It was Fela Kuti who sang in one of his songs and said 'me and you no dey for the same category' referring to his intellectual capabilities higher than that of his interlocutors. He was confident with what comes out of his brain; maybe because he uses it well or because he was certain he had achieved martyr despite his run ins with the then government.
I can almost say the same between the two major presidential contestant in the person of General Muhammadu Buhari and PhD holder President Goodluck Jonathan; both of them have been in power so it is easy to compare and contrast and that is what this article is about.
This article
is about comparism. Yes, the fuss about GEJ/GMB has boiled over into something paradoxically
shameful and abhorring and this also has turned the Nigerian society especially
social media into a battle front for most young people especially in my age
group (25 – 40 years of age) jostling or discarding one of the candidate. Pro General
Muhammadu Buhari fans are squaring up with pro Jonathan Goodluck apologists and
it seems like everywhere I go, everyone is talking about it in hush tones, loud
whispers and we are all throwing stones.
This article
therefore is an addendum to the many articles that have emanated from writers
trying to either tell us that ‘Pa’ Buhari is the messiah that will rescue Nigeria
from the conundrum of bad leadership or that President ‘Clueless’ Jonathan
Goodluck will continue his transformation agenda and give the needed good
leadership that the people earnestly deserve. Like Jimi Disu said this morning
on the Classic FM paper review show, ‘something has to give’.
This article
therefore will be about the precedence and antecedence of both men, before they
came into power, while they were in place of position and what happens next as
they seek re-election. It will try to compare both men; their time in power,
how they ruled and their popularity whilst in power.
In 2014/2015,
I have become a Pro Buhari person. That came to me as a rude shock too. This was
a man 4 or 5 years ago I would never have touched with a long pole. I was not
alone in this assertion however. Hear Dele Momodu’s thoughts too, he wrote, “In 2011, I would have said worse things
about General Muhammadu Buhari. In truth, I actually wrote Buhari off
completely, not without cogent reasons that I considered valid and relevant at
that time. The first was that Buhari was too old to lead us. I was biased by
the Obama Presidency and the emergence of David Cameron in Britain. I felt
Buhari as a former dictator should be totally expunged from the race. I was
also brainwashed by the relentless propaganda that he was a religious
fundamentalist of the worst kind. If I was good in Fine Arts, I would have
painted him in the lurid and monstrous image of Lucifer. That was how bad it
was.”
He was
coloured in bigotry (not necessary so), religious sycophancy (or at least as
the press wanted us to believe) and didn’t come across as someone who really
had anything to offer. His PR was absolutely none existing and it wasn’t as if
his records didn’t stand him tall, it was that nobody directed us towards them.
So I didn’t vote for him in 2011! But I didn’t vote for Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
too because I was not convinced he was the man for the job. His body language
told me a lot about him and I was certain he wouldn’t spend more than a term in
office. I am being justified.
There was
this sinister motive in his selection with the late President Umar Yar’Adua as
his running mate and it was as if he was he was just there because of his name
and not because what he could actually offer. This man was slow, clueless and
waited till everything goes awry before he starts to think cum do anything
about it. He had a reputation for that since his first selection as deputy
governor in Bayelsa state till he ascended the throne in 2009 as acting
President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
So what has
changed? Why root for Buhari now if you are convinced he is a religious and
ethnic bigot. The answer is simple. This man’s record speaks volume of him. He is
not a saint, neither is he a messiah. He will not perform miracles or turn Nigeria’s
woes into wealth overnight but he has shown time and time again that he has the
strong will to pursue what is right and abhors everything wrong; he didn’t have
to say it, he has done it before! This article in ThisDay newspaper asserts, “Buhari is regarded as a decisive leader, one
who would make tough decisions, irrespective of whose ox is gored. Nigerians
recall how his government stood up to the international community during his
presidency, refusing to be dictated to by the Britain and the United States.
They recall how despite Umaru Diko's status in Nigerian politics, the Buhari
government crated to return him to Nigeria from self-exile in Britain to face
trial for corruption.”
With his
alignment with the progressives, he has also won many Nigerians heart by
publicly declaring his ability to be forward thinking and genuinely pan-Nigerian.
His rebranding efforts have only generated proper placement amongst even the
youths who never thought he was a person of choice initially.
Let me start
the comparism before you say I have partially given General Buhari some boost
since it is a comparism I am supposed to be doing.
