NYANYA BOMB BLAST AND THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM IN NIGERIA by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari

Category: Tuesday column Published on Tuesday, 22 April 2014 05:00

Written by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR Hits: 1382

Sinister terror and hatred have again reached from the shadows to steal the lives of innocent Nigerians. 
In Nyanya, seventy-two people were killed by a car bomb. Hundreds more were injured in the devastation.  Their killings served no purpose except for those who exalt in evil. The bomb blast quickly came and went like the deadly thief it was; but we shall be left to endure the pain and loss from this terrible act for a long time to come.
What the nation lost is irreplaceable.  The number 72 seems like just another grim tally among the death statistics that have become all too common.  But what occurred is much more than that. We must really stop and take notice of where evil is attempting to drive us to.
We cannot allow these merchants of death to make us numb to the tragedy they manufacture.  Those who were killed were not merely numbers on a page. They were human beings, made of flesh and blood body and soul like all the rest of us. They were someone's father or mother, brother or sister. They had parents; they were someone's child. They were husbands or wives, neighboring friends and colleague. They had dreams and hopes. They were loved and loved others in return. Now, life has been taken away and those who cared from them must bear a grief no person should be asked to carry.
These people committed no wrong. Their only crime was to be ordinary working class people seeking to eke out a livelihood and tend for themselves and their families. For this, they were killed.
They represent the backbone of the working people. Not many of them lived an easy life. Most worked hard and long for modest wages. They lifted themselves up every morning to earn their daily bread. They faced the many social and economic challenges and obstacles our society poses, yet they worked not to destroy but to make this a better place by bettering the lives of their family and loved ones.
These people lived anonymously and died the same way. We do not yet know their names. But, in a fundamental sense, we know who they were. They were part of us. They shared the same aspirations we all do. We seek an improved fate for our children and hope to leave them a better life. We want to work and live in dignity and respect.  We want a life of peace and harmony with our neighbors regardless of religion, ethnicity or background. We seek prosperity not poverty. We seek brotherly understanding not strife. We seek peace, not bombs.
It was not just 72 people who were taken in this depraved assault.  Each of us lost something that day. Yet, despite the loss and suffering, we must not cower in fear, and let the purveyors of death believe they have scored a victory over us.
Those who committed this act have declared war on all that is decent and good. They have declared war not against the state or even the government. They have declared war on Nigeria and all Nigerians because this murder took men and women, old and young, Christian and Muslim alike. In trying to scare, frighten and divide us, the evildoers committed injury to their own cause. For they have shown us that we all suffer inhumanity in the same way.
No matter our religion or place of birth, we all bleed and are wounded the same way by injustice. Decency runs through the teachings of each religion and ethnic group that comprise the people of Nigeria.
We may have our differences, but the vast majority of Nigerians stand united against the appalling violence committed in Nyanya and other places.
These acts have no place in Nigeria. Those who commit them have no place in our country.  The perpetrators may look like human beings. They may have limbs and faces like the rest of us but they are not like us. In killing innocent people, they have become inhuman. They live outside the scope of humanity. Their mother is carnage and their father is cruelty. They have declared war against the people of Nigeria. They have shown that they do not want to liberate the people. They want to kill them. Yet, with all the energy of their evil and ignorant hatred, they shall fail. The good people of Nigeria shall triumph.
Such a wicked mission shall not succeed. We have gone too far in our journey to nationhood and endured too much to allow these terrible acts to divert us.
Not only have these agents of death killed innocent people, they also abducted over 100 young women from their school. Why abduct school girls? Whatever they plan, they should be ready to face the wrath of Nigerian people. They should release these young girls unharmed. Anything else would be an abominable crime.
We all must take close heed at this moment and recognize the severity of what is upon us. A small minority seeks to bring the nation to its knees through terror. Thus, we must stand tall and united. We can ill afford to allow their crimes to go unpublished united.
I call on the government to improve and redefine its strategy in the light of this expanding menace.  Clearly, its intelligence gathering needs to be improved so that it can break terrorist plots before they hatch.  Moreover, it needs to enact greater social and economic reform in the blighted areas of the nation to win the hearts and minds of the people.  Give the youth a viable alternative and they will not be duped by the lure of extremist dogma. A major iniative with immediate and long-term strategies for mass employment should be introduced right away.
Nigeria must and will overcome this scourge but it cannot do so merely by wishful thinking. We need wise and decisive strategy.
As for me and my party, we deplore and condemn these and all such attacks. Those who commit them must know that the nation stands four square against them.
 While we are engaged in tight political competition against the ruling party, we shall not play politics on this issue so vital to our national survival and wellbeing.
We pledge ourselves to the unity and safety of this nation and shall do nothing to undermine national security.  We seek no political advantage from this calamity and wish the present administration success in fighting it.
We stand ready to help in any meaningful and productive way to fight this battle against evil.  We extend our hand and earnest offer of cooperation in this regard.
Nigeria and Nigerians have suffered enough. Those who now lead the nation and those who would lead her must overlook political differences to find whatever ways we can cooperate to make this a safer, more secure nation for all.
Thank you and May God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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YMR

http://projectgmb2015.blogspot.com

Why Buhari will never be president of Nigeria - Vanguard News

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YMR

http://projectgmb2015.blogspot.com

-----Original Message-----
From: aliyubala.aliyu@gmail.com
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Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 08:02:06
To: YanArewa<YanArewa@yahoogroups.com>; Raayi<Raayiriga@yahoogroups.com>; dandalinsiyasa<dandalinsiyasa@yahoogroups.com>
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Subject: [Yan Arewa] Why Buhari will never be president of Nigeria - Vanguard News

Why Buhari will never be president of Nigeria
on january 21, 2014 at 12:40
By Femi Aribisala

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 undress 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 programme for return to civilian rule.

Facts and fiction
So what exactly qualifies Buhari 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  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 bad 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 1980s, 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.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/01/buhari-will-never-president-nigeria/

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[Yan Arewa] Missteps Buhari’s handlers make

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YMR

http://projectgmb2015.blogspot.com

-----Original Message-----
From: aliyubala.aliyu@gmail.com
Sender: YanArewa@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 09:53:13
To: YanArewa<YanArewa@yahoogroups.com>; Raayi<Raayiriga@yahoogroups.com>; dandalinsiyasa<dandalinsiyasa@yahoogroups.com>
Reply-To: YanArewa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Yan Arewa] Missteps Buhari's handlers make

MISSTEPS BUHARI'S HANDLERS MAKE

Category: Opinion Published on Friday, 11 April 2014 05:00 Written by Mohammad Qaddam Sidq Isa Hits: 3746

