Election 2015: If Buhari Is Easy To Defeat, Why Presidency Fears

The author of this opinion article, Ola’ Idowu, writes
about Muhammadu Buhari’s achievements and
ambitions.
He said that if Buhari had been easy to defeat then the
Presidency wouldn’t take him into consideration.
This is one question I’ve been asking myself since the
last article I wrote in support of Muhammadu Buhari’s
presidential ambitions. Prior to writing the article we’ve
had a Special Adviser to the President on Media, Doyin
Okupe, saying Buhari is a serial loser.
I’ve monitored so many other articles and interviews with
many of them insisting Jonathan would have a walk-
over if Buhari were to be the presidential candidate of the
All Progressive Congress (APC) and I ask myself the
question, if Buhari would be easy to defeat, why the fear
from the Presidency, their supporters in the media and
party members within the PDP about Buhari’s
candidature?
Would there be something we’re missing out on with all
the sudden press attacks on Buhari or is that part of the
plan to make him easy to defeat? The truth is Buhari’s
candidature if given the chance as the APC’s presidential
candidate would give Jonathan and all his handlers a
good run for their money, hence why they are all quaking.
The fear of Buhari has become the beginning of wisdom
for many. Let’s remind ourselves again, this is a man
who almost single-handedly started a new party four
months to the 2011 elections and won over 12 million
votes as the candidate of the CPC with 25% of votes
across 16 states compared to Jonathan, with all his
resources and being the candidate of a 12-year-old party
then winning 10 million votes more than Buhari.
In the last 18 months, Buhari has worked assiduously
along with other well-meaning Nigerians across the
different power bases in the country to build a much
stronger party and yet the presidency and the PDP would
have us believe he would be easy to defeat.
So the question remains, why the fear?
Buhari, if selected as the APC presidential candidate,
would surely be hinging his campaign on his zero
tolerance for corruption, which in the past has seen him
come up against allegedly corrupt politicians. Though
many accuse him of jailing mostly southern politicians, I
can’t recall him crating any Southern politician, drugging
him and attempting to bring him back to Nigeria. The fact
that he did that to a Northern politician, Umaru Dikko,
absolves him of a lot of blame. If he was parochial or
partial in his fight against corruption, he would never
have crated a northern politician to bring him to justice
back home, though his administration has always denied
being involved in that landmark drama in Nigeria’s
history.
Thus if he says he would be fighting corruption and
economic sabotage as president in 2015, there is sure
guarantee to believe him compared to this present
administration that has remained aloof even in the face of
massive corruption and economic sabotage going on in
the country. The PDP and the presidency, despite all this,
would however insist that Buhari is easy to defeat. I
would not be interested in arguing over that, I’m just
amused at the amount of fear Buhari’s candidacy is
generating, why the fear if he is easy to defeat?
Its become so ridiculous that you find some of the writers
disingenuously calling for the APC to choose Abubakar
Atiku as their presidential candidate, with a certain
Islamic cleric Sheikh Ahmad Gumi even going as far as
suggesting other names as Rotimi Amaechi, Tunde
Fashola, Rabiu Kwankwaso etc., but surely not Buhari.
But I haven’t seen any of the writers present a
compelling reason why Jonathan should re-contest in
2015 let alone why Nigerians should vote for him.
The whole talk is about that great man Buhari, but I
thought he was supposedly easy to defeat, so why all the
fear? The way supporters of President Jonathan are
calling for the APC to make Atiku their presidential
candidate reminds me of TV adverts of mosquitoes and
roaches begging not to have Baygon or Raid insecticide
sprayed on them should Buhari be chosen instead. If they
feel Buhari would be a softer target to defeat why would
you be discreetly and indirectly begging your opponents
to field a “stronger” candidate in Atiku?
