting in Kaduna last Tuesday. Our source said the group appears to be succeeding as there are fresh moves to revive the stalled talks in order to find some common ground to work on.

Before now, Muhammadu Buhari's stiffness and possible sabotage by some of his close aides had made the CPC/ACN electoral understanding almost impossible, according to competent sources within both parties. The ACN even under its old name, Action Congress [AC] had never hidden its interest in working out an agreement with the two times presidential candidate of the opposition ANPP, now putative candidate of the newly formed CPC as a possible common front to dislodge the ruling PDP.

So far the effort has met with little success even as the national chairman of the ACN Chief Bisi Akande personally went to meet with the former military head of state on the same issue.

When contacted, Engr. Buba Galadima, member of the Board of Trustees of the CPC said the talks with CPC have never broken down as being speculated. He said the contact has moved to "a much higher level."

"There is greater understanding between both sides because we are naturally compatible; we are ideologically compatible and we firmly believe that there must be a change of regime come May 29, 2011. And we are all agreed that there is no sacrifice too much to make for that change to happen," he said.

National Director of Publicity of the ACN Alhaji Lai Mohammed who was contacted on telephone failed to respond to some critical questions but agreed that discussions are going on with various interest groups with a view to defeat the PDP in the 2o11 elections.

"Definitely I know there are still talks. These talks are not restricted to the two political parties. There are even people who are not politicians from all over Nigeria and are trying to talk to leaders of all political parties to come and save Nigeria from collapse. For it is clear that PDP cannot provide the true leadership Nigerians need," he said.