Why They Dont Want Buhari - Dele Momodu General Buhari who’s breaking his own world record by contesting for the fourth time in rapid succession. No Nigerian currently has his cult-followership. He has ostensibly become an idol of sorts to many Nigerians old or young, an Icon to be emulated. He suffers three major setbacks. The first is on account of his age. If he gets the ticket, he would be running against a much younger PDP candidate, President Jonathan. Many have dismissed the age limitation as irrelevant by citing examples from other parts of the world even in this modern era. Ronald Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 and became President of the United States of America on January 20, 1981. He was on the knock of 70 and went on to rule for eight years. Hillary Clinton was born on October 26, 1947. By the time she runs her Presidential race, if she gets the Democratic ticket, in 2016, she would be close to 70. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana has just been picked as Presidential candidate by his party NPP to run for the third time in 2016. Nana was born on March 29, 1944 which means he’ll be 72 by the time he runs the race. The great Madiba Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 and became the President of an independent South Africa on May 10, 1994. He was close to 76 and he governed for one term of five years. So there is nothing new under the sun. The supporters of Buhari are saying it is better to have a responsible octogenarian as President than to have an incompetent, reckless and profligate youth in power. The second issue about Buhari is on religion. He’s perceived to be a Muslim fundamentalist, an allegation that has not been proven by his accusers till this day. He is a devout Muslim who would defend his faith like any Christian would defend his. Our President has been meandering from church to church and jetted to Israel several times on pilgrimage, yet no one has called him a Christian fundamentalist. Buhari has related well with Christians all his life. His first daughter was married to an Igbo man, a Christian. Both his drivers and cook were Christians. He allowed Christians to observe free days on Sundays and told Muslims they can’t be exempted from work on Fridays because there was no such mandate in the Koran. As Head of State, he even reduced the number of Muslims going on holy pilgrimage by half in order to find money for developing the nation. The third issue is psychological in nature: the fear factor. The Nigerian Mafioso is united in its pathological hatred and or trepidation for Buhari. Despite the fact that Buhari would have to govern under a different democratic climate, those folks are still scared to their pants about what Buhari’s government portends for members of the privilegentsia. As a matter of fact, this is the veritable source of all smear campaign and fear-mongering against Buhari. But APC has more than enough technocrats in and outside its fold to help Buhari do his job in a civilised manner. There is no doubt that PDP is hoping that APC would indulge in some fanciful experimentation by picking a candidate less formidable than Buhari. I will not write off the chances of other aspirants but none could be brighter than that of Buhari. In Buhari, APC has a ready candidate who can go to the battlefield with passionate troops. The others are still too scattered to assemble both the troops and arsenal of war. The almost bizarre and blistering attack against Buhari is symptomatic of one fact; that he is the best choice against a Party as entrenched as PDP. I believe the ship of Atiku has almost hit the rocks after sailing repeatedly in the stormy sea of PDP. As for Kwankwaso, his boat is not yet big enough to navigate in the wild waters of Nigeria.
Posted on: Sat, 15 Nov 2014 20:01:50 +0000
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