For the Career Buharists, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) is the “messiah”. Any attempt to set the records straight by highlighting the dark days of Buhari is viewed by these people as being paranoid.
They would ask you, who is scared of Buhari if not corrupt people? In the real sense of it, I don’t think anyone (including a kid from my home town) is scared of Buhari. Some of us that talk about him do so to establish the facts because he has been living an image-laundered life.
Within these few days, lots of people have seen that Buhari didn’t build any refinery for Nigeria. He has no legacy despite ruling the country with iron-fist for almost 2 years. He is indeed corrupt as shown by this article and again, no Igbo have worked or working for Buhari, neither did any Igbo marry his daughter. These are the laundered image he has been living on for a long time now.
Facts are sacred, but not to the Career Buharists. To them, Buhari is God’s ‘gift’ to mankind and the most popular politician that can solve our numerous problems in a jiffy. Behind these accolades from his admirers, is a man that has lost presidential elections three times consecutively. In 2003, over 24 million Nigerian rejected him. The same number rejected him in 2007 and in 2011; about 22 million rejected him. The excuse has been that, he was rigged out, but facts and figures proved that he is definitely unelectable as shown below:
Northwest (Buhari’s strongest base) – 6,453, 437 (60%) voted for Buhari and3,395,724 (32%) for Jonathan
Southeast – 20, 560 voted for Buhari and 5, 661, 177 (97%) for Jonathan
Northeast – 3,624,919 (62%) voted for Buhari and 1,832,622 (32%) for Jonathan
South-south – 49, 978 voted for Buhari and 6, 112, 608 (95%) for Jonathan
Southwest – 321, 609 voted for Buhari and 2, 786, 417 for Jonathan
North-central – 1, 744, 575 voted for Buhari and 3, 376, 570 for Jonathan
Further analysis shows that, in Buhari’s State – Katsina, he scored 1, 163, 919votes and Jonathan got 428, 392 votes. But in Jonathan’s State – Bayelsa, he scored only 691 votes while Jonathan got 504, 811 votes. Mere looking at the figures proves that Buhari is unelectable or does it mean that Jonathan also out-rigged him in his region?
These millions of Nigerians that have been rejecting him since 2003 despite his ‘popularity’ do so for the following reasons:
1. He Is An Hypocrite And Sanctimonious: Buhari is a self-acclaimed anti-corruption Czar, yet he served under late Sani Abacha without complaining of corruption. In the same period Buhari served as PTF Chairman under Abacha, Nigeria was named the 2nd most corrupt country in the world in 1996 by Transparency International; the most corrupt country in 1997 and 3rdmost country in 1998. Buhari didn’t resign or protest. He dismissed the TI Report with a wave of the hand. Can he do the same if such report says Nigeria is the most corrupt country in 2014? I know that Buhari would protest and call President Jonathan names.
Buhari as a man of integrity as he claims should have done what Tai Solarin, Duro Onabule and Ebitu Ukiwe did under IBB’s regime. IBB’s attempt to take Nigeria into the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) made his Chief of General Staff, Ebitu Ukiwe to resign. Ukiwe maintained that Nigeria, as a country, should not be a member of a religious organisation. Individual organisation can take up membership of religious organisations, but not the country. IBB made Tai Solarin the chairman of Peoples Bank with no fund and power to run it; he resigned and tendered his apology to Nigerians.
Buhari has not apologized to Nigerians for working for the most corrupt government in the world then, but he still maintains that Abacha didn’t loot Nigeria dry even as Abacha loots are still being sent back to Nigeria.
When he took over power by the gun, he supported rigging because it favoured him. But now, he is shouting of rigging. Hear him:
“The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only political parties that could complain of election rigging are those parties that lacked the resources to rig.” – M. Buhari (First Speech after Military Coup, 31 December, 1983)
2. He Is A Religious Fanatic And Extremist: Buhari believes that his religion is superior to other religions and that Koran supersedes our constitution. In 2001, he gave his total support for Sharia with this statement:
“I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria. God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country.”- M. Buhari (August 27, 2001)
He made the above statement after he had gone to BBC Hausa Service to condemn the then Vice President, Atiku Abubakar for urging Muslims states who adopted Sharia to return to the status quo.
If you think that these statements mean nothing, then envision what would happen if a notable Christian political leader from the south make the same statement about spreading Christianity across Nigeria.
