With the end of the party primaries, the battle line for the 19th of February 2019 presidential election is drawn between two presidential candidates: Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Muhammadu Buhari of the All Peoples Congress (APC). Already, Nigerians are exasperated by Mohammuadu Buhari’s presidency because it has proven an unmitigated disaster for the country. Many Nigerians consider him the worst Nigerian president ever. Apart from his inability to make good on any of his electoral promises, his presidency has plunged the country into hitherto unknown levels of violence, poverty, hardship, insecurity and disunity. The former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, offers a refreshing alternative to Buhari’s bungled and deceitful presidency.

President Buhari anchored his presidential campaign on three electoral promises. He promised to revamp the economy, and consequently, reduce unemployment; curb corruption; and tackle insecurity, especially, Boko Haram insurgency, in the country. After more than three years, the Buhari administration has plunged the economy to almost a screeching halt, ground zero and has failed to resuscitate it. Despite the doctored figures by the federal government that gives the impression of improving economy, there are empirical evidences that the Nigerian economy remains in a doldrums. Unlike in 2015 when the Nigerian economy grew at 7%, it is now growing at 1.60%. A recent United Nations’ report crystallized the increasing incidence of poverty in Nigeria, resulting from the irresponsible and dangerous economic policies of the Buhari administration. Nigeria now has the highest concentration of people living in poverty than any other country in the world.

His administration’s much vaunted war on corruption has failed. The Nigerian electorate had fallen for Buhari’s posturing as a paragon of incorruptibility and moral rectitude. The proverbial Nigerian street parlance of “ One Chance” It is now evident that Buhari is neither incorruptible nor genuinely committed to fight corruption. It is a point succinctly articulated by the Afenifere chieftain, Chief Ayo Adebanjo, “All the qualities that were attributed to Buhari are fake. He does not really have integrity; he is a collaborator in the corruption he claims he is fighting”. He is tolerant of corrupt activities within his entourage; he has refused to punish glaring cases of corruption by his associates and subordinates. As a result, his war against corruption continues to falter. The Transparency International Corruption Index, attests that corruption in Nigeria has worsened under Buhari’s watch.

More lamentable than the Buhari government inability to defeat the Boko Haram insurgency, is the added problems of insecurity brought on the country by the Fulani herdsmen. Fulani herdsmen, armed with high powered automatic assault rifles have been wrecking havoc on the farming committees in the Middle Belt and other parts of Nigeria. They attack these villages, maiming, raping and mass-murdering the innocent. They burn down villages, drive away their original owners and occupy the villages. Ostensibly, the herdsmen are fighting over grazing routes. But, evidently, there is more to the murderous fanaticism of Fulani herdsmen in the Middle Belt. They have a hidden expansionist agenda.

It has been rightly argued that the average Fulani herdsman lacks the resources a

nd sophistication to acquire automatic assault rifles; they are armed by their masters, the members of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria. The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria is an association of wealthy Fulani cattle owners. Buhari is a member – a grand patron – of the Miyetti Allah. Many Nigerians suspect that the federal government has been unwilling to protect the farming communities in the Middle Belt and punish the murderous Fulani herdsmen and their sponsors because Buhari, in his nepotism, religious bigotry and tribalism, is sentimentally attached to the Fulani murderous, expansionist design in the Middle Belt.

For the most part, Nigerians are unified in their resolve to vote out President Mohammudu Buhari on 19th February 2019 because four more years of Buharism will almost utterly destroy the country. It will reinforce economic deterioration, relegate preponderant numbers of Nigerians to raw-dirt poverty, heighten corruption, and further subvert the security and unity of the country.

Nigerians were impressed by the recent PDP primaries. The process was flawless and the outcome splendid. It produced the most qualified of the contenders, and further unified the party. It was devoid of the usual division and rancor that mar most party primaries in Nigeria, as all the thirteen contenders for the PDP presidential ticket stated their stratification with the electoral process that produced Atiku Abubakar as the party’s flag bearer. They all considered the process fair, free and credible, and all pledged to support Atiku and work with him and the party to ensure a PDP presidential victory in February 2019.
Atiku is an antithesis of Mohammadu Buhari. Unlike Buhari that is renowned for his nepotism and tribalism, Atiku is a totally detribalized Nigerian. He is a Moslem but not in any way a fanatical Moslem. He has respect for other religions of the world, and is acutely conscious that Nigeria is a secular state. Unlike the ailing and “lifeless” Buhari, Atiku is healthy and ebullient. In contrast to Buhari’s parochialism, Atiku is a national figure, a unifier. He is enlightened and well-read. He is the author of two books. He is also a every successful entrepreneur and one of the biggest employers of labor in Nigeria.

He has the good will and national following to defeat Buhari in the polls. And he has the knowledge, experience and mettle to lead Nigeria out of its present morass of declining economy, ethnic strife and violence, divisiveness and inequity to new heights of economic vitality, security, unity and equity. An elderly Nigerian statesman summed it up in his own words, “Atiku is the best available candidate.”
——–
*Lloyd F. Ukwu, Esquire, an international lawyer, writes from Washington DC, USA.

Posted by admin on Oct 21 2018. Filed under Articles, Columnists, Elections, Elections 2019, Lloyd Ukwu, NNP Columnists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry