Buhari har Mahdi (IV)

It is a simple and practical calculation; Buhari has a burgeoning bank of millions of votes from the talakawa in the North and once Tinubu delivers the block votes from the South West, the People’s General will be home and dry in Aso Rock Villa. It’s as straightforward as that. Enter the former Vice President, […]

It is a simple and practical calculation; Buhari has a burgeoning bank of millions of votes from the talakawa in the North and once Tinubu delivers the block votes from the South West, the People’s General will be home and dry in Aso Rock Villa. It’s as straightforward as that.
Enter the former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, whom the initial calculations of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the party’s 2015 presidential quest didn’t factor in. Atiku wasn’t a foundation member of the APC, which is a product of political merger of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, which provided the ‘All’; he wasn’t a member of Congress for Progressive Change, which supplied the ‘Progressives”, neither was he a member of the Action Congress from which ‘Congress’ of the APC was adopted. He came from the Peoples Democratic Party. Yet Atiku has forced his way into the presidential primaries and is determined to win the ticket.
Atiku is a weighty aspirant; he’s expected to make a good showing in the South East where his possible running mate, Rochas Okorocha, the Governor of Imo State, is thought to have a hold on a large number of delegates. Rochas will use the numbers from his courtyard to have a good bargain during the Wednesday, December 10 convention in Lagos. Rochas and Sam Nda-Isaiah are basically outsiders in the APC presidential primary. However, it’s an open secret that these two and Atiku are working together.
Otherwise, Buhari remains the candidate to beat. He has solid support in the South South. He is expected to prevail in Rivers, Bayelsa, Edo, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States. In the North West, Kaduna, Katsina and Kebbi delegates are rooting for him. In the North Central, Kwara, Kogi, Niger and Nasarawa APC stalwarts will vote for him. In the North East, he can count on delegates from Bornu, Gombe and Yobe States. The South West is for Buhari to lose. There is no doubt that delegates from Ekiti, Lagos, Oyo, Osun and Ogun will cast their votes for the people’s General.
Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso may have to throw in the towel shortly from now, may be at the convention ground. He will have to work with Buhari rather than Atiku. If he quits the race, his supporters will back the General. His driving force is more like Buhari’s than Atiku’s.
Buhari’s military experience will be handy in tackling the worsening security challenge in the North. Buhari was a dictator but probably had better human rights records than this government. At least people were not being wantonly killed and their property destroyed. Buhari ruled with decrees but at least established courts to try offenders. Sometimes ago, the president attempted to change the narrative on terrorism when he claimed that the phenomenon as we know it today was kick-started by Umar Faruk Mutallab, the failed-bomber of American passenger plane. The truth is that this phase of terrorism began with the bombing of defenceless Nigerian citizens on 1st October, 2010 at Eagle Square by the president’s Niger Delta “brothers”. Nigerians are still waiting for the president to disclose the identity of the bombers since he said he knew them. History has shown that some Nigerians can make the difference in 6 months and not six years. Remember Gen Murtala Muhammed?
The only candidate that will contrast with President Goodluck Jonathan is Buhari. He is the original opposition candidate and has remained opposed to the ruling party since 2003. No doubt he has had his own share of damaging gaffes but he has remained undaunted and is increasingly looking presidential. With a political suspension bridge to the South West erected through a strategic alliance Bola Ahmed Tinubu, only Allah can stop Buhari from winning the presidency this time. Those who said APC would disintegrate at the point of selecting a flag bearer will have to live with heartache as the party will be fine.
Our current situation has proved that transformation doesn’t happen simply because it is mouthed by political opportunists or other rented hirelings. Rather, transformation is driven by a leader’s sincerity of purpose and demonstrable capacity to practically improve the fortunes of the country and its people. We need at the helm of our affairs, a committed, experienced, disciplined and compassionate man who can save the rich by serving the poor; someone who realises the enormity of the security challenges and can tackle them, not one who repeats himself after every calamity in order to merely capture media attention and create the impression that he’s in charge. Even if this government cannot crush the ongoing insurgency, it ought to have provided the electricity it promised since 1999; it should have completed the so called East-West Road. It’s in the nature of this government to completely deny us what it promised and to refuse to accept responsibility for its shortcomings.
Buhari’s austere life means that Nigeria’s resources will be husbanded better. He will definitely eliminate waste and curb corruption. I have no doubt in my mind that before and after his presidency, Buhari will give a damn about openly declaring his assets.
In the current circumstances, I’m com-pletely persuaded that if we want to rekindle hope in ourselves, reclaim our country, restore our national values, regain international respect and secure the future of our children, we should vote for APC and, hopefully, GMB in the 2015 elections.