WHY ARE THEY AGAINST MUHAMMADU BUHARI?

[Abdullahi Azare]

WHY ARE THEY AGAINST MUHAMMADU
BUHARI?
Overtime they have tried to rubbished his
name. They called him Islamic extremist,
religious bigot, terrorist, hater of Christians
and non Muslims. They paid bloggers,
Journalists, Chief Editors of print media, CEOs
and managers of television stations and
many more Nigerians to write and speak lies
about him just to destroy his personality.
They are doing all they can to make more
Nigerians hate and dislike him. They are
spending billions of Naira to make sure they
bring him down. Recently, they tried to kill
him. They said he was responsible for the
post election violence that erupted in some
states in the north. . They said he is a
sponsor and sympathizer of boko haram.?
They said he is going to Islamitize Nigeria.
They said he is too old to govern a nation.
Some even said he is coming to steal the
money he didn't steal when he formerly
served the nation in different levels of
government. Some said he stole when he was
the Chairman of PTF. The lies and falsehoods
is endless.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
mandated Panel of Enquiry to audit the
account of PTF. The panel came out with
their findings without any corruption link with
the people general. At the end of the
investigation Buhari was not found involved in
any corruption. After the 2011 general
elections the federal government constitute a
a panel to investigate the election violence.
The committee did their work and submit the
reports and findings to Mr President but till
now presidency have not come out with the
reports and recommendations of committee.
Infact we are still waiting for Mr President to
tell us who were responsible for the slaughter
of Nigerians. Australian Negotiator Dr. Steven
Davis insisted former governor of Borno Modu
Sheriff who was in the entourage of Mr
President to Sudan and Chad some days
back and former Chief of Army Staff, General
Onyeabo Azubuike Ihejirika are boko haram
sponsors. He also accused some CBN staff
but didn't mention their names. Former
National Security Adviser, late Gen. Azazi.
accused PDP for the cause of boko haram but
never in anytime relate Muhammadu Buhari
name with terrorist or terrorism. Buhari
crushed a similar group of religious
extremists in the 80s. When he was a Military
Head of State he never Islamized Nigeria.
Why now?
"Two Nigerians and an Israeli national are
facing investigation in South Africa after they
attempted to smuggle US$9.3 million
apparently meant for buying arms for the
Nigerian intelligence service. The suspected
smugglers landed at Lanseria International
Airport, Johannesburg, on September 5, in a
private jet from Abuja with the money stashed
in three suitcases, according to City Press, a
South African based newspaper." Who is
behind this deal? What ministry or agency
gave approval or permission to individuals or
company to purshase heavy weapons and
armoury in Nigeria? Why will recognized
government agency would want to smuggled
in such a huge cash into another country if
really the money is meant to buy weapons
and armunitions for its agency? Who are
those really fuelling the violence in the North?
How do boko haram have access to Armed
Personnel Carrier?
Recent event have vindicate Gen.
Muhammad Buhari of all the fallacious
accusations made against him by PDP and
Aso Rock foot soldiers. As event unfold
towards 2015, we wait to see the next
allegation they will come up with. VOTE
BUHARI
VOTE AGAINST CORRUPTION
VOTE CHANGE
VOTE HONESTY
SHARE THIS MSG AND BE PART OF THE
CHANGE SO IMMINENT.

__._,_.___

--
ABDULLAHI BARAU

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

Who does “THEY” refer to? I wonder.

Is it not disingenuous that no reference was made to what gives the best and most insight into a future Buhari Presidency- his reckless abuse of the constitutional rights of his fellows citizens (Nigerians) as Head of State below. There seems to be no public record that Buhari acknowledges his unpunished crimes including the retroactive law murders he is answerable for Head of State. He is yet to apologize to Nigerians for what in many other countries he would have been vigorously held to account for.

The man is purported by his supporters to not be corrupt. May be he is not. There then arises the legitimate question of how he is able to remain an actively strident operator at the heavy cash-outflow political level for as long as he has. His last paid job was during the Abacha dictatorship. If this man has only held government jobs (never been a businessman), how does he fund the cash intensive political adventure that he has been on for many years now? If his politics is funded by wealthy sponsors, who are they? Is it forgotten that the man is a pensioner with many dependents? I am just asking.

Buhari may be a reformed power-hungry man but evidence that he has, is not in the public domain. Why is he reluctant to demonstrate publicly that he wronged many Nigerians, has learned his lesson, will not repeat the mistakes, and will serve them better if he is given another opportunity? He needs a binding contract with the Nigerian people. He must know by now that redemption- including forgiveness and trust is preceded by acknowledgement of willful and wrongful acts of omission and commissions, followed by sincere contrition. His multiple efforts at a make-over is not likely to be enough to earn him the understanding, acceptance, and trust of the majority of Nigerians he needs, to elect him president in a credible election. He needs to stop seeming to want to be president in order to complete the work he started in 1983 as Head of State. Many Nigerians do not approve of that work and the way it was done. His supporters must stop putting him up as the best Nigerian to be president. What Nigerians want/need is a good president and not the best person to be president.

If Buhari is not corrupt as his supporters claim, that helps. Corruption however may not be the critical component of the soft underbelly of Nigeria’s politics and public service. The critical component it seems to me, is politicians and public servants’ little or no regard for the constitutional rights of a majority of their fellow citizens including their equal citizenship. If they had more regard for the rights, they would be more respectful of their fellow citizens, and less likely to steal from them in the manner and volume they do.  

Buhari may indeed be a good man. He might have been misguided as Head of state. He was younger and probably more idealistic and adventurous then.  He made mistakes as Head of State. He needs to publicly demonstrate that he acknowledges that he was wrong to violate the rights of Nigerians as Head of State, is sincerely sorry that he did, and will be a much better president of all Nigerians if they vote him into office. Nigerians may then forgive him and be more confident and willing to give him another at as Head of State. He must stop carrying on as if he is the most conscientious and dutiful Nigerian (there is no such Nigerian by the way) and must therefore be elected President by Nigerians. There is no inevitable presidency.

Buhari comes across often as angry, arrogant, and absorbed by self-righteousness. It is thus difficult for many Nigerians outside his natural constituency, to like him enough to trust him with the powers of the office of president- an office that demands the faith and embodies the  hope of a majority of Nigerians and their children. Perception matters. Perception can be changed.

