The author of this opinion article, Ola’ Idowu,writes about Muhammadu Buhari’s achievementsand ambitions.He said that if Buhari had been easy to defeat thenthe Presidency wouldn’t take him intoconsideration.This is one question I’ve been asking myself sincethe last article I wrote in support of MuhammaduBuhari’s presidential ambitions. Prior to writing thearticle we’ve had a Special Adviser to thePresident on Media, Doyin Okupe, saying Buhari isa serial loser.I’ve monitored so many other articles andinterviews with many of them insisting Jonathanwould have a walk-over if Buhari were to be thepresidential candidate of the All ProgressiveCongress (APC) and I ask myself the question, ifBuhari would be easy to defeat, why the fear fromthe Presidency, their supporters in the media andparty members within the PDP about Buhari’scandidature?Would there be something we’re missing out onwith all the sudden press attacks on Buhari or isthat part of the plan to make him easy to defeat?The truth is Buhari’s candidature if given thechance as the APC’s presidential candidate wouldgive Jonathan and all his handlers a good run fortheir money, hence why they are all quaking.The fear of Buhari has become the beginning ofwisdom for many. Let’s remind ourselves again,this is a man who almost single-handedlystarteda new party four months to the 2011 elections andwon over 12 million votes as the candidate of theCPC with 25% of votes across 16 states comparedto Jonathan, with all his resources and being thecandidate of a 12-year-old party then winning 10million votes more than Buhari.In the last 18 months, Buhari has workedassiduously along with other well-meaningNigerians across the different power bases in thecountry to build a much stronger party and yet thepresidency and the PDP would have us believe hewould be easy to defeat.So the question remains, why the fear?Buhari, if selected as the APC presidentialcandidate, would surely be hinging his campaignon his zero tolerance for corruption, which in thepast has seen him come up against allegedlycorrupt politicians. Though many accuse him ofjailing mostly southern politicians, I can’t recallhim crating any Southern politician, drugging himand attempting to bring him back to Nigeria. Thefact that he did that to a Northern politician, UmaruDikko, absolves him of a lot of blame. If he wasparochial or partial in his fight against corruption,he would never have crated a northern politician tobring him to justice back home, though hisadministration has always denied being involved inthat landmark drama in Nigeria’s history.Thus if he says he would be fighting corruptionand economic sabotage as president in 2015, thereis sure guarantee to believe him compared to thispresent administration that has remained aloofeven in the face of massive corruption andeconomic sabotage going on in the country. ThePDP and the presidency, despite all this, wouldhowever insist that Buhari is easy to defeat. Iwould not be interested in arguing over that, I’mjust amused at the amount of fear Buhari’scandidacy is generating, why the fear if he is easyto defeat?Its become so ridiculous that you find some of thewriters disingenuously calling for the APC tochoose Abubakar Atiku as their presidentialcandidate, with a certain Islamic cleric SheikhAhmad Gumi even going as far as suggestingother names as Rotimi Amaechi, Tunde Fashola,Rabiu Kwankwaso etc., but surely not Buhari. But Ihaven’t seen any of the writers present acompelling reason why Jonathan should re-contestin 2015 let alone why Nigerians should vote forhim.The whole talk is about that great man Buhari, butI thought he was supposedly easy to defeat, sowhy all the fear? The way supporters of PresidentJonathan are calling for the APC to make Atikutheir presidential candidate reminds me of TVadverts of mosquitoes and roaches begging not tohave Baygon or Raid insecticide sprayed on themshould Buhari be chosen instead. If they feelBuhari would be a softer target to defeat whywould you be discreetly and indirectly beggingyour opponents to field a “stronger” candidate inAtiku?It just doesn’t add up and in my next article Iwould give reasons why I believe the APC shouldcool off on Atiku’s presidential bid not because heisn’t good enough or prepared but because itwould be playing into the hands of the PDP. LetJonathan, his handlers, and his party stand againstthe Buhari they have been boasting for yearswould be easy to defeat.Without any iota of doubt corruption and economicsabotage remain Nigeria’s problems and we can’tmake any progress as nation unless we fix it. Itsnot just about sending corrupt people to jail asBuhari did as Head of State, its by the perceptionyou give to people and the internationalcommunity, the confidence you give to foreigninvestors that business can be done in Nigeriawithout giving bribes, the hope you give to millionsof young Nigerian graduates, engineers, managers,bankers, business men and women that thecountry is open for genuine business and peopleand indeed the entire nation can prosper shouldthey choose to be legitimate.People forget this was some of the perception andhope that the Buhari/Idiagbon regime gave toNigerians in 1984 as Head of State. For exampleunder Buhari’s regime, feasibility and pre-feasibility studies for any government project wasdone by Nigerians with no fee paid to any foreignconsultant for a job Nigerians could do. The onlyfees paid where in services where Nigerians lackedthe expertise or occupational shortages then in thesciences, technical skills or advanced technology.He ensured that turn around maintenance (TAM)on our refineries was done by Nigerian engineersthereby saving us foreign exchange. He alsostarted paying off all our debts as soon as he incame into power, as corrupt Shehu Shagari’sgovernment was unable to meet any debtrepayments before they were overthrown. By thetime Buhari was overthrown he had paid off over $4 billion of our foreign debts in two years from thehuge $15 billion Shagari had being ill-advised toborrow, and brought inflation down from runaway40% to less than 5.5%. Also by the time Buhari’sregime was usurped by IBB we were running abudget surplus all in less than two years, the firstand only time that has happened since after the oilboom of the 70s in Nigeria.Since August 1985, when IBB came into powerNigeria has always ran a budget deficitconsistently, possibly under the late Sani Abachawe had a budget neutral once but consistently itsbeen a deficit. Nigerians don’t even talk aboutsomething that is a big issue in every seriouscountry around the world including Puerto Rico,where its a big political talking point. The Nigerianbudget under the PDP since 1999 has always beena deficit despite oil prices at an all-time high.Under Jonathan since 2010, we’ve consistently rana budget deficit (which for those who don’t knowmeans we spend more than we earn as a nation tothe detriment of the economy and the masses) andunder Buhari we had a budget surplus (we earnmore than we spend as a nation to the bettermentof the economy and the masses). Yet they insistBuhari is easy to defeat, so why the fear?I leave with feedback I got from a reader on mylast article titled: “A Closing Argument for Buhari’sCase”. Chimezie Okezie, writing from [email protected], wondered why the APC isshying away from building a fanatical followershipacross the country for Buhari like he has in theNorth, and why they are treating the issue ofunseating President Jonathan with kid gloves. Headvocates that the APC should mobilise theirregistered members to collect their permanentvoters cards, and verify they are doing so.Okezie posits that the APC should start recruitingvowed loyal members as polling booth agentsacross the country and start training them on howto counter rigging and arm them with readilyavailable technologies that can be used to capturevoting (declared results) in each booth and pollingunit, with results collated in real time at the APCcentral campaign coordinating office.This would ensure that results come in live to APCand there is no way election results can be riggedby the PDP across the country as the results arebeing collat
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 16:08:43 +0000