WHY GEN. MUHAMMADU BUHARI CANNOT BE PRESIDENT OF NIGERIA. By: Idumange John If the news making the rounds that Buhari is the Presidential flagbearer of APC is anything to go by, then the job of PDP is made easier. Thirty Years ago, Muhammadu Buhari overthrew the democratically elected government of President Shehu Aliyu Usman Shagari. As a man socialized in the culture of hardnosed military rigidity combined with his fundamentalist stance on matters verging on Islam, the job of President Jonathan is now easier. Sule Lamido chickened out because of the vapour of corruption around him. I am cock sure the occupant of Brick House may also chicken out because of the heavy debt burden, most of which was taken without due process. The anti-graft agencies would frown at such financial impropriety. To the best of my knowledge, Buhari has no ounce of democratic credentials, and for 30 years, he still remains that stale, sterile and obsolete man with no new ideas. Before the unholy matrimony, his CPC has never won any seat outside the core North largely because the CPC lacks national appeal because the man himself does not believe in the unity of the country. Three issues beagle my mind with subtlety. First, if Buhari is the best APC can produce then it demonstrates that APC is really empty. Secondly, it is an indication that the fears of Islamizing Nigeria are more real than imaginary. Thirdly, it is a truism that the APC lacks ideology but most people thought It was not at bad. An ideologically empty political party can offer nothing but Sharia, Islam; lootocracy and disunity. The APC has never discussed good governance. Ordinarily, General Muhammadu Buhari would pass for a man fighting the cause of the down trodden hoi polloi. However behind his populist mien lies the character of a man who is bloody, massively tainted with fundamentalist ideas of the Shiite Islamic variety; a sponsor of a murderous outfit and a man who, when given power would Islamize Nigeria. A tall order indeed! Judging by his past atrocities, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is a man who should be serving time in prison. It is only in a country like Nigeria that criminals can openly claim that they are buying form for such a man to contest. The man’s reputation has been rendered grubby by three main sins. First, Buhari is very corrupt and Nigerians know about his corruption. Secondly, Buhari is an Islamic fundamentalist who will stop at nothing in inciting the talakawa and the almajiris to fight a senseless war. With this hubris, the public can better imagine his link with Boko Haram. Of Course, they once nominated him to negotiate for them. The reputation of a fundamentalist has automatically negatived his patriotic zeal and the nationalistic posturing he tries to portray of himself. His hate speeches have betrayed his intentions. His ambition to become President of Nigeria is satanic and selfish. Buhari – the proposed candidate is a coup plotter. It was he who overthrew the Shagari Administration on the 31st of Dec. 1984 and I don’t think he has apologized to Shagari since then. He headed a Petroleum related agency which was found to be corrupt. Since he was overthrown through a palace coup, It is not to my knowledge that Buhari has attended one refresher course. I am not sure Buhari can operate a Computer or the internet for that matter. In this era of globalization, how can such an internet dinosaur lead an enlightened nation of 170 people? Buhari has no ounce of democratic credentials and how can such a man be a leader of democratic institutions? Your guess is as good as mine. Thirdly, in 1983, Buhari plotted a coup and overthrew the democratically elected Shagari administration. That automatically renders him an enemy of democracy. He abruptly brought the Second Republic to an end. A man with such mean character, with no ounce of democratic credentials, cannot aspire to the highest office of the land. He does not have the pedigree, the credentials and the background to administer even a local council under a democratic dispensation. Buhari belongs to the past but Nigerians are looking at the future. Buhari and the baboons he intends to soak in blood shall be weakened, surmounted and totally vanquished. APC PLATFORM AND THE IDEOLOGICAL VOID First, APC has no coherent ideology on how Nigeria should be governed. I agree that they have put together a mosaic and parchments of some statements that seem idealistics but not practicable in the Nigerian setting. For example, Free Education: Nigeria attempted free education without planning hence it collapsed in the East only a year after it was introduced in 1956; in the West it collapsed but only managed to resurrect under Awolowo’s UPN during the Second Republic. The reason is that in education, implementation of any programme must take account