 

oa

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[Segun Ogungbemi]

OA,

I agree with you that Buhari needs to apologize to the people of this country for his ruthlessness and grave murder of the people he ordered to be killed. He had no respect for human rights and freedom of expression. He must show that to err is human and the need to ask for pardon is now with a vow that he will never do such to any of his fellow Nigerians. It must be seen not in words but also in deed. 

The world is watching Buhari if he will make this kind of sober reflection and ask for forgiveness. Anything short of that I am afraid if majority of Nigerians would want him back to rule over them. 

Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D

Professor of Philosophy

Adekunle Ajasin University

Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State

Nigeria

Cellphone: 08033041371

                   08024670952

[Abdullahi Azare]

as we all know corruption is the backbone of all failure and failed nation and leaders, if we didn't wiped out it we will remained under developed and continue to collapse.

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ABDULLAHI BARAU

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Sir Segun Ogungbemi,

 

 I cannot  be silent when I see my man being buffeted like this. It’s clear that when it comes to casting stones on this one specimen of God's creation, known as  Muhammadu Buhari, you are now one of the ring leaders.

 

Your demands are not little oh!

 

First you say that my man Muhammadu Buhari ”needs to apologize to the people of this country" for the long list of crimes with which you damn him. As if sincere repentance and an apology is not enough sounding like St. Paul the Apostle you now demand that

 

"It (his apology) must be seen not in words but also in deed."

 

Greater clarity is demanded here sir! 

 

(t’is true that

 

“a man of words and not of deeds

is like a garden full of weeds”

 

but in my opinion your demand that my mortal Brother Buhari should solemnly declare by word that as long as he lives he ( or the Nigerian Military under him) will not transgress by either word or deed any of the red lines  that you have already written.

 

I guess that one of the deeds or the main need that you could have in mind is what’s known as compensation, the meaning of

 “An eye for an eye and a tooth, for a tooth”  

 

Just a little side question Sir:

 

What about your other hero, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan

 – are there any charges that should be brought against him or

 should he also solemnly swear to turn a new leaf

(word and deed etc)?

 

Was only asking.

 

Sincerely,

 

Cornelius Adebayo

 

We Sweden

[Segun Ogungbemi]

Oga Cornelius,

Your favorite leader, General Buhari is a man of principle but you know that anyone who plans to lead a country must have a good profile. What I am saying is that Buhari does not have what it takes to rule this nation again. 

Do you think people like General Babangida would like to be his Campaign manager?  Do you think Civil Rights Organizations in the country will campaign for him? Do you think a person of pedigree of Buhari will get the votes of the people he has ruined their lives?  

You cannot flagrantly disobey the wishes of the people you will in future need their support and get it. If you want to step on a wet ground, you need first to wet it as the Yoruba adage goes. Buhari has not wet the ground he wants to step on hence he cannot enjoy the good texture of it. 

My piece advice to your Leader is to support someone that has the respect of most Nigerians in the forthcoming election. Nigeria is not for ex-soldiers alone. It belongs to all of us including WE SWEDEN. I am ready to be your Campaign Manager if you show interest. 

President Jonathan has not signified his interest to run in the next election. You don't campaign for someone who has not shown interest in the race? Do you?

Ogun agbe yin o. Aase. 

Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D

Professor of Philosophy

Adekunle Ajasin University

Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State

Nigeria

Cellphone: 08033041371

                   08024670952

/>

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Sir,

From over here, I have a few good reasons to believe that although Muhammadu Buhari is widely known yet he is not going to be the APC's presidential candidate  and that if  he is, he is not going to win, but only time will tell.

At the same time president Jonathan's government has to put a lid on Boko Haram activities so that the insurrection does not spread, causing more territory to become ungovernable and thus providing a cover for the Nigerian Military to take over...

Sincerely,

Adebayo,

We Sweden

[Ademola Dasylva]

MUCH ADO ABOUT GEN. BUHARI !!!

Oga Ogungbemi, etc.,

I have read the different postings on General Buhari, and I feel very sorry for Nigeria. Unless we have a complete re-orientation and a holistic national psychic retrieval, Nigeria will for a long time continue to grope in the dark alley of its complacent and lethargic quest in search of, if at all, credible leadership to steer back on course the otherwise highly endowed State-ship, Nigeria. A country which unfortunately been deliberately agrounded by some incompetent, clueless, egocentric, unpatriotic, corrupt and shortsighted leaders in the past. Unfortunately, the present administration is characterized by, and indeed, synonymous with all the vices and much more.

Buhari was a dictator, no doubt about that. But for God's sake, what else does one expect from a military ruler whose mandate did not come from the people? Again, Buhari was cruel, or wicked: that he passed a decree against drug pushing, sentenced some young folks retroactively to death, etc. I suppose people are just being sentimental over these issues. The military would not have had any reason for their  "intervention"  or had any business presiding over the governance of this nation if our politicians had not messed us, and things up. The politicians of Major Kaduna Nzegwu's time were saints compare with what politics has become in the present day Nigeria. Major Nzegwu called them ten per-centers (10%er). Today they are Eighty per-centers (80%ers) in a country where NOTHING gets DONE unless you "belong". During the Buhari/Idiagbon regime the Nigerian society was and, still is, grossly without discipline, it was, and still is, largely decadent, corrupt ... with impunity. Of course it wasn't enough excuse for the military incursion, I do agree, it is an aberration to have a military rule, but since they found themselves in power they ruled the best way they understood. of all the military rulers and military apologists, Buhari distinguished himself as a true patriot. He succeeded in instilling a measured discipline both in the military and the civilians. It was a dose of "chloroquine treatment" that helped to shake off the nation's festering malaria of impunity at the time. And to a great degree, it worked. Unfortunately, Nigeria has since relapsed into its old self-destruct twin-malady of corruption and parochialism. The crop of politicians we have today, and the politics in place today are not what the Gani Fawehinmis, Beko Ransom Kutis, etc. and a multitude of others including those of us students including Femi Falana, Wole Olaoye, Malam (Unife years), and other patriotic students in some other universities in the mid-1970s to mid-1980s who believed in the cause of those great heroes had fought, died or hoped for!

