Democracy Will Not Be Emasculated in Nigeria.by Waziri Atiku Abubakar.

Waziri Atiku Abubakar.

I thank the Nigerian people who trooped out in their millions to perform their civic duty this past Saturday. The patriotism of Nigerians is heartwarming and affirms my oft-repeated statement that we are brothers and sisters born from the womb of one mother Nigeria.

 

With regards to the Presidential elections that took place on February 23, 2019, it is clear that there were manifest and premeditated malpractices in many states which negate the results announced.

 

One obvious red flag is the statistical impossibility of states ravaged by the war on terror generating much higher voter turnouts than peaceful states. The suppressed votes in my strongholds are so apparent and amateurish, that I am ashamed as a Nigerian that such could be allowed to happen. How can total votes in Akwa-Ibom, for instance, be 50% less than what they were in 2015?

 

Another glaring anomaly is the disruption of voting in strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Rivers and diverse other states, with the authorities doing little or nothing and in some cases facilitating these unfortunate situations.  

Lagos, Nigeria

The militarization of the electoral process is a disservice to our democracy and a throwback to the jackboot era of military dictatorship. In some areas of the country, such as, Rivers, Akwa-Ibom and Imo states, troops deployed for the elections turned their guns on the very citizens they were meant to protect. This is condemnable and should not be associated with our electoral process in the future.

 

I am a democrat and there are democratic avenues available to present the truth to the nation and the watching world. Already, many international observers have given their verdicts, which corroborate our observations. I am sure more will come in the coming hours and days.

 

If I had lost in a free and fair election, I would have called the victor within seconds of my being aware of his victory to offer not just my congratulations, but my services to help unite Nigeria by being a bridge between the North and the South.

 

However, in my democratic struggles for the past three decades, I have never seen our democracy so debased as it was on Saturday, February 23, 2019. 2007 was a challenge, but President Yar’Adua was remorseful. In 2019, it is sad to see those who trampled on democracy thumping their noses down on the Nigerian people.

 

Consequently, I hereby reject the result of the February 23, 2019 sham election and will be challenging it in court.

 

I want to assure my supporters and the entire Nigerian people that together, we will not allow democracy to be emasculated.

 

I hope and pray Nigerians will someday summon the courage to defend democracy. That is the only way we can move away from being the world headquarters for extreme poverty.

 

Signed:

Waziri Atiku Abubakar

27th February 2019

I'm Voting for Atiku and this is Why by Bayo Adeyinka.

We are not electing a pastor. We are electing a President. We are not seeking a messiah- we are seeking a man who understands the fundamentals of a modern society and has the requisite wherewithal to provide leadership to a nation. Nigerians are not looking for angels to vote for. We just want someone who will provide reasonable leadership, understand the basics of the economy, demonstrate a balanced understanding of the different geographies that make up Nigeria, be cosmopolitan in approach and be fair to all. Atiku ticks these boxes for me. In addition, out of ALL the candidates, he’s the only one talking about restructuring. 

I believe the greatest danger to Nigeria is Muhammadu Buhari. Never has the nation been so factionalized along tribal and religious lines like now. He has taken nepotism to unprecedented heights. His incompetence stares you so much in the face that you can’t ignore it.

He has pauperized the economy. He has demonstrated sufficient capacity in making bad things worse. His insensitivity is unmistakable. His lack of empathy is unpardonable. All men of goodwill who have the interest of this nation at heart must say enough is enough! I’m not sure this nation can survive another 4 years of Buhari.

I have had people ask: shouldn’t we look the way of younger elements such as Omoyele Sowore, Fela Durotoye, Kingsley Moghalu or Tope Fasua? I’m a pragmatic realist. I used to be a blue-eyed unrealistic optimist but no more. You don’t send a boy to do a man’s job. Sowore does not have the structure to become Nigeria’s President. Can he get people to man the over 120,000 polling units across Nigeria? How many governors will Moghalu’s party YPP produce? How many Reps and Senators? Who knows YPP in Akoko in Ondo State or Odeomu in Osun State? The best candidate so far in terms of ideas is Kingsley Moghalu but he can’t win because he doesn’t have the structures. I have had the opportunity to speak to a few of them to plead that they drop their ego and present just ONE candidate. I truly admire what they have done but courage is totally different from brawn just like strategy is different from energy.

