ELECTING BUHARI IN 2015

A Call to my Constituency, the Church, to Vote Gen. Muhammadu Buhari in the Coming Elections

Introduction

In this article, I will be calling on Christians to vote for the person of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in the forth coming Presidential elections in Nigeria. I am a fellow Christian; a minister of the gospel, who is

however convinced that a person like Buhari is one who has the leadership potentials to lead Nigeria out of the unfortunate situation we have found ourselves as a country. I do not know the General personally and I have not been paid by him or his associates to write this.

Why Buhari? 

The Nigerian political melodrama is shoring up three individuals that are likely to be the leading candidates for the Febuary 14th, 2015 presidential elections. They are the incumbent president of the nation, Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. Atiku and Buhari are likely to square it out at the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential primaries, and the political permutations give Buhari the advantage because of his popularity with the leaders of the party. Therefore there is the high probability that the 2015 presidential elections shall be a repeat of the 2011 one that was between Jonathan and Buhari. I hereby state ten quick reasons why Buhari will excel as presidentnt of Nigeria.

• Buhari's antecedents as head of state of this country in 1984/85 revealed that he is a highly disciplined individual that commands the respect of his associates, and can replicate the very successful War Against Indiscipline (WAI) of that time to help curb the raging corruption almost crippling this nation today. 
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• Buhari as a militarycommander in Borno State in the 80's helped conquer an insurgent group that was troubling that region of the country. When he was head of state, he gave the orders that quelled the Maitatsine uprising. The Boko Haram uprsing, an offshoot of Maitatsine, is certain to be curtailed by this experienced military officer if voted into office. 
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• Buhari's economic prowess as military head of state has been touted the best economic initiative this nation has ever recorded. Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, former Governor of the Central Bank, called it Buharinomics. 
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• Buhari has a thing for attracting the best of human associates and permits them the liberty to function. Many owe the success of Buhari's regime in 1984 to the ingenuity of the late Brig. Gen. Tunde Idiagbon. Buhari should however be credited for allowing his associates to function; a fit he is likely to repeat with individuals like Raji Fashola (present Gov' of Lagos State), Mallam Nasir El-Rufai (former Minister of the FCT), Dr. Obi Ezekwesili, and a host of other individuals who are at the moment supporting his candidacy and might be working in his government. 
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• Buhari is not a money bag and will not be buying the loyalty of individuals to support him. Those who do this and then come into political office are the ones that are constrained to steal public money to recoup their "investments". 
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• Buhari's record as head of Petroleum Trust Fund is untainted and examplary. 
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• Buhari as an elder stateman is experienced and knowledgeable, and has the ability to translate this to help to solve the nation's myriads of problems. 
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• Buhari is not an Islamic extremist. Many of his associates and subordinates in his private life are Christians. The statements credited to Buhari, which his detractors use to label him an Islamic fundamentalist, simply tell of an individual who is true to himself and his faith, and who will not compromise his faith for political advantage. 
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• Buhari is popular among ordinary Nigerians and if he elected will serve these people and not political godfathers. 
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• Buhari is a man of truth. He is called "mai gaskya" in the north. This country has the opportunity to elect for the first time in her history an individual who will not lie to us and who will carry out the promises he makes to us in the forthcoming manifesto of his political party.

Goodluck Jonathan 

A friend, Bayo Adeyinka, has enumerated ten reasons why President Goodluck Jonathan should be re-elected into office (http://www.bayoadeyinka.com/bayoadeyinka/index.php/entry/goodluck-jonathan-a-balanced-scorecard-by-bayo-adeyinka). These points cannot be disputed and they are commendable indeed. The only trouble with these points is that Nigerians must come to learn that there is a difference between a government's responsibility and its achievements. If government build roads, pay salaries, refurbish the railway, build schools, and permit some stability for the economy, that government has carried out its duties or its responsibilities. It is when that government has done high and above these things enumerated that we can say that government has achieved something upon which it could be considered for re-election. When we consider two things: the speed with which nations are advancing and the amount of resources this country gathers as revenue year in year out, we must of a necessity hold any government in power responsible for not achieving anything. We should not be found praising them for carrying out their responsibilities. 

