What did anti-corruption Buhari do about this outrageous APC requirement? This is where the whole matter becomes ridiculously implausible. According to Buhari, rather than fight against the measure, he took out a ban loan to pay for it. Buhari told us about his “loan” out of embarrassment; in a pathetic bid to validate his anti- corruption credentials. But this so-called loan indicates that Buhari does not understand what it means to be anti- corruption. For Buhari, anti- corruption is a posture; it is a swagger; it is a badge; but it has no bite and, in the usual Nigerian fashion, it will be prosecuted with hypocrisy. Buhari wants us to believe that he cannot afford 27.5 million naira. Nevertheless, he rides around in a bullet-proof Jeep and maintains a convoy of Land Cruisers. He cannot afford 27.5 million naira. Nevertheless, he declared his candidacy lavishly in Eagle Square, Abuja. Did he also take out a bank loan for that? Four months to a make-or-break election, Buhari would have us believe he has no money. How does he propose to finance his presidential campaign? Is he going to take 1 billion naira loan from the World Bank for this? Dubious loan Why would a bank lend Buhari that amount for a presidential pie-in-the-sky that failed to materialize three times in the past? Is that not likely to be a bad loan? How long did it take for the loan to be processed? What did he put down as anti- corruption collateral? How does he propose to pay the money back? Mr. Integrity needs to spell all this out for the sake of his fast-disintegrating anti- corruption credentials. I did not know loans are so easy to secure in Nigerian banks today. Perhaps Buhari could introduce me to his bank manager. I would also not mind taking this kind of soft loan. I am sure I can always come up with some unproductive excuse or the other for it. Is such a loan even legal today under Nigeria’s stricter banking laws? How many honest Nigerians can afford to give a non-refundable 27.5 million naira to a political party, on the off-chance that they will be able to secure the party’s presidential ticket? If they win the nomination and even get elected president, how would they pay back the money? Not presidential material It is clear that Buhari is not only lacking the money to pay for APC nomination papers, he does not have the funds to pay for advisers, to counsel him about what to tell the public and how to prosecute an effective presidential campaign. His advisers might have educated him that there is something called “fund-raising.” Surely, the most popular politician in the North-West can find some of his ardent supporters to give him 27 million naira. Certainly, a former governor of the Central Bank can easily cough up the money. Buhari wants to fight an election that will take place in four months time. From what he tells us, he does not have 27 million to prosecute that election now. If this is true, he is not the right man to be president of Nigeria. For a man who is running for election for the fourth time, that is the height of cluelessness. It shows Buhari is lousy at marshalling resources. Otherwise, he is fooling nobody but himself.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 12:06:05 +0000
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