By Paul Onomuakpokpo
It is only those who
are unfamiliar with the politics of mutual backslapping in these climes who are
surprised by the verdict of the governors of the ruling party, the All
Progressives Congress (APC). At the meeting of the party’s National Executive
Committee (NEC) in Abuja
 |
| *President Buhari and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe |
But for now, the NEC
does not share the enthusiasm of the governors. Thus, the governors were not
able to convince the NEC to give automatic ticket to Buhari to recontest.
However, it is unlikely that the NEC would deny Buhari an automatic ticket at
the right time; the governors were just the first to declare their position. It
is clear to the citizens that these governors have only flattered the president
for various selfish reasons. Of course, the governors are aware of the power of
incumbency that could be used to hunt them if they were opposed to the ambition
of the president to recontest. Most of these governors have not conducted their
financial affairs in a manner that could make them different from those the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has hung charges of corruption on.
Again, most of the governors rode to power in 2015 on the back of the
popularity of Buhari. Thus, the calculation of the governors is that once
Buhari recontests, they are likely to return to power.
Clearly, in a fair election, the verdict of the governors would not count. It
is the people whom the governors claim that Buhari has served well who would
decide his fate. So, the governors who are obviously not actuated by patriotism
can profess as many endorsements as they like, but it is the citizens who would
decide how fit Buhari is for the next election.
However, a canny
appreciation of our politics requires that we should thank the governors for
wanting Buhari to recontest. For, those who do not want Buhari to recontest are
about doing the nation a great disservice. Such people should rather channel
their energies towards preparing a candidate who in terms of age, health,
character and vision is far better than Buhari. In other words, what such
people should be preoccupied with is ensuring that there is a pool of credible
presidential candidates from whom the citizens can choose.
Like the governors,
this column holds the view that Buhari should recontest. But the reason for
this position is different from those of the governors. It is to really measure
the progress of our democratic experience which may not be possible if Buhari
does not recontest. His recontesting would serve a purpose that the
participation of Goodluck Jonathan served in 2015. Jonathan’s participation showed
that even an incumbent, despite all the advantages he leveraged, could be
defeated if he failed to perform while in office. If Jonathan had quietly
declared that he would be in office for only one term and another person should
fly the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flag for the 2015 presidential election,
he would have escaped his current villainisation. Perhaps, this PDP candidate
would have won and Jonathan’s so-much excoriated fecklessness allegedly
underscored by the profligacy of his administration would have been ignored. By
that singular action of not re-contesting, Jonathan would have securely
ensconced himself in a pantheon of democracy exemplars illumined by the likes
of Nelson Mandela. But we must be alert to the need to discount the notion that
these governors are setting up Buhari to be disgraced. For, it is obvious that
for the reasons earlier mentioned, they really want Buhari to return to Aso
Rock.
So, Buhari does not
need to waste time before declaring his interest to recontest. The Nigerian
voters are waiting for him at the poll. They are waiting to express their
outrage at his inept management of the economy that has led to their
unemployment. The millions of youths are ready to let him know how his policies
have not given them jobs after leaving the universities. The citizens would
show him how his bad economic policies have made existence so brutish for their
loved ones that they found the option of suicide irresistible. The survivors of
Fulani herdsmen-inflicted carnage – orphans, widows, widowers etc – are
awaiting to tell him how his conspiracy with these blood-thirsty enemies of
peace have imbued them with the audacity to destroy their farms, kidnap, rape,
maim and kill them in their thousands.
The governors were enamoured of the integrity of Buhari. To them, there is
nobody who is as credible as Buhari. Again, the governors should not expect the
citizens to accept their testimony. The people would tell Buhari at the poll
that he has failed to live by high standards of transparency and justice. And
this is why corruption has been rife in his administration. They would let him
know how much their moral sensibilities have been assaulted by Buhari and his
loyalists avowing his moral credentials while he is deliberately encouraging corruption.
The citizens would recall during the election that it was Buhari who the Head
of Service warned at a Federal Executive Council meeting of the calamitous
consequences of the return of the former Chairman of the Presidential Pension
Reform Task Force, Abdulrasheed Maina, to the civil service and the president
was not riled at the betrayal of all the noble principles of integrity he
embodies and has espoused. They would remember that it was Buhari who gave
Babachir Lawal a soft landing after so much outcry by the citizens and asked
him to bring his cousin, according to Junaid Mohammed, to protect his interest
as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
How do we know whether
the nation’s politics has grown beyond the ethno-religious fixation that threw
up Buhari as president in 2015 and that it is now being driven by great ideas that
place the wellbeing of the citizen at the core of governance? We can only know
this if Buhari recontests and the citizens dump him for a candidate who can
actualise their aspirations to live like their counterparts in the developed
parts of the world.
Let the citizens
decide in 2019 whether they want Buhari to return and quicken the dissolution
of the Nigerian union through his treating a section of the country as a master
while the other parts are its vassals. During Buhari’s second coming, the
citizens were made to support him by what they thought he stood for during his
first coming. Now, it is what he has stood for during his second coming that
would determine whether the citizens would support his third coming. So, like
the governors, the NEC of the APC would only do our democratic experience a lot
of good by giving Buhari an automatic ticket for 2019. After that, the citizens
he has served very well would decide his fate. Neither on the grounds of ill
health nor age should he be discouraged from recontesting. After all, the
nation has enough funds to take care of his health. If the nation could take
care of his health when its economic crisis was at its nadir, with oil selling
below $50 there is no reason he cannot be kept alive in a London
Buhari could look around and snigger at those who want to render him ineligible
on account of his age. He could ask them to tell him the age of Robert Mugabe
who would be recontesting his country’s presidential election next year. No,
Buhari must not be dissuaded; he must be encouraged by all to participate in the
2019 presidential election. Those who are opposed to Buhari recontesting should
not deny us the opportunity of seeing him returning to Daura not unhaunted by
his past. Once he is rejected at a fair poll by the citizens whom he claims to
have served very well, he, his wife and aides should be made to account for
their misdeeds in office as Jonathan, his wife and aides.
*Dr. Onomuakpokpo is on the Editorial Board of The Guardian
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