When the "military kingmakers" who had brought General Muhammad Buhari to power abruptly ended his rule in another military coup in 1985, Nigerians had already come a long way in adjusting to the new order of social discipline his regime had introduced and vigorously promoted.  
Nevertheless his overthrow was greeted with indifference, and even cheers, by a significant portion of a largely gullible populace who, having been used to the culture of chaos and social indiscipline over the decades, had regarded the new social order under Buhari/Idiagbon regime as being too harsh. Of course, the beneficiaries of the status quo among the notoriously corrupt politicians, their associates in public service and private sector, as well as their business associates, also greeted his overthrow with jubilation.  
However, when the ensuing degeneration caused by the subsequent military and civilian regimes, which also gave rise to the culture of institutionalized corruption of monumental magnitude in the land began to take an unprecedented dimension, while its attendant widespread economic frustration, confusion and despair got worse, Nigerians began to realize that corruption was the only cause of all the country's problems, and that only an honest leader could salvage the nation.   
Therefore, following what appeared to be an intense pressure and lobbying, Buhari reluctantly decided to join politics and join the presidential race, while having already been widely and rightly believed to be honest and incorruptible, his reputation and popularity continued to grow particularly among the ordinary Nigerians.
Unfortunately however, he fell into the hands of unscrupulous political opportunists many of whom had been wallowing in political obscurity or irrelevance before they benefitted immensely from his popularity to win elections at various levels of government and indeed rise to political prominence, only to eventually betray and abandon him.
Besides, despite his wide experience in governance, having held different political positions including Head of State, during his military career, and even though the game of politics is inherently intrigue-ridden, no one denied or underestimated Buhari's dilemma for having to operate in Nigeria's political terrain, which is particularly messy, and indeed for having to work with Nigerian politicians most of whom are simply there in order to achieve their selfish interests, which they have always pursued and achieved at the expense of the long-suffering ordinary Nigerians.
Yet, Buhari's political predicament has been particularly due to the apparent incompetence of his handlers whose inexcusable blunders have been responsible for his failure to achieve his political ambition, and are also responsible for his seemingly declining political fortune even within his traditional political stronghold.
Vested interests and other individuals who are particularly against his presidential ambition have over the past several years worked relentlessly and have, to a large extent, succeeded in painting and portraying him as a villain of a sort, and as an ethno-religious and regional bigot who also lacks the necessary qualities to win majority support nationwide to become president.
Moreover, his obviously incompetent media and public relation handlers, who have failed to effectively counter the systematic and sustained campaign of calumny against him by such vested interests, have, in effect, been partly responsible for the spread of anti-Buhari sentiment, which those vested interests have deliberately created and promoted particularly among the non- Muslim communities in the country.  
Also, in view of how his reputation has easily and recurrently been exploited by fake political allies for their personal interests, and considering the persistent strategic blunders and inconsistency that define some of his political strategies, one can confidently conclude that his political strategists, advisers and analysts are simply not competent enough to handle his political project.
For instance, the potentially divisive feud currently brewing in All Progressives Congress (APC) over some credible leaks that the party is considering the idea of pairing him, as presidential candidate, with Bola Tinubu as vice president, is a yet another political miscalculation by his handlers, which could not only cost him his presidential ambition but probably deal the final blow to whatever is left of his political adventure, age being an important factor.
Incidentally, notwithstanding whether Tinubu is a suitable candidate for the post of vice president or not, and even though theoretically speaking, political parties are expected to field the best candidates regardless of any other considerations, this is not the case in reality even  in the most advanced democracies. Other factors, which are theoretically irrelevant, are nonetheless considered in order to address some specific expectations of the electorate.
Therefore in a sharply polarized and tension-ridden Nigerian society, which increasingly cracks along ethno-religious and regional divides, it does not require any intricate political calculation to realize the foolishness (politically speaking) of the idea to field a duo from the same religious, ethnic or regional background for the posts of president and vice president.
The boring excuse i.e. the Abiola/Kingibe presidential ticket in 1993, which is repeatedly cited by those behind this idea, is simply no longer relevant in Nigeria, because of the huge changes that have taken place since then, which have also hugely changed the pattern and equation of political alliance between country's ethno-religious and regional components.
Therefore, considering the obvious ridiculousness of this idea in Nigeria's political context, and how Buhari's handlers seem to deliberate overlook its damaging effect on his presidential ambition, one can suspect that there are some infiltrators within the party's hierarchy, or at least within the circle of Buhari's handlers, who undermine his presidential ambition. After all, the current gradual but seemingly persistent setbacks suffered by the party may not be completely unconnected with such possible undercover elements.

http://dailytrust.info/index.php/opinion/21411-missteps-buhari-s-handlers-make

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BUILT TO LAST: The Legacy of General Buhari in PTF

My people,

Just now, I drove past a road worthy white-colour-painted bus with a large green inscription of PTF logo at its back and the letters 'Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; Donated by PTF' boldly written in green and red colors on its sides.

This is amazing!

16 years after Obasanjo scrapped Buhari's led PTF, the bus donated by the Fund still shuttles Zaria-Kaduna Road in good shape and colors. Kudos to the built-to-last leadership of General Buhari and the commendable/exemplary maintenance culture in the beneficiary institution - ABU, Zaria.

Give Buhari a single term of 4 years and Nigeria will be back on the path of greatness and glory.

Support General Buhari in the struggle to liberate Nigeria come 2015. You'll definitely be a pround grandpa that will narrate to his grand children how his support for Buhari help ended the lawlessness, insecurity, poverty, misrule, economic woes which constricted the Nigerian state under the destructive, blood-dripping and death mill stewardship of PDP.

Ibrahim Sanyi - Sanyi

http://projectgmb2015.blogspot.com/

Buhari condoles with victims of Katsina attack

Premium Times - 12 hours ago

Mr. Buhari also donated 200 bags of maize and one million naira to the survivors.

A former Head of State and leader of All Progressives Congress, Muhammadu Buhari, on Thursday condoled with victims of the March 11 killings in Katsina State.
Mr. Buhari also donated 200 bags of maize and one million naira to the survivors.
Mr. Buhari, accompanied by his associates from Kaduna State, visited Mararabar Kindo, Sabonlayin Galadima, and Maigora communities in Faskari and Sabuwa local government areas.
He described the attacks as pure terrorism which had gone beyond religion and ethnicity in view of the fact that many people were affected.
He advised people to remain united and to assist security agencies in unmasking those behind the attacks.
He attributed the ugly trend to intention of some few people to destabilise Nigeria as the incidents occurred from one area another.
Mr. Buhari urged people to report suspicious movements to security agencies so that that they could be investigated and prosecuted if found wanting.
Abu Ibrahim, a Katsina APC senator, called for proactive measures to ensure that the trend was addressed. He commended Mr. Buhari for the visit.
He said it showed his concern for the plight of the people.
Gunmen killed 117 persons in an attack on some communities in the two local government areas on March 11.
(NAN)

-------
YMR

http://projectgmb2015.blogspot.com

Fwd: [Yan Arewa] Facebook news feed by APC fan club Worldwide

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YMR

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Maigoro A Jos" <maigoroajos@gmail.com>
Date: Mar 28, 2014 3:22 PM
Subject: [Yan Arewa] Facebook news feed by APC fan club Worldwide
To: <YanArewa@yahoogroups.com>
Cc:

 

