Viewpoint

Deconstructing the myth that Buhari is popular enough to win a free and fair election

December 16, 2018 8:55 pm

The big news coming out of last week is President Muhammadu Buhari’s refusal to sign the amended Electoral Act. In all the emotions and outrage from various groups about this anti democratic action by the President, many have failed to logically ask and answer the poignant question, why does Buhari not want to sign the Electoral Act? Forget about the flimsy reason he gave in his letter to the Senate, the real reason is much more sinister.

The real reason MuhammadU Buhari DOES NOT want to sign the Electoral Act is because 75% of the FACELESS voters who voted without PVCs in 2015, voted for Buhari. That is how he rigged his way into power in 2015 and that is what the new Electoral Act will stop.

At least 13.2 million people voted without PVCs and adequate identification and 10 million of them voted for Buhari. His refusal to sign the amended Electoral Act is proof positive that Buhari wants to repeat his electoral robbery in 2019.

Many Nigerians do not really know how politically vulnerable and thus desperate Buhari is and I will try to break it down.

The talk about Buhari being undefeat-able in the North is a ruse. If you scientifically study every Nigerian election since 2003 like a science, you will see that Buhari does not control the North. Yes, he has had a captive audience in the Northwest, but that is because he has mostly ran against Southerners.

Buhari defeated former President Obasanjo in the Northwest in 2003 and defeated ex President Jonathan in the there in 2011 and 2015. But study the 2007 elections when he ran against a fellow Northerner. He was defeated in the NW. Defeated in Katsina. Defeated in Daura, his hometown. BUHARI HAS NEVER DEFEATED A MAJOR NORTHERN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN THE NORTH.

The fact is that when Buhari’s opponent in an election is a Northerner from a major party, he does not have the ability swing the North and especially the Northwest behind him.

Now consider that Google just released its search data for the year 2018 and it showed that Atiku Abuh is the most searched individual in Nigeria. He was searched more than even the nation’s top celebrities.

But that is even half the story. The other half of the story is that President Muhammadu Buhari, who controls all the government owned media, does not even feature in the top 10 of most searched individuals. Apparently, Nigerians have no interest in their President or his party and policies.

This is a major headache for the President’s handlers and it means that the only option open to them is rigging.

Now, I talked about the Northwest, but what about the Northeast which is the zone that traditionally gives the President his second highest swathe of votes?

Contrary to the rosy picture painted by the propagandists of this administration and by the President himself, there is widespread disillusionment against the President and against his party in the Northeast.

The recent eye witness revelations by Hon. Sani Mohammed, about the true state of things in the Northeast should serve as an eye opener to those who are expecting the President to effortlessly carry the Northeast.

Hon. Sani Mohammed, an All Progressive Congress chieftain and chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Humanitarian Affairs, has revealed that the government has been lying to the Nigerian people about its ‘victory’ over Boko Haram and that contrary to their claims, the Northeast geopolitical zone has “failed” under Buhari and he feared that such failure could affect other parts of the country.

Given this sorry state of affairs in the state of national security under Muhammadu Buhari, and given that the Global Terrorism Index has rated Nigeria under Buhari the third most terrorised nation in the world, which is a retrogression from the Jonathan era, any hope of President Buhari and the APC for a clean sweep in the Northeast is delusional at best.

It is also quite obvious to Nigerians that a President who went to Paris to publicly praise a man who was caught on camera stuffing dollars into his babanriga and returned home to authorise the Economic and Financial Crimes to freeze the account of Mr. Peter Obi, the Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP does not have much integrity to boast about.

That is why the All Progressive Congress has dialled back on using Buhari to campaign and have instead focused its re-election efforts on Vice President Osinbajo and his Trader Moni bribery scheme. But even here, they also have a problem because the dirty deals of the Vice President, as exposed in his indictment by the House of Representatives in a 5.8 billion Naira scam has put what is known as a K-leg to his so called moral authority as a pastor.

The fact remains that in the Middle-Belt and the South, those Nigerians that voted for Muhammadu Buhari In 2015 are alienated from him due to his obvious nepotism and biased stance in the herdsmen/farmers clashes that led to the famous ‘giving land for ranching is better than death’ statement from the Presidency.

Furthermore, they have watched as this government continues to celebrate Babachir Lawal, a man caught red handed stealing funds meant for Internally Displaced Persons. They remember that this is a government that returned, reinstated and double promoted Abdulrasheed Maina, the biggest thief ever in Nigeria’s civil service history. These individuals have not had their accounts frozen, yet Peter Obi, a specimen of good governance, frugality and thrift, has his accounts frozen.

And the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission itself has lost so much integrity under Buhari that it is now almost a liability. The EFCC is headed by Ibrahim Magu, who appeared on a Television show, Sunrise Daily, on Channels Television on Tuesday May 15, 2018, while wearing a Buhari re-election lapel pin. No one in Nigeria believes that such a man can be impartial.

Nigerians are painfully aware that despite the President’s attempt to bribe his wife into silence by appointing her into a juicy government committee, the First Lady’s call on Nigerian men to rescue her husband from the grip of a two man cabal that is holding him to ransom still troubles many Nigerians.

The feeling is that if Buhari needs Nigerians to rescue him from just two men, how can he rescue them from Boko Haram in the Northeast and from bandits in the Northwest? His wife has completely shattered the strong man image he had in 2015.

I actually doubted this Jubril from Sudan story, but after Aisha Buhari said two men control her husband, I started to think. Would the old/real Buhari have gone to Paris to praise crooked Kano Governor Umar Ganduje and return to Nigeria to freeze honest Peter Obi’s account? This just does not seem like Buhari!

He may be the same man physically, but emotionally, mentally and spiritually, this is another Buhari.

Reno’s Nuggets

Stop looking for money. Money is not looking for you. Money is looking for ideas. Money runs after ideas like ants run after sugar. Instead of looking for money, look for ideas. When you get ideas, implement them. As you do, voila, money will start looking for you. And if you are a man, Learn to make your own money and never depend on your wife no matter how rich she is. Depending on your wife is against the laws of nature. If a woman marries a King, she becomes a Queen. But if a man marries a Queen, he becomes a consort, NEVER a King #RenosNuggets

Reno’s Darts:

I urge the Buhari admin to stop using the word ‘only’ when releasing casualty figures. How can they say ‘only 23’ soldiers were killed by Boko Haram at Metele? First of all, it‘s a lie. But even if it is true, should they be using ‘only’? Is that how cheap our soldiers lives are?

Omokri, bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years, and other books

Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of TheCable.