President Goodluck Jonathan was the toast of the Nigerian masses before the 2011 Presidential elections. As he enjoyed great amount of goodwill from Nigerians, to the extent that Parents christened their children ‘goodluck’ as a result of the perceived elements of luck which follows the President due to the fact many see him as someone who always has an easy ride to the top of any office he finds himself and believe he would make Nigeria a great nation. As a result of this goodwill he cleared the Presidential election in an atmosphere which was free and averagely fair.
From a personal research I made in October 2014, four out of five respondents who voted for President Goodluck in 2011 stated that they would not vote for him in 2015, but would rather vote for General Buhari.
Meanwhile, all the respondents who voted for General Buhari in 2011 maintained that they would still vote for him in the coming presidential election. This implies that President Jonathan has traded the goodwill he enjoyed in 2011 to General Muhammadu Buhari.
Nigerians expected more from President Goodluck than he has delivered. Any Nigerian who is truthful and patriotic without allowing the sentiments of religion, ethnicity, political alignment and greed to override his or her sense of judgment knows that the Nigeria we all crave for isn’t the one we have this day. Those who state otherwise are simply unpatriotic.
Though the Goodluck Jonathan government has made some giant strides in the areas of agriculture and road construction but has failed woefully in dealing with corruption, insecurity, erratic power supply, unnecessary religious and ethnic rivalry among Nigerians.
President Jonathan and General Buhari are unarguably the two most powerful political brands we have in Nigeria as at today. The former has sizeable wealth and an astonishing incumbency factor in his favour. While, the latter is just a poor political figure, whose anti-corruption tendency and simplicity made him the toast of the masses.
The latter, General Mohammed Buhari is the ‘one man mopol’ we use in the local parlance, as he garnered over 12 million votes during the 2011 Presidential election without the goodwill he enjoyed now. With the goodwill he now enjoys, it’s clear Nigerians would witness the first ever defeat of an incumbent president come 2015 in a free and fair contest.
General Buhari is an incorrupt leader, who is ‘poor’ in relation to the type of wealth his fellow retired colleagues in the military have in their disposal. This is his Unique Selling Point, and that is what Nigerians crave for.
Nigerians know that corruption is the biggest problem the nation is facing and are looking for someone who would end this evil. They expect President Jonathan to deal decisively with corrupt practices, but were utterly amazed when he called cases of corrupt practices mere ‘stealing’. How then does he want them to convince them that the money meant for transforming the country is not stolen?
However the corrupt few who hold us to ransom by enriching themselves with our common resources, don’t want Muhammadu Buhari as president because they want to keep milking the nation dry.
They have also being making their privilege friends within business corridor rich at the expense of the masses.
In 2011, in one of the lavish dinners which were held to celebrate the victory of the incumbent president, one of the keynote speakers, a wealthy businessman, was quoted as saying “President Goodluck Jonathan, thank God you won. We are happy you won. If you hadn’t, most of us here in this hall would have gone on exile by now.”
This shameful statement give credence to the fact that our corrupt politicians and their friends in the business community knows the fate that would befall them, when the peoples’ general becomes President, and they have vowed in their closets to do everything within their reach to stop him,
These enemies of the Nigeria nation, has therefore branded Buhari as an Islamic fanatic, who would Islamize Nigeria and force every Christian to become a Muslim. Is this possible in the 21st century? As a military commander, Buhari permits his Christian officers to rest on Sundays and would not allow fellow Muslims to enjoy the same privilege on Fridays. Does this not rubbish the ‘fanatic’ label they have placed on him?
Furthermore, they tell us he is the sponsor of the dreaded Boko Haram, but still they haven’t come out with prove to substantiate their claim. As head of state, Buhari put an end to the evil activities of an Islamic sect known as the ‘Maitatsine.’ How then would he now sponsor Boko Haram?
Nigerians are now wiser and would not believe the many lies being put forward by the enemies of Nigeria to deny us from saving our dear country. We are ready to save Nigeria with our votes by voting General Buhari our president come 2015.
Anjuwon Oluwole @tweetjuwon
Views Expressed are Solely Author’s.