101 Reasons Why Gen. Mohamadu Buhari Is
The Answer
1. Our dear country Nigeria is in dire need
of qualitative and substantive change from
retrogression of the past twelve years under
PDP to a future of progress, beginning from
May 29 2011. This is what GMB represents
and offers.
2. We are tired of broken promises and
broken down infrastructure. The railways are
gone, the shipping lines have disappeared,
roads are dilapidated and the power
situation is still epileptic after twelve years of
wasted Billions of Dollars. GMB promises
15,000MW of electricity by 2015 and 50,000
by 2019.
3. We want somebody that will come and fix
our roads and basic infrastructure. GMB
plans to construct 3,000km of Superhighway
including service trunks and build up to
4,800km of modern railway lines - one third
to be completed by 2015.
4. We are tired of being ruled by the Party of
Do or Die politics and politicians. GMB plays
politics of persuasion and policy articulation.
5. We want to be free from the 'nest of
killers' who can do anything for power. We
need a peaceful polity as envisaged by GMB
6. We are tired of non-functional refineries.
GMB is set to optimise their productions
once again and initiate new ones with the
private sector. He has done it before.
7. GMB will put a stop to the importation of
70% of our petroleum products when we
can produce same.
8. We are tired of shameful and disgraceful
importation of petroleum products. Prices
will come down when GMB takes over on
29th May.
9. We need solution to our secondary school
education decay where 70% failures are
recorded and the PDP is audacious enough
to seek our votes.
10. We are tired of the celebration of
corruption by the PDP. They organised a
party to welcome Bode George back from
prison where he had been for the past two
years for stealing.
11. We are tired of the PDP president
spending 100 million Naira public funds daily
for only presidential jets' fuelling during
campaigns while many Nigerians are hungry,
jobless, homeless and hopeless.
12. We are tired of the negative image of a
corrupt nation stamped on us by the PDP
government's twelve years of waste.
13. We are tired of a baby president who is
completely clueless about the solutions to
our problems. It is time to separate the boys
from the men. It is time for GMB
14. We are tired of being ruled by stooges
with godfathers pushing them like a barrow
and telling them what to do at all times. We
want a real self confident President.
15. We are tired of attempts at introducing
third term through the back door.
16. We do not want a man who supported,
funded and campaigned for third term.
17. We are tired of the chop I chop
government of PDP. The public till is for all
members of the Nigerian society and this is
what GMB will ensure.
18. We are tired a president that is playing
politics with University education. He
announced new Universities to win votes,
while the existing ones are barely effective.
19. We are tired of a government that cannot
secure our lives and property. So many lives
have been lost in Jos, Port Harcourt,
Maiduguri, Bauchi, Okerenkoko, Ayakoroma,
etc
20. We are tired of an illiterate government
without an ideology, without social and
political principles and without an
understanding of society and governance.
21. We are tired of election riggers and
government of thugs and ritualists.
22. We are tired of a government of cult men
and Ogboni members.
23. We are tired of a president that says one
thing and does exactly the opposite.
24. We are tired of a president that will
brazenly rig his own party primaries with
impunity and still go and beg for help from
the same people.
25. We are tired of a president that
blackmailed and arm-twisted fellow
convoluted governors to win his party's
nomination.
26. We are tired of a president who
inaugurated a presidential advisory
committee (PAC) to advice him but later
turns round to snub their patriotic advice.
27. We are tired of a president whose only
qualification for the presidency is goodluck.
28. We are tired of an economy in comatose
while the PDP government is in denial.
29. We are tired of a government that has
borrowed more than $32bn in four years for
no tangible course and is set to borrow
more.
30. We are tired of a government that spends
more than 30% of its 2011 budget to pay
foreign debt. A government that makes
foreigners rich and Nigerians poor.
31. We are tired of a PDP government that
does not care about the welfare and
wellbeing of the Nigerian people but is only
pre-occupied with being in power for 100
years. WE NEED CHANGE.
32. GENERAL MOHAMADU BUHARI (GMB) is
the answer and the change agent because he
supervised and delivered our existing
refineries as petroleum minister and Head of
state.
33. He is set to entrench true federalism and
fiscal federalism in the body politics of the
Nigerian state.
34. He is predisposed to the restructuring of
the Nigerian federation to achieve the above.
35. He is determined to achieve a proper
devolution of power between the three tiers
of government.
36. He strongly supports the removal of the
immunity clause on criminal matters under
which governors steal and kill.
37. He will make local councils more
accountable to the people, by making them
publish minutes of their meetings, service
performance data and items of spending
that exceed 10 million Naira.
38. He plans to reform and strengthen the
judicial system for efficient administration of
justice in the country. He remembers that
the judiciary is the last hope of the common
man.
39. He plans to create special courts for
accelerated hearing of corruption, drug
trafficking, terrorism etc., cases.
40. He will fight corruption in public office
through strict enforcement of anti
corruption laws. He did before, he will do it
again.
41. He plans to create serious crime squads
to combat kidnapping, armed robbery,
militancy, and ethno-religious/communal
clashes nationwide.
42. GMB supports the vociferous calls for
state and community police and would work
to establish the principle.
43. He plans to make Nigeria a liberal society
by removing issues such as state of origin,
tribe, ethnic and religious affiliations and
replace them with only the principle of state
of residence.
44. He plans to immediately embark on
vocational training, entrepreneurial and skill
acquisition scheme for graduates to tackle
youth and graduate unemployment.
45. GMB will create two million new jobs by
2015 when he ends his tenure.
46. He will create two million new home
owners by 2015 through a nationwide
mortgage system.
47. He plans to put in place a N300bn
regional growth fund for the development of
the regions of the federation.
48. GMB has pledged to do only the bidding
of the masses and honest Nigerians and not
serve a small click of business men as they
are doing in PDP.
49. He is set to restore faith in the Nigerian
project so that no 'Andrew' will check out
again.
50. He will strengthen INEC and reduce/
eliminate electoral malpractices.
51. He will institute a process of full
disclosure of government business to the
public.
52. He will build the capacity of law
enforcement officers to do their work
effectively.
53. He will work to end acute poverty,
inequality and insecurity in the country.
54. He is completely detribalised and has the
reputation of being a bridge builder.
55. He is willing and able from day one and
does not have to learn on the job like Lucky.
56. He is well loved by the people of Nigeria
across the North, South, East and West.
57. He will fight for the welfare and well
being of the people.
58. He has a wife that is quite and knows her
place in the society unlike others who
cannot draw a line.
59. GMB commands the respect of all
political and traditional leaders in the
country.
60. He will lead in accordance to the
constitution and would not twist the
constitution to favour his party or a narrow
interest like they do in PDP.
61. He is set to restore hope and respect in
politics so that more honest and decent
people like you can go into it.
62. His driving philosophy in politics and
governance is 'knowledge is Power'.
63. Only GMB has the structure, personality,
temperament and character to stop the drift
in government and bring direction back to
public administration.
64. What he did in road construction while
in the PTF has not been matched by 12
wasted years of PDP who have squandered
billions of naira building nothing.
65. As Head of state, taking over from the
Pre-PDP government of Shagari, GMB
reduced inflation from 23% to 4% in twenty
months only.
66. In his regime, there was no single
religious crisis unlike what we have today
with PDP.
67. He put a final stop to the Maitasine sect
in Kano. Today we have Mend, OPC, Boko
Haram etc and the PDP is watching in
amazement with.
68. As Head of state, he stamped out
corruption in public office by making
politicians to be held accountable for their
actions while in office.
69. Hospitals and Universities in the country
have not received more benefits from PDP
than they did from PTF under GMB.
70. As former petroleum minister and former
Head of state, GMB owns no oil block, no
petrol station unlike the PDP presidents.
71. GMB is the answer because he has
followership across the country which
money cannot buy. Do you know that PDP
pays people to attend their rallies?
72. He is the Leader of the Masses and the
Talakawas. Mr. Integrity and Mai Gaskiya.
73. The oppressors and political gladiators
fear him and love to stop him but the
Masses love him and would do all in their
might to steer him to victory.
74. He is very liberal in his religious beliefs
and that was why he appointed a
Pentecostal and Charismatic Pastor as his
vice.
75. GMB is the only former Nigerian leader
who does not own a house or Land in Abuja.
Amazing!
76. He is the first Head of state to promote
affirmative action for women in Nigeria by
directing that all state cabinets must have
female commissioners.
77. His achievements in twenty months as
Head of state dwarf those of all who came
after him especially the now ending inept
and corrupt 12 years of PDP.
78. He is the most capable, competent and
creative candidate in this years' presidential
election. He has been military governor,
petroleum minister, Head of state and
chairman Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF).
79. Many people do not know that it was
while working with PTF that Dora Akunyili
was discovered and it was because of her
antecedents working with GMB that
Obasanjo appointed her into NAFDAC. See
what PDP has done to her reputation.
80. GMB from the outset has identified with
the poor masses in all his endeavours.
That's why he is called the People's general.
Now he will be called the 'People President'.
81. His main opponent identifies with the
rich. His close friends include, Femi Otedola,
Aliko Dagote, Jim Ovia, Jimoh Ibrahim, the
Anyiam Osigwes, James Ibori, DSP
Alamieyeseigha, Peter Odili, Ebitimi Banigo,
Olusegun Obasanjo, Anthony Anenih, etc
who all have one thing in common.
82. While GMB is being backed by the
masses, others are being sponsored by the
enemies of the masses.
83. No single money bag is bank rolling his
campaign unlike the PDP.
84. GMB is the answer because as Head of
state, he introduced the War Against
Indiscipline (WAI) which gave birth to
discipline, patriotism, the queue culture and
the monthly sanitation exercise in Nigeria
among other things.
85. GMB has never had a case with EFCC
while some at the helms now will continue
their case in EFCC when they leave office on
May 29th 2011.
86. GMB will permanently solve the problem
of violence in the Niger Delta originated by
Lucky and his friends. Many people do not
know the level of involvement of the PDP
government in the Niger Delta crisis.
87. GMB represents change, hope, progress
and honesty in Nigeria.
88. He is incorruptible.
89. He is honest, credible, hardworking and
patriotic.
90. He loves Nigeria more than himself. This
is evidenced in his dogged determination to
fight for the masses the third time at the
presidency.
91. He is a master strategist and organiser
cum mobilize. He built with the masses a
political movement into the fastest growing
national political party in the world in less
than two years.
92. He is from a humble background and
worked his way to national recognition. He is
set to do the same to millions of Nigerian
youths who need Mentoring.
93. GMB represents the last set of the
Murtala legacy and is set to ignite the sparks
of that regime with actions and actions on all
aspects of the polity with his team.
94. GMB was the only Head of state that
devoted and committed more that 26% of
the nation's budget to education.
95. He is not anybody's stooge. The third
campaigners cannot claim same. Can they?
96. GMB is well respected and recognised by
the international community as a committed
anti-corruption crusader.
97. GMB discouraged drug trafficking when
he was Head of state. The menace increased
when he left office but will be banished
again.
98. He is ready and willing to bring back
confidence to Nigeria's economy by tackling
headlong the problems of insecurity and lack
of infrastructure.
99. GMB is the answer to our problems now
because he understands them and knows
how to tackle them. The PDP is completely
bereft of any idea on how to move our
nation forward.
100. GMB He is the epitome of sincerity,
honour, and integrity and will keep his
promise to Nigerians, unlike those who
cannot even keep a gentleman's agreement
in their party.
101. GMB IS THE ANSWER BECAUSE ONCE
AGAIN NIGERIANS NEED HELP.
Signed,
OBORO ANDAOLOTU
POSITIVE ACTION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
(PASOJ)

