₦airaland Forum

naija2dabone:
The worst thing that can happen to Northern presidential aspirations in 2015 is for Buhari to be on the APC ballot.

On Friday, 23rd August, 1985, the military government of Major-General Mohammadu Buhari decided to place me under arrest. My crime was that I wrote, among others, an article entitled: “Counter-trading Nigeria’s Future” in the National Concord, exposing the government’s scam of diverting public funds into private coffers through barter-trade with Brazil. A man by the name of Benson Norman was sent from the State Security Services (SSS) to my office to get me. Not finding me, he left a note that I must present myself unfailingly at the SSS office at 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi Lagos the next Monday morning.

However, on Sunday, 25th August, 1985, Lateef Aminu came first thing in the morning to my house to inform me that the government of Buhari/Idiagbon had been overthrown. For this reason, I am fond of telling people that God brought about a change of government in Nigeria just because of me.

Coup-plotter

Under the Buhari/Idiagbon regime, once you ended up at 15 Awolowo Road, you may never be heard of again. Decree Number 2 of 1984 empowered Tunde Idiagbon to arrest and detain anybody indefinitely without trial and without legal reprieve. After Buhari was overthrown, Mohammadu Gambo opened the prison doors of 15 Awolowo Road on public television, revealing people in various stages of UnCloth and malnutrition that had been kept in the dungeons without trial by Buhari’s hound-dogs.

As self-imposed Head of State, Buhari had no regard for human rights. Immediately he seized power, he announced that he would “tamper with” the press. Soon, the infamous Decree Number 4 was promulgated which made even the publication of the truth a punishable offence. Under this cover, Buhari jailed innocent journalists, including Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabo. He abolished civil liberties, promulgated retroactive decrees enabling him to kill Nigerians through jungle justice, proscribed civil society organizations and professional groups and exercised “absolute” power.

This same Buhari would now have us believe that he has gone through some metamorphosis and has become a democrat. I am sure you will forgive me if people like me don’t believe him. Buhari is not, has never been, and will never be, a democrat. Only in Nigeria would a man with his track record, who came to power through a military coup that illegally overthrew a democratic government, now be acclaimed as a democrat. It is on record that Buhari’s military regime is the only one in Nigeria’s history that failed to promulgate a program for return to civilian rule.

Facts and fiction

So what exactly qualifies Bihari as a democrat today? Precious little! There is nothing democratic about forming and joining political parties just in order to be the presidential candidate. Little wonder then that Buhari’s parties have a short shelf-life. Buhari would like to be Nigeria’s head of state once again. He can no longer achieve this through the barrel of a gun. The only route now open to him is through the democratic process. That is the reason why he now conveniently fashions himself as a democrat. It is merely a means to an end; no more, no less.

Buhari’s reputation as an anti-corruption crusader is also a myth. As head of state, he did not make any dent in Nigerian corruption. All we got was a cosmetic “war against indiscipline.” The counter-trade scam happened under his watch. Rather than deal with it, he sent his hound-dogs after nonentities like me who dared to expose it. That scam was no different, in scope and scale, from the petroleum subsidy and other corruption scandals that have since plagued Nigeria. The Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) that Buhari headed under Abacha was also a citadel of corruption. While Buhari himself might not have enriched himself, his cronies and those who worked under him did so handsomely.

On three different occasions, Buhari has run for the presidency. On three different occasions he has failed. That should really be enough. If, as seems likely, he were to run for the presidency a fourth time in 2015, there is no question that he would fail yet again. Try as he might again and again, Mohammadu Buhari can never be President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Buhari’s sectarianism

There is a fundamental reason behind this. Buhari is a lousy politician. He is an unbending former military dictator and not a democratic consensus-builder. Like his new ally, Bola Tinubu, Buhari is a regional, sectional politician. Such politicians are practically impossible to package and market nationally in the ethnically-delicate Nigeria of today.

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir El’Rufai, one of those Northerners who deserve to be serious contenders for the presidency of Nigeria, observed that Buhari remains “perpetually unelectable” as a result of his “insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus.” This is an elegant way of saying that politically, Buhari has an uncanny tendency to put his foot in his mouth. He talks before thinking of the political implications of his words. He shoots from the hip.

The strength of Obasanjo, which enabled him to capture the presidency on two different occasions, was that he was perceived as a broadminded politician, not overly partial to his people in the South-West. As a matter of fact, in his first election, his people did not want him. The strength of Goodluck Jonathan, which propelled him to win the presidency, was that he was able to string together a coalition that stretched both north and south of the Niger. The weakness of Buhari is that he is totally unacceptable to people outside his region.

Buhari is a Northern regional champion. As head of state in the 1980’s, his government was unapologetically Northern. No attempt was made to balance the ticket at the top. It was the only regime in Nigeria’s history headed by two Northerners. When he seized power, Buhari put Shagari, the Northern head of state he overthrew, under house arrest. But then he jailed Alex Ekwueme, the Southern vice-president. You may well ask what makes Shagari less culpable for the misdeeds of the Second Republic than his number-two man. The simple fact was that Buhari was Fulani as was Shagari; but Ekwueme was Igbo.

