Who will win next year’s Presidential election and
assume the position of President come May 29, 2015 is no doubt the most
important issue to Nigerians at this time. Nigerians are hopeful for a
President that will stem the tide of Boko Haram and provide lasting solutions
to the long list of problems that plague the country.
Now that our choices have been narrowed down to
incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari, the wise
thing for Nigerians to do at this time is to carefully assess the antecedents,
character and circumstances of these individuals and what they represent.
Engaging in this task will be confusing; however, care must be taken to weigh
the pros and cons objectively and as devoid of every form of emotion or
sentiment as possible.
President Jonathan sadly has presided over a very
corrupt government that has proved incompetent and ineffective at tackling the
nation’s problems. Arguably though, at no time in Nigeria’s history have
Nigerians experienced such turbulent times as to seek whatever immediate change
is available. However, our quest for immediate change should not becloud our
sense of judgment as to what kind of change is expedient.
General Muhammadu Buhari as a serving military
officer overthrew a democratically elected government without any subsequent
plan of return to civilian rule. Nigerians bold enough to criticize his regime
were hounded under a draconian Decree 2. One way to judge a person is by their
utterances. Buhari has to his credit statements that indicate subtle display of
sympathy for Boko Haram and calls for the promotion of Islamic Sharia law in a
secular Nigeria. Buhari represents the age long northern mentality of “born to
rule”. The unique selling point of Buhari is his supposed character and how
that will influence his anti-corruption stance. Birds of the same feathers
flock together is a popular saying. Buhari’s character is as legendary as it is
mythical and significantly flawed by his association and dalliance with the
corrupt elements that hold sway in the All Progressives Congress (APC).
I watched Buhari’s interview on the programme
“Politics Today” aired on Channels TV and all I perceived was an old, slow,
inarticulate and uninspiring man; most probably not one to herald the change
Nigerians seek; certainly not one to represent Nigeria as President aside other
world leaders in this day and age. I saw a Buhari that seemed to have no more
than a pedestrian grasp of the issues that a presidential candidate should be
able to debate and argue intelligently.
Yes! We want change. But at what cost? Do we want
change so much we fail to think that such change could be for the worse? Can
Buhari effectively curb the excesses of the corrupt elements in his party if he
becomes President? Will these corrupt elements in the APC not have put in place
a machinery to shield themselves from probable Buhari anti-corruption stance
against themselves? Can Buhari sincerely say that he does not know that the
intentions of APC bigwigs concerning Nigeria are not nobler than those of
PDP’s? Will the emergence of Buhari as President not further strengthen the
northern “born to rule” mentality which should be discouraged? How are we sure
a president Buhari will not attempt to promote the spread of Sharia law to all
parts of Nigeria as he once advocated? How sure are we that a president Buhari
will not operate the authoritarianism he did in the 80’s? How are we sure that
our National Assembly would be able to moderate the authoritarian and
dictatorial tendencies of a president Buhari? These are some of the questions
Nigerians must ask themselves before casting a ballot in favour of Buhari.
Our path to nationhood must be based on certain
fundamental principles of equality, fairness, competence, justice, transparency
and accountability, etc. Politics of ethnicity and religion must be
discouraged. All Nigerians must strive to influence the electoral process such
that our votes would definitely count.
I feel sad being forced to choose between Buhari
and President Jonathan. It is having to choose between a rock and a hard place;
between the devil and a deep blue sea; a classic case of having to choose
between two evils. However, based on my perception of both candidates and their
circumstances, President Jonathan is a lesser evil.
Dear Nigerian, Buhari is not the messiah!!!
Toks Ero blogs at www.toksero.org.
He tweets from @toksero.
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Opinion