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Opinion: Buhari is Jonathan's worst nightmare ahead of 2015 |

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Date: Mar 26, 2014 8:57 AM
Subject: [Yan Arewa] Opinion: Buhari is Jonathan's worst nightmare ahead of 2015 |
To: "YanArewa" <YanArewa@yahoogroups.com>, "Raayi" <Raayiriga@yahoogroups.com>, "dandalinsiyasa" <dandalinsiyasa@yahoogroups.com>
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Opinion: Buhari is Jonathan’s worst nightmare ahead of 2015

Posted in wpzoom Politics on March 26, 2014 7:10 am / 0 Comments

It is the fundamental obligation of a State to provide social security for its citizens and in fact all persons within its territory. Any government that is incapable of meeting up that basic responsibility should consider itself a huge failure; and rather than attempting to trade blames, should pack up and leave or brace up for the indignity of a colossal electoral defeat. This is in regard of Mr. Olisa Metuh’s recent vain effort to link Gen. Muhamadu Buhari (rtd.) to the terrorist’s activities in northern Nigeria.

In fact, Mr. Metuh’s mischievous utterances lends credence to popular insinuations that the ruling People’s Democratic Party and the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan are bereft of ideas on how to curtail the nebulous activities of Boko Haram and other insurgent groups in Nigeria, hence the resort to blackmail. It could equally be, as earlier asserted by Comrade Lai Mohammed, a deliberate attempt by the PDP to divert the citizen’s attention from the mounting tension over the allegedly missing $20billion from the NNPC’s coffers.

It’s the PDP instead that has been authoritatively fingered as being responsible for the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northern part of Nigeria. It will be recalled, as was widely reported in both local and international media, that the former National Security Adviser (NSA), late Gen. Owoeye Azazi blamed PDP for the Boko Haram insurgency in the Northern Nigeria due to bad politics. Between Olisa Metuh’s and Azazi, whose assertion should be relied upon?

However, from a different perspective, I see Olisa Metuh’s unwholesome remarks as part of the usual desperation of the PDP to discredit Gen. Buhari by all means possible before the gullible members of the public. Of course, it is a recurring antic of the PDP to cook up unfounded allegations against Gen. Buhari at the eve of every election year, with the intention of diminishing Buhari’s estimation before the rational members of the public. Unfortunately, the PDP has ran out of luck this time, as generality of Nigerians have become fed up with this cowardly campaign strategy.

From every indication, the mention of All Progressives Congress and Mallam Nasir El-rufai as co-conspirators with Buhari to fuel terrorism in northern Nigeria is Mr. Metuh’s ‘smart’ strategy of obscuring PDP’s ulterior motive, which is basically to drag the name of Buhari to the mud. There is no gainsaying that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is PDP’s worst nightmare in the race for the Presidency in 2015. Recall that Buhari almost single-handedly floated the Congress for Progressive Change, the platform on which he contested the 2011 Presidential Election, barely six (6)  months to the election. Even though the electoral process was marred with irregularities, Buhari was able to muster an impressive 12 million votes!

Now I believe that all the people that voted Buhari in the last election, did so out of conviction, and not pecuniary inducement. It simply implies that if all or most of the 12 million electorates that voted for Buhari in the previous election live to see the 2015 presidential election, their support for Buhari will still be unflinching.  It is also logical to assume that each of these 12 million people have at least one person that they can convince to vote for Buhari in 2015. It implies that ceteris paribus , Buhari has assurance of up to 24 million votes already ahead of his likely contenders should he contest in 2015. Call this a layman’s analysis of political outcomes, but it is still a reasonable basis for consideration.

Worthy of note is the fact that Buhari is now part of a much larger party than the APP, ANPP and the CPC on whose platforms he contested the 2003, 2007 and 2011 elections respectively. Now with the current political structure, the APC is sure of sweeping the South West in 2015. The North West and North East are also strongholds of the APC. APC also controls parts of the South East; and in the North Central, the party is working assiduously towards galvanizing the youths for massive support. In short APC controls Lagos and Kano, Nigeria’s most populated states. So with its current structure, the party is already sure of polling simple majority of votes in the next presidential election. All the APC needs to worry about now is how it could poll the mandatory 25% of votes to be casted in 2/3rd of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

Although the APC currently controls most of Nigeria’s strategic states, with a relative preponderance in the federal and respective states’ parliaments, experience has shown that if the generality of Nigerians must benefit from the change that APC heralds, the party must work assiduously to clinch power at the centre in 2015.

But to achieve the aforementioned objective, the APC must make it a top priority to field a Presidential Candidate in 2015 that has the pedigree, character, determination and competence to give the PDP a formidable challenge.  The APC must insist on a presidential candidate that is admired by the teeming masses and dreaded by the cabal that has held sway over the years, operating Nigeria like its personal estate. I am referring to the man who has demonstrated courage, commitment and political will to tackle indiscipline and corruption head-on; and General Muhammadu Buhari perfectly fits that puzzle! Little wonder the PDP is scares stiff of Buhari.

Since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has generously offered himself on three different occasions to serve the nation as President and Commander-in-Chief. Although the electoral umpire did not deem it fit to declare him victorious on any of these occasions amid highly contentious circumstances,  I am constrained to explicitly dispel the barrage of mendacities and campaigns of calumny that the adversaries of truth, justice, equity and development in Nigeria have concocted over the  years and fed Nigerians; with the aim of discrediting Gen. Buhari.