Impolitic words

At the height of the Sharia debate during the Obasanjo administration, Buhari declared that Muslims should vote only for fellow Muslims. This was politically suicidal for a man seeking national office. He became an advocate for implementation of Sharia all over Nigeria. He protested to the Oyo State governor, in the context of a dispute between Fulani herdsmen and indigenous farmers in the state, that “your people are killing my people.” This turned out to be unfounded and perhaps the reverse.

His threats during the campaign for the 2011 elections incited widespread violence in the North after he lost. His supporters went on a rampage; looting and killing; in spite of the fact that, by all accounts, the elections were adjudged the most free and fair in the history of Nigeria’s current democratic experiment. By the time the mayhem had subsided, over 1000 people had been slaughtered in cold blood and some 65,000 displaced.

Forgetting that a statement made in Hausa would readily be translated into English, Buhari later declared unapologetically in a BBC interview: “If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.” These are the tokens of an irresponsible politician, whose ambitions for power supersede the national interest. Who then are the dogs and baboons that Buhari has in mind to soak in blood if and when he loses yet again come 2015? Are they his children or are they those of others?

With the Boko Haram insurgency in the north, Buhari played to the Northern gallery yet again, calling the Jonathan government “the biggest Boko Haram.” Wole Olaniyi was a fly in the wall at a meeting in Kano Government House designed to persuade PDP rebel governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to decamp to the APC. Assuming that only Northerners were present, Buhari declared the Boko Haram was a “strategic plan” by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to “destroy the North.” When Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, Buhari still saw this with Northern goggles, insinuating that the President is waging war on the North.

President of the North

Without a doubt, Buhari has massive support in the North. Indeed, he is the most popular Northern politician in the North today. But that precisely remains his undoing at the centre. The more he has been identified as a Northern champion, the less attractive he has become as a national choice. Even in the North, his support base is limited to the Muslim population. He does not appeal to Northern Christians. Then there is the added factor of the opposition of his implacable opponents among the Northern elite. Men like Babangida and Atiku would rather die than allow Buhari get to Aso Rock.

One thing is certain, the South-South and the South-East will not vote for Buhari in 2015. Not only that; there are no buyers for Buhari’s sectarian politics in the South-West. No matter what Tinubu might be telling him, the people of the South-West will not vote for Buhari in 2015. We already had the template in 2011, when Buhari tried to sell himself, first by balancing his ticket with a Yoruba man; and then by making sure the Yoruba man is a Christian; a pastor no less. But it just did not wash. It will not work in 2015.

The worst thing that can happen to Northern presidential aspirations in 2015 is for Buhari to be on the APC ballot. That is a sure guarantee that the North will not be providing the next president. Buhari would be a shoo-in in an election for president of Northern Nigeria. But in an election encompassing the entire country, the best he can envisage is to be a kingmaker. He cannot be king. The nearest Buhari will get to Aso Rock in 2015 is by attending the Council of State meetings.

pendy79:
yea, I'm the boko lover that command the Nigeria Military from going all out to exterminate the Boko boys for 8 years and counting.

I'm the Boko lover that have the 2nd Largest Military Budget in Africa but can't fizzle out how a ragtag bunch of undisciplined and ill-fed boys are holding the whole Nation to ransom for over five years.

I'm the boko lover that went on a campaign jamboree a day after a terrorist attack few miles away from my seat of power.

I'm the Boko Lover that said Boko Haram has infiltrated my Government and yet no scapegoat or arrest of any fifth columnist.

I'm the Boko Lover that went on a security meeting on ending the Boko insurgency with a neighbouring President and had an alleged sponsor and brainchild of Boko seated in the presidential discuss.

I'm the Boko Lover that is the commander-in-chief who said and I quote "terrorism is a global thing, Boko Haram is just our own share of it"

I'm the Boko Lover who have the Department of state security, The Nigeria Army, the Nigerian Airforce, The Nigeria Navy and the Nigeria police Force at my beck and call to deploy within a second but prefer to use them forcefully and with prejudiced and bias against Opposition Elements in Osun and Ekiti state since the election in the South West is of National Interest and importance than the rescue of Innocent schoolgirls six months after their abductions.

I'm the Boko Lover who has a budget of 952Billion Naira in one year yet I need a new loan of 160Billion Naira more to buy the arms/ammunitions the 952Billion Naira could not buy in 8months.

I'm the Boko Lover who used a private jet to ferry a foreigner and 2 unscrupulous Nigerians to buy a meager 10m$ arms/ammunition from a non existing company in SA that has no license to deal in Arms despite the fact my Country is a Member of the Highest Body in the United Nations (the Security council) but because I see myself as no bigger than terrorist groups like ISIL or the Mexican drug cartels or Pariah States like like North Korea or Iran, I supposedly gave approval for covert arm purchase for a country that has the Largest Military Contribution to United Nations keeping forces in Africa.

