BUHARI: The Need to Restructure the Front Office and Why I am Leaning Towards Atiku for APC Ticket!

ON GENERAL BUHARI: There must be a total, vehement, and unequivocal detachment from what's been. I do believe in my heart that General Buhari has the tenacity and toughness to deal with those stealing our wealth, but whether he has the intellectual wherewithal to carry Nigeria as a country - its people and resources - to a new and enviable level in this modern time, is my doubt. ALEX AIDAGHESE - "In Search of a Real Political Party" September 8, 2013.

ON VICE PRESIDENT ATIKU: Since the exit of President Obasanjo, Atiku is the only political leader on the scene who is able to articulate what he really wants to do as President. His clarity of thoughts on public affairs is outstanding. I want to be very frank and honest here; the fact that the materials on his campaign website or his published interviews were put together by advisers is irrelevant. Irrelevant because his opponents cannot boast of similar materials or consider it prudent to put together similar materials. How can you be an effective performer, if you cannot conceive or develop a coherent narrative for leadership? I have no doubt in my mind that Atiku is much better than his peers in that aspect - why I want to be President. ALEX AIDAGHESE - "In Search of a Real Political Party" September 8, 2013.

Presidential Candidate Buhari’s performance the other day at a televised interaction with the press was, to say the least, un-presidential and hardly expected. Ours is a monocultural economy. In other words, crude oil, as the main stay of the Nigerian economy, must be, not just a major topic, but understandable to the level of expertise and at the command of any Presidential candidate. That General Buhari fumbles so badly in handling questions relating to the stability of crude oil prices in the international market place is an indictment and a slap on the wrist of his media handlers and economic advisers. Something is fundamentally wrong with his campaign if, at this point in the Presidential Primaries and few months to the main contest, Gen Buhari does not have an Economic Advisers on his team. Given the enormity of the show of shame, I suggest that all his advisers and anyone directly or remotely connected with his campaign prior to that interview should be fired. Above all, if at this point in the general election, it does not occur to General Buhari that he is not one knowledgeable in the act of number-crunching and in the vocabulary of global market, and who would, therefore, desire and appreciate the presence of an economist and campaign strategist on his team, then, with all due respect, he is not ready to be President of Nigerian at this point in time.

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Once bitten twice shy. When APC was registered by INEC as a political party, there was an overwhelming excitement and a feeling of relief within the class of progressive commentators in the social media. They, and like most disinterested Nigerian intellectual class, saw the development as a bold and one of a kind occurrence in the struggle to decimate the PDP as a political party. Indeed, it was a national moment that we all saw and celebrated as the beginning of a process to end the dominance of our political system by the same political careerists who have been on the scene for decades.

Most of the progressive commentators came up with strategies that would facilitate recruitment drive and grass-root support system. In other words, there was a consensus within the group of the need to develop a progressive narrative and take it down to the people at rallies, at conferences and seminars. It didn't happen. The demands fell on deft ears and were rejected by the top characters within the APC establishment. The most vocal antagonists of progressive voices happened to be Buhari handlers and supporters.

That Gen Buhari was a military dictator was never in doubt. That he imprisoned political leaders of the second republic indiscriminately was never in doubt. Personally, wanted an explanation or a show of contrite from General Buhari for the ill-treatment of Professor Ambrose Ali who was the Governor of the old Bendel State for four years. It is profoundly disheartening that Professor Ambrose, a man who paid for thousands of WAEC candidates to take their exams; a fatherly fellow who built and funded for us a new brand University; who paid bursary to the entire Bendel State students, that he has to rot in jail and died in abject poverty, because he built three bedrooms bungalow for his Father was and still very difficult to digest or process. It was the same story all over Nigeria. That would have made the need for familiarization tour a major task by Buhari. It did not happen.

Where is common sense? I am not here to reenact or rejuvenate the discriminatory prosecutions and imprisonments of political leaders Nigerians witnessed under Buhari leadership. All I wanted was the presence of Buhari at Town Halls, at University Campuses, at Market or Village Squares telling his stories, that indeed, he is different from the Buhari in Military uniform, that he cherishes democratic principles, freedom of the press and the sanctity of the universally acclaimed rights – the fundamental human rights. Inherent rights, which he blatantly abused. Buhari and his handlers never did.

They ran after rebel governors and all the FFK they could find running from PDP. One guy even wrote a piece, lecturing progressive commentators about the correct approach to capacity building, arguing that it is better to align with rebel governors because they have larger follower-ship for the APC to tap into. Another blogger considered it degrading for Buhari to go about the countryside searching for new members.

Today, the much-celebrated converts have indeed, reconverted to where they belong - PDP. And one of the major recruits, though gone, is not going without a fight. He has succeeded in an unimaginable proportion in branding APC as an Islamic Party made up of Islamic Fundamentalists, with a goal to convert Nigeria into an Islamic state. Myopic as you would want to brand the author and his conspiracy theory, one thing is not in doubt though; his message has gotten some rhythms in most places. And Buhari and his handlers are now in a state of quagmire, completely clueless on what to do to extricate Presidential Candidate Buhari from that pigeonholed characterization.

Worse still, progressive commentators who were in a celebratory mood when APC was formed and registered, and who would as naturally expected, be at the fore front for repackaging and redefining the redemption songs of citizen Buhari, have all gone for good. They were selfishly pushed away from having a say in what becomes of APC, and specifically, on managing Gen Buhari. 

Buhari is not yet the President, to the extent that his inner followers do not even want to welcome newcomers to his fold, leave much to be desired. They built a war around a man who under normal circumstances would have been all over the place meeting and strategizing with real progressives – visionary, modern, and creative progressives. They never did.

I resent cultist approach to governance in any shape or form. Gen Buhari main weakness, from my own common sense reading of his past, present, and the attitude of his handlers is that he is susceptible to manipulation by few elements. If they couldn't prepare him for a media chat, they must not spend a day longer at his side. 

If Buhari has adult children, I suggest they step into the scene right now and initiate a drastic remake or repackaging of their beloved dad for the uphill battle that is yet to come, if he wins the primaries. It is a modern world. Buhari is not part of it. 

Finally, if Vice President is relevant today, it is more about his grasp of the issues and the simplicity and ease that he articulates his motivations in power. The same is true of his website – free flow, clear and easy to read and digest. And that is the main reason I am leaning towards him as APC candidate. Truth is, if you cannot articulate why you want to be President; if you do not have the foresight to assemble credible followers who believe in you and your dream and how to help you refine your craft; if you do not have the common sense to initiate and conduct self-assessment as well as the assessment of your media handlers and advisers and to know that something is fundamentally wrong in the management of your campaign and message delivery format, then, with all due respect, you may likely not have my support and those of nonpartisan, reasonable, and discerning minds. You just cannot dwell on solutions, without being abreast of the underlying problems or its existence. You cannot fathom solutions or seek one, without a thorough understanding of what the issues are or what ails you. Awareness comes first, followed by identification of the problems, and finally, identifying and recruiting the rights men to address the problems to a satisfactory end. Vice President Atiku is reputed of being an expert in identifying and recruiting visionaries and creative minds for appointment into strategic positions in public and private places. Besides, that he is more modern than his peers in terms of management and governance is not in doubt.