IN CHOOSING BETWEEN PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN AND GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI AS YOUR PRESIDENT FOR 2015. While some political pundits and casual observers are saying that the incumbent president of the federal republic of Nigeria, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan got his party ticket to run for the presidency in 2015 for the second term through intimidation and threats on the members of PDP who shown interest to contest for the same position in 2015, former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari was overwhelmingly elected in a very, free fair and transparent atmosphere by the National Delegates of the All Progressive Congress (APC) at the party National Convention that just ended in Lagos on the 11/12/2014 which produced the following results; Buhari 3,430 votes, engineer Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso 974, Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar 954, Imo State Governor, Owele Rochas Okorocha 624 and Sam Nda-Isaiah with 10 votes. The two candidates that will slug it out to become the president of the worlds most populous black nation in 2015 are not neophytes in the aqua of the Nigerian politics at all. Haven distinguished themselves in both their private and public lives in the past, the general public need to look between the two to choose the president who can represent the interest of the general public. For example, while many pundits are yearning for the continuity of the incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan for some of his policies and programmes that they think have bettered the lots of Nigerians, some are hoping and yearning for the return of General Muhammadu Buhari for his stern disciplinary and corruption-free attributes. In the past five years, after the emergence of president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan as a result of the demise of the former president Umar Musa Yaradua, many Nigerians attested to the fact that Jonathan has made tremendous impact in Agriculture,health, transport and education but the present insecurity in the north-eastern part of Nigeria which the present government of president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has not be able to tackle holistically and the growing corruption in the public service especially in the oil sector and crude oil theft today remains Jonathans Achilles hill and albatross in winning the peoples votes in the forthcoming presidential election. On the other hand, Major-General Buhari was selected to lead the country by middle and high-ranking military officers after a successful military coup detat that overthrew civilian President Shehu Shagari on December 31, 1983. At the time, Buhari was head of the Third Armored Division of Jos.Buhari was appointed Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Buhari justified the militarys seizure of power by castigating the civilian government as hopelessly corrupt, and his administration subsequently initiated a public campaign against indiscipline known as War Against Indiscipline (WAI). Aspects of this campaign included public humiliation of civil servants who arrived late for work whilst guards were armed with whips to ensure orderly queues at bus stops. Buhari is admired by many for his uprightness and stand against corruption. His government is revered for its ability to keep the country afloat by making progress through sheer economic ingenuity even when it rejected IMF loan and refused to adopt IMF conditionalities to devalue the Naira.His government is praised for its gain in reducing inflation by refusing to devalue the nations currency, the Nigerian Naira, curbing imports of needless goods, curtailing oil theft and using counter trade policy to barter seized illegally bunkered crude oil for needful goods like machineries, enabling it to export above its OPEC quota. In the same vein, General Muhammadu Buhari has his own shortcomings too. He moved to silence critics of his administration, passing decrees curbing press freedoms and allowing for opponents to be detained up to three months without formal charges. He also banned strikes and lockouts by workers and founded Nigerias first secret police force, the National Security Organization.; In another high-profile incident that sparked a diplomatic incident with Britain, British officials found Umaru Dikko, Shehu Shagaris former transportation minister drugged in a crate marked for shipment to Lagos with Genral Buharis directive. Nigeria today is in the midst of facets of crisis; insecurity, downward economic growth, soaring unemployment, inadequate infrastructure and decline in the living standard of the citizenry. This crisis is the result of this confusion and disconnect from the seeking and sensibilities of the people. This is worse confounded by the weak and spineless leadership of the present crops of untrained politicians mounting the stool of Government across all levels today. The tragedy is further heightened by their failure to diagnose the malady and find the remedy. Instead of creating a socio-economic and political paradigm of governance drawn from the civilizational consciousness of Nigeria, the leaders tried to follow whatever was being practiced in this or that western country without actual implementation. What Nigerians need today is leader who can return Genuineness into Governance; leaders who can BringBack Authenticity into Administration. leaders who can show Governance of Action and not enactment any longer. Nigerians want to have polity of performance and not promises, government that will put an end to a work culture of delays and an asset base of deficiency. It is now left for the citizens of this country to decide whether a change of leadership style of the incumbent president Goodluck Jonathan or the ushering of a new leader is the solution to the Nigerian myriad of problems. You be the judge. This is strictly the opinion of the writer.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 18:42:49 +0000
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