Muhammadu Buhari, a retired Major General of the Nigerian Army and former Head of State is a different kettle of fish to different people across the strata of Nigeria.
In the far Northern part of Nigeria, the almajiri children on the street of Kano, Katsina and Sokoto States see Buhari as their ‘Amir’. This is the Arabic word for leader.
The average Northern elite and the traditional institution see Buhari suspiciously as a betrayal and will not trust Buhari one inch with power.
Retired military and police officers see him as their enemy number one.
To the Christians in the far North and the Middlebelt, Buhari’s name connotes Boko Haram and Islamic fundamentalism.
When one moves to Southern part of Nigeria, the story of General Muhammadu Buhari is that of a tyrant who murdered innocent young men under retroactive laws and locked up journalists for performing their lawful duties.
The average Southerner will remind you that General Buhari at his Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) used the oil wealth from the South to develop the North at the expense of Southern Nigeria.
Unfortunately, General Muhammadu Buhari does not help his own case whenever he opens his mouth to talk. He appears to be putting his foot in his mouth each time he talks.
With his popularity at the lowest ebb amongst Southern Nigerians and Northern Christians as it is, the least statement that is expected from his mouth is talk of support for a Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket for the 2015 election.
A clever politician would have parried away such a question but not Buhari.
This APC may as well present Buhari/Musa Kwankwaso or Buhari/Waziri Tambuwal for president in the 2015 presidential election.
You don’t exacerbate a volatile situation by making inflammatory statements and taking decisions and actions without regard to the emotions and sensibility of over fifty percent of the populace.
Boko Haram is tagged the armed wing of APC. What is worst confirmation than one of its leading presidential aspirant to voice out publically that he is in total support of Muslim/Muslim presidential ticket for this APC in a country as diverse and divided as Nigeria.
In any case, like it has been written in the media over and over again. There is no comparison of 1993 Abiola election with now.
Chief MKO Abiola though a Yoruba Muslim was the presidential candidate of that ticket.
This APC should go ahead and field Buhari/Tinubu or Fashola in 2015 and they have themselves to blame for it.
In fact as I said earlier in the write, this APC may as well field Buhari/Musa Kwankwaso or Buhari/Waziri Tambuwal if they think Nigerians do not have sensibility.
To confirm Buhari’s standing before Nigerians, please read below verbatim what Nasir El-Rufai wrote about General Buhari as published by Sahara Reporters a Pro-Buhari website on Monday October 4th 2010.
Happy reading.
El Rufai: Buhari Should Stick To Facts
“ The attention of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has been drawn to statements from Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida purporting to be responses to the advice he gave both men to retire.
The attention of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has been drawn to statements from Generals Muhammadu Buhari and Ibrahim Babangida purporting to be responses to the advice he gave both men to retire.
Since Babangida libelled whole generations of Nigerian youth as being unfit for leadership, age has become an issue in the coming elections. While it is true that neither youth nor age supplies wisdom on their own, it makes sense to ask those who have been recurring decimals in our country’s sorry history to leave the stage. That is all El-Rufai asked of these men who seem to think that their failure to do their best for Nigeria when they had the chance qualifies them for a return to office. Our people surely deserve better.
El-Rufai is amazed that General Buhari cannot debate this matter without scurrying to the gutter, making claims that are baseless and unsupported by any facts. Mallam El-Rufai’s tenure as FCT minister was a period of stellar performance in remaking our federal capital. Despite the difficult decisions that had to be taken to restore Abuja, Mallam El-Rufai continues to receive deserved praise and recognition for his achievements in restoring the Abuja master plan, introducing Nigeria’s first computerised land registry and helping thousands of Nigerians achieve their dreams of home ownership in the federal capital. Buhari is perhaps one of a tiny few blinded by their prejudice from recognising the quality of El Rufai’s service.
That same prejudice accounts for the baseless claims of corruption Buhari levels against El Rufai. The fact is that Mallam El-Rufai served Nigeria with integrity and has never been convicted of any corrupt act. He is boldly contesting the false charges which the Yar’Adua government filed against him in court. It is strange that a Buhari who protests when unproven claims of N2.5 billion (about US $3billion in those days!) missing oil funds are levelled against him can gleefully elevate similar claims into facts when it concerns another. How would Buhari feel if the corruption allegations made against him by Group Captain Usman Jibrin, then a board member of PTF, are today reported as if they were proven facts? So much for “corrupt background” and “shoddy performance”.
Mallam El-Rufai wishes to remind General Buhari that he has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new. Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials’ immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defence, was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. These are facts of recent history.
The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy and those whose interests it served, is a tale for another day.
Mallam El-Rufai respects both Generals Buhari and Babangida as elder statesmen. He believes their age, experience and guidance may contribute to the success of any future government. El-Rufai however believes that it is time for a new generation of leaders with new thinking and wholesome democratic attitude to move our nation forward. The vicious response by the Buhari camp to a simple statement that their almost-70 principal should retire is proof enough that a Buhari, the new Democrat, tolerant of views different from his own, is yet to evolve. And that is sad, for his fledgling party and its leadership. Buhari and his cohorts may wish to reflect that it will take more than attacks on personalities to become electable. Having seen his version of discipline, Nigerians are not likely to cherish an encore. But they will welcome an engagement with the issues and problems of everyday life that have hobbled the peoples of this land.”
The press release above was vintage Nasir El-Rufai to General Buhari in 2010.
Our best advice to General Buhari is to quickly return the 27.5 million naira loan he took from the bank to buy his APC nomination form before it generate excessive interest that he might not be able to pay back.
Buhari is not an electable presidential material in today’s Nigeria.
Some things can only happen in Nigeria. But how can a Bank give a serial election loser loan to contest an election? What are the collaterals he presented to the bank?
His mallam and sheik Mahmood Gumi has summed up it all. Buhari will definitely loss any election in Nigeria. He will win the far Northern votes just like in 2011. But he cannot and will never win the Middle belt votes and the votes of Southern part of Nigeria.
General Buhari is a divisive politician and is hard to sell outside the North West of Nigeria.
Unfortunately his unguarded statements are brutish and insensible most of the time especially to the larger Nigerian populace.
Written by Ndiameeh Babangida Babreek.
Ndidi90call@gmail.com
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