Behold, the Brand New Buhari! - ThisDay Personality Focus - 21 Nov 2014 For the first time in his political career, former military Head of State and frontline presidential aspirant in the All Progressives Congress, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is starting to rebrand himself, writes Olawale Olaleye “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails…” - William Arthur Ward At conception, three headlines suited this article. Apart from the one above, also listed for consideration were: “The Buhari They’ve Been Waiting For” or “The Rebirth of Buhari.” But the one above seems to catch the fancy of this writer better because in addition to other reasons, it aptly captures the essence of the piece as well as interprets the message more intelligibly. Particularly poignant are the accompanying pictures to this report; they say it all. The pictures were exclusively obtained by THISDAY from the team now managing the general-turned politician, Muhammadu Buhari, as part of the campaign props. There are lots more wowing shots in the file, you bet! The lead up to next year’s presidential election has continued to flash a recurring decimal – Buhari. For the former Head of State, next year’s election will mark his fourth attempt at the presidency, the closest being the election of 2011 in which he garnered well over 12 million votes without boasting a war chest and on the strength of a relatively unknown party at the time, the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Needless to assume that he came that close on the resultant factors of character, track record and his never-waning-popularity, amongst the less privileged, the under-served especially in the Northern part of the country. He is who he is with his people hence the growing cult-like followership he has continued to enjoy. No Nigerian, it is generally believed, currently enjoys such followership. His electoral advantages notwithstanding, the South of the country has always seen him differently and so, he has remained a low performer in that part of the country at each election year, in addition to other factors presumably responsible for winning and losing election. But since Buhari switched camp and pitched tent with the progressives in the South, there have been conscious attempts by a concerned few to start rebranding the man, not only because he is said to stand a very bright chance in the presidential primaries cum the general election, but more because he must be seen as having been properly indoctrinated into the class of the progressives, whether in outlook, disposition and the content of his character. Even then, in dealing with the Buhari candidacy, the APC knew it had a few perception issues to deal with, chief amongst which is his alleged religious extremism and of course, the age factor. A lot of his followers have since dismissed the age limitation as irrelevant for as long as it does not inhibit his performance or capacity required of leadership at that level. As a result, his supporters have designed a counter-strategy to the age debate. For them, they would rather a responsible, intelligent and decisive old man like Buhari as president than have an incompetent lot in power on the basis of age and untested youthful dexterity. Interestingly, the allegation of his religious extremism is daily appearing some cheap propaganda by the opposition to undo him, more so that the allegation has never been proven right by anyone. A truly devout Muslim, Buhari has not just related well with Christians, those close to him have facts to show that he is not who he is being projected to be. For instance, his first daughter is said to have married a Christian Igbo, while his driver and cook are Christians of many years, in whom he is said to repose so much trust. While he would always allow Christians take their Sundays off, their Muslim counterparts are never exempted from work on Fridays because according to him, there was no such mandate in the Holy Quoran. For a man of his statute and with the degree of devotion to his faith, the last time Buhari allegedly went on a Pilgrimage to Mecca was some 11 years ago. Rather than go on such capital intensive expedition, he would fund the education of the children of the less privileged. Small wonder this category of Nigerians would always be willing to take a bullet for him. The most strident of the factors against Buhari is what is otherwise known as the fear factor as Chief Dele Momodu recently put it. Those who lay permanent claim to the ownership of Nigeria are believed not to like Buhari for who he is. They are said to worry about what a Buhari government portend for them as establishmentarians. The guess here is not far-fetched. Corruption is a thriving industry and Buhari is averse to this scourge. It is against this backdrop that those who believe in the Buhari presidency both within and outside the APC have joined forces to start playing up the Buhari they know and the Buhari the people have been waiting for. The Buhari, who though has been badly damaged by his traducers, is now undergoing repairs and seems to be responding well to the dynamism of change as being propounded by his party, the APC. In the administration of the country, this category of people believes that the APC has sufficient technocrats amongst its membership that could rally support for Buhari in the onerous task of salvaging the country, observing the best democratic practices as well as delivering on promises. Indeed, this set of people further believes Buhari has the brightest chance in the APC – a candidate they claim is ready to go to the battlefield with devoted troops that will not beat a retreat in the heat of superior firepower. The most dramatic of the change Buhari is going through is his representative dress sense that cuts across the geo-political zones, typifying the Nigerian in him. And apart from regularly tutoring the man they describe as “excitingly teachable” in the things that bring him up to date on trending global developments, the Buhari team also boasts a jaw-breaking blueprint that would jolt his opponents. Although they have limited time to tidy up many things, the Team Buhari is excited that things are looking up good for them, both at the level of the party primaries and the general election which, they reckon looks very promising. According to sources within the group, never before have the chances of the opposition been this bright in a national election, especially given the fact that elections these days are less rig-able, following INEC’s many safe mechanisms and despite its palpable inadequacies. While the coast thus looks clear for Buhari, how well the team is able to translate these chances into results remains entirely a problem of the internal extrapolation and workings of the party leadership, devoid of greed, inordinate interests and obnoxious personal agenda. Until then, welcome to the world of the brand new Muhammadu Buhari…the one you’ve been waiting for! Tags: Featured, Nigeria, Politics
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:12:59 +0000
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