How exactly will upstarts (and I don’t mean this derogatorily) upturn the applecart and cause a major disruption in the process when they can’t even harness the power of unity to cut down a behemoth?

We need to sit down and understand there is a way to hijack power from the establishment. It starts with being united.

We can also hijack by joining already established structures and work our way up. Or by taking a piece at a time. I suggested once to a member of Sowore’s campaign team that he should contest as Governor of Lagos State. His Take It Back campaign will reverberate across Lagos as many are already tired of Tinubu’s stranglehold. Sowore might not have enough resources to cover the entire nation but he has enough resources to cover Lagos. With his incredible energy, he would have covered the 20 Local Governments in Lagos many times over. He has enough street credibility to match MC Oluomo man for man. He will get activists to line behind him and give Tinubu a real fight- unlike Jimi Agbaje who has no fight left in him. You can’t crack palm kernel nuts without making crushing efforts. If he succeeds in taking over Lagos and he transforms the State in such an unprecedented manner in 4 years, he will be ready to negotiate for the whole country. Everyone will beg him to be President. Lagos is the most important State in Nigeria and anyone who has it has a strong bargaining power to chip.  

This is an example of a strategy road map I proffered. If you’re going into a battle, wisdom dictates that you must count the cost whether you have sufficient ammo to finish the battle. If you don’t, you’ll expose your lack of critical thinking- one reason I wasn’t impressed with Oby Ezekwesili. They all have not built sufficient structures to lead or govern a complex entity like Nigeria. Anyhow you want to look at it, rebuilding this nation is a marathon and not a dash. Either way, power is never served a la carte.

The reality on ground- and I do not deceive myself- is that it is either Buhari or Atiku that will win the election. No other party has been able to build structures and penetrate all the 774 Local Governments in the nation. Even illiterates know the broom and the umbrella. Nomads may not be able to operate a smart phone but they know PDP and APC. This is why I don’t think any Third Force will make any reasonable impact. If you can’t make a difference, why bother? The situation on ground is too dicey for experiments. Time is running out on this nation. And this is where I consider the thought of wasting one’s votes on a ‘Third Force’ as illogical and absurd. I have only ONE vote and I intend to make it count. Even the so-called Third Force parties or movements are now busy endorsing either Buhari or Atiku.

I want to address the issue of Atiku’s corruption. When Atiku was with APC, why didn’t they shout about his corruption then? Why did they praise him to highest heavens? Why did Buhari fly in Atiku’s private jet all over Nigeria? Why is he now corrupt when he decamped and left for PDP? Why hasn’t he been convicted if they truly had evidence against him? Why didn’t Lai Mohammed carry out his threat to get him arrested on Bank PHB issue when he travelled to the US?

Let me go deeper. Who are those surrounding Buhari? Is Atiku more corrupt than Tinubu? Or Amaechi is no longer corrupt? Or Fashola who dug two boreholes in Lagos at a cost of N139m as alleged by his own State not corrupt? Is one corruption greater than the other? I don’t want to go into the various scandals emanating from important figures in this administration. No one should pull the wool over our eyes- corruption is alive, well and probably stronger. Am I saying Atiku is not corrupt? No. But has he been convicted? Is he not innocent until he’s proven guilty? He has been out of office for years without immunity- even till now. So if Adams Oshiomole who has a petition against him in EFCC allegedly gathering dust can lead the President’s party, no one in that party should pontificate about the corruption of another. Get a conviction or get out.