The current Minister of Petroleum was allowed to sit-tight in office 2011 while her Ministry was under probe, the aftermath  of the nation-wide protest against fuel price hike then. A properly governed country would insist on her resignation at the commencement of the investigation, but not Nigeria. She carried on and had the morals to pontificate as if the investigation was not an indictment of her corruption infested administration. And for the outcome of the probe, it ended up as a "barren exercise" it was meant to be; the culprits are the sacred cows' children, ... of Party chairmen, etc., who understandably operate different constitution and laws by and for themselves. So the report was certified dead before it was submitted.

This same Minister of Petroleum, a couple of months ago, allegedly spent public funds on aircraft charter for personal engagements, at a cost running into millions of USD, NOTHING tangible came off it. Similarly, the immediate past Aviation Minister was hand-in-hand with Mr President in Israel while she was being alleged to have purchased two old "tokubo" bullet proof BMW cars for several millions of naira, funded with tax payers money, amidst executive cover-ups and very unintelligent lies! I can go on cataloguing similar and worst cases, but for the time constraint.

 Right now, the case of the unfortunate Chibok girls is not likely to die that easily, ditto the Boko Haram insurgency. They have become an albatross hanging on the neck of Mr President who also doubles as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He was even reported to be flirting with a key suspect of Boko Haram patrons and sponsors. No well informed and decent citizenry will ever want such a government back in power in a country as endowed as Nigeria. A government which some months back claimed to have located where the abducted girls were kept, and only for hopeful parents to find out the nation was being fooled! That government cannot be said to be serious. The careless handling of the BH is yet a lousy mark of FAILURE that cannot be ignored or forgiven so easily. Soyinka's recent reaction was to show his grave concern about a government which either fails to know or wake up to its basic responsibilities to the people, or his worries about members of a cabal in government who do not ordinary have any business being in government.

Somebody had argued recently that all that Nigerians needed was a good man as President. And by his reckon, Buhari was far from the benchmark of "a good man". In the Nigerian context, President Jonathan Ebele Goodluck is a good man, why? He would not rock anybody's  boat, corrupt officials and politicians can go unpunished as long as they support his 2015 dream of returning to Aso Rock; etc. And right now, no one is bold enough to challenge all the mess these wicked politicians have plunged Nigeria into. It makes the Buhari factor relevant in today's politics in Nigeria.

GEN. BUHARI

Gen. Buhari and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, if I must add, have some traits in common: both driven by, and probably, obsessed with the passion to serve the country, save the dying nation from itself.  In my opinion, both have had the misfortune of being often misrepresented, their intentions have been variously misinterpreted, and they have remained, to the best of my knowledge in recent times, the most MISUNDERSTOOD of all great Nigerians alive or dead. And if you asked me, they remain the realistic answer to Nigeria's hydra-headed problems, but in sheer ignorance, they are despised and hated the way a sick child hates chloroquine treatment. Well, Chief Awolowo is now of the blessed memory, so his case is more or less settled.  As for General Buhari, he was mischievously accused of being a patron of BH by the ruling Party, yet they had failed to prove their allegations beyond "wicked and cheap blackmail". His adversaries are desperate to destroy him politically because they know that he is the only Nigerian, so far, who can ruthlessly deal with their criminal activities. If by any chance he is voted in as President, today, take it that half the Nigerian problems will be over. Reason: most, if not all, the corrupt politicians and technocrats that have stolen this country silly, will flee the country and go on compulsory self-exile! Good riddance I would say to that. The General would probably  clamp on them, throw them in jail, seize their ill-gotten wealth, and seek repatriation of our stolen wealth starched in foreign banks in the best possible way. I am sure he would sanitize the military and restore discipline that has long been lost since the time of Gen. Babangida, and would possibly check the constant meddling with the Defense budgetary allocation by corrupt politicians, etc., and halt the current politicization of the military which has destroyed the morale of the officers and men. He probably would whip with "koboko" the citizenry back to their senses, and make everyone to sit up, and get serious. And my friend, if you happen to hate to be disciplined when you genuinely deserve it, then you are the proverbial "Chichi-do-do" bird who loves and relishes maggots but hates the excreta that produces the maggots.(meaning: you hate corruption with passion, but you love to bask in the euphoria of corrupting influences and habits). I haven't seen any presidential aspirant till date in Nigeria who can match the "madness" and "crudity" of the current ruling party, it will require the passion and patriotic  team work of the likes of Buhari to literally wrestle this dying Nation from the claws of its butchers. It is a redemptive assignment he needs our encouragement, not pettiness, to accomplish for the sake of our generation and generation yet unborn.

Ademola Dasylva

[Segun Ogungbemi]

Prof,

"Gen. Buhari and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, if I must add, have some traits in common: both driven by, and probably, obsessed with the passion to serve the country, save the dying nation from itself.  In my opinion, bot

Thanks for your lucid and insightful contribution to the debate. I don't think your comparison between Pa Awo and General Buhari in your posting helps much. The best comparison should have been between Pa Awo and Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.  Even at that it is with some qualification. Mr. Fashola is by no means a military man and he infused discipline in the minds of Lagosians. It is not an ex-military junta like Buhari that can heal Nigeria. 

A leader without flexibility and deep sense of values for human life, a blood thirsty tyrant, a crude minded religious zealot who can sell the nation to jihadists cannot govern Nigeria. Nigeria does not need an-ex military Messiah period. 

Nigeria has become more sophisticated more than before more so in this age of information networking around the globe and a taste of nascent democracy. 

Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D

Professor of Philosophy

Adekunle Ajasin University

Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State

Nigeria

Cellphone: 08033041371

                   08024670952

Buhari may indeed be a good man. He might have been misguided as Head of state. He was younger and probably more idealistic and adventurous then.  He made mistakes as Head of State. He needs to publicly demonstrate that he acknowledges that he was wrong to violate the rights of Nigerians as Head of State, is sincerely sorry that he did, and will be a much better president of all Nigerians if they vote him into office. Nigerians may then forgive him and be more confident and willing to give him another at as Head of State. He must stop carrying on as if he is the most conscientious and dutiful Nigerian (there is no such Nigerian by the way) and must therefore be elected President by Nigerians. There is more confident and willing to give him another at as Head of State. He must stop carrying on as if he is the most conscientious and dutiful Nigerian (there is no such Nigerian by the way) and must therefore be elected President by Nigerians. There is no inevitable presidency.

