Many Nigerians had
enthusiastically looked forward to the conclusion of the national convention of
the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday December 11, 2014, when former
head of state of Nigeria, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd.) was declared as the
presidential candidate of the party at its well-attended convention at Teslim
Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos.
The belief of many watchers of events is that
Buhari is an incorruptible former public officer, who remains the only ex-head
of state or president without an oil block and with only one house, which is
located in his hometown; Daura, Katsina State.
These and many other
apparent ‘enviable credentials positioned Buhari as the best choice of the APC
to ensure a change in Aso Rock in the 2015 elections.’
So, the wild
jubilation that greeted the announcement of Buhari as winner of the APC
presidential primary election across the country is better imagined having
polled 3,430 out of the total 7,214 valid votes at the national convention of
the party, which lasted over 24 hours.
Opinion watchers
believe that Buhari is the only candidate that could wrestle power from the incumbent
President Goodluck Jonathan, who was picked as the presidential flagbearer of
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) un-opposed at its national
convention, which held at the Eagles Square in Abuja on Wednesday 10th
December, 2014.
According to sources,
who spoke to First Weekly last week, a person of Buhari’s caliber, who had
been a military man and who has had the opportunity of ruling the country once
with his perceived trait of selflessness and diligence would be able to handle
the myriad of problems confronting the country such as insecurity, economic
downturn, infrastructural decay, social malaise, kidnapping, incessant killings
amongst others.
One of the strong
critics of President Goodluck Jonathan is former president Olusegun Obasanjo,
who rated Jonathan’s government below average at a recent event.
The former
president, who spoke at an event as part of activities marking the Ake Arts and
Book Festival in Abeokuta, Ogun State, had said; ‘I rate this current
administration below average,’ adding that ‘rather than take blame for bringing
Jonathan to power, I should be taking credit’ in response to a question about
President Jonathan’s performance.
This is apart from
Obasanjo’s onslaught against Jonathan in his new controversial autobiography entitled;
“My Watch.”
Obasanjo said in
the book that “In the area of corruption, we have been going back steadily from
the inception of Yar’Adua’s administration, when the ‘hunter’ became the
‘hunted,’ Obasanjo states. “Under Jonathan, we seem to have gone from frying
pan to fire. If in the past corruption was in the corridors of power, it would
seem now to be in the sitting room, dining room and bedroom of power,” he said.
On the other hand,
chieftains of the PDP and supporters of the incumbent President Goodluck
Jonathan, believe that he has been doing his best since he got to power in May,
2010, when the late president Umar Musa Yar’Adua died after a protracted
illness.
They insisted that
most of the problems confronting the country had been there before Jonathan got
to office and that he has even been doing his best to move the nation forward.
Reacting to
Obasanjo’s statement, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public
Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe said President Jonathan had performed well and that ‘In
terms of performance and achievements, no administration, since 1960, when
Nigeria gained independence from Britain, has done as much as that of President
Jonathan.”
He said further;
“contrary to Chief Obasanjo’s opinion, the Federal Government under President
Jonathan has performed excellently given the prevailing circumstances and
resources available.”
However, as the
battle for the soul of Nigeria in the 2015 elections begins, Nigerians are
looking forward to interesting moments that will either see President Jonathan losing
or retaining power.
While some people
are optimistic that Jonathan would win despite all the challenges facing his
government as they base their arguments on power of incumbency, others believe
that there is no way the PDP government could survive the expected tsunami of
the 2015 elections.
A source, who gave
his name simply as Ayinla, told us last week that the APC would need to do much
work to defeat President Jonathan in 2015 as he is in-charge of the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) that would conduct the elections.
He said; “Whether
Nigerians like it or not, Jonathan would win the 2015 elections. He controls
the machinery of government and he has all it takes to sway votes in his
direction. Jonathan is not the cause of Boko Haram or other challenges facing
the country and I want to say that some of our problems go beyond leadership.
Even the followers are not sincere, corruption is everywhere. So, the man
should be allowed to complete his two terms.”
But in the words
of another observer, who simply gave his name as Mr. John Chukwu, “We need a
change that the APC represents, we cannot continue with the way we are going
now. Jonathan has lost the steam to rule this country, and so we must show him
the way out of Aso Rock now. This man lacks leadership style, he doesn’t know
how to fight Boko Haram despite all the money the government has spent on
security and I believe that he was not ready for power, when he got it on a
platter of gold.”
An APC source, who
spoke to us anonymously, last week however said that his party is ready to take
over from President Jonathan in 2015.
He said that all
hands are now on desk to win the presidential election for Muhammadu Buhari,
who is the presidential candidate of the APC.
According to him,
‘we have started taking stock of voters across the country. We are preparing
solid campaign messages that would expose the shortcomings of this government.
We are aware that the PDP as the ruling party controls INEC, but the whole
thing would be too obvious to rig. I know many Nigerians are tired of a
government that is not concerned about their welfare and lives. People are
dying daily, over 200 students are missing from the Federal Government Girls
College, Chibok, Borno State and they are yet to be found. The value of the
naira is falling by the day, there is general insecurity in the country, people
are suffering and Jonathan has no solution to our problems. You can see the way
people were rooting for the candidature of former head of state, Muhammadu
Buhari before our presidential primary election, they are all tired of an
insincere government.”
A top chieftain of
the APC told us that the party would be bold to campaign in all parts of the
country including the highly volatile north east, where they believe the
President cannot even visit or attempt to campaign.
He emphasized that
the ‘current government has failed to address the critical problems facing
Nigeria and Jonathan is obviously not capable of ruling this country. We cannot
fold our arms, while people are suffering and dying. APC is ready, Buhari is
ready and Nigerians are ready to fight with all that they have to ensure that power
is wrestled from those, who don’t know what to do with power.’
We also spoke with
a competent source within the APC, who explained that surveys conducted by the
party before the conclusion of its primaries last week pointed to the fact that
the party would win the 2015 elections if Muhammadu Buhari emerges its
candidate for the election.
“That was why we
ensured the man emerged our candidate. We are not leaving any stone unturned to
win this election. All Nigerians will know that we are ready for actions, when
campaign starts anytime from now. We will reach all the nooks and crannies of
Nigeria. We will place the cards on the table for everybody to see. Every
reasonable man or woman would see what we have to work with and nobody would
have any doubt about our potentials, when the time comes. We have the support
of the people already, all we need is to perfect our strategy and we will not
disclose that now, “he said.
A national officer
of the APC, who also spoke with us under anonymity, said that the party is
ready for the big fight, and when probed about the strategy that would be
adopted, he said ‘when we get to the bridge, we will cross it.’
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