Having laid this foundation, I make bold to ask: where has the much touted integrity of Buhari taken Nigeria? We are worse off than we were 4 years ago. Integrity without competence won’t take you anywhere. Buhari doesn’t have it. All the indices that make for a great nation are south ward. People leave this nation in droves daily because they can’t see a future. We need someone who can urgently pull back the chest from the fire. You face an enemy size for size. You don’t confront an enemy who has missiles with a machete. Atiku- warts and all- is the only one who can match Buhari. At least, this is clearly evident from his campaigns all over the nation. His combination with Peter Obi is like a bowl of amala with gbegiri and ewedu garnished with well-tendered goat meat. Both men understand how to run modern businesses. Both men have made a success of their individual careers and businesses.

Atiku is liberal, cosmopolitan, refined and knows how to spot talents. Peter Obi is a great manager of resources and outstanding technocrat who has been exceptional in leadership. Many years out of office, he is yet to be accused of a single case of corruption. We need leaders who will pull the nation back from the brink, heal our divides and restore hope. If there is one thing I know, Atiku will handle the economy better. He will have a much more colourful cabinet. He will not be nepotistic. He won’t lock up El Zak Zakky for months and refuse to release him in spite of court orders. He won’t look away and gloss over the murder of over 300 Shiites. He will heal the divides of this nation. That is not asking for too much.

If Atiku wins and does not perform to expectation within 4 years, we will kick him out too. We will keep changing our leaders until we get the one that is fit for role. This is my stance.

Atiku/Obi is the viable option. Any vote for any other candidate is either a waste or indirectly in support of the incumbent.

I am voting Atiku.

Why That Popular APC Song is Getting Stale and Boring by Dele Momodu.

(A Nigerian protesting against the spurious war on corruption)

Fellow Nigerians, let me say on this page what I have been saying privately to my friends in Nigeria’s ruling party, APC. I must confess that I have much more friends in APC than in any other party. It is also frustrating to me that some of my preferred Presidential candidates are not in either of the two major parties, APC and PDP. Unfortunately, for whatever reason these talented politicians shun the main stream political parties and thus reduce their electability to almost zero. The truth is that, logically, if you find APC disappointing and must try another party, you must, necessarily, end up with PDP. That is the same party many of us worked hard to sack from power just over three years ago, accusing it of atrocious and abominable sins. This is the dilemma many normal Nigerians face. How can we go back to swallow the same vomit that we spewed out only a short while ago because of the odious bile that it had become in our guts? However, these are abnormal times. And it seems that we have been presented with a situation where we must scoop up our own faeces and eat it, in order to survive as a nation. The question I keep asking myself is how did we get to this sorry impasse in so short a time? I simply have no answers.  Where then do we go from here? Do we allow APC to run away with gross incompetence or gobble up our puke by allowing PDP to come back with the attendant risks of returning to those incredibly profligate days? This obviously is a Catch 22 situation. No easy answer, no simple solution.

(Buhari of APC, Nigeria's current president)

What are people saying on the streets? There are many factions, but let me reflect on what several of them think. One. Those who want APC to continue. You may wish to call them Buharists (I was once one of them, they are gentle, mild-mannered and reasonably rational) or the Buharideens (the Buhari fanatics who will never see anything wrong with Buhari or his party no matter how terrible and horrible the facts laid before them are). But they both have some things in common, their unassailable love for Brand Buhari. The deification of Buhari was one of the first miracles of the 21^stcentury. Many have asked, how did a man who was sacked from power in 1985 in a military coup amidst accusations of atrocious misadventures, integrity issues surrounding his aides and friends and colleagues, not to mention horrendous human rights abuses, comatose economy due to voodoonomics (voodoo economics), religious fanaticism and ethnic jingoism, bounce back to become the last saint standing? Buhari must be praised for a job well done. What has made Buhari so attractive to his die-hard acolytes are his supposed incorruptibility, simplicity, and ascetic discipline. Can you argue with them? Not necessary. You can’t win. 

(Atiku of PDP, major presidential contestant in the upcoming election)

Two. We have the supporters of PDP who remained steadfast despite the defeat and disgrace they suffered in the hands of APC in 2015. Notwithstanding the tag of fraudulent and corrupt persons placed on them, these are principled and loyal people because they have stuck to their guns in the face of great adversity and challenges. Indeed, some of them have had cause to jump ship and head for shallow waters at the slightest hint of trouble. They have not been able to withstand the heat.