/>

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[Segun Ogungbemi]

Prof,

"Gen. Buhari and Chief Obafemi Awolowo, if I must add, have some traits in common: both driven by, and probably, obsessed with the passion to serve the country, save the dying nation from itself."  

Thanks for your lucid and insightful contribution to the debate. I don't think your comparison between Pa Awo and General Buhari in your posting helps much.

 The best comparison should have been between Pa Awo and Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State.  Even at that it is not without qualification. Mr. Fashola is by no means a military man and he infused discipline in the minds of Lagosians. It is not an ex-military junta like Buhari that can heal Nigeria. 

A leader without flexibility and deep sense of values for human life, a blood thirsty tyrant, a crude minded religious zealot who can sell the nation to jihadists cannot govern Nigeria. Nigeria does not need an-ex military Messiah period. 

Nigeria has become more sophisticated more than before more so in this age of information networking around the globe and a taste of nascent democracy. 

You presented Buhari as if he is the last hope for Nigeria. We have better civilians who have the desire to serve this country with passion who are not parochially minded. The present crop of politicians who are interestingly moneybags have paved the way for themselves by using their stolen wealth to dictate the way forward in Nigeria. 

We need intellectual revolution to get read of them and inject new leadership into Nigeria politics. To me, that is the way we should be focusing now. The search for such leadership should commence.  

Segun Ogungbemi Ph.D

Professor of Philosophy

Adekunle Ajasin University

Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State

Nigeria

Cellphone: 08033041371

                   08024670952

On Sep 24, 2014, at 5:16 PM, Ademola Dasylva <dasy...@gmail.com> wrote:

Buhari may indeed be a good man. He might have been misguided as Head of state. He was younger and probably more idealistic and adventurous then.  He made mistakes as Head of State. He needs to publicly demonstrate that he acknowledges that he was wrong to violate the rights of Nigerians as Head of State, is sincerely sorry that he did, and will be a much better president of all Nigerians if they vote him into office. Nigerians may then forgive him and be more confident and willing to give him another at as Head of State. He must stop carrying on as if he is the most conscientious and dutiful Nigerian (there is no such Nigerian by the way) and must therefore be elected President by Nigerians. There is more confident and willing to give him another at as Head of State. He must stop carrying on as if he is the most conscientious and dutiful Nigerian (there is no such Nigerian by the way) and must therefore be elected President by Nigerians. There is no inevitable presidency.

/>

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[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

Buhari is a political lightening rod, but as long as he harbors the ambition of governing Nigeria again he will continue to be scrutinized as he should be. His supporters are usually fanatical, unquestioning, and almost sheepish in their adulation of their man. As a result they don't want to hear some uncomfortable truths about the man. I got a rude shock on Facebook recently when I reposted a critique of Buhari by my friend, Abdulazeez Abdulazeez. For merely reposting the critique, some of my good friends, including a college classmate, descended on me, imputing all kinds of sinister motives to me. It was as though Buhari was a divine being, not to be questioned or criticized. One friend even wrote to me privately to accuse me of  nursing anti-Fulani feeling and of speaking out of ethno-religious considerations. I flipped it around on him and told him that I could just as well assert that his support for Buhari was rooted in ethno-religious affinity but that would be insulting to him. I also reminded him that the original critic, whose post I merely reposted on my wall, was Fulani.

Anyway, the behavior of Buhari's supporters is, in my opinion, a reflection of how desperate conditions are in Nigeria today. They are projecting messianism and their own anxieties and hopes onto Buhari because he is a different kind of politician and because, whatever you may think of Buhari, you cannot question his personal integrity. As corruption has ravaged Nigeria, personal integrity in a politician has become a rare political asset, which is considered metonymic, rightly or wrongly, for oner political qualities like competence, vision, statesmanship, and sound governing temperament.

To save me from rehashing my comprehensive analysis of what I consider the dissonance between the old Buhari and the new Buhari as well as the differing emotional reactions that the two Buharis tend to elicit, here is a link to my 2011 article on him.

There are myths and legends associated with both the Buhari of 1985 and the Buhari of today. In a sense, many of his supporters think that the Buhari of 2014 will, should he become president, govern like the Buhari of 1985, forgetting that as civilian president he would not have the instruments of administrative fiat available to him as military head of state--that he would be hamstrung both by the constitution (and other democratic niceties and institutions) and political realism. His supporters have not pondered the question of what Buhari of today would do when he realizes that he cannot rule by decree, when he cannot decree a thing and expect it to be done. He and his supporters have provided few answers to this question and they are not satisfactory.

And that, precisely, is the problem with the Buhari cult. They cannot understand why some of us even have the audacity to pose these questions to their man. They cannot understand why Buhari's personal integrity is not enough, why we are asking for more, for plans, manifestoes, and evidence of a civil, democratic temperament. When we point to Shagari as a patently incorruptible civilian president who presided over one of the most regimes in Nigerian history, and who was surrounded by loyal but corrupt allies against whom he was impotent, Buhari's supporters resent the comparison without offering anything reassuring about their principal's departure from the Shagari model. When we tell them that, like Shagari, Buhari's most pronounced weakness is that he is a sucker for loyalty, and that, just as Shagari valued loyalty and allow it to blind him to the corruption of his closest allies, a president Buhari, for whom loyalty and an unquestioning adulation mean everything, may be ruined by the actions of his rapacious aides, they simply say their man will not be captive to corrupt but loyal allies. Fair enough I guess.

We are basically supposed to just take their word about Buhari and hope that the man will do the right thing. We are also supposed to overlook his past misdeeds and focus on those aspects of his political biography that command universal admiration. We are supposed to get on board on account of blind faith in the man--the kind held by his supporters. They want us to simply trust Buhari to do the right thing if/when he gets into Aso Rock. They don't want us to try to verify the trust. In other words, they want everyone to share their unquestioning faith in their man, to emotionally connect with Buhari as a messianic figure and to stop asking questions and demanding substantive programmatic items from him.

The affliction of the typical Buhari supporter is the same, whether he is a Northerner desirous of "power shift" to the north, a Muslim enamored of Buhari's early and consistent support for Sharia, or a Southerner or Christian longing for the discipline and commendable anti-corruption achievements of Buhari's military regime. The typical Buhari supporter is paranoid about people being out to get their man and is hardly receptive to anything resembling criticism directed against the man. Instead of defending legitimate allegations against their man or answering questions around his agenda, the supporters tend to walk around with the proverbial chip on their shoulders, ready to pounce on or pick a fight with critics.

