WHEN Muhammadu Buhari overthrew a democratically-elected government in a coup d”etat in 1983, Sani Abacha declared in his infamous radio broadcast: “(Our) health services are in shambles as our hospitals are reduced to mere consulting clinics without drugs, water and equipment.”
However, Buhari did not address the shambolic Nigerian health system in his two years in power. In a Vanguard article of 7th February, 2015, Ambassador Ignatius Olisemeka said of Buhari: “He entrusted to me the care and welfare of his family- he sent his wife and two children to me in Washington D.C. for medical treatment. His family were with me in Washington D.C. when the General was overthrown in a coup d’état.”
Thus, while Buhari was grandstanding as Mr. Fix-It, he sought medical care surreptitiously for his family in the United States, instead of fixing the Nigerian health system. This typifies the hypocrisy and insincerity of Buhari as an agent of change. It is all smoke and mirrors. It is the same duplicity whereby he claimed to be the apostle of anti-corruption even while being complicit in the smuggling in of 53 suitcases at Murtala Mohammed Airport, Lagos in the middle of a currency change.
Gen. Muhammadu Buhar
Gen. Muhammadu Buhar
Buharinomics
Buhari’s grandstanding must not be allowed to go unchallenged today, now that he is seeking election under the same kind of democratic system he truncated and trashed in the past. We must not allow Buhari to sweep his ignominious past under the carpet of a bogus mantra of “change.” Indeed, there is something anomalous about presenting a 72 year-old former military dictator as a change candidate. What kind of change can be represented by an old has-been?
In his first coming, the “changes” Buhari brought were to Nigeria’s detriment. Under him, the Nigerian economy went from bad to worse. Our national debt rose from $14 billion to $18 billion in less than two years; with the result that Nigeria was no longer able to meet its financial obligations to global bankers. We had to queue for essential commodities, such as bread and milk, which were hard to find. Raw materials and spare parts needed to keep factories running were scarce. Rather than create jobs, tens of thousands of workers lost their jobs. Inflation rose to the astronomical level of 40%; while it is now 7.9% under Jonathan.
When Buhari seized power in 1983, Nigeria’s GDP was $444.45. When he was overthrown in 1985, Nigeria’s GDP had dropped dramatically to $344.14. That is not the kind of change we want. When Goodluck Jonathan became president in 2010, Nigeria’s GDP was $369. By 2014, it had grown dramatically to $510.
Buhari is going around complaining about the recent devaluation of the naira. However, when he took over in 1983, one dollar exchanged for 0.724 naira. But by the time he was overthrown in 1985, one dollar exchanged for 0.894 naira. That is 23% devaluation in barely two years. However, when Jonathan took over in 2010, one dollar exchanged for $167 naira. Five years later, it is now $202.55. That is a devaluation of 21% in five years.
It is not surprising, therefore that, when Buhari was overthrown in 1985, there was wild jubilation throughout the length and breadth of the country.
Unleashing the dogs and the baboons
One of the first things Buhari did when he seized power in 1984 was to gag the press. Decree 4 was promulgated making even the publishing of the truth a criminal offence. Under it, Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson were jailed maliciously in a manner designed primarily to intimidate the press.
Under Buhari, the SSS came looking for me because I published an article in National Concord entitled: “Counter-trading Nigeria’s Future;” criticizing the government’s return to the stone age economic policy of trade by barter which resulted in even greater fraud than import licensing. Buhari is now angling to return to power under a democratic setting. But has this leopard changed its skin? In spite of his carefully crafted makeover by his American handlers, has Buhari changed from his anti-democratic ways?
All the evidence suggests he has not. Buhari is not even president and he is already fighting the press. Recently, he threatened to back out of the Abuja Peace Accord concluded with Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP because he was upset about the insults and attacks he was receiving. He warned that no one should regard his “patriotic commitment to maintaining national peace” for weakness.
Buhari’s handlers declared: “We cannot continue to guarantee the tolerance limit of our teeming supporters nationwide who are daily being inundated with death wish commentaries on the person of General Muhammadu Buhari.” What exactly does this mean? Is Buhari now going to unleash his infamous dogs and baboons on Nigerians? This is why it would be foolhardy to mortgage the freedoms we have come to enjoy under the democratic dispensation by handing power back to a man who is intolerant of criticism.