Without mincing words I wish to describe as utterly baseless and mischievous, the impression which the PDP and other antagonists of a united Nigeria have foisted on a strata of the citizenry; that General Buhari is a religious fanatic who is capable of Islamizing Nigeria if elected President. It is inconceivable to me, how any citizen that is privy to Gen. Buhari’s antecedent can be bamboozled by such meretricious allegations! Let us not forget in a hurry that when Buhari served as the Head of State in 1984, he had all the key instruments of the State at his disposal. yet he did not at any time contemplated to advance any policy or agenda that could infringe on the rights of Christians and members of other faiths in Nigeria.

On the contrary, it was his successor, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (IBB) that attempted to make Nigeria a registered member of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) in his tenure as Head of State between 1985-1993.  I recall vividly that some confidential documents have been leaked that revealed IBB’s huge financial contributions to the OIC from the national purse. IBB is still a bigwig in the PDP today. So the question we should ask is, is it possible for Buhari to nurse a presidential ambition for over 12 years, only with the intent to Islamize Nigeria? I don’t think so!

The only reason why terrorism is flourishing in Nigeria is because of the increasing level of poverty and the brazen neglect of the masses. These factors are traceable to high profile corruption and indiscipline in official circles. The lip-service commitment of the incumbent PDP-led government to the fight against corruption is evident in the shoddy handling of the alleged missing $20billion from the coffers of the NNPC. Imagine how far that money could go in providing employment for Nigerians, visualize how many socio-infrastructural facilities, medical equipments and healthcare services,  that magnitude of money can provide, then you will agree with me that corruption kills more Nigerians that terrorism.

Buhari, in all honesty, is a man of near impregnable integrity! His efforts in the fight against corruption in Nigeria are still unequalled. The efforts of the EFCC and ICPC pales in comparison to his War Against Indiscipline and Corruption (WAI-C) in the mid 80s. The Asian Tigers, as they are fondly called, were able to attain the socio-economic and technological heights they have reached today because they tackled corruption squarely with the death sentence. Till date, some of the structural works, facilities and buses donated to tertiary institutions across Nigeria by PTDF under Buhari’s tenure still adorn the campuses.  So how can a man who abhors corruption like Buhari be responsible for the massacre of thousands of Nigerians under any guise?

I consider it a huge relief to know that every generation of Nigerians is blessed with people who are capable of charting the right course for the nation. But due to sentiments, political conspiracies or sheer complacency, we ignore these people until they are no more. For instance Chief Obafemi Awolowo, long after his death, remains a political colossus in Nigeria. Although he never had the opportunity to rule Nigeria as a monolithic state, Awolowo’s legacies in the South West speaks volumes for him, especially in the areas of educational development; raising the political consciousness of the people and of course,  Press Freedom! A vibrant press and politically consciousness citizenry are necessary ingredients for development. No wonder all the people that opposed Awolowo then, later made detours and eulogized him, calling him “the best president we never had”. We must not allow Buhari’s strength to wear out before we wish we elected him President!

However it is very likely that if Buhari decides to contest the 2015 presidential election, he will be the poorest among the contenders. Yet, he remains the only leader that can fully declare his assets before he contests. We must be determined to shun the allure of monetary inducements in the forthcoming general elections, in order to elect leaders that can be accountable to the people. Buhari is one leader that must be feared; not for his propensity for wickedness, but to do what is right and to stand up for justice.

Let me put in proper perspective that Buhari, by his pedigree, is an elder statesman and leader of the people. Much of his decisions and actions will not be to serve his personal interest, but the interest of his teeming followers and political supporters.  Therefore the issue of whether he will contest the 2015 election or not is not entirely up to him to make. As the leader that he is, he will make his decision, taking into cognizance the wishes and aspirations of his followers.

In conclusion, I want to state unambiguously that as a former national student leader and frontline youth mobilizer, I am already mobilizing the youths for an unprecedented rally at the Kaduna residence of Gen. Buhari; where we intend to tarry for as long as it takes Buhari to come out and publicly declare his intention to contest the 2015 presidential election. I am writing this article with strong passion born out of conviction. I have taken my stand; and as they say, it is better to stand right, even if you stand alone!

http://www.ynaija.com/opinion-buhari-is-jonathans-worst-nightmare-ahead-of-2015/?utm_source=Y!&utm_medium=twitter


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"Why Nigerians Should Take A Second Look At The Enigma Called Buhari" - By Dr. Wumi Akintide

"Why Nigerians Should Take A Second Look At The Enigma Called Buhari" - By Dr. Wumi Akintide - Mar, 13 2014

I remember with some nostalgia the struggles of Obafemi Awolowo to establish a truly functioning  federalist Government in Nigeria by first agreeing to serve as the leader of opposition in the Federal since Nnamadi Azikiwe and his Igbo kith and kin and the N.C.N.C did not agree to a coalition Government wth Awolowo and his Action Group.

To demonstrate Awo’s commitment to working with the N.C.N.C, Awolowo had assured Nnamdi Azikiwe he would gladly serve under him (Azikiwe) as Prime Minister while Awolowo would serve as Finance Minister. If the N.C.N.C/Action Group coalition had come to fruition, the North People Congress under Ahmadu Bello would  have become a very powerful opposition party in Nigeria because the N.C.N.C/Action Group majority in the Federal Parliament in 1959 was razor-blade thin and in the parliamentary system Nigeria had at the time,  the Prime Minister losing one vote of confidence on any issue in Parliament was enough to cause the fall of that  Government, and a call for another election. This observation has happened ever so often in Great Britain and many of the vibrant democratic countries of the world like the tiny State of Israel to just mention one.

If the N.C.N.C and the Action Group had formed the first Government that obtained independence for Nigeria in 1959, can any of you reading this imagine where Nigeria would have been by now? Singapore, one of the 4 tigers of the Pacific under Lee Kuan Yu a classmate of Obafemi Awolowo in England would have become a distant second to Nigeria in physical and economic development because Nigeria was sitting on a huge reservoir of oil and minerals, she did not know about at the time. All Nigeria needed was a visionary and a dynamic leader to mobilize the country and to properly manage her resources  as envisaged by General Buhari in his recent You Tube interview with Rudolf Okonkwo of Sahara Reporters of New York. General Buhari specifically  admitted that he truncated the Shagari Government in 1983 because he believed, and he still does, that “Nigeria can be mobilized and properly led. He did not think that Shehu Shagari was providing the kind of leadership he believed Nigeria deserved, so he took him out.

As I listened to General Buhari answer many of the questions put to him, I could see some images of Obafemi Awolowo in that man. As a historian, my mind went back to the memory lane of Nigerian history and how politics actually started in Nigeria with the National Movement led by the great Herbert Macauley who on his death bed had picked erudite and handsome Nnamdi Azikiwe as the man to succeed him because he was not thinking of ethnicity or tribalism at that point in our history. It was Nigeria’s finest hour.
The Nationalist Movement was not a tribal institution and was never run as such until the Movement metamorphosed into the N.C.N.C which  was later identified as an Igbo party because Nnamdi Azikiwe, may his soul rest in peace, had made it so.

If the N.C.N.C had started as an Igbo Party, it could never have made such a huge inroad into Western Nigeria like it did when Yoruba political leaders like late Apara the first Nigerian lawyer, H.O.D Davies, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, T.O.S Benson  and other prominent Yoruba leaders like Adelabu Penkelemess of Ibadan, Pa Odeleye of Ilesha and Pa Fanibuyan Adegbola  and Pa Gideon Arowolo of Akure, to mention a few, were staunch members of the N.C.N.C. It was their membership and loyalty to the National ist Movement and later on to Zik and the N.C.N.C that nearly made Nnamdi Azikiwe the first Premier of Western Nigeria  because  the N.C.N.C won at Ibadan. The Yorubas at the time believed they were voting for a party founded and headed by their own kith and kin in Herbert Macauley. It took an Awolowo to let them see the light that N.C.N.C was more of an Igbo party than the nationalist movement from where it got its legitimacy  in Lagos as the seat of Government.