His supporters' behavior notwithstanding, most of us who are neutral in Nigeria's political game clearly see the problem with Buhari and we will continue to say it even if his supporters resent us for doing so or do not want to hear it. So here goes......

1. Buhari has been poorly managed and has not be well served by his aides and handlers. I'll give an example. When Buhari came on the political scene he and his team made a foundational political error. His entry into the political space was controversial and rough. He was said to have remarked at a small political event somewhere in Sokoto State that Muslims should vote for Muslims. This story, a sensational political news item, was published by a national daily. Immediately, his supporters and handlers completely denied the story and alternately accused the reporter who covered the event of lying and of not understanding Hausa, the language in which Buhari spoke at the event. Unknown to them, the reporter had the tape and spoke Hausa with almost mother tongue proficiency. In fact Buhari's people had a point about the distortion of what Buhari said because the newspaper story made it seem as though Buhari asked Muslims to vote for only Muslims and not to vote for Christians. Had they hammered on the obvious distortion, they might have come out ahead and attracted sympathy to their man, but they chose to deny and parry, considering their man above such petty political conversations. They never bothered to own the story and to spin it into something good for the General, which was possible, given what Buhari actually said at the said event. What he said in fact was that as Muslims (he was addressing Hausa Muslims) they should vote for people who would uphold and defend their values--the values that they hold dear. The newspaper put its own spin on it and distorted it into a scandalous statement of religious myopia and bigotry. Had the Buhari folks simply gotten ahead of the story and explained what the General meant, that incident, from which his undeserved reputation as an Islamic bigot arguably began, would not have done the damage that it did. What the General said and meant was actually fairly mainstream and progressive--that his audience should vote their conscience and that they should vote for people who embodied and would uphold their values--probity, fairness, compassion, justice, consultation, etc. These are not just Muslim values but also Christian and humanistic values. Had that incident been managed properly, it would have been a net plus for the General and not a minus. Instead, when the newspaper revealed the existence of the tape and mischievously leaked it to a few people, Buhari's (and his team's) credibility went south. When he and his people attempted to do damage control and to re-explain the comment, they actually did more damage and solidified in many people's minds the notion that Buhari was indeed Muslim chauvinist. Even when he went from one church to another to dispel the fast spreading perception, it did not work. For many, the fact that he indeed addressed the audience in Hausa and made remarks about Muslims voting for people who would protect their values; the fact that he and his supporters never explained what the General meant until a firestorm started, and the fact that the newspaper had a tape and the reporter, a Yoruba, was proficient in Hausa--all these facts were enough. They believed the newspaper over the General. Some people who initially doubted that Buhari had made any of the reported comments and thought that the entire thing was a fabrication flipped on Buhari. Were they being fair to the General? No, but that is politics for you. That's why it calls for savvy, good communication, and good crisis management skills. Buhari and his people saw no need for this, believing, as many of them still do, that his name recognition and his populist policies when he was head of state would be enough to endear their man to Nigerians. Talk about taking the electorate for granted. Many enlightened reasonable, fair-minded, and objective people know that Buhari could not be a religious bigot and is incapable of religious exclusion, given his pedigree. But unfortunately, many of those people don't vote in elections, and the people who do are, given the familiar fissures of Nigerian society, susceptible to the kind of images that were/are circulating about Buhari. In politics, perception, not reality, is everything, and in fairness to Nigerians who harbor suspicions about Buhari, the man has probably done more to promote this perception of him than his detractors. This brings me to my next point.

2. Buhari is often his own worst enemy. When he talks, he sounds like a sectional leader more than a statesman, more than a national political aspirant. He is always defending the North and Islam against perceived and imagined anti-Northern and anti-Islamic policies, partaking in the kind of politics that may be popular in a section of the country but quarantines his popularity there. He became a darling of the Northern political grassroots in 2000 when, unlike many of the North's Muslim elites, he boldly and proudly supported and identified with the implementation of criminal Sharia. And he was unequivocal about his support. That singular act turned him into an instant political hero to Northern Nigeria's Muslim grassroots, from where fervent agitation for Sharia as a divinely ordained solution to society's polyvalent problems, emanated. From then on he could do no wrong. He was invincible. As he parlayed this popularity into politics, however, Buhari committed a grave error. He continued to pander to the Northern grassroots by repeatedly talking about Sharia and defending it, forgetting that, rightly or wrongly, Christians and even some Muslims in both North and South, were suspicious of Sharia politics or "political Sharia." He could have backed off of the Sharia and sectional rhetoric and retained his popularity with the Northern grassroots, but he made the choice to continue to consolidate his new base of support, his new constituency in the Northern grassroots by talking about parochial things that they wanted to hear, things that other establishment Northern politicians, for pragmatic and selfish reasons, were not talking about. He was the political outsider with enormous moral and political capital, which he could dispense to his favored followers and politicians. His strategy worked wonderfully, and solidified his messianic stature among the Northern Muslim masses, but it also scared and alienated moderates, Christians, and Southerners and fed into the perception that he was a religious fanatic who would implement an Islamic agenda if he became president. He won the North but lost the South and the Middle Belt. He effectively became a sectional leader, and he has been trying ever since to escape that label, to recover from that perception, to no avail. I don't see how he can escape this pigeonhole without losing or at least disappointing his northern base because the very thing that makes him popular in the North is what makes him unpopular elsewhere.