Prior to the 2003 elections, he made another shocking statement:
“Muslims should only vote those who will promote Islam. We are more than the Christians if you add our Muslim brothers in the West.”- M. Buhari (2003)
3. He Introduced Kidnapping And Smuggling Into The Nigeria System:The story of Umaru Dikko is already well known that repeating it here amounts to tautology. However, Buhari and his ADC Col. Mustapha Jokolo supervised the smuggling of 53 suitcases filled with cash against the protests of Tunde Idiagbon and ironically, Abubakar Atiku (an APC bigwig), was the former DG of Customs. Do you still need to know why Buhari has never accused Atiku of being corrupt?
4. He Is Not A Man of His Words: Buhari cried in public and said he won’t contest elections again, yet couldn’t keep his words:
“This campaign is the third and last one for me; since, after it, I will not present myself again for election into office of the president.” – M. Buhari (April, 2011 at the Int’l Conference Centre, Abuja)
Then again in 2014, he swallowed his words with this:
“I humbly present myself to all Nigerians and to God, seeking to be elected as APC’s presidential candidate.” – M. Buhari (Oct., 15, 2014 Eagle Square Abuja)
5. He Is An Ethnic Bigot Who Thinks That Vendetta Is Fighting Corruption: After Buhari and his boys overthrew the government of Shagari with the sole reason that the government was highly corrupt, he locked up Dr. Alex Ekwueme – the then VP in Kirikiri maximum prison but left Shagari – the president and Head of government in his mansion. Ekwueme was tried by the tribunal set-up by Buhari and the tribunal declared that he was even poorer than he was before he came into office. Yet, Buhari jailed him and allowed Shagari to relax in his mansion.
He gave Dede Sam Mbakwe 100-year jail term for stealing nothing and also went after his wife. Ambrose Ali was tried for an undeveloped plot of land and he was jailed for 75 years with heavy torture that led to blindness and later death. Jim Nwobodo and Lateef Jakande were jailed for 100 years for stealing nothing. Adekunle Ajasin was tried by a military tribunal and found innocent. Buhari ordered a fresh trial, he was found innocent again. Buhari changed the tribunal and tried him again. He was still found innocent. Buhari still jailed him. But, Buhari left his personal friend – Awwal Ibrahim – the then highly corrupt governor of Niger State who was arrested at Heathrow airport with £14 million. Awwal was never jailed. He was placed under house arrest in his mansion like Shagari for just two weeks and indeed released.
6. He Is A Coupist: Buhari has no moral ground to stand for an election in Nigeria because he’s a destroyer of democracy and can never benefit from it. He overthrew a duly elected government and ruled illegitimately until he was kicked out. For those that claim he was invited, go read the recent interview by Chief Ebenezer Babatope on why Chief Solomon Lar was imprisoned by Buhari.
7. He Doesn’t Talk or Act Like An Elder-statesman: He makes provocative statements that are capable of putting the country in crisis. This attitude caused the death of over 800 innocent lives including about 10 Corp members after he lost the 2011 elections. A man who considers himself as an elder-statesman and wants to rule Nigeria again should not be talking this way:
“God willing, by 2015, something will happen. They either conduct a free and fair election or they go a very disgraceful way. If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and baboon would all be soaked in blood.” – M. Buhari
“2015 will be bloody…” – M. Buhari
Buhari snubbed the same Nigerians he now wants their votes by refusing to appear before Justice Oputa Truth and Reconciliation Panel. Buhari knew how important reconciliation is to the stability of democracy, yet he refused to appear before the panel.
8. He Cannot Formulate A Good Economic Policy: True to that, Buhari is the only former Head of State without a legacy. Not even one, despite ruling with iron-fist for 2 years. Someone said, Environmental sanitation is his legacy LOL and I ask, how has that improved our economy? Or is Nigeria now the cleanest country in the world with a booming tourism industry? And again, those that attended his declaration were disappointed as he couldn’t present a manifesto on how he can solve the numerous problems confronting Nigeria. We keep hearing from the Buharists: “I will fight corruption; I will stop corruption; I will end corruption.” How? By mouth?
Recall what BBC said about Buhari’s economic policy: “Buhari’s attempts to re-balance public finances by curbing imports led to many job losses and the closure of businesses. These losses were accompanied by a rise in prices and a decline in living standards.”