All Obafemi Awolowo and his comerades in arms in the Action Group which lost by a few seats to the N.C.N.C in the old Western Nigerian Parliament was to remind staunch members of the N.C.N.C  like M.A. Akinloye of the Mobolaje Grand Alliance, an affiliate of the N.C.N.C  and prominent  party men like the current Olubadan, Oba Odugade and few others that  the N.C.N.C was no longer the nationalist movement that Herbert Macauley had founded and led.
Our Igbo brothers are right when they describe Awolowo as a tribal leader because of that historical development but what they would never tell you or acknowledge was that the great Nnamdi Azikiwe was the first to condone and nurture Tribalism in Nigeria when he clandestinely turned the Nationalist Movement handed over to him  to what became the NCNC (the National Council of Nigerian and the Cameroon’s even though the party was clearly dominated by the Igbos, and the party participated in the 1959 election as an Igbo Party but with some members drawn from the old Western Region.

Aminu Kano started his own NEPU in the old Northern Region as an affiliate of the N.C.N.C rather than merge with the N.C.N.C because he was hoping that N.E.P.U could provide an alternative to the N.P.C by becoming the Opposition in the North. He, Aminu Kano did not have any doubt that the N.C.N.C was an Igbo Party who could not win in the North. That was why he started his own Talakawa Party in Kano on an ideology totally different from the Caliphate ideology and precept which presented the Fulanis as “the born to rule” class in Nigeria. That is why all the big Hausa/Fulani states in the North from Daura to Kano and from Sokoto to Ilorin are ruled by the Fulani princes who are all direct descendants of Uthman Dan Fodio including Ahmadu Sardauna Bello who would rather become the great Sultan of Sokoto than become the first Prime Minister of Nigeria.

It was probably the bad blood that existed between Zik and Awo at the time that led to the Azikiwe preferring to form a coalition Government with Ahmadu Bello to form the Federal Government in 1959 with Tafawa Balewa becoming Prime Minister and learned Azikiwe becoming a ceremonial President. The bad blood was not the only reason. The Igbos and Zik had figured it out that a coalition Government with the Hausa/Fulani would benefit the Igbos more because the northerners lacked the educational foundation to compete with the Igbos for all of  the other positions in the public and private sectors of the Nigerian economy. They thought the Yorubas are equally as educated if nor more educated and they were not going to take a chance.

That was why Samuel Ladoke Akintola used to castigate and joke about the Igbos about being too greedy and having too much book knowledge “Mbadiwe” in Yoruba language means “I could turn to a book in a heartbeat.” Akintola used to tease the Igbos by calling them the “Mbadiwes of Nigeria.“ The Chairman of the Nigerian Railways Corporation at that time was a gentleman named “Ikejiani”. Akintola, a Yoruba orator who spoke Hausa fluently, turned that name in Yoruba to “Iketa ani” and “Ikerinani” etc to show that the Igbos were just “too greedy”, his words not mine. Akintola then rhetorically asked the Yorubas and the northerners that if the Igbos have 1,2,3,and 4, what will be left for the rest of Nigeria to share. Akintola’s own mission was to dislodge the Igbos from their coalition government with the Hausas/Fulanis and to replace them with “Demo” the Yoruba Party he had formed after breaking ranks with Awolowo and the Action Group.

Akintola said Awolowo was too rigid a politician to appreciate that the northerners are not as dumb as Awolowo thought. He told Awolowo that if the Yorubas could not beat the northerners, they should join them. Awolowo said “No” on principle. So Akintola accompanied by Fanikayode left the Action Group to pitch their tents with Ahmadu Bello and the N.P.C. That was how men like Richard Akinjide and others too many to recount in this article became Federal Ministers. One of the first things Richard Akinjide did as Federal Ministers of Education was to successfully tackle the imbalance created by the Igbo domination of the Federal Public Service and the Parastatals. I was in the Public Service when Richard Akinjide was actively pursuing that policy.

You could say all you want about Samuel Ladoke Akintola, he arguably had a method to his so-called madness or betrayal of Obafemi Awolowo. The solution that he espoused in the political configuration of Nigeria was what finally won. Once the Military took over Nigeria, it made no sense for the Yorubas to still continue to resent the northerners as illiterates.” Kaka ka dobale fun Gambari ka kuku ku” Awolowo once said meaning that “it is better for the Yorubas to die than to take orders from or kowtow to the Hausa/Fulani”. Many of the Yorubas bought into the Awolowo stereotype of the Hausa/Fulani for a long time before we began to see that Akintola was not as crazy as we thought he was. He sure had a point on hindsight.

Once Awolowo himself agreed to serve as as Commissioner for Finance and Deputy Chairman to General Gowon, another northerner in the Federal Executive Council, you could say with some justification that Akintola had won the debate to make peace with the North for all of the 38 years of military rule in Nigeria. Some Yorubas like to rubbish Akintola as being a traitor to the Yoruba cause. I am not one of them. Akintola may have done a few things wrong in his political calculus and disagreement with Obafemi Awolowo, but everything he predicted about the need to work with the Northerners and to be less contemptuous of the Hausa/Fulani as a powerful brokers in Nigeria have become the conventional wisdom, if the truth must be told. I will forever love and cherish Awolowo till I die, but I would be the last person to not appreciate the sterling qualities and talents of Samuel Ladoke Akintola. He was a great politician in his own right any way you slice it.

I make this little digression to Akintola as a back drop to my hypothesis on Buhari and my clarion call to Nigerians to take a second look at Mohammadu Buhari’s endless presidential ambition in Nigeria. I am happy that most northerners who were hell-bent on stopping Obafemi Awolowo from becoming President of Nigeria are now going thru the same pains that Awolowo had endured. What goes around comes around. I am sure that Buhari is now in a better position to appreciate the pains and the struggles of Obafemi Awolowo who knew what he could do for Nigeria but was frustrated from doing it by the Hausa/Fulani and the Igbos working together to stop Awolowo by blackmailing him a tribalist.

The Igbos and some elements of the Yorubas are doing the same thing to Buhari today by calling him names, blackmailing him and and saying his ultimate goal was to make an Islamic state of Nigeria. Some have even described  him as being the brain or the master mind behind Boko Haram. That was all a big lie. It came out of his television interview with Rudolf Okonkwo that Buhari was was seen by Boko Haram as one of their implacable enemies. He, General Buhari described Boko Haram in that interview as  “neither Christian nor Muslim”.. As far as he was concerned “they are terrorists.” I cannot think of any Nigerian leader, not even the current President who could be that bold to describe Boko Haram in that kind of language.

General Buhari is the kind of leader Nigeria needs at this point in our history because his track record either as a military Governor of the old Northeastern State, and Head of State for 20 months and Chairman of the Petroleum Task Force for 5 years have all proved he is the only credible Nigerian leader right now who can wrestle Corruption to the ground. I don’t trust all of the recent decampees to the A.P.C. like Atiku Abubakar. If the A.P.C picks Atiku  as their presidential candidate, his Government is not going to be too different from the P.D.P. Government he just left. I am saying so because of his track record in power. The future began from yesterday and today I might remind those who still think that the Atiku leopard is going to so quickly change his color.

I am not saying that General Buhari has to be the only candidate the A.P.C. must put forward for President. All I am saying is that those who want to rubbish him are being dishonest. The guy is a good leader. I respect his staying power in politics and the fact that he is not willing to give up that easily. Like Awolowo before him, he has now run for President for three  going to four times and he is not yet ready to quit. If the A.P.C. can find a new blood with enough experience and  track record to qualify them for President, bring them out and let’s see who they are.