3.This all brings me to my final point about Buhari's penchant for soiling his own brand. Whether this is his quasi-military blunt style or he is merely pandering to his Northern Muslim base, he is fond of making shocking statements about national issues that help confirm opinions of him as a parochial Islamic and Northern champion. For instance, when her was interviewed on the Boko Haram insurgency a couple of years ago, he said the government was killing Northern youths, that the killing should stop, and that the government should implement for Boko Haram insurgents the kind of amnesty that was implemented in the Niger Delta. This was when the sect was killing civilians and abducting and raping people left and right, and after the sect had come out to rubbish the talk of amnesty for its members. I couldn't believe that he would say such a thing in a newspaper interview, especially given the widespread perceptions about him, but he did. I told myself then that such an unstatesmanlike statement could be the nail in his political coffin. President Jonathan had a similar moment a few years ago when, after the 2010 October 1 bombings carried out by Henry Okah and his MEND Niger Delta militants, the president came out and declared, even before investigations had commenced, that this was not the work of Niger Delta militants. Not only was he panned for the comment, he was embarrassed when it turned out that Mend, the group he had sought to exonerate, was responsible for the bombing. Jonathan was able to recover from that because he was at the time rookie in the first few months of his presidency, to whom Nigerians were willing to give the benefit of the doubt and, more crucially, because, unlike Buhari, he had no prior perception problem as a sectional or sectarian champion. Buhari has also made other public comments that may be construed as being soft on Boko Haram or as feeding some of the conspiracy theories about Boko Haram being an anti-North machination by the Jonathan government. When I posted Abdulazeez Abdulazeez's critique of Buhari and it attracted a lot of attention with many questioning the truthfulness of the post, he intervened and said that as a journalist who had worked mostly in the North, he had actually heard Buhari say in closed Northern circles that Boko Haram was a ploy to destroy the North by some people. Buhari has basically being echoing the same illiterate theories about Boko Haram being an anti-North, anti-Islam conspiracy, which are popular among uninformed Northerners. These comments and speeches are enthusiastically received in the North, in his base, and add to his popularity there, but they spook people in other parts of the country, further confining him to the status of a sectional candidate. I have noticed that in the last several months, as 2015 draws near, Buhari, apparently heeding the advice of more savvy advisers, has toned down his rhetoric, has issued statements and comments on Boko Haram's terrorist attacks and on the counterinsurgency efforts that are statesmanlike and broadminded. He has also only spoken sparingly, and, after the Nyanya bombing, came out forcefully for the first time to unequivocally condemn the Boko Haram terrorists. Such clarity had not been forthcoming from him, which fed the negative perceptions of him as a politician concerned only with the North and Muslims. Perhaps we're seeing the emergence of a new Buhari, Buhari 3.0, who is more refined, more polished, and more of a statesman than a Northern grassroots hero. Nonetheless, the ways in which Buhari and his people have made bad political choices and limited the appeal of the Buhari brand should not be discounted in any analysis of the man and his politics.

So, when the question is posed, why are they against Buhari, as the original post in this thread does, perhaps the answer should be that, 1) they--whoever they are--are not the problem of Buhari, and 2) perhaps Buhari, along with his team and his hero-worshiping supporters, is the problem of Buhari. You don't need an enemy when you are capable of self-destruction and are known to shoot from the hip and to value a narrow sectional constituency over a national one. If Buhari and his people look inward and correct these mistakes, Nigerians, desperate as they are for new leadership outside the failed PDP paradigm, will give him a chance.

--
There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.


---Mohandas Gandhi

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Sir,

Your words, redolent of a deep-seated bias, bring a chill to the heart:

“It is not an ex-military junta like Buhari that can heal Nigeria. A leader without flexibility and deep sense of values for human life, a blood thirsty tyrant, a crude minded religious zealot who can sell the nation to jihadists cannot govern Nigeria.”

You may have chosen your words carefully but you know that they are not an accurate description of my man Muhammadu Buhari, but maybe of some other Nigeria military rulers of the past...

Brother Buhari issued this statement on April 17, 2014: “I am not a violent person and, other than my professional calling as a soldier, I have never been associated with violence, I abhor violence and have never advocated it. I have always been a law abiding person who insists on due process and the rule of law in all my private and public affairs.”

His record is corruption-free and to many Nigerians he represents a moral force in the APC – he is that force.  In my opinion, the times are not normal and that’s why the death penalty should be introduced in Nigeria to deal with the exigency of excessive corruption although you and Danny Glover might oppose the death penalty on these grounds. Not ad hoc trials conducted by military tribunals , after which you line them all up to face the firing squad – but real court trials in which they are condemned to death by the overwhelming evidence against them (and the looted money returned to the state coffers of course). For this an impeccable judiciary is required. The death penalty might just instil the fear of death by hanging/ firing squad/ lethal injection in those who have no fear of the Almighty or sense of solidarity with the long-shuffering and Shmiling Nigerian people.( Hopefully Brother Buhari & APC don’t announce  any such advanced plans for WAI  - because the corrupt elite will be digging their heels in deep , to have none of it...

As for the equally partisan Lord Anunoby who says that Brother Buhari has been running his presidential campaigns for quite some time, so, where is all the campaign money coming from? From contributors of course (how do you think Brother Obama got elected?) Lord Anunoby does not ask where the money in the war chest which lubricates Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign engine is coming from...

Among military men who have been heads of state you have Dwight Eisenhower, Charles de Gaulle , and Ehud Barak,  Israel’s most decorated soldier , to name just three who have been successful heads of state....

Will there be any rigging in the forthcoming Nigerian presidential elections?  I have no idea, but it could cause plenty of trouble..

There will always be disagreements about the Biafra War and Biafra’s leader Emeka Ojukwu  the head of state of what was once Biafra. Will we ever be able to put that war behind us?

And by the way (maybe a missing piece of history) is it true that Ojukwu took out his belt and severely lashed Umaru Dikko at a party when Mr. Dikko said to him, “Yes, it’s me and I’m back in town”?

 Over here the noon deadline is past and Mr. Löfven says that he’s going to announce the next Swedish government next Friday...( Sabbath , Yom Kippur)  but  the dance is not over yet....

We Sweden

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[Anunoby, Ogugua]

“As for the equally partisan Lord Anunoby who says that Brother Buhari has been running his presidential campaigns for quite some time, so, where is all the campaign money coming from? From contributors of course (how do you think Brother Obama got elected?) Lord Anunoby does not ask where the money in the war chest which lubricates Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign engine is coming from...”

ch

This conversation is on Buhari and not Jonathan in my opinion.