You would see my love of Boko from the above. Shekau the idi.ot with Nine Lives is from my Maternal Uncle side.


If you wanna quote me next time, I will implore you to come intelligent, sound and with all your faculties intact.

Chicheey:
Let this people go to Borne and protest or is GEJ responsible for kidnapping those woman(they r no more girls by now).#Foolish people#.

pixtuk:
These people can really be annoying o.....next will be at jonathan home town.

Chicheey:
This is annoying.why can't the parents of these chibok whatever reject the money giving to them by FG and but they are here crying fowl

pixtuk:
These people can really be annoying o.....next will be at jonathan home town.

phoneport:
Am perplexed and vexed at how Nigerians reason, behave and even talk offline and online. Expecially on social media platform like facebook, twitter, and forums like Nairaland, and I still do not know the reason behined all the beefing, hate, death treats, cursing, and even senseless insult at G.E.J.
His he the author or genesis of Nigeria`s nemesis?
Dumbest question. Was he voted to feed fat on our budget? We voted him to solve Nigeria's problems not aggravate them.

Why do frustrated Nigerians always vent their anger on G.E.J?
Is he responsible for NEPA turned PHCN, Bad roads, Boko Haram, Corruption, Militancy, etc.

Your parents as Nigerians must be frustrated too hence you generalisation.
That you have uninterrupted power supply in your gra does not mean every other Nigerian does. As for the bad roads, take a ride twice in a week along lokoja-okene road and u'll find out how many ppl die on that road due to the badroad.

Why do Nigerians hate Jonathan so much?
Who among us is "A Righteous Man"?

pendy79:
Bia nwoke! I posted about buhari inviting people for his declaration! You're talking about saraki holding Kwara people to ramson. If Kwarans deem it fit to perpetually honour worship the sarakis how does it affect you as an individual? Peter obi singlehandedly installed obiano, ibori installed his cousin but in your bias and jaundiced mind it is that of the sarakis you saw and worried about. I'm sure he's not holding the populace by putting a gun to their heads.

Tinubu met Lagos with an IGR of about 6billion Naira and left it hitting 20billion Naira monthly. I'm from itunpate in Ikorodu Local government Area of lagos state and I've seen the various impact of fashola from roads to schools to courthouses to free medical care to water to brt and if tinubu being the architect of the big IGR is paid for the consultancy he is doing then I have no problem since I know how my state was and how it is now. I love the APC and the change it symbolizes. "Where man dey work na there him dey chop"

Is Obj now in APC? the onus and power to probe all the people you listed is vested in Jonathan and the PDP. The EFCC and ICPC are Agencies of the Federal Government, Don't you think it is a classic example of a dunce and da.ft government if these people you listed above as corrupt can't be made scapegoat by the Jonathan Adminstration? they are opposition elements! He can arrange for their investigation! But alas ! your commander in thief just arranged for Mohammed Abacha's freedom from corruption and money laundering investigation and court case, FFK case is dropped, Stella Oduah no case submission, Malabu Oil Scandal no case submission, Pension fund nothing yet, Ndudi elumelu case no mention again, faruk lawan did you hear anything, Patricia Etteh how far, Peter Odili (he has a [b]PERPETUAL RESTRAINING ORDER) from being probed for corrupt acts and instead of your President and EFCC to challenge such, His wife was made a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE and HE HIMSELF just received a[b] NATIONAL MERIT AWARD [/b]for being a very good and special NIGERIAN, want me to go on?.
Bros corruption wear coat for your PDP but you people will close eye to the log in your eye yet be looking at the speck in others.[/b]

You're asking the qualification of SPEAKER of the House of Representatives to be a Governor? Are you for real?

Compare the performance of your best performing governor with the least performing governor bearing in mind the resources and allocation to those states. No sane Nigerian will hope to have the PDP in Aso Rock after the 16years of wanton and daylight robbery of our commonwealth.

1shortblackboy: XMr man are some people not targeting d church? Are u not aware of All d churches being bombed, set ablaze, Christians being killed and young christain girls abducted and forcebly converted to Islam ? Yes d church is being targetd. And wen he says d church he doesn't mean his own church he means d whole christain community in Nigeria. So stop showing shallowness by asking whether he has branches of his church in maiduguri etc

kayustones: I'm on a neutral ground on this issue but I have to be candid. Most of us supporting GEJ either have religious or tribalistic sentiments. To me Nigeria has only changed for the worse ever since He stepped into power.
I'll rather vote for someone who has evident passion for his country and a never-quit spirit. Only such people can confront corruption in this country and go against all odds to see to it that Nigeria changes for the better.

Sincere9gerian: ^^ Lol.. APC attack dogs consoling one another.

Suddenly, TAN has become a house-hold name and another major pro-GEJ political battle front that is further compounding the woes of the dying APC. These days, APC's Liar Muhammed and APC online attack dogs are confused as to what to attack: whether GEJ, PDP or TAN. Lol...