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!!!
pls stop deceiving your self we very wise and your pay master you can’t compere ur oga jona and buhari nobody can islamaze Nigeria and no body can christamize Nigeria becouse we are in democracy regime evry body has freedom of respiration so stop deceiving ur self.
That is ur opinion tho, u can’t keep using this Buhari is old mentality to judge. Even if GEJ is given anoda 4 yrs, what will he do, he’s on his 6th year as a president oo… Oh God anyone else except GEJ, he is d worse president I know in Nigeria.
Yes the most worst president in Nigeria history ,
MISSING CHIBOK GIRLS-A MINUS ON JONATHAN’S SCORECARD
With few weeks to the presidential election, a number of pundits as well as the electorates have all gone back to the board to assess and re-assess the scorecards of the two political gladiators in person of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Dr.Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Both have began their electioneering and re-electioneering campaign respectively and were met by their ecstatic and enthusiastic group of supporters.
The selling point or point of entry of these two political gladiators has always been a show-off of their purported scorecards with the intent of endearing themselves to the electorate.
Gen. Buhari for all his popularity has constantly flaunt his pride of running a corrupt-free administration during his days as the military head of state. Egoistically, he prides in apprehending corrupt public officials and having a clean past record. He claims that should he come to power, he would make the country corruption free as he did in his first stint in power. No one can falter his claims and that his basically his selling point that has even gotten him more endeared to people.
Dr. Goodluck Ebele jonathan on the other hand keeps saying that in his administration, the economy of the country is now the number one in the country and that there has been a sporadic and visible change in the agricultural sector. The basic point however is that for all his achievements and what he claimed to have done, the lingering issue of the abducted chibok girls is a monumental minus in the scorecards he parades.
It wouldn’t be wrong to quickly point out the fact that the boko-haram insurgency is also another great blow for him but that would have been understandable given that insurgency can spring up in any country had the kidnapping of those school girls never occurred. No matter how good Jonathan had reigned or led his administration, the inability of his administration in retrieving those school girls has brought many to question his quest for a second term.A whole number of international organizations condemned the manner in which his administration handled the situation and the internal raging of different NGOs and freewill associations kept ravaging. Till this present moment, the school girls have not been rescued and the government has not even mapped out a way to savage the situation.
A blemish is enough to wipe out or even make people forget good things that has been done to them and the issue of the abducted girls is one of such.
Since April 2014 that the girls have been abducted, the government never came out to the watching public to say soothing words to the parents of the abducted girls and to tell them the counter-measures in place to rescue the girls. Rather than do that, the government decided to keep mun and decline granting audience to the embittered parents.
I am in no way trying to criticize or lambast the Jonathan led administration or to elevate the righteousness of one political aspirant. All I seek to do is to iron the kinks and to remove the glean from the eyes that for all the re-electioneering campaign that Jonathan has done and the ones he would do, the stigma on his shirt is a minus on his scorecard.
Signs of Time is there for all to See.
Facts Don’t Cease to exist because they are Ignored. Sense of Equity, Justice fairplay is imbided in all of us, and manifests in our actions and inactions.
From the smile of feaces we all estimate the taste.
It will be unwise to throw away your cooking pot with a soured soup, it will be unwise to set your kitchen ablaze because you saw a rat in it. Goodluck may not have been our best president, or your dream president, but he may be our only available source to frustrate the islamized APC’s agenda against Nigeria. Note that Vice President has little or no influence on the decision of a President; in that case Osibanjo may not have much to influence if these Islamists, peradventure hijack the highest position in our Nation, and thereafter roll out any agenda that undermines Christianity. This might serve as a pointer to what I am saying; please read on: 1. Party Leader – North: Gen Muhammadu Buhari (Muslim). 2. Party Leader – South: Bola Ahmed Tinubu (Muslim). 3. National Chairman: Abdulkareem Bisi Akande (Muslim). 4. Deputy National Chairman: Aminu Bello Masari (Muslim). 5. National Secretary: Tijjani Musa Tumsah (Muslim). 6. Deputy National Secretary: Nasir El-Rufai (Muslim). 7. National Publicity Secretary: Lai Muhammad (Muslim). 8. National Treasurer: Sadiya Umar Faruq (Muslim) 9. National Financial Secretary: Alhaji Shaibu Musa (Muslim). 10. National Youth Leader: Abubakar Lado (Muslim). 11. National Legal Adviser: Muiz Banie (Muslim). 12. National Deputy Auditor: Bala Jibrin (Muslim). 13. National Women Leader: Sharia Ikeazor (Muslim convert). 14. EX-Officio Member: Muniru Muse (Muslim). 15. EX-Officio Member: Alhaji Yemi Sanusi (Muslim). Yet, these people want us to believe they are PROGRESSIVES and that APC is a national party. I think APC has a hidden religious agenda..Be guided people!
Share to all Christian you know to vote wisely. I will not want my children to live in a Nigeria where they cannot worship their GOD! Pls send to atleast 30 friends who are christians.