That Buhari has not had a paid job since his last one during the Abacha dictatorship is a fact is it not? He has therefore not earned any employment income for a long time now. He is a pensioner with a many defendants. While he and his financial  and investment advisers only are privy to his savings and investment income, his pension benefits are estimable- there are all paid by government. I understand his supporters to be saying he is not corrupt, always lived on legitimate earned employment income as a public servant, owns or runs no businesses, and now lives off his pension benefits, savings, and gifts from his well-wishers. They seem to be saying that he is not rich and has cannot be funding his endless presidential campaigns from personal funds. They now say that he does so from “contributors of course”  They do not say who these contributors are. They could be Nigerians and/or foreigner therefore. They could even be Nigeria’s domestic of foreign enemies.

Is it presumptuous to expect a man and politician that Buhari’s supporters say that he is, to not understand that there are legitimate questions about how an unemployed, uncorrupt, and incorruptible pensioner is able to conduct an unending presidential campaign with other people’s money and to answer the questions without further delay?

Buhari’s advocates seem to be so consumed by their loyalty to him that they refuse to see beyond their noses. They apparently do not see the gaping holes in the cases they continue to try and fail to make for him?  They seem to believe that the man’s due is a rightful coronation as president given that for them, he is the most and perhaps only righteous and therefore most qualified aspirant to the office of president of Nigeria today. He might be but where is their evidence beyond anecdotes, presumptions, and suppositions?  Why are they unable to see that this coronation might not happen until important questions about the man’s past and presented are answered satisfactorily? Why are these supporters unable to see that the questions will not go away and that time is not on their man’s side? Do they not know that the man is controversial as a person and a politician?  

There are times one’s critics are the one’s best friend. This I believe is one such time. Buhari may indeed be the man his supporters say  he is. He may have good intentions. Good intentions alone do not make a person deserving of political office. Actions are important too. Not many of those have been seen of him in my opinion. If Buhari wishes to run for the office of president in Nigeria in 2015 presidential election successfully, he is consider without further delay, encouraging or leading a public conversation on his  role as military dictator, his many unwise public statements which understandably portrayed him as a parochial and partisan  politician, and what have caused him to continue to migrate from one political party to another. He should publicly address the questions asked about him and which questions make many people cringe at the thought of a likely Buhari presidency of Nigeria in all and different parts of the country before he throws his hat in the ring.

I wish him well.

 

oa

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[Anunoby, Ogugua]

This is a repost please.

“As for the equally partisan Lord Anunoby who says that Brother Buhari has been running his presidential campaigns for quite some time, so, where is all the campaign money coming from? From contributors of course (how do you think Brother Obama got elected?) Lord Anunoby does not ask where the money in the war chest which lubricates Goodluck Jonathan’s campaign engine is coming from...”

ch

This conversation is on Buhari and not Jonathan in my opinion.

That Buhari has not had a paid job since his last one during the Abacha dictatorship is a fact is it not? He has therefore not earned any employment income for a long time now. He is a pensioner with many dependents. While only he and his financial  and investment advisers are privy to the details of his personal balance sheet, his pension benefits are estimatable- there have all been and continue to be paid by government and for so many years so far.

I understand his supporters to be saying he is not corrupt, always lived on legitimate earned employment income as a public servant, owns or runs no businesses, and now lives off his pension benefits, savings, and gifts from his well-wishers. They seem to be saying that he is not rich and is not funding his endless presidential campaigns from personal funds. They now say that he does so from “contributors of course”  They do not say who these contributors are. They could be Nigerians and/or foreigners therefore. They could even be Nigeria’s domestic of foreign enemies.

Is it presumptuous to expect a man and politician that Buhari’s supporters say that he is, to not understand that there are legitimate questions about how an unemployed, uncorrupt, and incorruptible pensioner is able to conduct an unending presidential campaign with other people’s money and to answer the questions without further delay? Should Buhari not be accountable to his potential electors if he decide to run again for the office of president of Nigeria? His supporters should encourage and invite questions and answer all them all. They should not discourage or detest them. Buhari should know that supporters those hinder and hurt his chances of election success.

Buhari’s advocates seem to be so consumed by their loyalty to him that they refuse to see beyond their noses. They apparently do not see the gaping holes in the cases they continue to try and fail to make successfully for him?  They seem to believe that the man’s due is a rightful coronation as president given that for them, he is the most and perhaps only righteous and therefore most qualified aspirant to the office of president of Nigeria today. He might be but where is their evidence beyond anecdotes, presumptions, and suppositions?  Why are they unable to see that this coronation might not happen until important questions about the man’s past and presented are answered satisfactorily? Why are these supporters unable to see that the questions will not go away and that time is not on their man’s side? Do they not know that the man is controversial as a person and a politician?  

There are times one’s critics are the one’s best friend. This I believe is one such time. Buhari may indeed be the man his supporters say  he is. He may have good intentions. Good intentions alone do not make a person deserving of political office. Actions are important too. Not many of those have been seen of him in my opinion. If Buhari wishes to run for the office of president in Nigeria in 2015 presidential election successfully, he should consider without further delay, encouraging or leading a public conversation on his role as military dictator, his many unwise public statements which understandably portray him as a parochial and partisan  politician, and what have caused him to continue to migrate from one political party to another in pursuit of his ambition to be president of Nigeria. He should publicly address the questions asked about him and which questions make many people cringe at the thought of a likely Buhari presidency of Nigeria in all and different parts of the country before he throws his hat in the ring again if he wants a different outcome.  

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Dear Lord Anunoby,

You leave me wondering about your sincerity when you say to a penniless soul like me, ”I am ready to be your Campaign Manager if you show interest.”

Really?

Any questions about the legality or otherwise of Brother Buhari's corruption-free campaign finances had better be answered by Brother Buhari himself, if he is so disposed or obliged to you and the Nigerian electorate, to answer such questions.

Although I resist falling for patronage from any oga or mami wata I had a few benefactors in Nigeria (Diete-Spiff and Joe Ellah were the first in Rivers), I had a few in Imo state, a good one in Lagos, in Cross Rivers State, one from Kaduna and one from the then Gongola State --- and apart from the week when I lost both my father and my stepfather, whether or not we were not paid for six months by the Rivers State government, my pocket was never empty. How much more so Brother Buhari?

Brother Buhari, a son of the soil who has tasted power before is a different kettle of fish altogether. You clothe him with messianic tendencies (I guess that you clothe any would-be leader of Nigeria who would utter the one word “redemption“ or “ redemption of the nation”, with the toga of Nigerian messiah-ship and here you must remember that more than 99% of the Jews during the time of Jesus of Nazareth who operated in the Galilee 99% of the time (his crucifixion was in Judea), rejected him as Mr. Messiah (assuming that he ever existed or ever made such a claim) his opponents asserted, “You are not HIM!”