Let us juxtapose Buhari’s short fuse to the disposition of Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan must be the most wrongly vilified president in the history of Nigeria. He has been called all kinds of names by his traducers. He has been abused, reviled and condemned by APC stalwarts. His motorcade has been stoned. His campaign posters have been torn down. His campaign ground has been bombed. His wife has been maligned. How has he responded to all this?
Jonathan responded by signing the Freedom of Information bill. In effect, instead of gagging the press, in the tradition of malevolent dictators like Buhari, he has freed the press even more; allowing it to criticize his government without hindrance. In every way possible for the past five years, Jonathan has assured and reassured Nigerians that freedom of expression is our inalienable right.
The myth of Buhari’s northern popularity
One of the lies of the Buhari campaign is the pretense that he has cornered the Northern vote. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a matter of fact, in this election, Buhari is not the choice of the North. The Northern political elite don’t want Buhari to be president. The North did not vote for him in the APC presidential primaries. The Northern vote went instead to Rabiu Kwankwaso and Atiku Abubakar. Buhari was elected primarily with Southern ACN votes.
Let me ask some pertinent questions. How many Northern elites have we seen recently campaigning for Buhari? We have seen Tinubu following Buhari around. We have heard Obasanjo and Soyinka pitching their tents with him. But the Northern elite have largely kept mum. Governors Fashola, Oshiomole and Amaechi of the South have been busy singing choruses of praise about Buhari, but Northern governors are mute. Atiku and Kwankwaso have largely kept their distance from him.
Why are they not shouting on the rooftops for Buhari? The truth is that the Northern elite have never liked Buhari. Therefore, it is not in their interest for him to become president. Buhari’s grandstanding on anti-corruption resonates with the poor, but not with the Northern elite. Should Buhari become president, most of the current Northern presidential hopefuls can no longer be president in their lifetime. Eight years of Buhari presidency would swing the presidency back to the South for another eight years. But these Northern bigwigs don’t have 16 years to wait in the wilderness. Some of them would even have kicked the bucket by then.
It is better for them to wait for Jonathan to finish his second-term in 2019, at which time they would be able to contest for the presidency without having to deal with an incumbent president. What they need now is the assurance that it would then be the turn of the North. In that eventuality, South-South support for a Northern presidential candidate would be imperative. 2015 is not the time to jeopardize this.
The strategic partnership of the North and the South-South has been the enduring decimal of Nigerian elections. The South-South has supported the North in every election, except when its own son, Goodluck Jonathan, was on the ballot. The North must be careful not to betray that partnership, if for no other reason than that it will need it again in the near future. It must be careful not to betray that partnership because Jonathan has done far more for the North in his five years in power than he has for any other part of the country, including the South-South. In short, there is no excuse for Northern denial of support for Jonathan in 2015.
The federal government’s mid-term assessment of its development investment shows that the investment in the North-West and the North-Central zones alone amounted to 792 billion naira; nearly double those of the South-West, South-South and South-East put together, which amounted to 403 billion naira. If the North fails to support Jonathan in the coming presidential election, in spite of Jonathan’s obvious discrimination in favour of the North, it can bid farewell to South-South support in the future.
With all the noise about Buhari’s popularity with the talakawa in the North, we have not heard anything that he has ever done, or would do, for them. When he was head of state between 1984 and 1985, he did absolutely nothing for them. In the unlikely event that Jonathan becomes president, it would not take long before there would be rioting among the Northern poor out of dashed and betrayed hope.
The man who has transformed the life of the poor in the North has been Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan built 125 Almajiri Schools in 13 states in the North; something Northern rulers like Buhari failed to do. At the commissioning of the first Almajiri Model School in Gagi, Sokoto State, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Sa’ad III, observed that Jonathan’s action was unprecedented in the history of Northern Nigeria.
Jonathan also established ten new federal universities; seven of them in the North. Jonathan has made far more appointments of Northerners than he has of Southerners. His transformation of agriculture from subsistence to commercial farming has been of primary benefit to the agrarian North. Therefore, it will come as no surprise if Jonathan wins more votes in the North in 2015 than he did in 2011.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/03/why-nigerians-must-reject-the-second-coming-of-buhari/