of the school age population; gender, facilities, physical infrastructure, the teaching and non-teaching staff and other vital educational inputs. The question is HAS THE APC COMMISSIONED SUCH A RESEARCH TO MAKE SUCH A UTOPIAN PROMISE TO HOODWINK THE LESS INTELLIGENT HALF OF NIGERIANS? Not to my knowledge. APC is piloted by those who have no compass. Secondly, it does appear that the APC wants power for its own sake without the people. Democracy is a system of government anchored on the people. In fact without the people, democracy loses its meaning. What we see the leaders do is imposition, dictating who should occupy what position and the tyrannical move to usurp power even from those who mooted the idea of the unholy merger. We can see complaints about imposition of candidates in the few less-than-edifying congresses they have conducted. Another psychology is for APC Leaders ton play on the sentiments of Nigerians and they garnish it by producing some paid intellectuals like Wole Soyinka to make statements in their favour. For instance, anytime Boko Haram strikes, APC is the first to call on President Jonathan to go to the theatre of war. They do this instead of attacking the root causes of terror – which is spreading fast and fueled by some weird religious fundamentalist ideas. I am acutely disappointed with an Icon like Wole Soyinka. The question I ask is what are his fellow laureates doing in other land? Do they get paid by one Amaechi and turn themselves into his spokesman? I have not seen any Niger Delta Intellectual degenerate to that level. Is it not shameful that an intellectual like Soyinka not get paid for talking in favour of a political Party searching for a soul? This perspicacious resolve on the part of some paid intelligentsia to speak from the access of evil also betrays the ideological hollowness of APC. Amaechi now blames others for his political predicaments as if he was out of his mind when he elected to disparage the No. one citizen of the land. BUHARI’S DOSSIER OF CORRUPTION AND MISRULE Some youths who may not know much about Gen. Muhammadu Buhari may think Buhari is an impeccable personality. From their comments on the social media, it is obvious that most of the youths who are below 40 years old do not have a good knowledge of the man. But far from being a saint, Buhari had his fingers on many pies, some gangrenous and filthy. In most cases, he used his position as the generalissimo to steal in broad daylight. Worse still, human rights suffered severe reverses of fortune such that most people thought we had been thrown back to the dark ages. When Buhari was Head of State, the Nigerian Medical Association was outlawed along with the National Association of Nigerian Students. He perfected his anti-press laws and promulgated Decrees No. 2, which restricted freedom of the press and suppressed criticism of the government. He followed that up quickly with Decree No. 4, which forbade any journalist from reporting information considered embarrassing to any government officials. Prior to that time, Buhari had taken ruinous steps to entrench corruption in Nigeria. In the 1970’s when Buhari was Minister of Petroleum N 2.8 billion naira developed wings and got lost in Midland bank UK. As the Head of State, 56 suitcases of currency notes were illegally smuggled into Nigeria by Buhari’s ADC unchecked, when there was currency change by government at the time. He owed no Nigerian any explanation as a maximum ruler. Two drug pushers were summarily executed without being given fair trial and many courageous journalists spent time in prison for insisting on free speech. As Chairman of the Petroleum Trust Funds, PTF, Buhari till date cannot give account of the fleecing of billions of Naira under his watch eyes. How can such a man claim that at 72 years, he is vying to be President to curb corruption in Nigeria? The War Against Indiscipline, WAI, was the handiwork of Late. Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon and not Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. IBB who overthrew his junta has boasted several times to disgrace Buhari because of his profile of corruption. It is even worse for the APC because Tinubu, Amaechi, and other staunch members of that political Party are products of very corrupt establishments. Indeed, If the APC is fielding Gen. Buhari, then the Party has ab initio failed because Buhari is bad market. A man plotted a coup and became Head of State, and 31 years after, the same man, who to the best of my knowledge has not attended any refresher course, says he is coming back to be President? We are beginning from the ludicrous to the absurd. John Idumange is a public intellectual 18th October 2014
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 02:55:29 +0000
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