Unfortunately, two things act as Achilles' for the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. They are violence and corruption. The Boko Haram insurgency and the inability of the government of Goodluck Jonathan to quell their activities continue to be a major minus for this administration. For the first time since the Civil War in this nation, a section of the country has been annexed and taken over by religious militants with uncountable number of Nigerian citizens being killed every day in the north-eastern part of the country. Jonathan, as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has not been able to rally them to end this continual dissemination of a section of the country. In fact, many political watchers claim that the president is way too weak to handle the situation and the insurgents seem to have discovered this and are taking advantage of it to the full. Since Goodluck Jonathan came into office in 2011, the country has not been able to celebrate it annual Independence ceremony in public for the fear of attack from insurgents. Despite the havoc Boko Haram has wrecked on the North Eastern part of the nation, Jonathan has only visited them once; and even that was a political statement to stop those criticizing him when Governors in the opposition went and walked the streets of Maiduguri. In spite of the call on the president to show sympathy to the people of Chibok, who lost over 200 of their girls to insurgent activites in Borno State, he has not visited them; citing security reasons. The long and short of this all is the truth that Jonathan has failed to make Nigeria safe and should not be permitted another four years in office. 

Sometimes ago the Speaker of the House of Assembly was compelled to say that the body language of Mr. President lent support for corruption in the land. The President will later support this position himself when he declared that "stealing was not corruption." If stealing is not corruption, what else could it be? This government has shown great laxity towards matters of corruption, especially those that involve individuals close to the President. The minister of Petroleum, Diezani Allison-Madueke has continually been fingered in one corruption case or the other, but this government has refused to beam any search light on her activities. The NNPC, were she exercises oversight, is brimming with allegation of corrupt practices. The President himself was recently alleged to be worth $100 million dollars by an online news outfit. 

This allegation had to be dropped after the presidency threatened legal actions against the outfit. Nevertheless many Nigerians argue that anyone could come to any conclusion on how much Jonathan is worth considering the fact that he has refused to declare his assets in public. A question to which our president has responded that he does not give a damn about answering. In this light, Rudolph Okonkwo of the Saharareporters, stated that the President was worth $120 million and he also said that he was ready to be sued for his assertions (http://saharareporters.com/2014/10/14/sue-me-jonathan-youre-worth-120-million-dollars-least-rudolf-ogoo-okonkwo). Since Jonathan came into power, the two apparatus of government that were set up by the administration of Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo to curtail corruption, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), have been rendered useless. The list is endless. A vote for Jonathan is a vote for corruption to continue to disseminate the length and breath of this country. 

The Religious Rivalry 

It is really unfortunate that the Presidential contest again might degenerate to a religious contest between Muslims and Christians like it did in 2011. I am calling on my Christians friends to rise above these religious sentiments in making the decision of whom to vote for in 2015. What is going on between Muslims and Christians is a simple case of rivalry between two prominent

religions in the land. Christians should be blamed for not being political savvy enough to be at the forefront when political candidates for political parties are being selected. We should learn from this and become more politically involved in our nation. For now, we have a sincere, upright, disciplined and visionary individual in the opposition contesting against a supposed Christian; and we should be found making the decision to vote for the Muslim above religious sentiments because we know that he would run our country well. Let us remember that it was a non-Jewish King, the person of Cyrus, that God used to bring Israel out of the political and economic captivity they were in at Babylon. Today, Nigeria is in a similar situation and it might please God to use Buhari, a Muslim, to save the Christian church, resident in Nigeria, from another political and economic captivity. 

Conclusion 

I am again calling on my Christian brethren to vote for Buhari. I use this opportunity to call on Tunde Bakare and the Save Nigeria Group to again rally behind the General, like they did in 2011, to see to it that he is elected into office. The All Progressive Congress (APC), the political party under which the General is running, is not a perfect body that consists of saints. There are indeed individuals there whose records in public office are questionable. But like it has been said so many times in many forums in this country: the problem of Nigeria is a leadership one. If we can endeavor to elect a leader that has integrity, discipline and vision, the team that will work with him will have to follow suit. 

