₦airaland Forum

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.

donphilopus:
Ntooorrrrr!!!!

People are leaving your sinking ship o

Stay their till the sailor throw way una for water!!!

donphilopus:
Get outta here!

Osaseye sparks new war of words for the upcoming presidential election and says President Goodluck Jonathan is a specialist in failure.

diluminati:
We have all forgotten about the girls ba? why are we so wicked? in sane societies like the U.S and France, U.K etc they never forget something like this, Mexico till date have never forgotten about the 43 students and the heat is still on to this very present moment.
But what do we get in nigeria, a president who is suppose to protect those girls in the first instance, now does not even give a damn. WTF!
In sane countries, the leaders resign. Is this the curse of the black man or what?

Someone tell me what is Gej campaigning for? Has anybody asked him -- where are our girls? where are the chibok girls?

WHY IS NAIRALAND NOT REMEMBERING THE CHIBOK GIRLS BUT CAN PUT TONTO DIKES PINK PANT ON THE HOMEPAGE EVERY WEEK? WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR PSYCHE, OUR HUMANITY? HAVE WE LOST IT?

Mr President, where are the chibok girls?

“I want to appeal to the rich in the society to always remember the less-privileged in the society. There are many children without hope out there. We should come to their aid. There are boys and girls in our communities with such problem.”

Rilwayne001:
Sit down dere , those lagosians did'nt only chop jonathan, dem drink am sef.

Come [size=15pt]FEbuhari[/size], you will follow jonaTAN to Otuoke

KingEbukasBlog:
Lol at 'they trust him with their kids'.

source; http://www.kingebuka.com/2015/01/photos-nursing-mothers-bring-their.html

Rilwayne001:
Same way lagosians went to see the fo0lish drunkard who belongs to the zoo.

diluminati:
Gej being clueless is a standard. Just like being an ediot is not an insult in the U.K but a nature of a person.

It sounds ludicrous that a man who can not[size=15pt] present even a photocopy of his school certificate to the public wants to rule a country of over 500,000 professors.[/size] Or he intends introducing a system of Presenting affidavits at Job interviews.

Firefire:
I am checking to see when the news of the Armed Robbers endorsement will be release

Kundagarten:
Association of Nigerian illiterates to endorse Buhari at 2pm tomorrow.

An Abuja-based daily newspaper reported that the APC presidential [size=15pt]candidate would soon receive some millions of dollars from Arab billionaires,[/size] who had allegedly assisted in funding his campaign in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

The report also alleged that a former Oil Minister from Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Zaki Yamani, as well as some other Arab billionaires used a secret funding route to channel millions of dollars to Buhari’s campaign.

diluminati:
ochejoseph and reno omokri, you guys have failed.

You kids of 1993, you believe the lies your devious uncles tell you.

Shame on you. Your propaganda will not work.
We all know your type and have seen through the lies. Go spread your propaganda in your shytty buildupnigeria trashy blog.

Reno Omokri, hope you have found a safe place to run to, because when GMB takes over from the CLUELESS ONE, you will have no hiding place.

You better be afraid Oche Otorkpa and you Reno Omokri. Be very Afraid.

An Abuja-based daily newspaper reported that the APC presidential candidate [size=15pt]would soon receive some millions of dollars from Arab billionaires[/size], who had allegedly assisted in funding his campaign in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

The report also alleged that a former Oil Minister from Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Zaki Yamani, as well as some other Arab billionaires used a secret funding route to channel millions of dollars to Buhari’s campaign.

However, Buhari, the object of the alleged gang-up, meanwhile has travelled abroad for what sources told Saturday Vanguard is a [size=15pt]comprehensive medical check up[/size] See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/08/2015-presidential-race-cold-war-apc-buhari-rebuffs-younger-presidential-aspirants/#sthash.GUMmfEiZ.8Cps3QHo.dpuf

SeverusSnape:
Keep deceiving your self...the twitter account was fake.

iyyke:
* I have never seen any school built in his name.
* I have never seen any borehole constructed by him.
* There is no record of any scholarship
awarded by him or for him nor through him.
* I have never seen him use his popularity to canvass for any
charitable work nor any humanitarian
effort, not even at the height of the polio scourge where
other
purposeful and prominent leaders lead the campaign for
immunization.
* No single text book has been donated to any school either
by him, for him or through him.
* Asides from doing nothing, he has not improved himself
since his exit from office.
* No book written, no memoirs, no lectures,
nothing.
* The only thing of note he can point to are his numerous
interviews on the BBC Hausa station.
* He never champion for a university in his state nor has he
ever been involved in any kind of programme to better the
lives of the Almajiris in Daura.
* His entire existence has not lead to any meaningful
development in Daura, yet they say he can change Nigeria.
Doesn't charity begin at home again?
* No wonder he was referred to as being ''perpetually
unelectable''.
* He is not a patron to any organization, group or association.
* No professional body in Nigeria has ever invited him for
their lecture, convention or gala night.
* The only time any known form, body or human assemblage
ever chose him to do
anything for them was when the Boko Haram terrorist sect
nominated him as their spoke person in the proposed talks
with the Fed. Govt.

An Abuja-based daily newspaper reported that the APC presidential candidate would soon receive some millions of dollars from Arab billionaires, who had allegedly assisted in funding his campaign in 2003, 2007 and 2011.

The report also alleged that a former Oil Minister from Saudi Arabia, Ahmed Zaki Yamani, as well as some other Arab billionaires used a secret funding route to channel millions of dollars to Buhari’s campaign.

Ahmed Zaki Yamani (Arabic: أحمد زكي يماني‎; born 30 June 1930) is a Saudi Arabian politician who was Minister of Oil (Petroleum) and Mineral Resources from 1962 to 1986, and a minister in OPEC for 25 years.

With degrees from various institutions including New York University School of Law, Harvard Law School, and a doctorate from the University of Exeter, Yamani became a close adviser to the Saudi government in 1958 and then became oil minister in 1962. He is best known for his role during the 1973 oil embargo, when he spurred OPEC to quadruple the price of crude oil. During that time, Yamani gained a colourful international reputation, known in the West for both diplomatic skills and characteristic goatee.