Crap all over!

Say NO to DESPOTIC n HAWKISH general!! GEJ till 2019!!!

In God we trust!!!

PassingShot:
Crap all over!

Read the post before you comment please. All are factual, I will not follow anyone blindly no matter what.

we ain't saying Buhari is a better option, we just have to vote out clueless and incompetent government to exercise our rights!! Gej is a failure to Nigeria

daniel9202:
we ain't saying Buhari is a better option, we just have to vote out clueless and incompetent government to exercise our rights!! Gej is a failure to Nigeria

True GEJ might not be the best but I'd rather vote him than vote GMB. I mean all the things people dey say GEJ did GMB did worst when he was in power.

[size=28pt]SAI BABA,

SAI BUHARI[/size]

Op stop wasting your saliva. Only bokoharam sympathizers would vote for Buhari.

daniel9202:
we ain't saying Buhari is a better option, we just have to vote out clueless and incompetent government to exercise our rights!! Gej is a failure to Nigeria

GEJ should rather rule forever than to have Buhari as the President!

OP may God bless you and your generations for this.

He who has eyes, let them see and he who has ears, let them hear.

Olaolufred:
[size=28pt]SAI BABA,

SAI BUHARI[/size]

Buhari is already our president on social media... And he has brought the needed CHANGE we need.

GEJ till 2019 in Aso Rock

Buhari till 2023 on social media

Akpan107:
Buhari is already our president on social media... And he has brought the needed CHANGE we need.

GEJ till 2019 in Aso Rock

Buhari till 2023 on social media

[size=28pt]SAI BABA,

SAI BUHARI[/size]

So GEJ should return to power? Your logic is flawed. You highlighted the problems that were rampant in buhari's tenure and went on to say he did not resolve any of them.

Now the problems facing GEJ's tenure far outweigh that of Buhari's..which has GEJ resolved?

Nice post. My mind is made up. Change all the way.

liricyst:
So GEJ should return to power? Your logic is flawed. You highlighted the problems that were rampant in buhari's tenure and went on to say he did not resolve any of them.

Now the problems facing GEJ's tenure far outweigh that of Buhari's..which has GEJ resolved?

True GEJ has no solved all of Nigerian's problems, no one can solve Nigerian's problems 100% in one tenure, but he has met Nigerian's needs positively up to a considerable/bearable extent.

GMB in his tenure did touch Nigerians problems/needs negatively. Tell me the good thing he did that you are using to justify him. Even after his tenure till date

Olaolufred:


[size=28pt]SAI BABA,

SAI BUHARI[/size]

Sai BABA

sai Buhari on social media...

Buhari must rule on social media or we will make it ungovernable for anybody if not Buhari...

Sai Buhari

yazz09:


True GEJ has no solved all of Nigerian's problems, no one can solve Nigerian's problems 100% in one tenure, but he has met Nigerian's needs positively up to a considerable/bearable extent.

GMB in his tenure did touch Nigerians problems/needs negatively. Tell me the good thing he did that you are using to justify him. Even after his tenure till date

Don't stray from the point with your wrong assessment that i'm a Buhari supporter. I said which one did GEJ solve? and you said he did not solve 100% cos no one can. I repeat which one? Just pick one problem he solved.

My point being that GEJ and Buhari are no better than each other...just couple of incompetent and underperforming men

ECONOMY UNDER GEJ
Nigeria Debt profile was cleared by the Obasanjo Administration. As at September 2010(6 Months After Jonathan ascended to power), Nigeria's Debt was $4.53 billion. As at today, Nigeria's debt stand at $66.99 billion. Yet The country still suffers High Unemployment rate and relatively lack of Infracstructure.
2.The inflation rate in Nigeria was recorded at 8.30 percent in July of 2014
3. Nigeria import-Export ratio stand at 97%-3% in favor of Import
4. Under Jonathan, Hoarding, Black market, selling above approved price eg Fuel, Gas, Kerosene etc and all.

ECONOMY UNDER BUHARI
Inherited a dwindling economy,
1. Paid of $50m loan within few days of assumption and cleared the country's debt
2. Reduced Inflation from 23% to 3.21% within 20months.
3. Nigeria's GDP by Purchasing Power Parity was $941.2, it Grew by 8.56 %
3. Refused to devalue the Naira
4. curbing imports of needless goods, curtailing oil theft and using counter trade policy to barter seized illegally bunkered crude oil for needful goods like machineries, enabling it to export above its OPEC quota.
5. Under Buhari, Hoarded Goods were Sold at prices below market.