Vote Wisely. Vote Gen. Muhammadu Buhari come Febuary 14th, 2015 as President of this country. And may God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

Amen.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

A Plea for the Lives of Twelve Nigerian Soldiers on Death Row

In 1942 C. S. Lewis began a series of radio talks that were eventually published under the book title “Mere Christianity”. This period was a time of war; a time when the Second World War was at its peak. Lewis was making a case for Christianity in an increasing godless world, but his counsel also resounded as a message of hope to many British troops who were facing uncertain death, as they were shipped off to face Hitler’s Nazi soldiers in a bloody war. Quoting from Wikipedia’s note on the book, “Lewis spends most of his defense of the Christian faith on an argument from morality, a point which persuaded him from atheism to Christianity. He bases his case on a moral law, a ‘rule about right and wrong’ commonly known to all human beings, citing the example of Nazism; both Christians and atheists believed that Hitler’s actions were morally wrong.” I have drawn our attention to this relatively ancient book to remind the Nigerian people that this nation again is at war. 

Whatever else public commentaries are designed to achieve, they must also be a source of hope and encouragement for the Nigerian troops as they face the deadly Boko Haram forces at war in the North-Eastern part of the country. I also need to remind us of a certain military term called the “rules of engagement” (ROE), which in normal street language will mean the rules that govern the use of force by the military. This paper shall not be doing an academic exercise on the above topic; I would rather wish to narrow down on some incidences that the Boko Haram quagmire has roused up and help the public understand them, while at the same hoping to send a message of hope to myriads of our gallant soldiers fighting that war on behalf of all of us.

A few days ago the media reported the outcome of the military court martial of twelve Nigerian soldiers who had been accused of mutiny, in a case where it was said that these soldiers opened fire on their superior officer in protest of an order he gave that led to the death of many of their colleagues in far away Borno State. The twelve soldiers were sentenced to death. Virtually all the commentaries I have read on this matter have condemned the outcome of the court martial; most of them calling it unfair and ridiculous. I disagree. If we must remind ourselves of the concept of the military’s rules of engagement, and in the light of those rules remember that the army also has rules for right and wrong, one cannot but agree with the outcome of the court martial of those soldiers; in spite of how distasteful it might sound in our ears. The whole military structure is based on the strength of command. The moment the command structure is compromised, military formations are faced with certain defeat before the enemy. Soldiers are trained to “obey before complain” regardless of the outcome of their obedience. The military court martial also recognized the fact that the superior officer gave a poor command and handed him the punishment of a compulsory retirement; a decision I agree was too light in comparison to the consequence of his action. Nonetheless, a situation should never arise where junior officers will open fire on a superior officer within the same military formation. It is a grave sin in the military, similar to a coup, and should be severely dealt with. This is the only way the military can discourage a repetition within its ranks and the most effective way to preserve the hallowed system of command that makes the military very efficient.

Having said that, I must quickly enjoin the public to change its tone of commentary on the outcome of the military court martial of these twelve men from that of “right” to that of “plea”. Though these men are guilty, we should at this point begin to seek an avenue for some kind of pardon to be meted out to them. My premise for pardon is based on the fact that providence was kind on the military officer that was shot at and ensured that he was not killed. Also, no other person was killed in the incidence. And so on this basis, we the Nigerian public wish to plead with the highest military command in the land to forgive these twelve soldiers and possibly reduce the death sentence to outright dismissal from the army. I am using this medium to plead with the President of Nigeria, Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to consider using his veto powers to reduce the sentences of these men. I understand that the message that the court martial was wishing to pass to other men of the uniform has been heard clearly and I do not think anyone in his right senses will repeat the actions of these men again. This pardon is equally needed to encourage our soldiers, who are in the heat of the war against insurgency in the land. If they see that the demeanor of their colleagues has been pardoned as a result of public plea, they will know that the whole nation appreciate their sacrifices and while praying for their successes at the war front, are also doing everything within their powers to encourage them. Again, our request for pardon for these soldiers is not based on “right” but on mercy. We plead that they will be forgiven and their sentence reduced.

In conclusion, I use this medium to praise the efforts of the Nigerian soldiers in curtailing the murderous escapades of the Boko Haram sect. Despite the obvious support that these animals have been receiving from foreign terrorist groups through financial aid, weapon supply and mercenaries, our soldiers have continually disseminated their ranks. We praise your efforts. We also pray that the good Lord will crown all of your efforts with successes. We have confidence that at this rate the Boko Haram insurgency will soon come to an abrupt end. Already the result of the assault that these animals are receiving is showing off in their inability to carry out terrorists attacks on other parts of the country. Nigeria will see the end of this insurgency by grace of God. 

Amen.