Three. There are those who migrated from both parties at different times and crisscrossed into one or the other.  There is no feeling or sense of altruism in their bones.

Four. There are those who vowed never to be in either of the two leading parties. Ask them for their reason though and you immediately can see why Nigeria is in the state that it is in. The truth is that these groups of people have a great deal of complex and fear of the unknown which, makes it difficult to do those things which can make them thrive in the circles in which they find themselves.

5. There are radical parties, like those that want to take Nigeria back from the slave masters. Sadly, whilst these parties are probably part of the ultimate solution for the country, they have little crossover appeal to the very people that will benefit from them if they win an election. They are brusque, brash, brazen and brutal. They do not speak the language of the people they seek to represent.  They are so driven by anger that their judgment has been beclouded and impaired.

6. There are those that just want to be seen or heard, and so on. But I’m under no illusion that we have more than two political parties and that these parties can retain or produce the next President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The fringe parties are just too weak and disunited for them to make any appreciable inroads into the fortunes of the two largest parties who hold sway in the political landscape of Nigeria.

Back to the main contenders. The APC believes the only way to retain power is to continue pummelling the PDP into a tight corner from which it cannot emerge, by accusing it of looting and destroying Nigeria in 16 useless years.

The strategy seems very effective, but it is beginning to wear off for certain reasons. While it is true that PDP fumbled, APC cannot make an evergreen song of that. The reason APC is in power is because of promises made that it would do a much better job than PDP. Nearly four years after, nothing drastic has changed from the time PDP was sacked. The argument that the problems caused in 16 years cannot be cleared and settled in four years is not tenable. At the current speed, and attitude, I’m convinced that APC may not be able to do much even if given an open cheque of 20 years.

My favourite analogy is that of someone suffering from chronic ulcer who goes to his Doctor. The usual practice is to quickly check the condition of the patient, check his blood pressure, sugar level, and stabilise him, if need be, before prescribing remedies and administering drugs. A Doctor should never make his condition worse than when he arrived the hospital. In Buhari’s case, he took about six months to assemble a medical team. He took several more months to diagnose the ailments of the patient. Since then, the medical team has never stopped talking about the condition under which the patient was received at the ward. The patient keeps trying to tell the doctors that he is dying in the midst of this unending tirade by the Doctors about the things he did to bring the aliments upon himself. He tries to tell the Doctors that now he has been informed countless times about his deathwish lifestyle, all that he now requires is treatment. However, his pleas and entreaties fall upon deaf ears. The discordant noises being made by the medical team is all that they and the patient hear! By now the medical team should have known what to do to bring the patient’s condition under control, but their obsession with how he was the cause of his medical misfortune makes it impossible for them to offer any prognosis, much less commence the therapy. This is the tragedy of the APC strategy. No one is ever in doubt that Nigeria was in critical condition when it was rushed to the APC intensive care. The PDP Doctors were accused of cluelessness, gross incompetence and grand larceny. No one expected the APC to make matters worse. But, this is what it seems that they have done. One example is the excuse that Nigeria would have collapsed totally if PDP was not sacked but this is mere hypothesis. The Naira was much stronger, but it has collapsed since APC took over and no one knows if and when it would ever recover or whether it will even get worse.

Those who oppose APC have been promoting the following narratives. One. There is no marked difference between APC and PDP. Many of those who were in PDP are now in APC and not one of them has been rejected or sent packing for past misdemeanours. Two. It is uncharitable for APC to say PDP achieved nothing in the 16 years that Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan reigned. If nothing else, they laid the framework and backbone upon which the achievements of the Buhari government are built. 3. If PDP was peopled by devils, who are the saints in APC to which the PDP devils have migrated and welcomed with warm embrace? 4. If PDP did nothing, how come APC is today commissioning so many projects said to have been abandoned by the previous government? 5. APC promised to abolish the fuel subsidy, but it has since increased the subsidy astronomically without any plausible explanation. APC promised to fix refineries, but petroleum products are still being imported heavily and the common man is groaning. APC has increased pump prices and is still paying much more on subsidies. 6. APC promised to cancel medical tourism but the Chief Culprit has been the President himself who has lived abroad intermittently. 7. APC promised not to devalue the Naira yet the Nigerian currency has nose-dived in a kamikaze fall. Its future is uncertain!