CORRUPTION UNDER GEJ:
1. Ministers Stella Odua is walking a free woman despite Her 1ndictment by Presidential Committee, Senate Committee, HoReps on the N260m bullet proof cars. She's even aspiring for the Senate.
2. Corrupt convict Alamesiegha was pardoned in less than 8 years after his conviction for corruption by the Administration
3. Femi Otedola, Ifeanyi Ubah, Dizieani Maduekwe and other Subsidy THIEVEs 1ndicted by Presidential Panel and Parliamentary Panel for billions of DOLLAR fraud, are walking scot free..Coincidentally, Maduekwe is the Petroleum Minister and Chairman of NNPC and Ifeanyi Ubah is the leader of TAN Group Campaign-that advocated for Jonathan's reelection.
4. Alleged Corrupt Officials in the ruling and opposition parties are walking scot free. Some of them have corruption case withdrawn by the Government eg Presidential allies Fani Kayode and Mohamed Abacha. Some have their conviction upturned for "flimsy" reasons.eg Olabode George.
5. despite the High corruption in every sector, NO HIGH PROFILE conviction has been made by the administration.
6. The President Publicly said "Stealing Is Not Corruption"
7. $20b is allegedly missing from the treasury. Though the Finance Minister refuted the claim but admited that "about $10b is unremitted"

CORRUPTION UNDER BUHARI
1. Senator Sabo Bakin Zuwo, The Civilian Governor of Kano State was jailed for 300Years because $4.5 million was said to be found "stacked up" in Zuwo's home when it was searched by the new military government. He died in 1989
2. Vice President Alex Ekwueme was jailed of corruption. Stockpiles of money ranged from $56,000 found at his home
3. Fmr Bendel Governor Ambrose Alli was jailed for 100years for misappropriating funds belonging to Bendel State to the tune of N983,000. The Money was meant for road project but he donated it to his Party. He was later freed when Sir Gabriel Igbenedion paid fine to the Government.
4. A total of 4000 exGovernment officials submitted themselves to be tried for Corruption.Over 600 were Jailed Convicted and Jailed.
5. Many High profile Government officials, Businessmen, foreigners were jailed for one corrupt practice or the other.
6. Political office Holders, Businessmen, Contractors, civil servants and many others shunned corruption like a Plague

INSURGENCY UNDER GEJ
1.The Government Inherited Boko-Haram sect...After they were initially contained by the Yar Adua's Administration. under the watch of this government, scores have dies prematurely by the sect, towns, villages and communities captured. Military Personnel demotivated, some refused posting, majority complaining of inadequate weapons and ammunitions. over 6000 Nigerians have been killed. Hundreds kidnapped, infamous of the kidnap is the CHIBOK KIDNAP of over 200 school girls.
2. Militants and Not Naval Personnel are incharge of our waterways in the creeks earning Billions on monthly basis. Oil Bunkering is still common and shortchanging the treasury.
Alas! 6 weeks to election; GEJ just wakeup!

INSURGENCY UNDER BUHARI
1. Maitatsine Group founded by Maitatsine Marwa, a Koranic scholar, rejected the hadith and the sunnah and regarded the reading of any other book but the Koran as paganism raised its head in 1979 during the Administration of President Shehu Shagari after he was contained by the Murtala and Obasanjo Administrations. Maitatsine spoke against the use of radios, watches, bicycles, cars and the possession of more money than necessary. Churches, Market, Police Formations, Government buildings etc was attacked leaving over FIVE thousand dead btw 1979 and 1981 (including Maitatsine).The Group moved to Kano, Borno, Kaduna, Gombe and environs. Over 4,000 people died(65% were insurgents). Buhari Crushed the Insurgency COMPLETELY within 16months. The 2i/c fled to Cameroon and was arrested in 2004.

Akpan107:
Sai BABA

sai Buhari on social media...

Buhari must rule on social media or we will make it ungovernable for anybody if not Buhari...

Sai Buhari

[size=38pt]SAI BABA

SAI BUHARI[/size]