His economic policy started the devaluation of naira. During Shagari/Ekweme’s regime, $1 = N0.550 but before the end of his tenure in 1985, $1 = N0.894.
9. He Clamped Down On The Press: With the infamous Decree 4, he closed down Newspapers, arrested and jailed many journalists such as Ndukar Irabor and Tunde Thompson of the Guardian Newspaper on stories that were factual. He told the Nigerian journalists then that it did not matter whether the story reported was true or not, if his regime did not like it, the writer would go to jail.
At a point Tai Solarin became the only voice who could speak as he stood at the road corner and was distributing leaflets detailing the various atrocities of Buhari. He arrested and jailed him. In prison, he was denied his asthmatic drug. He was released by IBB and later died of complication from the torture he suffered in prison.
10. He Is Not A Man of Principle And Integrity: Since 2003, Buhari has been jumping from one party to another in his desperate and endless quest to rule Nigeria. He started with ANPP in 2003 to CPC in 2011 and, now in APC.
11. He Has No Regard For Human Rights: Mrs. Vera Ifudu, who was an NTA reporter then, was sacked for reporting what Dr. Olusola Saraki had told her in an interview about how the missing money was traced to Buhari’s account at Midland Bank London branch. Vera eventually won her case of wrongful dismissal in court against the NTA and was financially compensated.
Dim Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, who returned from 13 years exile, just a little over a year then, was as well locked up in Kirikiri Prison by Buhari. Up till today we were not told what his offence was. Busari Adelakun died of ulcer because Buhari refused him to be taken out of prison for medical attention. The then Gov. of Ogun State, Bisi Onabanjo suffered similar fate which we were told led to his untimely death.
For using the US$2.8bn to sing, Buhari jailed Fela Anikulapo -Kuti on trumped up charges under emergency law which prompted the sentencing judge to confess that he was ordered to do so and apologised to Fela. It was Buhari’s administration that said it has “decided to deal with this Fela problem once and for all.”
Buhari used retrogressive law to execute three Nigerians: Lawal Ojuolape (30), Bernard Ogedengbe (29) and Bartholomew Owoh (26). One of those three – Ogedengbe – was executed for a crime that did not carry capital punishment at the time it was committed.
12. He Is Corrupt: That a blind man doesn’t see the sun don’t mean the sun is not up in the sky. That Buhari has not been jailed for corrupt practices doesn’t mean he is not corrupt, after-all, nobody has jailed IBB, OBJ etc., yet people say they’re corrupt. Buhari has never been able to account to Nigerians what he did with the N25 billion missing in PTF of which he was the chairman. Shagari incurred Buhari’s wrath when he decided to investigate the US$2.8 billion that disappeared from NNPC account and traced to the Midland Bank, London. Justice Ayo Irikefe panel was set-up and Saraki headed the Senate committee. The following were unequivocally discovered:
Firstly, a judicial panel was set up to trace the $2.8billion (Justice Ayo Irikefe panel). Secondly, a senate committee was also set up to trace the $2.8billion (headed by the elder Saraki). The findings of the senate committee were reported live on NTA by Vera Ifudu. Buhari overthrew the government to burn and shred the evidence. Buhari got Vera Ifudu sacked. Vera Ifudu and the NTA went to court. Vera Ifudu won her case, got reinstated and was paid compensation.
A man that procured a loan of N27.5million to purchase his presidential form using man-know-man approach is definitely corrupt. Buhari ought to live by example.
13. He Is A Pretender And Deceiver: Buhari claims that he has no foreign bank account, no booming business, no house in Lagos or Abuja. He has 2 houses: one in Katsina and the other in Kaduna. Yet he has been contesting elections since 2003 and pursuing it up to the Supreme Court with his team of SANs. The minimum appearance fee for a SAN at the Presidential election case at the Supreme Court is N25 million. Where did he get this money? Can he tell us his sponsors? He borrowed N27.5 million to buy a form, yet he moves around in Chattered aircraft each time he wants to fly which is costlier than owing one. Buhari is definitely a pretender.
