OPINION: Publisher X-rays 5 reasons Gen. Buhari will lose his fourth Presidential election in Nigeria
By Dr. Chika Onyeani, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
of the award-winning African Sun Times
On Valentine’s
Day, February 14th, 2015, Nigerians will be going to the polls to elect a
president. The contest is basically between the candidates of two
political parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives
Congress (APC), as the other nine presidential candidates could hardly be
considered as worthy of challenge.
Day, February 14th, 2015, Nigerians will be going to the polls to elect a
president. The contest is basically between the candidates of two
political parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives
Congress (APC), as the other nine presidential candidates could hardly be
considered as worthy of challenge.
The contest pits, on the one
hand, General Muhammadu Buhari, a former Head of State who during his two
years of terror-laced reign inflicted an incredible amount of dictatorial and
autocratic policies on Nigerians; and on the other, the current President
Goodluck Jonathan who has, in his five years of administration, laid a solid
foundation for democratic governance in Africa’s most populous country.
hand, General Muhammadu Buhari, a former Head of State who during his two
years of terror-laced reign inflicted an incredible amount of dictatorial and
autocratic policies on Nigerians; and on the other, the current President
Goodluck Jonathan who has, in his five years of administration, laid a solid
foundation for democratic governance in Africa’s most populous country.
This election is
very critical. It is a test of whether Nigeria will be a shining light to
democratic changes in Africa, where we still have a large number of dictators,
and whether Nigeria will be returned to the club of dictators. There is
nothing wrong with governments changing hands in Africa: in fact, we applaud
such tiny occurrences exemplified in Senegal, Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, but such
changes should occur with individuals who understand the ethics of democracy,
not with an individual who did everything to prevent the return of democracy in
Nigeria.
very critical. It is a test of whether Nigeria will be a shining light to
democratic changes in Africa, where we still have a large number of dictators,
and whether Nigeria will be returned to the club of dictators. There is
nothing wrong with governments changing hands in Africa: in fact, we applaud
such tiny occurrences exemplified in Senegal, Ghana, Malawi, Zambia, but such
changes should occur with individuals who understand the ethics of democracy,
not with an individual who did everything to prevent the return of democracy in
Nigeria.
With a little
more than two weeks to the election, Nigerians are finally beginning to come to
their senses when they look at the history and personality of General
Muihammadu Buhari, who is challenging the current President. Nigerians
are frightened shitless about another Buhari administration and here are the
five reasons they will deny Buhari another chance at the presidency of Nigeria.
more than two weeks to the election, Nigerians are finally beginning to come to
their senses when they look at the history and personality of General
Muihammadu Buhari, who is challenging the current President. Nigerians
are frightened shitless about another Buhari administration and here are the
five reasons they will deny Buhari another chance at the presidency of Nigeria.
- A FEELING OF
ENTITLEMENT – Nigerians believe that Gen. Buhari has a feeling of entitlement
that he is owed the presidency of Nigeria. This is the fourth time
that Buhari will be running for the presidency of Nigeria because he feels
he is entitled to it; but Nigerians have become resentful and are worried
that Buhari must have an agenda he wants to carry out that he was forced
not to do when he was ousted from office in 1985. Nigerians remember
what happened in 1983. On December 31st, 1983 General Buhari decided
to oust a democratically and constitutionally elected government in
office. Nigerians had suffered for 13 years of military dictatorship
and were very ecstatic when General OlusegunObasanjo orchestrated the
return of the government to a civilian rule. (Mind you, I am not a
fan of Obasanjo). Nigerians had suffered enough and didn’t want
another military government. But barely four years into a democratic
government, Buhari decided to crown himself a Head of State and plunged
Nigeria into another 16 years of military dictatorship.
