On Saturday February 14th, the day Nigerians were supposed to cast their vote for who they want as their next president, I was having fun with some couple of friends in a quiet suburb in the Lone Star State. The last thing on our minds (at least for me) was politicking. We wanted to just sit back, socialize, listen and dance to good Afro beat after a busy work week!
Out of the blues, a rather young and impressionable Nigerian lady asked me who I would vote for if I were in Nigeria. For a minute, I went into a spill of my issues with President Goodluck (GEJ) and General Buhari (GMB). Suddenly it dawn on me that despite all my vociferated grouse with both candidates, it is still my civic responsibility to cast a vote (if I am eligible!) for a candidate.
In that moment, I felt I needed to finally make up my mind who I will throw my support behind. So I took a mental flight and ran through the virtual score card list of things that I need from the next president of Nigeria. While it was very easy for me to complete GEJ’s score card, I found it somewhat challenging to fully score GMB. Understandably, as the incumbent, GEJ record stares us in the eyes every day in the last six years.
“Bros, you still never tell me who you go vote for oo”, the lady interrupted my mental flight. “I be like Buhari but people like Tinubu, Amaechi and some others currently around him have questionable characters. Buhari cannot tame Tinubu if he becomes president. Tinubu will run Nigeria like he did Lagos. There is just something about Tinubu that is odoriferous to me”, she said.
She has a point here, I thought. Buhari might not have the greedy and rapacious propensities to loot Nigeria, but what about those that he will depend on to run the government with him? Obviously, due to the concomitant of aging, the General is somewhat frail now and might not have enough juice anymore to pursue and stop the nefarious activities of those with questionable repute in his cycle.
“Didn’t you see what Tinubu them wanted to do with pastor Bakare? Him and his people wanted Bakare to sign a resignation letter even before election. Believe me my brother, if Buhari wins, Tinubu and his cronies will hijack the government eee. Osibanjo is just an election figure-head candidate. After them win, Osibanjo will be thrown out like a piece of rubbish; Tinubu and his men will start their activities”, she concluded.
“Sister, you have a very valid point there. I guess we need them to actually debate each other like other countries of the world so that undecided Nigerians will have the opportunity to hear them address key issues like this”, I caved in to her views since I have nothing to counter her assertions.
Few days after that discussion, I was perplexed that PDP media operatives started peddling the same exact sentiments as if they were eavesdropping on the young lady’s concerns. Her assertions raised some alarm in my head. I think PDP need her as Director of publicity as opposed to their current Director of Publicity who appears to have multiple personality disorder.
More and more people I talk to appear to be looking closely at potentially voting for Buhari. But they are concerned about the General capitulating to the ravenous politicians in his party. If the General wants to get the vote of those currently undecided Nigerians, he would have to convince them that he would be “his own man” and not allow crooked politicians in his party to hijack his government (if he wins!) without prosecuting them.
Good luck Nigerians!
Paul Omoruyi
Blog @www.diasporascope.com
