The day Atiku won the PDP Presidential Primary Election in Port Harcourt, the applause that resonated across the country, in the hills and valleys , the bushes and forests and the dusty villages and urban cities across Nigeria was thunderous, you will think the Super Eagles of Nigeria scored a critical goal in the finals of a World Cup.
No presidential primary election has elicited such a wide jubilation in the annals of Nigeria’s political history. The atmosphere in the country since then has been like the 2019 has been done and dusted.
The real truth is that the real work just started. Anyone with an idea of what the dragon fight looks like will tell you it’s never easy to take out the dragon. Only the prepared, the equipped, the strong-willed, the brave heart, the fearless and the determined takes on the dragon in a fight.
If you have played the God of War, you observe that when you thought your fight with Hraezlyr was done, when you sent the dragon packing inside the mountain, he’s back very shortly after you’ve stepped off the elevator inside the mountain, and made your way outside the cave. The fight with Hraezlyr the dragon is Kratos’ fight alone, with Atreus perched high up above the fight and out of harm’s way. In the end a combined efforts takes out the dragon.
One question people have continued to ask since Atiku emerged is will Atiku be able to beat Buhari? My straight forward answer is yes, Atiku will beat Buhari silly in a free-and-fair contest, but then the dragons never fight fair. Forget whatever he says about free and fair election, President Buhari has no regard for free and fair contest. Ekiti and Osun are ready examples. The saving grace is that 2019 is not Atiku’s fight; he is only but a symbol and a face of the battle.
Again, 2019 is not even PDP’s fight alone. Neither Atiku nor PDP can do it alone. The battle ahead is a fight between Buhari and the people. It’s only the combined efforts of our determined people that will send President Buhari back to Daura.
Will they try to wreak all kinds of mucks against the symbol of the struggle? Yes, they will unleash mucks recklessly, that being their favourite past time. Will they try corrupting some big names to shift support? Of course they will and the big names will shift base because they don’t care about the people, they want his money.
With no rain to make in their nearly four years of stewardship , it’s no rocket science to tell that in the absence of nothing to show that they will resort and rely on blackmail because they believe the people are damn gullible and stupid .Again this is the peoples’ fight and not Atiku’s.
However, let them bring the dirt on and we will shut them up with hard facts. While we never claimed Atiku is a saint, and we never need a saint as president, at least not after living less than four years of Saint Buhari as President, any saint or aspiring saint should head to the monastery where saints are made. Saints, like Buhari, have no business in Aso Rock.
We need a president that understands the economy, a president that will unite the country and resolve insecurity in Nigeria.
Above all, we shall not descend to their gutter level but will at all times focus on the many issues confronting the nation.
For starters, we shall challenge the Buhari Campaign Organization to take the following #Buharichallenges by answering the following questions:
Name one project initiated, started and completed in the last three years by the Buhari administration?
Name one youth under 40 years in President Buhari’s cabinet?
For the Igbo, before Buhari makes any promise to you, he should name one campaign promise he has kept. A man that never kept his promise to almost the entire country except for a few Fulani will never keep a promise to the famous five percent he loves to hate. Buhari will never hand over Nigeria to an Igbo as president. Even if he plans to do that, by the time he finishes with Nigeria in 2023, APC will be worthless and unattractive for anyone to run on. The people hoping on Buhari should safeguard this very column because they will be inheriting a lifeless carcass of a political party. One man that seems to have shown a clear understanding of this future is Tinubu. If it comes to the worst, he has his Lagos in a safe and trusted hand.
They should name one Southerner heading a National Intelligence Agency under Buhari.
They should name one terrorist arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned by the Buhari administration.
Before they call any Nigeria corrupt they should name one Buhari government official arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned by the Buhari administration over their many budget-padding scandals. Name one member of the Buhari administration fingered in corruption that was fired, arrested and currently facing trial.
They should name one former President or Head of State that has not been blamed by President Buhari for the precarious state of the economy he led us into –– yet he has no elementary understanding of traditional economics, not to talk of modern economics.
No wonder the core of his support base are the millions of illiterate Almajiris across the country whom are easily deceived. We need to engage them so as to open their eyes. This will be a task for Tambuwal , Lamido, Saraki, Dankwambo, Turaki and others . They need to sit down and resolve that arithmetic.
I would like the Buhari camp to name one year that Nigeria’s GDP grew faster than her population under Buhari (During 16 years of PDP administrations, Nigeria’s GDP always grew faster than population growth). They should name the initiatives the Buhari government has put in place to address Nigeria being named the world headquarters for extreme pov- erty under his watch. Ju
They should name one initiative the Buhari government has put in place to address Nigeria having the world’s highest number of out-of-school children (13.2 million according to the United Nations Children Fund) and why he always will rely on this ignorant voters but do nothing to give them education or migrate them out of poverty.
They should name the date the Ogoni cleanup will begin. They should tell us what President Buhari has done with the ₦13 trillion loans he has taken in 3 years (compared to the ₦6 trillion borrowed by the PDP in 16 years).
He should point out one significant project he initiated and has completed with the over ₦15 trillion he claimed to have invested in infrastructure.
For now he should be bold to name the real owners of the Ikoyi Apartment billions.
These are some of the real issues Nigerians want to hear about, not insults from a Presidency and a political party that drove Nigeria into its first ever recession in 25 years.
Another raging debate is where the VP will come from? This is a tough arithmetic that I will want the candidate and party to think through. What is important now is how to win the election and move the country forward and not whom to compensate. The former Agric Minister is a fine gentleman . He has the competence and capacity to pair with Atiku. Ordinarily I will support him if the choice is narrowed to South West for obvious reasons. To us the Igbo taking out the dragon is a spiritual battle and we should do all we can and sacrifice all that need to be sacrificed for the battle head.
But if for any reason the choice is narrowed to South East, I follow the direction of Peter Obi or Okonjo Iweala.
Like I said earlier , the 2019 battle is neither Atiku’s nor PDP’s –– it is a battle of the People versus Buhari QED.
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