Unlike Buhari,
Nigerians were grateful to Obasanjo and he was the person that Nigerians turned
to in 1999 to lead them back to a democratic and constitutionally elected
government – after all, he had orchestrated the disengagement of the military
in 1979 and returned the government to a civilian administration. Buhari,
on the other hand, wants Nigerians to reward him for his ambitions of grandeur
and entitlement. Whatever agenda he had when he seized power in 1983, he
feels he was denied the fulfillment of that agenda when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida
ousted him from office. It is delusional for Buhari to think that
Nigerians should equate him with Gen. Obasanjo: for God’s sake, Obasanjo for
all his faults, is a democrat, while on the other hand Buhari is a
dictator. Nigerians are not going to reward a dictator with the
presidency of Nigeria.
Nigerians were grateful to Obasanjo and he was the person that Nigerians turned
to in 1999 to lead them back to a democratic and constitutionally elected
government – after all, he had orchestrated the disengagement of the military
in 1979 and returned the government to a civilian administration. Buhari,
on the other hand, wants Nigerians to reward him for his ambitions of grandeur
and entitlement. Whatever agenda he had when he seized power in 1983, he
feels he was denied the fulfillment of that agenda when Gen. Ibrahim Babangida
ousted him from office. It is delusional for Buhari to think that
Nigerians should equate him with Gen. Obasanjo: for God’s sake, Obasanjo for
all his faults, is a democrat, while on the other hand Buhari is a
dictator. Nigerians are not going to reward a dictator with the
presidency of Nigeria.
- POWER-HUNGRY
– As stated above, on December 31st, 1983, in order to feed his
hunger for power, Buhari seized the democratically elected government of
Nigeria. Nigerians were tired of military dictators and in Buhari, they
tasted what a real military dictator is, unlike Gens. Gowon,
MurtalaMuhammed or Olusegun Obasanjo. During his reign of terror, he
abolished the freedom of the press and cowed the non-tameable Nigerian
press from publishing any articles relating to a return to democratic
government. And since the return to democracy, no thanks to Buhari,
he has run for presidential elections three times, each time as head of a
political party that he formed. Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, and Jonathan, on the
other hand, were selected by their party, not a political party they
formed. Had the All Progressives Congress not nominated Buhari as
their presidential candidate, he would have bolted the party and formed
yet another party so that he could run. Just as he seized the government
in 1983, he believes he must always be at the head to command his minions.
- LAWLESS AND
NOT ANSWERABLE TO NIGERIANS: Nigerians should not reward an
individual who committed treasonable seizure of a democratic elected
government. Buhari wants to equate himself with Obasanjo. We
cannot accept that. I have already detailed Buhari’s lawlessness in
an article, “Gen. Buhari: Lawlessness of a Law and Order Candidate.”
Buhari doesn’t believe he is answerable to Nigerians, and nobody articulated
this trait most poignantly than Nobel Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka.
In writing about what Soyinka wrote, I said, “It is this pattern of
lawlessness that Nigerians must be profoundly frightened about of a man
who believes that he doesn’t have to answer to basic issues that Nigerian
need answers to, arrogating himself the feeling that he is above board,
above the fray. These are some of the complaints that Nobel Prize
Laureate Prof. Wole Soyinka discussed in his critical essay on Buhari,
titled “The Crimes of Buhari: The Nigerian Nation Against General
Buhari.” Wrote Soyinka, “The grounds on which General Buhari is
being promoted as the alternative choice are not only shaky, but pitifully
naive. History maters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness
of memory, but to operate as guides to the future. Of course, we
know that human beings change. What the claims of personality change
or transformation impose on us is a rigorous inspection of the evidence,
not wishful speculation or behind-the-scenes assurances. Public
offence, crimes against a polity, must be answered in the public space,
not in caucuses of bargaining. In Buhari, we have been offered no
evidence of the sheerest prospect of change. On the contrary, all
evident suggests that this is one individual who remains convinced that
this is one ex-ruler that the nation cannot call to order.”
- NO PROGRAM
TO ADDRESS ECONOMIC NEEDS OF NIGERIANS: All Nigerians have heard
from Buhari since he accepted the presidential candidacy of the APC is how
he is going to fight corruption. But Nigeria faces problems other
than corruption, which, no doubt, is important to the welfare of good
governance. Every Nigerian leader has pledged to fight corruption;
every world leader has pledged to fight corruption. There is
corruption everywhere in the world, but what is very important is how you
are going to lift the standards of life of the average Nigerian.
Right now, oil prices, the main stay of the Nigerian economy, has fallen
to its lowest level. The Naira is depreciating fast. Nigerians
are yet to hear what Buhari is going to do with less money coming into the
country. Promising Nigerians a pie in the sky is not what is needed
now. What is needed are specific policies spelt out to address the
issues of the economy, but issues of security. How are you going to
deal effectively with the Boko Haram insurgency if in the past you have
been an enabler of the group through your indiscreet utterances.
- COUP
PLOTTERS MUST NOT BE REWARDED: There is nothing that remotely
recommends Buhari as a leader other than the fact that he plotted and
overthrew a constitutionally and democratically elected government.
He seized power and imposed himself on Nigerians and proceeded to terrorize
Nigerians with draconian decrees. He used the army that was supposed
to protect the security and international borders of the country to commit
atrocities against the citizenry of Nigerians. Buhari is yet to
apologize, and he has shown defiance, about seizing the government, but he
expects Nigerians to hand him the same position he violently seized so
that he could again terrorize the people.
Nigerians should
be frightened at the prospect of Buhari assuming the presidency of Nigerians
because he feels he is entitled to the post. When he was not entitled to
the post, he seized it by force in 1983 until Nigerians were spared his
autocratic and dictatorial power grab by the “you-chop-I-chop” Gen.
Babanginda. Buhari is power-hungry, hence he feels he must be at the head
of any political party, if not, he would breakaway and form another to run for
the presidency. Finally, it would be suicidal for Nigerians to reward a
coup plotter, who should have been dealt with a military justice.
be frightened at the prospect of Buhari assuming the presidency of Nigerians
because he feels he is entitled to the post. When he was not entitled to
the post, he seized it by force in 1983 until Nigerians were spared his
autocratic and dictatorial power grab by the “you-chop-I-chop” Gen.
Babanginda. Buhari is power-hungry, hence he feels he must be at the head
of any political party, if not, he would breakaway and form another to run for
the presidency. Finally, it would be suicidal for Nigerians to reward a
coup plotter, who should have been dealt with a military justice.
Hence Nigerians
are going to hand another defeat to the presidential ambitions of Gen.
MuhammaduBuhari. Nigerians have their eyes wide open and hopefully after
this he would realize that he committed a treasonable offense more than equal
to the offense of those Nigerians he executed during his reign of terror
against the country.
are going to hand another defeat to the presidential ambitions of Gen.
MuhammaduBuhari. Nigerians have their eyes wide open and hopefully after
this he would realize that he committed a treasonable offense more than equal
to the offense of those Nigerians he executed during his reign of terror
against the country.
Dr. Chika Onyeani is the Publisher/Editor-in-Chief
of the award-winning African Sun Times (Africa’s No.1 newspaper in America),
author of the internationally and critically-acclaimed No.1 bestselling book,
“Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success,” as well as the blockbuster novel,
“The Broederbond Conspiracy,” adapted by the San Francisco State University to
teach students “how to write a spy novel.” He is the Chairman of the
Celebrate Africa Foundation.
of the award-winning African Sun Times (Africa’s No.1 newspaper in America),
author of the internationally and critically-acclaimed No.1 bestselling book,
“Capitalist Nigger: The Road to Success,” as well as the blockbuster novel,
“The Broederbond Conspiracy,” adapted by the San Francisco State University to
teach students “how to write a spy novel.” He is the Chairman of the
Celebrate Africa Foundation.