The APC on the other hand has its own version of attack against PDP. One. PDP is a party of looters and criminals who ruined Nigeria in 16 years. Two. Anyone who supports PDP is a looter who’s not happy that Buhari has stopped corruption. 3. Most of the companies that collapsed thrived on corruption. 4. APC prefers to complete projects abandoned by PDP, the reason it is yet to start new projects. 5. APC is blocking thieves from looting. 6. No one can accuse Buhari of looting. 7. Buhari is building a new Nigeria.

My prediction is that the popular song and refrain of “looting, looting, looting” may backfire if APC continues to chant the same song repeatedly. Nigerians want action plans and real action time. They would have left PDP in power if they thought the party was doing fine. Two, Atiku Abubakar should not be underrated. I see a lot of similarities in the process that brought Buhari to power. People were simply fed up with Jonathan and his government and this led to a groundswell of opposition against him. It seems Buhari has attracted a worse opprobrium to himself and his government and is following the same path of perdition from which Jonathan never recovered or returned. It is my prayer and fervent hope that Buhari can see the huge chasm ahead and make the necessary adjustments and corrections so that he does not fall and plunge headlong into that similar gaping hole from which he may never surface!

My beloved, that popular APC song is getting stale and boring…

10 Reasons why Corruption has Become Official Govt Policy in Nigeria under Buhari.

The 10 reasons:

Who reinstated and double promoted Maina?

·  Who owns the Ikoyi Apartment $42 million?

·  What has happened to Aisha Buhari’s ADC who looted ₦2.5 billion?

·  Why was the $25 billion NNPC contracts awarded without due process investigated?

·  Why haven’t those beyond Buhari’s padded budget scandals been sacked or charged to court?

·  When will Babachir be charged?

·  How come fuel subsidy has doubled even when petrol price has doubled?

·  Why did President Buhari lift the suspension of the corrupt NHIS boss, Usman Yusuf, before public pressure forced him to suspend him? Why has he not been charged?

·  In May, Transparency International warned that Buhari had increased Security Vote by 600%, yet our soldiers have no weapons and are killed by terrorists. Where is the money going?

·  In February Buhari withdrew $1 billion from the Excess Crude Account to ostensibly fund the war on terror, yet the Chief of Army Staff said after Metele that they have no weapons. Where did that money go?

Nigeria's 2019 Presidential Debate.

2015 Presidential debate



In spite of my deep respect for this veteran columnist, I do hope he is wrong in his assertion that our dear President Buhari will not participate in the up-coming presidential debate with Atiku and the other candidates.

Mr. Atiku Abubakar (PDP candidate)



If seriously, Buhari doesn’t, then he will be vindicating critics (like my humble self) that believe all he wants to do as president is merely to uphold his image as a globetrotter. The man is especially so much in love with Europe that he is ever prepared to visit even the remotest part of the continent for the most mundane reason. And by the next presidential election, Buhari’s campaign tune would probably be “Ajala travels all over the world…” by Ebenezer Obey.

Mr. Mohammed Buhari (APC candidate)

It’s not fair and neither is it commonsensical for the president who cannot delegate any of the foreign trips to Osibanjo, his vice president, to suddenly now turn around to delegate the poor VP to represent him at presidential debates. That will be an admission of a very low self-esteem on the part of the president.

Nigeria's Abubakar Promises to Boost oil Investment and cut Subsidies if Elected.

Nigeria's main opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar said on Monday he will boost oil sector investment, cut costly fuel subsidies and double the size of the economy by 2025 if he wins next year's presidential election.

