On a bright Saturday morning of 1981, I escorted my late father to the famous Kasuwan barchi market in Kaduna metropolis for shopping. After parking our vehicle, we advanced towards the market and all of a sudden we were accosted by a man I had never seen and he jerked my father’s shirt and removed his cap. To my astonishment my father was smiling and been conciliatory. I was vividly angry and urged my father in our language [Nupe] to repel the strange man’s attack. My father ignored me and was pleading with the man to release him. They latter reached a compromise and my father ‘bailed’ his cap with a token sum of money. When the confrontation was over they exchange pleasantries like old friends and asked after each others family. I was baffled and had lots of questions for my father. After the man had left, my father looked at me in the eyes and said ‘our people [Nupes of North-central Nigeria] and Kastinawa [Kastina people of North-western Nigeria] have a special relationship and it is this relationship that binds the devised people of Northern Nigeria together’. But this is not enough reason for me to have chosen Buhari as my Presidential candidate for the 2011 elections.
After the military handed power to the civilians in 1999, Nigerians had hoped that it will usher in a period of prosperity, unity and stability after years of political uncertainties. But that was not to be because after 12 years of civilian rule, the Nigerian dream is fading in a cascading speed as years goes by and the country is drifting towards becoming a failed state. Corruption and maladministration are at its peak, insecurity and communal strife are increasing at an alarming rate, infrastructures are collapsing with no hope of reconstruction, the standard of education is at its lowest ebb and the unity of the country is threatened. It is obvious that the PDP-led central government for the last 12 years had failed woefully. The 2011 elections is therefore a crossroad that either Nigerians take their destiny into their hands, elect credible leaders and arrest this drift or allow the present gang to continue the journey towards abysmal abode of a failed state.
Nigeria has more than fifty [50] registered political parties but only three candidates are favourites. Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP, Nuhu Ribadu of the ACN and Muhammad Buhari of CPC. I believe that one of them will be Nigeria’s president after the elections. The PDP is the government in power and it has the incumbency factor to its advantage. It has the widest spread not because of its popularity but because it is the government in power and its takes care of the various needs of its members. It has considerable resources at its disposal as its recent presidential primaries shows and if money can buy votes then the Presidential contest is over. Its presidential candidate is a young man who has tasted poverty and is amiable. I consider the condition of an intending candidate who has tasted poverty as a high point because only those who have tasted hunger knows who is hungry and what hunger is. And all will agree that Nigerians are hungry. Then the low points of the PDP and its candidates includes, the PDP is a divided party today due to the breach of its zoning arrangement to accommodate the aspiration of the President. The PDP is considerably weakened in the Northern part of the country due to this breach and it will adversely affect its fortunes in the upcoming elections. The PDP is the party in power in the last 12 years and its symbolises corruption, looting and dishonesty. If Jonathan’s wins the 2011 elections, the same cabal that had impoverished Nigerians and stalled their progress will still be in charge because those people are still influential in the PDP .People like Tony Anenih and Olusegun Obasango who are symbols of failure and corruption will still be relevant in the next dispensation. PDP politics is all about money and settlement as their last presidential primaries had shown .It was alleged that a presidential candidate of the party gave each delegate $10,000 to vote for him. The primary priority of this candidate will be to recoup his investment with interest if elected into office and provision of good governance and improving the living condition of Nigerians will be a secondary priority. Goodluck Jonathan will win the South-south and South-east regions of Nigeria in any Presidential contest. The two regions have the lowest number of registered voters compared to other regions of the country.
The ACN presidential candidate, Nuhu Ribadu, is an anti-corruption crusader. He became famous when he turned down a bribe of fifteen million dollars given to him by James Ibori, the former governor of oil-rich Delta State. He was the Chairman of the EFCC, an anti-corruption body, during the Obasanjo’s government and he displayed unusual courage and tenacity in the fight against corruption in Nigeria. The ACN has the South-west region of Nigeria as its base thought it is strong in some Southern states. Nuhu Ribadu is principled and disciplined and might be the answer to Nigerian’s problems especially the corruption scourge that has eaten deep into the soul of the country. The limited spread of the party is a low point and his inability to communicate with the downtrodden is another disadvantage to him. Nuhu Ribadu is looked with suspicion in the Northern part of the country as people dismissed him as Obasanjo’s stooge. He has not done anything to dispel this libel especially his inability to denounce Obasanjo as a corrupt leader per excellence. He will win the South-west in any Presidential contest but is it enough for him to win the Presidential election? Only time will tell.
Muhammad Buhari has a cult-like following in the Northern part of the country. He is an embodiment of honesty, integrity, discipline, accountability and respect for the rule of law. The downtrodden masses of Nigeria, especially in the North, see him as a natural emancipator from the shackles of poverty and degradation. The peasant farmer, shoe shiner, petty labourer, local vulcaniser and the teeming masses of unemployed consider him a definite solution to their numerous problems. He is loved by the masses and hated by a large section of the elites as the elites sees him as a threat to the status quo which unjustly favours them. His strongest base is the North and after the Sardauna no politician from the north attracts unconditional support and unalloyed loyalty than him. Muhammad Buhari has zero-tolerance on corruption and he is a champion of accountability and probity.
Today the Nigerian nation needs a leader that will not condone or abet corruption and should have accountability as a watch word and which of the candidates is better qualified than Buhari? He has chosen a civil-right crusader, Pastor Tuned Bakare, as his running mate, a man who became famous for turning down a $50,000 bribe from Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. If Nigeria can get this combination as its leaders then Nigerians can safely say goodbye to the era of wanton looting and maladministration. The cascading drift to a failed state will be duly arrested and Nigerians will have a better hope for the future.
Haruna Elbinawi.
KADUNA-NIGERIA.
elbinawi@yahoo.com.
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