Imposition plan: Is Buhari talking out of both sides of his mouth?

By Uthman Salami

For a man of his stature, his stands on issues of national importance are almost inconspicuous to many Nigerians; not even his closest allies know what he really thinks. For a president who was profusely weeping like an elementary pupil in court after it was clear the pendulum of victory would not go in his favour, how soon such a man could forget who and what wielded him the power, remains a tough nut to crack question – just like a popular Yoruba saying, “Ore pe asu were gba gbe (The ungrateful forgot a long time favour rendered).”

The saying that real men are known when they wield power is becoming a season film that has gripped many unassuming Nigerians by the jugular.

In the events that preceded the 2019 general elections, when the ruling party was plagued with internal supremacy battles in almost every state, the President was galavanting from state to state, telling the electorates to vote for the men of their choices, whilst the sitting Governors wanted specific choices.

The affected Governors did not go about whinging that the President failed to throw his support for their anointed candidates.

If the series of happenings of the past weeks are anything to go by, the ruling party is nearing its end. Few days ago, this Newspaper reported that the president was begging the Governors to align with him in enthroning his preferred candidate as his successor, which to large sections of the country, is the most brusquely superciliously importune and burden any sitting President would demand from the Governors, and indeed Nigerians as a whole.

If the president had long been nursing an idea of giving power to his preferred candidate, why did he delay it for too long when all the aspirants had spent millions of Naira sojourning the length and breadth of Nigeria for consultations?

Is this the same President who had warned leaders of the All Progressives Congress at both national and state levels against factions and imposing unpopular candidates as the 2023 general election approaches?

His words were etched in prints, and the media hardly forget, “I enjoin you all to follow due process in all the party processes and more importantly to develop more mechanisms against corruption.

“I call on all party members to abide by all extant laws, rules, and regulations and to leaders of our party to avoid the imposition of candidates that cannot win popular elections.

“This dictatorial behaviour cost us many strategic seats in the past. In the recent past, this led to some of our strong members, unfortunately, opting to go elsewhere because of the unfairly oppressive behaviour of party leaders at the state level.

“I must caution strongly against any tendency towards developing cliques, in–fighting within the party

“We want to win well not succumb to factions on account of personal acerbities and desire to retain control at all costs. That surely is not the road to win,’’ he said during the NEC meeting of the party a few months ago.

What many concerned Nigerians especially party members have not understood is what has happened between the time the President made those warnings and now? This is rather a case of a man advising his folks not to indulge in alcoholism whilst his mouth reeks of the stench of Burukutu.

Economic indices do not place Buhari in position to pick any candidate as successor

Early this year, the World Bank, through its flagship report for 2022, titled ‘Global Economic prospect’ has noted that Nigeria’s economy under the Muhammadu Buhari administration is worse than 10 years ago.

Last year, the global bank had heavily criticised Buhari’s fiscal policies, noting the negative effect of Nigeria’s Central Bank exchange rate policies on investments and fuel inflation.

He has made this administration witness a rising food inflation and currency inflation which have seen Nigeria’s GDP per capita fall to the level it was 40 years ago. These stood as the major propeller of agony and trauma for those who truly love the country.

At the end of last year, the economy under him recorded a high unemployment rate of 33.3% (Q4 2020) which neutralizes the 0.51% GDP growth rate (Q1 2021), a high inflation rate of 18.17% (March 2021) and prime lending rate of 11.24% in April.

And just two days ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that whoever inherits the presidency from Buhari would be using 100 per cent of the country’s revenue to service debt.

The Nigerian Currency has been so severely battered that its value has been reduced to almost zilch against U.S Dollars. Currently, it is a N600 to $1. Over 80% of oil has been stolen and taken out of the country’s shore, on a daily basis.

Nigerians will now be paying more when they borrow from banks as the interest rate has now been jerked up. Inflation rate is uncontrollably increasing since his coming to power. National Grid has been down for far too many times that Nigerians no longer find it newsworthy.

This year alone, N3 trillion has been approved to be spent on subsidizing fuel for Nigerians. Our borrowing rate has escalated since the beginning of this administration.

Corruption, kidnapping, banditry, lopsided appointments and increased agitations for secession are trademarks of this administration.

One of the reasons many Nigerians supported this administration was to end terrorism and put an end to corruption.

But these are never to be. Corruption amongst the government officials have never ceased as seen in the case of the Accountant General of the Federation. Although Boko-Haram no longer controls any part of Nigeria, Kidnapping and banditry have taken center stage.

And on a daily basis, Nigerians are being kidnapped and killed with no response from the government.

Those kidnapped in the Abuja-Kaduna train attack are still drinking Fura Da Nunu at the dens of the kidnappers with no hope of the government rescuing them. Lopsided appointments have led to many tribes who feel marginalized, calling for secession here and there.

All these and more are pointers that the president should rather retire to his Daura town than anointing one candidate that will make Nigeria even worse. He should steer clear of who wins the 2023 election because no Nigerian will ever pray for the continuity of this torrid times.

APC sitting on a ticking time bomb waiting to implode

Soon enough, the ruling party is heading for the rocks all thanks to the president, who seems by all indications, to be at the end of his rope. This decision of imposition may throw a throng of several aggrieved members to indulge in anti party activities and thereby clearing Atiku’s path for presidency. Was it a coincidence that the President had to wait till after Atiku’s emergence before telling his party members to align their supports for his yet to be known adopted candidate?

Echoing this warning was a former Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, who said any attempt by President Muhammadu Buhari to impose a candidate on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of its presidential primary might backfire.

He warned that the president should not impose any candidate on the party, advising that delegates should be allowed to pick their preferred candidate.

He said: “I will appeal to Mr President to appeal to our governors that they should, as democrats, as progressives, ensure that a level playing field is provided for all aspirants.

“Let delegates from every nook and cranny of this country have an opportunity to make their choices so that Nigerians will see that we are doing better than the other parties.

“We have had several states in the past where governors attempted to bring in their preferred candidates over and above what is equitable and it has backfired.

“It is not a standard that we must try to build on. We are a democratic party and the fact that some governors have in the past imposed candidates can not be a justification for us to continue to perpetuate anti-democratic (acts).

“They should not bamboozle people, they should not intimidate, they should not do anything that will compromise the right to fairness in bringing in new candidates.”

“In 2019, it was essentially a two-party affair but this year, with what we have seen with the NNPP coming up, the Labour Party came up with a very strong candidate in Peter Obi. We must appreciate that actions will naturally have consequences.

“We must learn from our circumstances, we must learn from our environment and know that it may not be as easy as we think.

“We must also be warned now that the youths are coming up, stronger and more agitated for change.

“We must be able to give the impression to the general public, particularly the youths, that we are being fair to all aspirants and that as democrats, as progressives, we are not giving the impression that some people are being overpampered above others.

In all these, it is becoming clearer to Nigerians that this president is neither consistent with his policies nor his words. And time will surely tell whether Nigerians will support a candidate anointed by a President who has failed and reneged almost all his promises or get a breather by putting fresh hands behind the wheel of the country.