Buhari and the Tunisia Example Tunisia as a country has returned to the world spotlight again this year as it was in 2011 when a popular revolution led to the overthrow of a longtime president of the country on 14th January 2011. The country located in the North of Africa was on the world spotlight in 2011 because of the violent revolution that took place when one young Mohammed Bouazizi set himself ablaze on 17th December 2010 because he was dispossessed of the wares he was hawking on the street by the security agencies, a trade he started due to his joblessness. That act alone led to violent reactions by the youth in Tunisia and this led to the Tunisian revolution that toppled the autocratic president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. It later spread to Egypt, Libya and some other Arab countries in Middle East. Before the violent revolution ended, two other heads of government in Egypt and Libya were removed unceremoniously. The main causes of Tunisian revolution in 2011 are very similar to what we are experiencing in Nigeria now except that the scales are way much higher in our country than what the Tunisians experienced. The causes of Tunisian revolution in 2011 are high level of corruption in governance, inflation, unemployment, political repression and poor living conditions of the Tunisians just as we are witnessing in Nigeria today. However, the experience of Tunisians emboldened them on their resolve and determination to engender good governance by electing credible leaders which led to the second revolution in the country. The silent revolution was through the ballot box as Tunisians trooped out in their numbers to elect their new president in the first post-revolutionary election in the country conducted on 21st Dec. 2014 in a presidential run-off election. The result of the election produced the new president elect, an 88 year old veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi, a great man of honour, integrity and experience. The driving point of this write up is to draw the attention of the Nigerian public to the lessons to be learnt from Tunisian experience. There is no gain saying the fact that we are even passing through the worst form of government as a country. Truly we have never had it so bad in our 54 years of existence as a sovereign and an independent country. The country is being mismanaged by very highly corrupt government resulting in collapsed infrastructure, poor social services, high youth unemployment and profligacy. The youth especially have patiently borne the brunt of maladministration by Jonathan led government in the last 6 years and the PDP led federal government in the last 15 years since 1999. One of the lessons is that The Tunisians gave little consideration to the age of the candidates by electing an 88 year old veteran politician to lead them against 67 year old incumbent president Moncef Marzouki. In Nigeria, the ruling PDP is harping on the age of Buhari who is presently 72 to portray the APC presidential candidate Buhari as incapable of leading Nigeria because of his age. Their campaign of calumny against Buhari has fallen likes packs of cards due to the determination of Nigerians to enthrone good governance in the 2015 general elections. Nigerians were very much aware of the age of Nelson Mandela at 76 years when he was elected in 1994 as the 1st post-apartheid president of South Africa following his release from prison. The performance of Mandela in the 4 years of his presidency endeared him more to the people of South Africa and the world and he became a legend. Therefore today what matters in the upcoming presidential election in Nigeria is the integrity and capacity of the candidates to perform when elected that could resolve the myriad of problems bedevilling the country and not the age of the candidates. If age is a factors to be considered for performance in governance one is therefore wondering why the lacklustre performance and colossal failure of President Jonathan. Nigerians have therefore made up their minds that the age of Gen. Buhari if anything is a great advantage for him to become the next president of Nigeria because age and experience go together. The second lesson to be learnt is that the Tunisia president elect is a veteran public administrator in country and yet did not suffer the cheap blackmail during the electioneering campaign of being allegedly recycled. Some few Nigerians in the opposition PDP are hammering on why Buhari should contest the next presidential election having being head of state in 1983 and having contested the position of the president in three previous elections which he lost to the opposition. It’s on record that one of the greatest American presidents Abraham Lincoln contested several times for the position of the American president before eventually winning the presidency. The third lesson to be learnt is that the Tunisians voted against an incumbent president Moncef Marzouki who had held sway since 2011 as an interim president of the country. As for the Tunisians the issues that was at stake was to elect a president that is capable of curbing corruption and resolving the fundamental problems of the country by creating employment for the youth and stabilizing the economy and improving on infrastructure and social services to improve the living conditions of the citizens. The lacklustre performance of President Jonathan is evident in all sectors of Nigeria. The economy of the country is at the lowest ebbs with the value of naira nose diving to N187 against the dollar and exchanging at N200 in the open market. There is high unemployment especially among the youth which from the available statistics has reached above 60% youth unemployment. The national Bureau of Statistics gave a figure of 54% of youth in Nigeria that was unemployed in 2012. The middle class in Nigeria have disappeared or at best have been reduced to strugglers, figuratively gasping for breath. For the middle class, transport even in rickety vehicles is a core problem. The average middle class depends on second hand imported vehicles and suddenly Jonathan administration completely alienated this class, the biggest enlightened voting bloc in Nigeria. The World Bank statistics, in 2013, put the number of Nigerians living in destitution at 100million while the 2014 report put Nigeria among the five poorest countries in the world. The high rate of unemployment and low per capital income in the country are just two of the indices used by the World Bank in arriving at this assessment. Education and health sectors have almost collapsed under Jonathan presidency giving rise to the emergence of private schools and private health centre’s which are beyond the affordability of an average Nigerians. Lecturers in Universities, polytechnics and colleges of education have on several times gone on strike for several months without action by the government. Currently, workers in the health sector are on strikes for more than two months. The palpable insecurity situation pervading the entire country is worrisome and more disturbing is the government lack of will to deal decisively and honestly with the Boko Haram insurgency in the north eastern parts of the country and nip it in the bud. The Boko Haram insurgents have killed hundreds of thousands of people and several kidnappings of women, men, and school children. The lack of concern shown by the president on the Boko Haram kidnap of 219 school girls in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014 from their school which are yet to be released is one of many acts of the president that has put him on the negative spot light by Nigerians. In a highest display of insensitivity by the President, Jonathan went on campaign trail to Kano few hours after the kidnap of the school girls and was captioned live on camera dancing with party faithful. To add salt to injury, it took the president about 18 days to acknowledge the facts that indeed 219 schools girls were kidnapped. The wife of the president in a show of shame invited the principal of the school where the Chibok girls were kidnapped including other officials from Borno state where she displayed an act that smacked of histrionics and grandstanding that resulted in her use of the now popular slogan ‘’Chai there is God oh’’ Nigerians therefore should take a cue from the Tunisians that elected an 88 year old veteran politician Beji Caid Essebsi to lead them against a 67 year old incumbent president Moncef Marzouki, to vote en masse for Buhari in the 2015 general elections coming up this February to salvage the country at this critical point of Nigeria existence. Buhari from all indication will be a great asset to the country at this critical point that Nigeria is passing through her worst time in history. As we enter the New Year 2015 we enjoin all Nigerians to take a well inform decisions as they go out to the polls to cast their votes in the general elections in February. May the year 2015 bring the change we seek for in our dear country Nigeria. This article is written by Engr Haruna Ikotu, national coordinator Buhari for all campaign organization and can be reached on harunaikotu@gmail for your reactions and comments.
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 13:05:44 +0000
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