The A.P.C. must show Nigerian voters how it is different from the P.D.P. and President Jonathan who has clearly shown he is not up to the job as far as I am concerned and from all we are able to see. I strongly believe the P.D.P. has lost all its credibility to be re-elected in 2015. Let Nigerians give the opposition a chance for whatever it may be worth. If they don’t measure up, Nigerians should reserve the right to vote them out after 4 years. It is that simple.

The A.P.C. still has a long way to go to convince Nigerians that it is not going to be a carbon copy of the P.D.P. The party  is beginning to do that with the manifesto it has just put out but drawing up a manifesto is a far cry from implementing a manifesto for the benefit of the country. Awolowo was the first politician in Nigeria who has delivered on what he promised in the old Western Region. He did it again when he managed the Nigerian economy during the civil war and he did not have to borrow a penny to prosecute the war. Murtala Mohammed did the same thing for the 200 days he was Head of State. Buhari tried and almost did the same thing but his tenure was cut short after 20 months in office. He was going to retire Ibrahim Babangida and his cohorts in the Military but I.B.B got wind of it, and he preempted the move by staging his own coup..

General Buhari is not the monster he is being made out to be. He is a good man and a good leader who can clean up the Augean stable of  Corruption in Nigeria, if given the chance.

I am so glad that he agreed to do the interview with Sahara Reporters and he took pains to answer most of the questions put to him with the exception of where he defended Sani Abacha who according to him was never found guilty of any corruption in the Court of Law. If Abacha was not corrupt, where exactly did he find the money seized from him and repatriated back to Nigeria? I was surprised that Rudolf Okonkwo did not ask a follow-up to that particular question. I reject the blackmail that Buhari is an Islamic apologist or radical. He is a good Muslim and that should not be a disqualification for him to be a good President just like Murtala Mohammed. That he could nominate Pastor Tunde Bakare as a running mate tells me loud and clear he is not a religious zealot he has been called.

I urge Nigerians to take a second look at his presidential ambition. If you agree and believe in this admonition, say a loud Amen.

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YMR

Femi Adesina: Buhari, 2015 and the parable of 2 sons

Posted in wpzoom Politics on August 31, 2013 6:58 aminSha

by Femi Adesina

With all due respect, Buhari is not indispensable…  If Buhari runs and fails in 2015, he would have finally eroded the Buhari myth, which has kept many of his followers going over the years.  And that would be quite tragic.  A nation should not lose all its heroes, in the name of politics or whatever…

I have noticed a trend in the build-up towards the 2015 elections, particularly as it concerns former military head of state, Gen Muhammadu Buhari.  There are those who want him to run for president again, and there are those who do not.

Gen Buhari had taken shots at the highest political office in the land in 2003, 2007 and 2011, but never made it to the presidency due to a number of factors.  However, that is not the focus of this piece.

Shortly before the 2011 polls, the Daura, Katsina State born general, said it was going to be his last time of offering himself for the position of president.  Still, his ambition was not realized, and he has maintained a fairly low profile political position since then.

But as 2015 approaches, there are pressures on Gen Buhari to throw his hat into the ring again as a candidate.  He turned 70 last December, and would be 72 by the time elections hold in 2015.  Too old?  Maybe not, as long as he is physically and mentally fit.  Our constitution prescribes only a minimum age for the president, and not maximum.

Abdoulaye Wade ruled Senegal in his 80s.  Ronald Reagan won election as American president when he was over 70 years old.  Robert Mugabe, though not an inspiring example, recently took oath of office for the sixth time as Zimbabwean president.  He is almost 90 years old.

For some people, the issue of whether Buhari should run in 2015 or not is not largely about his age, but his pledge in 2011 that he would not offer himself for the position of president again.

Those people believe if he goes back on his words, it would be antithetical, even antipodal to his previous position.  And two different positions have now been thrown up.  There are those who think Gen Buhari should be convinced to run again, since the Nigerian ship of state is drifting dangerously, and may soon hit the rocks. Former Federal Capital Territory Minister, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, is one of such.  No doubt, Buhari has what it takes to save us from doomsday in terms of combating indiscipline, corruption, lawlessness, and generally leading by example.  But should he capitulate to the persuaders and run?

Before we answer the question, let us go to the other group, the ones who do not want Buhari to run, simply because they are afraid of him.  Yes, three parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria, the All Nigerian Peoples Party, and the Congress for Progressive Change (and there is even a splinter from the All Progressives Grand Alliance) have coalesced to form the All Progressives Congress (APC).

A formidable alliance, if you ask me.  This is one political party that can torpedo the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) from power, where it has ensconced itself since 1999, doing little and promising to be there for minimum of 60 years.  But as long as Buhari lives, and is healthy, he poses a potent threat, a veritable stumbling block to the dreams of the PDP.  So, they fear him like plague.

And what do they do?  They embark on further disinformation, which they had always used against the man over the years: he is a religious bigot, he is sectional, he is inflexible, he is the brain behind Boko Haram.  Some people, in their bid to set a trap, even conjured a splinter group of the insurrectionist group, and mentioned Buhari as a man they could trust to broker a ceasefire deal.

A veritable trap, if ever there was one.  If he acquiesced, they would say, yes, they listened to him because he was their sponsor.  And if he didn’t (as he did not) they would say he’s not a patriot.  He could have used his influence to secure a ceasefire, but he did not, simply because he’s not altruistic. Head you lose, tail you lose.

What other mechanism are they using to dissuade Buhari from running in 2015?  They are spreading the word that it would be incompatible with his famed integrity if he runs, having said he would never run again in 2011.

The integrity they refused to allow the man use for the good of the entire country, they are now also waving over his head like the sword of Damocles.  Integrity is now sin, and it is only in Nigeria that it happens.  Pity.

How are the perpetual Buhari opposers (largely for fear of their economic empires) going about the disinformation process?   They have thrown the 2011 pledge the man made into public space, ahead of the process that would lead to the APC picking a presidential flag bearer.  Anybody else but Buhari would make them comfortable.  But if the latter emerges, then they would be in serious trouble.

Do I blame the PDP?  I don’t. The political game is all about getting the upper hand.  The most colourful politician with the largest cult-like following, particularly in the northern part of the country, is Gen Buhari.  And he equally has a large number of discerning supporters in the south.

If he then combines that with the grip the erstwhile Action Congress of Nigeria has on the South-west, then 2015 is a done deal for the opposition.  What to do then?  Convince Buhari not to run, mobilize public sentiment against him, remind him that keeping to one’s words is part of integrity.

Rather sadly, my friend and colleague, Eric Osagie, has got hoodwinked by the propagandists, and fallen for the fib.  Last Monday, at the back page of this newspaper, he wrote under the headline ‘2015: If Buhari runs…’ And what was he saying?  “At 70 plus, it is time for Buhari to forget his presidential dream, groom younger leaders to take over from him.

With all due respect, Buhari is not indispensable…  If Buhari runs and fails in 2015, he would have finally eroded the Buhari myth, which has kept many of his followers going over the years.  And that would be quite tragic.  A nation should not lose all its heroes, in the name of politics or whatever…  Anyone who truly loves Buhari ought to advise him to take a bow and go, and go on a deserved rest.”

Osagie has a right to his opinion, but that does not necessarily mean it is the gospel truth, or the laws of Medes and Persia, which can never change.  This is my own position, looking at Eric Osagie clause by clause: At 70 plus, it is time for Buhari to forget his presidential dream.

True?  False.  Age has nothing to do with it.  If a man remains physically and mentally sound at 80, who says he can’t be president?  The constitution allows it. The team that you assemble is what matters, as well as the direction you chart for the team.  And do you ever forget a dream?  If Abraham Lincoln did, he would not have ever become American president, after failing many times earlier.  John Atta Mills ran for three times before he became president in Ghana.  A man has a right to his dreams, and it is an infringement on his right to ask him to drop such dreams. God is the one who turns dreams into reality, not any man.