14. He Is A Tribalist: Since his days as a Head of State, he only appointed his people in important positions. As the chairman of PTF, he employed an overwhelming number of Fulani/Hausa/Moslem at the detriment of other groups and concentrated PTF projects in the North. He used the company of his in-law – (Salihijo Ahmad), Afri-Projects Consortium in executed all the projects. He shamelessly executed about 74% of the projects in the north and 26% in the entire south according to PTF Situation Report (Vol 2, 98).
15. He Has Soft-spot For Boko Haram: Buhari made the following statements which support Boko Haram:
“The declaration of state of emergency in three Northern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe is a grave injustice against the North.” – M. Buhari (Liberty Radio, June 2, 2013)
“…when the Niger Delta militants started their activities in the South-South, they were invited by the late President Umaru Yar’adua. An aircraft was sent to them and their leaders met with the late President in Aso Rock and discussed issues. They were given money and a training scheme was introduced for their members. But when the Boko Haram emerged in the north, members of the sect were killed”. – M. Buhari (Liberty Radio, Kaduna May 14 2012)
But on Ombatse, his tone changed because they killed Fulanis:
“…But those that killed the 56 security men must be hunted and prosecuted no matter how long it will take because this is the bottom line about law and order, and security in the country. They can’t be forgiven, they can’t override the constitution, Nigerians are being hurt and killed in their duties and those that killed them must be brought before the law.” – M. Buhari
16. He Is Anti-development: Buhari stopped the Lagos metro rail even when the military Administrator for Lagos State, alerted him that on the clause in the contract ($60 million metro rail project) agreement that would yoke the state into debt, if the contract was cancelled unilaterally. He replied: “Mudashiru, I don’t care”. Although the fund for the execution of the project which would have given Lagosians an intra-city light train transport system would not have come from Buhari’s Supreme Military Council, Buhari, cancelled this project of the state government, with ethnicity on his mind. Till date no Nigerian city has metro rail. Buhari out of jealousy of the leadership acumen of Dede Sam Mbakwe, he stopped all the wonderful projects initiated by him in Imo State when he overthrew the Shagari’s govt. Yet, Buhari left the government without a legacy. What a man!
17. He Hates Education: Just like Boko Haram, Buhari is a supporter of the almajiri system. No wonder President Goodluck Jonathan is the person that established the first and only federal university in Katsina State – Buhari’s State and 100s almaijiri’s model schools across the northern region. People like Buhari are against the almajiri schools.
18. He Is Weak: It is a fact that Tunde Idiagbo was the brain and pillar behind the government of Buhari. No wonder Buhari was thrown out in what was regarded as a Palace Coup when Idiagbo went to Mecca. If Buhari that ruled with absolute power and iron-fist couldn’t protect his government from being overthrown by junior officers, how could he safeguard and protect Nigeria in this turbulent time.
19. He Is A Product of Corruption And Nepotism: The manner and swiftness Buhari rise in the army can only be possible in a system where nepotism reign supreme. At 21, Buhari was cadet trainee; at 23 he was promoted as Commander 2nd Infantry Battalion; at 25 he was appointed Brigade Major, 2 Sector 1st Infantry Division; at 28, he was promoted Brigade Major and Commander, 31st Infantry Brigade; at 29 he was promoted Assistant Adjutant-General 1st Infantry Division Headquarters; at 34 he was appointed the military governor of North-Eastern State; at 39 he was appointed Chairman NNPC and GOC, 3rd Armoured Division, Jos, 1981-83; at 42, he shot his way to Dodan Barracks as Head of State. Most of these promotions were with no further education/training.
Buhari’s kids and people still use Quota system education (to enable them go to school) and federal character for them to get jobs. Imagine when a kid from Ebonyi State needs to score minimum of 112 in Common Entrance exams and another kid from Sokoto (a state that is older than Nigeria), Yobe etc., need only 9 and 2 respectively in the same exam. Remember that these kids wrote the same exam, in the same country, at the same time and answered the same questions. What corruption is worse than this? Yet Buhari has never condemned it.
20. Buhari Is Just Perpetually Unelectable: To those that still think Buhari would one day rule Nigeria again, ask Nasir El-rufai, he has the answer:
Slik O. Austin holds Master’s degree in chemical engineering with expertise in sustainable energy, environmental sustainability and green solutions. He’s also a content creator and global issues analyst. Follow him on Twitter: @SlikInsight. The opinions and views expressed in this article are solely those of the author