2015: History Beckons On Buhari

To Step Forward By Joe Igbokwe

I am writing this article in my capacity as Joe Igbokwe, I am writing
this piece as an Author and writer and I am writing this as a public
commentator on national issues. I am not writing piece this as the
spokesperson of Lagos APC. I speak strictly for myself and I crave
your indulgence to give me this liberty to speak at a time like this.
Nigeria is in a deep crisis and anybody who wishes this country well
must speak out now or hold his peace forever.
I have said it before that when a nation is in crisis, the people must
search and fish out a great president. When a nation is at crossroads, a
competent and strong hand is needed to restore normalcy. When a
nations territories are being threatened by external forces, you need a
president with military background to put a stop to the insurgency. When
corruption, impunity and mediocrity ravage a country, you need a
disciplined man with puritanical disposition to be on the drivers seat.
General Muhammadu Buhari(GMB) has come of age in Nigerian politics
since 2003. He contested presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and again
in 2011. In 2007, he was mercilessly rigged out of power and he went to
court to seek redress. The case went up to the Supreme Court where
the three Supreme Court judges agreed that the elections were flawed
while three voted against. It took the vote of the Chief Justice of the
federation to save the country from national and international
embarrassment. GMB accepted the verdict. In 2011, he returned to the
ring to box again. This time the electoral thieves got bolder in the South
East and South South. They loaded and loaded votes until they became

satisfied with the number. A friend of mine who went to vote was told to
go home because they had got the required number. Again the great
betrayal by members of his party and the inability of members to work
together created the room for PDP to retain power again. General Buhari
cried. He wept for Nigeria, he wept for the state of nation and the level of
impunity and corruption ravaging the landscape and he wept for
generations yet unborn. He wept because he reasoned that Nigerians do
not want to fight for change. He wept because the few who were choking
Nigeria work twenty four hours a day and seven days in a week while the
majority and those who should know better go to sleep and pray 20
times in a day asking God to come down to do the talking for them. GMB
wept because he considered that he has tried his best to help restore
Nigeria. He wept because he saw no hope for this country when the evil
ones are getting bolder. The rest is now history.
In the last three and half years the rapacious greedy lots in Nigeria, the
corrupt, the meretricious mediocrity and the nitwits became bolder.
NNPC, Immigration, Pension funds, NPA, etc became cash cows. It
became a big scramble for these characters to pillage anything their
hands could touch. NNPC could not remit all the money accruing from
crude oil sales to CBN. When the former CBN Governor, now Emir of
Kano, HRH Sanusi Lamido Sanusi raised an alarm, he was sacked with
ignominy. Federal Ministers became laws unto themselves, attacking the
common patrimony with reckless abandon, stealing what they do not
need. The great threat to the nations corporate existence became the
Boko Haram insurgency. Over 5000 Nigerians have been killed in the
past three and half years. While the ruling party and the opposition
continue to trade blames, the nation continues to go down. Mutinies
reared its ugly heads in the Army of Nigeria. Junior officers started
disobeying their superiors and our combatant soldiers escaping to

Cameroun for fear of the rag-tagged insurgents called Boko Haram. In

the midst of this, our infrastructure continues to decay. In 1999, our
power generation stood a 3000 plus Mega Watts and after almost
sixteen years we are now under 3000 Mega Watts after spending billions
of dollars in that critical sector. Never in the history of this country has
any leader played up the dangerous issues of Religion and Ethnicity as
we have it today under President Jonathan. The Vice President,
everybody including this writer fought so hard to make him assume his
constitutional responsibility as president when President Yar Adua died
in office, has put a knife on things that have held us together as one
political entity. The president has systematically divided Nigeria along
ethnic and religious lines, something unheard off in the history of Nigeria.
Dangerously and tragically he moved from being the president of Nigeria
to become the president of Ijaw nation. To make matters worse, some
cowards and efulefus(nonentities) from his tribe took on other Nigerians,
pouring invectives on them for asking questions.
I guess it was these errors of history that drove General Buhari to throw
his hat into the ring once again to see if Nigerians can go back to history
and take the right steps to right the wrongs of the past sixteen years.
After giving up hope for Nigeria, GMB decided to return to take his last
chance to help Nigeria out of trouble. I may not know what informed his
decision to stage a comeback but I guess he knows what is wrong with
this country and feels he knows what to do to reverse the trend.
I find it difficult to believe why the other equally good candidates in APC
cannot step down for GMB given his antecedents, track records, history
and character. No other former Head of State in Nigeria can be said to
possess the discipline, honesty and integrity of General Buhari, all things
considered. As a war time General, a former minister, a former Head of
State, former chairman PTF and a fourth time contender in the race

since 2003, I think that the man deserves all the support from all
Nigerians to make it this time. Despite his dictatorial tendencies when he
was the Military head of state, Buhari restored discipline and probity in
Nigeria. His War Against Indiscipline (WAI) paid off handsomely and
Nigeria is still reaping the fruits today. His intervention at PTF paid off
too. His fight against corruption stood him out.
If today, the people at the corridors of power hate GMB, it is not because
he is a bad man but the fear that some of them will end up in jail for
corruption and impunity. They know that if GMB becomes the President,
things may never be the same again and many of them will enter the
next available flight to anywhere outside Nigeria. They know that oil
subsidy looters will not go scot free. They know that GMB knows all of
them. They know money does not mean anything to GMB and therefore
he cannot be bribed.
Nigeria needs a tested and trusted Buhari now and this is the reason
why I am pleading with all other APC presidential aspirants to step down
for GMB. He is the most prepared for this office at a time like this. The
little we saw of him in the 80s tells us that his wisdom, courage,
discipline, strong character, fearlessness etc is what we need now to
drive the new Nigeria of our dream. We must seize the moment. We
must grab it with both hands or history will leave us behind.
Make no mistake about it, if we make the mistake of allowing President
Jonathan to continue in office beyond 2015 we would have sowed the
seed for this great country to go down. With all due respect, and without
sounding immodest, President Jonathan has nothing to offer Nigeria. His
emergence in 2010 was a big mistake. It was an error of history. It was
something that could never have happened if we had known his
innermost disposition, his training, his background, his philosophy, his

ideology and his character. He cannot fight the insurgents, he cannot

fight impunity, he cannot fight corruption, he cannot fight mediocrity, he
cannot hold the country together and he simply cannot get it. The age of
his ideas worries me to the marrows.
Let us help to get President GEJ out of the Chinas shop to forestall
further colossal damage. HE has tried his best and has made history for
himself and his people but his best is not good enough for the country.
This country is far bigger than the ambition of one man and therefore
President Jonathan should be prepared to go because he will be roundly
and mercilessly defeated in 2015.
Joe Igbokwe
Lagos