At any time you so desire you can move the conversation on to Goodluck Jonathan. I assure you that I like his humility and I have nothing against him whatsoever. He is qualified to be president of Nigeria and he is the president of Nigeria - I just wish that he would clean up the environmental degradation of the Delta area which after all lubricates much Nigeria's economy.

All other things considered, such as improving the economy by putting a stop to the leakages through corruption, and all the kind of things that would want to make Hamlet commit suicide, in a straight fight between Brothers Buhari and Jonathan their attitude towards Israel would be one of the determining factors for me. At this point most of us know precious little about their positions on Israel.

What I do know is that under Buhari, Nigeria supposedly enlisted the services of Mossad to try to bring Umaru Dikko to justice. That's the kind of man that Buhari is: to leave no stone unturned in trying to repatriate the country's looted gold, back to Nigeria.

On the Israel front we also have Goodluck Jonathan and his entourage famously praying for Nigeria on the banks of the Jordan River (an event that caused philosophy Professor Segun Ogungbemi to seethe all over with “Are there no dirty rivers in Nigeria?”) At the time of the Nigerian president's pilgrimage I thought that this was political dynamite and not only Nigeria's Northern Muslim leaders would be fuming at Goodluck Jonathan, but also the Boko Harami people and some of their good friends and weapon suppliers from further up North, and of course now, their brothers-in-arms in ISIL...

Still on the Israel front, a few weeks after the Chibok girls were abducted the media tells us that President Jonathan also enlisted Israel's expertise in the counter-terrorism sphere, although we don't know to what extent such aid was enlisted.

One last note – again by word of mouth and popular rumour, nothing confirmed but it has been repeatedly said that to some extent, external forces at work contributed to thee down fall of the Buhari-Idiagbon duo - that the duo was getting “ too big for their boots” and wanted Nigeria to have a permanent seat on the Security Council etc. etc. ( of course for the good of Nigeria)

Of course, you know that I too am willing and able to be one of your campaign managers , but who would be better in the propaganda department than Lord Anunoby himself ? I guess that you would first declare your assets and then the Nigerian electorate would wait with bated breath to see your increase in good fortune after just a year in the saddle....

Sincerely said,

CH.

...

[Anunoby, Ogugua]

 

The election of any country’s president is serious business. I understand that many people involve their feelings, emotions, and sympathies (mostly based on misinformation) in matters of politics and public affairs. My thinking however, is that it is much better that people’s minds are shaped by facts and reason. The more this is the case, the less it is that the people would vote against their interests. Nigerians have voted against their interests too many times already.

My assessment is that many Nigerians would agree that their country has so far, not elected a president that will transform their country into a one of their realistic dreams. It is time they have such a leader in my considered opinion. Buhari’s supporters presenting him as “the one”.  May be he is. They however do not seem to a want to have an intelligent conversation on why Buhari is who they say he is.

Buhari is a former Head of State and military dictator. He forced himself and his brutal rule on Nigerians.  The man was part of a coup that overthrew an elected government. He does not seem to have any regrets. He may therefore not have learned as he need to do. He has been wanting to lead Nigeria again, this time as an elected president. He may be said to be applying for that job. Does he have a resume? Yes he has. Should the resume be evaluated by the electing public? Yes.  Buhari’s supports do not seem to want this evaluation.  

My suggestion to Buhari’s supporters is to go past Buhari’s eligibility for the office of president. They should take seriously the matter of the possibility of him being elected.

--

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Lord Anunoby,

I hope that you are feeling both hale and hearty...

Your “it is much better that people’s minds are shaped by facts and reason” tallies with Spinoza – however it is you yourself who have disqualified these facts as often nothing other than misinformation out there in the public sphere. Even in the information age  - and this is especially so in some of our more advanced African democracies, the vacuum created by a lack of correct information, even about Ebola, can give rise to or be filled by all kinds of rumours and speculation which can spread “like a bush-fire in the harmattan.” The most virulent form of this kind of misinformation is in political propaganda and this particularly intense in the run up to elections. Imagine someone propagating a rumour that if candidate x wins the Nigerian presidential election he is going to introduce the death penalty or is going to publicly hang all the thieves  - once the evil genie of misinformation is let out of the bottle it’s difficult to correct  and the more  some rumours are denied, the more they grow in intensity.

Ignorance, tribalism, and blind devotion to some political icons will continue for some time to come - at both the local village and national level.

The long and short term solution of course is universal primary education and citizenship education and the understanding – “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

For now you are still treading water with Muhammadu Buhari, saying that “The man was part of a coup that overthrew an elected government” more precisely worded, they overthrew a corrupt government.

 Of course  in a more literate society the Buhari camp would have probably looked forward to taking up your challenge  - in an American style or even a Nigerian style presidential debate; however such a debate on national  level – in the Queen’s English or even in the pidgin lingua franca  is fraught with the aforementioned dangers  -  distortion, misinformation  and the analyses,  and reportage of such a discussion/ debate by the partisan press and the spin doctors could leave us all in a quagmire or crucible that’s a lot hotter than where we were before. For example how successful has Mr. Buhari been in dispelling the malicious rumour  that has taken root in some people’s imagination,  that  he is one of the sponsors of Boko Haram  - when there’s sufficient  psychological berth to  moor  such a rumour  - simple based on  any purported religious sympathy?

 For example Netanyahu at UN: 'ISIS is Hamas, Hamas is ISIS' You may well ask, are they indistinguishably so?

You have volunteered that you would be my campaign manager for the presidency.  Well that’s exactly what my campaign platform would be: “  no to corruption : a president that will transform the  dreams for country into reality”  of course this planned transformation is a process that will take some time  - and the first one I’d hang ( if he did not vomit my money) would be that Bank Manger of Savannah Bank at No  10 Aba Road in Port Harcourt , but for the fact ( real fact) that I don’t like to see this sort of thing.

CH the galley slave is feeling very hungry so he is now going to prepare a very kosher dinner wash it down with equally kosher wine  and review what’s been going on in Sweden the past couple of hours and maybe update his blog

 We Sweden

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