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The Choice For Nigeria: A Weak President Or A Former Military Dictator - Politics - Nairaland

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The Choice For Nigeria: A Weak President Or A Former Military Dictator by Vcojuro: 9:00pm On Mar 24, 2015
The choice for Nigeria: a weak President or a former
military dictator
Majority Christian population is likely to vote for a Muslim ex-
dictator in this Saturday’s presidential election
By WILL MCBAIN
Tuesday 24 March 2015
It is a sprawling mass of humanity. The streets are crowded,
even at 2am.
Everyone talks politics and the return of a military dictator who
may save Lagosians from a President seen as both weak and
corrupt.
The 20 million who live in Lagos consider themselves to be the
toughest people on earth. And ever a city to buck a trend, its
majority Christian population is likely to vote for a Muslim ex-
dictator in this Saturday’s presidential election.
For many in Nigeria, the elections are seen as a choice between
Goodluck Jonathan – the weak President who has failed to
defeat the Boko Haram insurgency in the north-east and has not
improved the lives of millions of poor – and Muhammadu
Buhari, a former military ruler.
General Buhari has retired from the army but is still widely
referred to by his rank. He will hope to be democratically
elected president at the third successive attempt. Defeats at the
2011, and 2007 elections have not discouraged the one-time
dictator. His All Progressives Congress (APC) party believes its
anti-corruption platform has resonated among a population
struggling to make ends meet. Lagos alone has more than 9,000
millionaires, but most people live a hand-to-mouth existence.
Re: The Choice For Nigeria: A Weak President Or A Former Military Dictator by Vcojuro: 9:03pm On Mar 24, 2015
Muhammadu Buhari, the leading opposition candidate in
Saturday’s presidential election
When $20bn went missing from state funds last year, few
people were surprised. The APC made hay. Lagos State
Governor, Babatunde Fashola, told a campaign rally this month:
“The Burj Khalifa building in Dubai was built with $1.5bn to
arrest the attention of the world. This administration has lost
$20bn.”
The missing money was still on Lagosians’ minds this week.
“How can $20bn be stolen? It has legs and it can walk?” said
Tolu, a 33-year-old philanthropist.
Mr Buhari is seen as incorruptible. While leading a military
government between 1983 and 1985, he rejected the
opportunity to enrich himself in a nation containing vast oil
reserves, he says. Many supporters believe the APC is the only
credible party that can oversee Africa’s largest, stuttering, oil-
dependent economy.
Voters in the APC stronghold of Lagos view Mr Buhari as the
leader determined to end the theft of state funds. “We’re still
poor and yet we have all this oil, it doesn’t make sense. Even
though I’m a Christian I have no problem voting Buhari. We
need change,” said Shola, a taxi driver.
Mr Buhari is not without his detractors, however. While in
power, he imprisoned and silenced scores of journalists,
including the playwright Wole Soyinka, who remembers him as
a “villainous despot”.
Re: The Choice For Nigeria: A Weak President Or A Former Military Dictator by Vcojuro: 9:06pm On Mar 24, 2015
Goodluck Jonathan faces a strong challenge in this month's
election (AP)
To many of his opponents, Mr Buhari is loathed for
implementing an infamous policy– the “war on indiscipline”.
Civil servants late for work were humiliated by being forced to
do frog jumps repeatedly, while commuters were whipped for
not forming orderly queues. “Who would possibly want to go
back to this time? Buhari made this country miserable,” said 65-
year-old Lagos resident, Obafemi.
As a consequence, this election is increasingly being viewed as
a choice between two poor candidates. Even by his own
admission, Mr Buhari’s previous time in power was not overly
successful. He was responsible for a stagnating economy, until
he was deposed in a palace coup after two years as President.
And doubts remain whether the 72-year-old can effectively rule
Africa’s most populous nation. “No one’s going to take away
the point that he didn’t make money for himself,” Jimi Agbaje,
the ruling party’s candidate for governor of Lagos, told The
Independent. “There’s the issue of his age, he doesn’t know
what’s going on in the world of today; so he’s going to be
taking us back rather than forward.”
Re: The Choice For Nigeria: A Weak President Or A Former Military Dictator by Vcojuro: 9:09pm On Mar 24, 2015
Nigeria’s two main political parties differ little in ideology. The
APC professes to be a social democratic, centre-left national
movement, although many of its senior politicians switched
allegiance from the PDP two years ago. A recent poll by a local
think-tank, the Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, showed a
considerable lead for Mr Buhari in Lagos. And the research
firm, Eurasia Group, has tipped him to win on 28 March.
A A+ 13
SHARES
Re: The Choice For Nigeria: A Weak President Or A Former Military Dictator by Vcojuro: 9:11pm On Mar 24, 2015
Cull fromhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/the-choice-for-nigeria-a-weak-president-or-a-former-military-dictator-10131275.html
Re: The Choice For Nigeria: A Weak President Or A Former Military Dictator by psucc(m): 9:34pm On Mar 24, 2015
I don't think GEJ is weak as his rivals wants us to believe. That he allows the machines of govt grind without interference would not necessarily translate to weakness.

The right word they is the rule of law brought about by separation of power.

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