Muhammadu Buhari (born 17 December 1942) is a Nigerian politician and a retired
Major General in the Nigerian Army who served as the country's military Head of
State from 31 December 1983 to 27 August 1985. A native of Daura in Katsina
State, he has unsuccessfully ran for president in 2003, 2007 and 2011. In 2015,
he successfully became the Presidential flag bearer of the major opposition
party APC in what was adjudged as the best democratic primaries ever conducted
in Nigeria.
Buhari joined
the Nigerian Army in 1962, when he attended the Nigerian Military Training
College (in February 1964, it was renamed the Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA) in
Kaduna. From 1962-1963, he underwent Officer Cadets training at Mons Officer
Cadet School in Aldershot in England (Mons OCS was officially closed down in
1972).
In January
1963, Buhari was commissioned as second lieutenant, and appointed Platoon
Commander of the Second Infantry Battalion in Abeokuta, Nigeria. From November
1963- January 1964, Buhari attended the Platoon Commanders’ Course at the
Nigerian Military College, Kaduna. In 1964, he facilitated his military
training by attending the Mechanical Transport Officer’s Course at the Army
Mechanical Transport School in Borden, United Kingdom.
He also
attended military colleges in India and the United States of America and gained
his Master’s Degree in Strategic Studies.
His Governance: General Buhari first became the governor of North Eastern state
in 1975 under the Murtala/Obasanjo military government. The state today is
split into Borno, Taraba, Bauchi, Yobe, Adamawa and Gombe states. After the
death of General Murtala, Buhari became the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum
and Natural resources.
My guess is, if he didn’t play this role very well, the
General Abacha’s regime would never have called him back into that role as PTF
chairman; a position he played and affected the lives of many in 1996 -1998. I can
still see the Special Intervention fund building of the PTF in my university
and in many universities I go too especially in the south western universities.
Buhari touched lives. A 1998 report in New African
praised the PTF under Buhari for its transparency, calling it a rare
"success story".
I will shock
you now because what I am about to say is contrary to what is in the public
domain. General Buhari didn’t carry out a coup in 1983 as presupposed by many. He
was simply appointed by the mid-ranking and high ranking military officers to
take over government since the mastermind had died in the coup d’etat that
ousted President Shehu Shagari’s civilian rule.
This is what Wikipedia had to
say; “Major-General Buhari was selected as Head of State to lead the
country by middle and high-ranking military officers after a successful
military coup d'etat that overthrew civilian President Shehu Shagari on 31
December 1983. At the time, Buhari was head of the Third Armored Division of
Jos. Buhari was appointed Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed
Forces, and Tunde Idiagbon was appointed Chief of General Staff (the de facto
No. 2 in the administration). Buhari justified the military's seizure of power
by castigating the civilian government as hopelessly corrupt, and his
administration subsequently initiated a public campaign against indiscipline
known as "War Against Indiscipline" (WAI). This policy won him national
and universal applause, as a result of its effectiveness.”
It was as a
result of the public outcry of Nigerians at the time concerning the rot and
trite in the government of President Shehu Shagari, the malfeasance had reached
a record high and the stench could not be withstood any longer. This prodded
the military into action and it wasn’t masterminded by General Buhari; he was
just the highest ranking officer at the time and his track record at the time
made him the favourite even amongst master coup plotters and power drunk
officers like Ibrahim Bakko, General Ibrahim Babangida and General Abacha.
It was said
that during his tenure, Buhari started to rebuild the nation's social-political
and economic systems, along the realities of Nigeria's austere economic
conditions. The rebuilding included removing or cutting back the excesses in
national expenditure, obliterate or remove completely corruption from the
nation's social ethics, shifting from mainly public sector employment to
self-employment. Buhari also encouraged import substitution industrialization
based to a great extent on the use of local materials and he tightened
importation.
The only
blight on his CV was that he was a product of a military coup and whatever
comes wrong must go wrong. Despite his many successes, he was also ousted by
another coup carried out by IBB. Buhari's admirers believe that he was
overthrown by corrupt elements in his government who were afraid of being
brought to justice as his policies were beginning to yield tangible dividends
in terms of public discipline, curbing corruption, lowering inflation,
enhancing workforce and improving productivity.
Major-General
Buhari (rtd) has received several awards and medals. In alphabetical order they
include:
·
Congo Medal (CM)
·
Defense Service Medal (DSM)
·
Forces Service Star (FSS)
·
General Service Medal (GSM)
·
Grand Commander of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (GCFR)
·
Loyal Service and Good Conduct Medal (LSGCM)
·
National Service Medal (NSM)
Now let’s
compare with the GEJ
President Goodluck Jonathan: he was born on 20 November 1957,
a Nigerian politician who has been President of Nigeria since 2010. Prior to
his role as President, he served as Governor of Bayelsa State from 2005 to 2007
and as Vice-President of Nigeria from 2007 to 2010.
