BusinessDay 04 Feb 2018

Sunday 04 February 2018
C002D5556
SUNDAY
BD
15
Politics
“There is no doubt that Buhari has a
right to contest the election but the truth
is that strength, physical presence, ability
to think outside the box and the capacity
to think on how to rejuvenate this
economy into practical terms that will
be advantageous to the Nigerian people,
have eluded President Buhari. He does not
have that capacity any more therefore he
should not push himself more than what
he had already done”
Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Charles
Soludo; renowned economist
and former presidential aspirant,
Pat Utomi as well as
former Vice President of Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC),
IssaAremu.
NIM also parades notable
names on its legal team, such
as human rights activists, Femi
Falana; constitutional lawyer,
Mike Ozekhome as well as
Femi Aborishade, Osagie Obayuwana,
Jiti Ogunye, Ebun
Adegboruwa and Mohammed
Fawehinmi.
…Obasanjo as the biggest
threat to Buhari’s second term
ambition
BDSUNDAY gathered that
the biggest threat to Buhari’s
ambition is a coalition being
organised by former President
Obasanjo. BusinessDay had
reported a story based on the
accounts of reliable political
insider, who gave a prelude to
Obasanjo’s statement and how
the plots have matured to show
President Buhari the exit door
by major power brokers in the
country, who the source said
are fed up with Buhari’s deluge
of misdeeds.
The source had told our correspondent
on Monday, January
22, a day before Obasanjo
issued the statement that five
prominent Nigerians, who
hold the political fortunes of
the country under wraps have
already made up their mind
to unseat Buhari in much
the same way they bundled
former President Goodluck
Jonathan out of power in
2015. He noted that the big
cabal, led by the most senior
member, Obasanjo, also has a
former Minister of Defence,
two former military leaders of
the country and a former National
Security Adviser (NSA).
The former leaders according
to the report were said to
be irked that while the country
is suffering from general
insecurity, pervasive economic
hardship, corruption among
other vices, Buhari has no
clue as to how to address the
crises and has consistently
remained aloof while the ship
of the Nigerian state totters.
They were said to be more
enraged that while the people
of Benue state were mourning
73 people that were killed by
suspected Fulani herdsmen,
Buhari was busy entertaining
endorsement from seven
governors urging him to run
for reelection in 2019. That
level of insensitivity is unbelievable
the source said.
Then the picture became
clearer on Tuesday, January
23, when Obasanjo released
the statement accusing Buhari
of nepotism and unprecedented
level of clannishness. He
said “the lice of poor performance
in government – poverty,
insecurity, poor economic
management, nepotism, gross
dereliction of duty, condonation
of misdeed – if not
outright encouragement of it,
lack of progress and hope for
the future, lack of national cohesion
and poor management
of internal political dynamics
and widening inequality are
still with us today.”
He further accused Buhari
of causing disaffection in the
country with his divisive
polices and lopsided appointments,
adding that the president
has lost the capacity to
continue as president and
advised him not to seek reelection
in 2019.
Obasanjo has swung into
action where he was said to
have started mobilising politicians
and other Nigerians
to sign on to his Coalition for
Nigeria project, to stop President
Muhammadu Buhari
from being re-elected.
As at Friday last week,
about seven governors and
25 senators are said to have
keyed into the Obasanjo ‘rescue
project’ and a massive
strategy is in place for a mass
movement away from the ruling
All Progressives Congress
(APC), and his former party,
the People’s Democratic Party
(PDP), which he described as
“wobbling” and unfit to run
Nigeria.
Olise Agbakoba
Bolaji-Abdullahi
Although, the Minister of
Information, Lai Mohammed,
has issued a statement to
refute the Obasanjo bombshell
when he reeled out the
achievements of the Buhari
government in different areas,
the PDP in a reaction by its
National Publicity Secretary,
Kola Ologbondiyan, berated
the government for bandying
development figures that are
not reflecting in any positive
ways in the country citing
the widespread, hunger, insecurity,
unemployment and
nepotism of the Buhari administration
as evidence of the
‘failures’ of the government.
He said that his party is open
to alliance with other political
parties to unseat Buhari in 2019
… Internal bickering in APC
that may destroy Buhari
Buhari may also suffer alleged
subterranean move being
mounted by members of his
own party the APC. A source,
who preferred anonymity, told
our correspondent that many
of the party members are not
happy with the way Buhari
is running the government
especially his lopsided appointments
in favour of his Hausa/
Fulani ethnic group.
He cited the appointments
in the security agencies, where
virtually all the appointed heads
are mostly northerners and almost
all Muslims. He also cited
the recent appointments in the
Nigerian National Petroleum
Corporation (NNPC), which
heavily favoured the north.
“In the history of this nation,
at no time did we have this kind
nepotism practiced unapolo-
getically by a Nigerian leader,
who came to power using a
national platform. This kind of
attitude will surely not help the
President and he has to address
the matter before it is too late,’’
he said.
The battle of wits, the manipulations
and maneuvers
have already suffused the political
landscape of the country
especially the seeming interminable
forces being fused to stop
Buhari in 2019. How Buhari
survives these even with the
enormous power of incumbency
at his disposal would
most likely be premised on his
change of attitude to run more
inclusive government and to
address the pervasive hunger,
unemployment, insecurity as
the statistics are surely not kind
to him.