It just doesn’t add up and in my next article I would give
reasons why I believe the APC should cool off on Atiku’s
presidential bid not because he isn’t good enough or
prepared but because it would be playing into the hands
of the PDP. Let Jonathan, his handlers, and his party
stand against the Buhari they have been boasting for
years would be easy to defeat.
Without any iota of doubt corruption and economic
sabotage remain Nigeria’s problems and we can’t make
any progress as nation unless we fix it. Its not just about
sending corrupt people to jail as Buhari did as Head of
State, its by the perception you give to people and the
international community, the confidence you give to
foreign investors that business can be done in Nigeria
without giving bribes, the hope you give to millions of
young Nigerian graduates, engineers, managers, bankers,
business men and women that the country is open for
genuine business and people and indeed the entire nation
can prosper should they choose to be legitimate.
People forget this was some of the perception and hope
that the Buhari/Idiagbon regime gave to Nigerians in
1984 as Head of State. For example under Buhari’s
regime, feasibility and pre-feasibility studies for any
government project was done by Nigerians with no fee
paid to any foreign consultant for a job Nigerians could
do. The only fees paid where in services where Nigerians
lacked the expertise or occupational shortages then in
the sciences, technical skills or advanced technology.
He ensured that turn around maintenance (TAM) on our
refineries was done by Nigerian engineers thereby saving
us foreign exchange. He also started paying off all our
debts as soon as he in came into power, as corrupt
Shehu Shagari’s government was unable to meet any
debt repayments before they were overthrown. By the
time Buhari was overthrown he had paid off over $4
billion of our foreign debts in two years from the huge
$15 billion Shagari had being ill-advised to borrow, and
brought inflation down from runaway 40% to less than
5.5%. Also by the time Buhari’s regime was usurped by
IBB we were running a budget surplus all in less than two
years, the first and only time that has happened since
after the oil boom of the 70s in Nigeria.
Since August 1985, when IBB came into power Nigeria
has always ran a budget deficit consistently, possibly
under the late Sani Abacha we had a budget neutral once
but consistently its been a deficit. Nigerians don’t even
talk about something that is a big issue in every serious
country around the world including Puerto Rico, where its
a big political talking point. The Nigerian budget under
the PDP since 1999 has always been a deficit despite oil
prices at an all-time high. Under Jonathan since 2010,
we’ve consistently ran a budget deficit (which for those
who don’t know means we spend more than we earn as a
nation to the detriment of the economy and the masses)
and under Buhari we had a budget surplus (we earn more
than we spend as a nation to the betterment of the
economy and the masses). Yet they insist Buhari is easy
to defeat, so why the fear?
I leave with feedback I got from a reader on my last
article titled: “A Closing Argument for Buhari’s Case”.
Chimezie Okezie, writing from
chimezie_hse@yahoo.co.uk, wondered why the APC is
shying away from building a fanatical followership
across the country for Buhari like he has in the North,
and why they are treating the issue of unseating
President Jonathan with kid gloves. He advocates that
the APC should mobilise their registered members to
collect their permanent voters cards, and verify they are
doing so.
Okezie posits that the APC should start recruiting vowed
loyal members as polling booth agents across the
country and start training them on how to counter rigging
and arm them with readily available technologies that
can be used to capture voting (declared results) in each
booth and polling unit, with results collated in real time
at the APC central campaign coordinating office.
This would ensure that results come in live to APC and
there is no way election results can be rigged by the PDP
across the country as the results are being collated from
each polling unit in real time by the APC, should they
deploy the technology Okezie advocates.
He finishes by saying: “If we get our act (APC, Buhari
supporters, and Nigerian masses I believe) right, I will
close my eyes, beat my chest and tell you that Buhari
has won.” This is coming from an ordinary Nigerian. The
question I need president Jonathan’s handlers,
supporters, media supporters and the PDP to answer is,
if Buhari is easy to defeat as they claim, why the fear?
By Ola’ Idowu, a management consultant and
researcher (frenchcoast2@gmail.com)