Jonathan was
born in poor suburb of Otueke, what is now known as Bayelsa State to a family
of canoe makers. As far as we know, he told us in his campaign rally in 2011
that he didn’t have or wore a shoe while growing and honestly that was the
thematic thrust of his campaigning that year. Jonathan holds a B.Sc. degree in
Zoology, Master’s degree in Hydrobiology and Fisheries biology, and a PhD
degree in Zoology from the University of Port Harcourt. I think that was where
he met his unusual speaking wife Patience.
His Governance: in his 2011 campaign speech, he promised in his ‘Road Map’ that
power/electricity was his primary goal. According to Wikipedia, ‘The Nigerian Power Sector has been
historically plagued by blackouts. Economists estimate that the power outages
cost Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy, billions of dollars on imported diesel
for generators and in lost output.’ Jonathan went on CNN to state that his
government have largely improved power output and that Nigerians are now happy
with him. You can watch the reactions of Nigerians here.
The
Transformation Agenda is based on a summary of how the Federal Government hopes
to deliver projects, programs, and key priority policies, from 2011 to 2015
coordinated by the National Planning Commission (NPC). However, that was where
it stood, ‘HOPE’. With all he powers conferred on the Presidency, his agenda’s
and policies stood as hope still when the nation suffers avoidable
belligerence.
In 2011 Goodluck
Jonathan's government facilitated the transfer of payment of $1.1bn to a fake
company set up by a controversial former corrupt Petroleum Minister Dan Etete.
The fake company, Malabu Oil and Gas was set up in 1998 by Etete using a false
identity so as to award himself a lucrative oil block, OPL245 for which he paid
only $2m of the $20m legally required by the state. Etete was already a
convicted felon of money laundering in France. The Economist reports that only
$800m out of the $1.1bn meant for Malabu Oil and Gas was ever remitted by the
Nigerian government.
The then Nigerian Attorney General, Mohammed Bello Adoke,
who signed the documents involved in facilitating the payments, denied the rest
was shared by public officials. The transfer to convicted felon, Etete, only
came to public light when a Russian lawyer that claimed to have helped Malabu
negotiate a deal with the Jonathan's government sued in New York for a $66m
unpaid commission. Both Shell and Eni, as at September 2014, are under
investigation for corruption by the UK and Italy authorities for the incidence.
What is Jonathan’s stand on this issue? We are yet to know.
On September
5th, 2014, South African customs officers at Lanseria Airport seized undisclosed
and undeclared $9.3m stuffed in three suitcases carried on a private jet by 2
Nigerians and an Israeli. Afterwards, Jonathan's government admitted to
ownership of the funds and claimed it was intended for procurement of arms and
ammunition. The money was not declared as required by law upon leaving Nigeria or
arriving at South Africa.
It was later revealed the private jet used to
transport the money was owned by the head of Christians Association of Nigeria,
Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor. Jonathan's government progressed to avoid going through
the South African judiciary system to reclaim the money and instead preferring
to employ diplomatic and political channels directly through Jacob Zuma, the
South African President, to get the money back. On 25 October 2014, it was
announced by the South African Ambassador to Nigeria that the money has been
released to the Nigerian government. So far, Jonathan's government has refused
to name the Nigerians on the plane but the Israeli has been identified by
investigation of the press as Eyal Mesika.
You see I can
go on and on about the corruption in the country under that ruler ship of
Jonathan but it has become like a broken record. You can however read it up
here.
Concerning security
in the North East of Nigeria, it is appalling to say the least. Lives are lost
now on a daily basis and Nigeria is counted as the third on the list of internally
displaced people in the world and also third on the list with insurgency
growing in leaps and bound. The ambassador of the United States of America came
on Channels the other day and talked about how the US had hoped to work with
the Nigerian government to curb insurgency but the government’s lack of will
and inability to procure the needed arms made them wait a while and finally had
to leave the country. Yet, the party of the president raised a whopping 21
billion Naira for elections where a single person gave 5 billion and another 2
billion naira each.
When we
compare this resume of both men jostling for the position of the number one man
in the country, it is no gainsaying the fact that one clearly outbid the other.
It is left for Nigerians to choose but with the feelers from the people that I receive
every day, it is obvious where the pendulum is swinging. We all wait for February
14th 2015 for that decisive decision. Let the man of the people win.
NB:
We hope the
peace accord signed by all the Presidential candidates stays true and no one
causes a shakeup in the polity when they lose. This election is going to be
about issues and not sentiment or religion or ethnicity.
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