Again, Eric asks Buhari to groom younger leaders to take over from him.  The power game is never played that way.

Power is taken, and not handed out.  Let the younger people come with integrity, with dedication, with abhorrence for corruption, with charisma and ability to lead by example, and the country would follow them.  If a younger person comes with all the attributes we see in Buhari, who says we won’t follow him?  Nobody is indispensable, truly, but a country that refuses to put its best men at the helm of affairs is a moral and psychological absurdity.

If Buhari runs and fails in 2015, he would have finally eroded the Buhari myth, Eric Osagie says.  Not so.  I wouldn’t use the word myth, I’ll rather say Buhari brand.  Yes, there is the Buhari brand, and what are its characteristics?  Simplicity.  Incorruptibility.  Public spiritedness.  Discipline.  Accountability.

And many more!  And who should not like this brand?  I do, and will ever do.  It is a brand that can never fail, be eroded or corroded, no matter what misguided Nigerians do to it.  It is a lifelong, time tested, eternal brand.  Worry not Eric, the brand lives, and will live.

The writer also said: anyone who truly loves Buhari ought to advise him to take a bow and go on a deserved rest.  Not so fast, Eric.  You don’t trample on a man’s rights, under the pretext of loving him.  His rights are inalienable to him.  There are some decisions that a man can make only himself, and you have to respect such decision, if you truly love him.

So, what have I been saying?  Should Buhari run in 2015?  I have not said yes, I have not said no.  I will simply respect whatever decision he takes, because it is within his rights.  But to say running despite his promise never to do so again in 2011, would tantamount to loss of integrity, is to pull it to ridiculous level.  Who never changes his mind in this world? A change of mind is not irresoluteness.

It is not fickleness.  Neither is it vacillation or shilly-shallying.  In fact, a man that never changes his mind is one to fear, and run away from.  Such would remain stiff and unbending, even in the face of superior arguments.  Like Julius Caesar said of Cassius, “such men are dangerous.”

Jesus gave a parable in Matthew 21 verses 28-30.  “A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said. Son, go and work today in my vineyard.

“He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.

And he came to the second, and said likewise.  And he answered and said, I go sir: and went not.”

Jesus then asked which of the two sons did the will of his father?  Of course, the first one!  The conclusion?  You can always change your mind to do positive things.  It will never lead to loss of credibility or integrity.  Shikena.

http://www.ynaija.com/femi-adesina-buhari-2015-and-the-parable-of-2-sons/

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YMR

"Tell a lie once and all your truths become questionable." - Mufti Menk

Buhari, May You Never Be Nigeria’s President

Buhari, May You Never Be Nigeria's President

— January 17, 2014

By Abdull-Azeez Ahmed Kadir

Last December 17, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) turned 71. A privileged age in our clime where many things conive to deny many long live. Chief among which is bad leadership. So, for General Buhari, it is a rare privilege, especially considering his God bestowed sound health. Nelson Mandela; one of the finest of human leaders, probably next only to Mahatma Ghandi, walked out of racist gaol where he spent 27 years at the same age of 71 which Buhari 'just' attained. Mandela went ahead to become the first democratically elected President of free South Africa after leaving prison at that age. Buhari is no Nigerian Mandela and never laid claim to that.

General Obasanjo would have been fit for that term but he booted the factors that would have earned him that title while rooting for a personal ambition. To say General Buhari was incoruptible albeit officially, is to state the obvious. Though some close allies may have raise certain weak points of the retired General to, sometimes, make noise when the pendulum does not swing their ways when they want, the public image of the man as far as integrity is concerned remains taller than his physical figure. The gap toothed General was the 7th of the 14th Nigerian to rule or lead Nigeria between independence in 1960 and now, and the 5th of the 8th military rulers the nation was saddled with in-between the same period. The initial caption for this write-up was "Buhari, take a bow now". But on closer scrutiny, and like earlier written, Mandela walked out of the gaol at 71 and went to win an election to be President after all.

So, Buhari at 71 may not likely be the best time to take a bow from national politics. But it is the time Buhari should let go of his dream about re-occupying the number one seat in the country. For a start, Buhari appeals to the common man on the street more than the elite. He is seen more as the "saviour" or political messiah more and above any of the nine surviving former occupants of that exalted office. No doubt, the media image of Buhari has been a source of worry to so many of his supporters and fans. No thanks to the infamous "Muslims should vote for Muslims" junk journalism of a reporter who could not even interpret the commonest of Hausa words nor translate the easiest of Hausa adage. But who went ahead to file a report of an event of which he reportedly got to late and even care less to get someone versed in the language of the address to educate him on what was said.

The same has been the stock in trade of several journalists as far as Buhari is concerned till the recent "kare jini biri jini" which were misinterpreted due to the limited understanding of the Hausa language by most of the writers and arm chair commentators. One of the favourite sayings of Buhari anytime asked about the appalling leadership situations in the country is "jiki magayi". In the heydays of All Peoples Party (APP) that later transmutted to All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Buhari was seen as a regional politicians with regional following on a regional political party. Some even accused him of religious bias. But they were all not knowledgeable about the person of Buhari or did so out of mere mischief.

Many have attested to the fact that from his domestic staff to all the places he held command position, non Muslims around the man felt at home and could follow him to a battle field blind folded. But with the recent merger which resulted in the formation of All Progressive Congress (APC) with presence in all geo-political zones of the country, those critics who went to town with ethnic, religious and regional propaganda are fast reclining into their shells and searching for other means to brand the General all to no avail. As the man have many passionate admirers, so does he have those who passionately hate him. From the Dikkos of this world, to certain road side meat seller or cobbler for reasons best known to them. But the reason for asking Buhari to take or bow, or praying for him never to be President of Nigeria is far fetched from what the likes of the above mentioned individuals or groups may see as their reasons.

In fact, many are of the opinion that the lanky General take a rest from his aspiration to lead the country again. He should rather play the role of a king maker. There is no doubt that in certain quarters, whoever Buhari anoints always have the backing of the teaming electorates. Of all the eight surviving Nigerian leaders or rulers, Buhari may be second to General Gowon when put on the scale of scathing criticism. They both rate low in terms of being called names when their tenures in office and their manner of leadership is in discourse. These also trickle down to their children and family members. Some family members of former leaders in Nigeria, especially those who bear the family name are so much despised due to the alleged sins of the leader (s). Not so with General Buhari.

Some past leaders are so despised and booted not so much because of their acts, but more because of the corrupts and cesspit acts of those around them in corridors of power or insatiable power and wealth appetites of subordinates. But the truth is, rightly or wrongly, no one or few occupy public office in our clime and quits the stage with their integrity intact. The reason why Buhari, from Governor, to Minister and to Head of State remains a phenomenon. Not even his days as head of the multi-billion naira Petroleum Trust Development Fund (PTDF) could be used to taint him. Some have said that if Buhari had used the PTDF to line his pocket, the government; past and present would have dug the dirt and used it to drag him down the muddy water of Nigerian politics. He remains one of the few whose children could work through a crowd unnoticed. They maintain very low profile even in the face of the highest intimidation or public outcry.

So, if General Muhammadu Buhari would become one of such leaders whose name would lead to negative change of countenance, whose presence pose a threat to men of goodwill, whose image the teaming masses would de deraid. If his becoming a President would have his name written among the corrupt, his integrity tainted, his family name become despicable. His children a liability instead of source of pride, may he never be Nigerian President. May he live the rest of his life in sound health, better wisdom, positive prosperity of all ramifications, rooting for the global citizen and quit the stage with loud encomium, leaving goodwill for his family to the awe of his worst critic.

—Abdull-Azeez is a journalist based in Kaduna and can be reached at azeeznews@yahoo.

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