The businessman and former vice president portrayed himself as a champion of the private sector as he released his manifesto and set out his plans to stop incumbent Muhammadu Buhari securing a second term in February.
There are few reliable opinion polls in Nigeria, Africa's largest oil producer. But Abubakar is seen as a substantial challenger to Buhari, a former military leader who has suffered a run of defections, overseen a stumbling economy and struggled to contain militant violence in the northeast.
The opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) candidate is, like Buhari, a northerner - but analysts say his business background, in port logistics among other ventures, has won him supporters among the southern business elite.
"I will be proactive in attracting investment and supporting the 50 million small and medium scale enterprises across Nigeria for the purpose of doubling the size of our GDP to $900 billion by 2025," Abubakar said in a video message.
"These investments will create a minimum of 2.5 million jobs annually and lift at least 50 million people from poverty in the first two years," he added.
In the manifesto, Abubakar said he would privatise government-owned crude refineries, issue new licenses for greenfield investments in refineries and consider re-introducing bidding rounds for marginal fields and oil blocks.
The plan, the manifesto said, would make sure Nigeria refined half its current crude output of roughly 2 million barrels per day by 2020.

OIL

Nigeria remains largely dependent on sales of oil, which make up roughly two-thirds of government revenues. But it refines almost none of its crude, instead exporting what it produces and paying to import refined products - a large drain on the country's wealth.
Abubakar said he would eliminate subsidies on imported fuel and let the market determine the price, a potentially risky strategy in a country where even rumours of price hikes have triggered violence.
The candidate also vowed to invest $90 billion in infrastructure annually over the next five years, and set up a $20 billion infrastructure debt fund with private backing to finance projects.
He said he would sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement. Buhari has up to now kept out of the continent-wide pact, saying he wants to carry out wider consultations.
Abubakar's manifesto re-iterated his plan to partially privatise state oil firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Buhari's government has tried to keep tight control of exchange rates as the naira weakened in the face of global oil price declines.
Abubakar's manifesto said the exchange rate controls were an issue. But it stopped short of saying whether he would end them.

Buhari - who in 2015 became the first opposition candidate to oust a president through the ballot box - has promised to keep up his campaign against corruption.

How Buhari Lowered the bar of Governance by Farooq A. Kperogi.

In a previous column, I argued that President Muhammadu Buhari has so lowered the bar of governance that it won’t take a lot for any person who succeeds him to impress Nigerians. So the best campaign against Buhari is to promise not to be like him, which is really sad because there is much more at stake in the task of governing Nigeria than just transcending Buhari’s incompetence and mediocrity.

President Buhari (shown above)

Atiku Abubakar has started to excite voters by promising to not be like Buhari. On October 12, for instance, Atiku’s statement on Twitter that he won’t take six months to name his ministersresonated wildly with a lot of Nigerians. It reminded people that Buhari took six months to assemble the least impressive cabinet in Nigeria’s recent history, which is peopled by NYSC dodgers, certificate forgers, malefactors, liars, etc.

I extensively researched to see which other country in the world in recent memory elected a president who took six months to name his or her cabinet. There was none. So promising to name a cabinet shortly after inauguration ordinarily shouldn’t be a campaign promise because that’s what every elected president is expected to do. But you can’t fault Atiku because Buhari has lowered the bar to an unprecedented degree.

Atiku also promised that 40 percent of his cabinet would be composed of women and young people. Again, ordinarily, that would have been uninspiring, even condemnable, because the promise implies that 60 percent of his cabinet would be composed of old men, which is unfair, unbalanced, and regressive. However, look at Buhari’s cabinet, which he has failed to rejig in more than three years, and you will see why such an unimpressive pledge would strike a chord with Nigerian voters.

Mr. Atiku Abubaka (Top contender in the 2019 presidential election)

See below an excerpt from my February 3, 2018 column titled “How Buhari Has Lowered the Bar of Governance” to gain an insight into why Atiku’s popularity has been soaring in the last few days. Buhari’s unexampled incompetence is propelling Atiku to heights he is unworthy of:

“I had hoped that even if Buhari wasn’t a stellar president, he would at least not lower the bar. But that is precisely what he has done. He has set the bar of governance so low that all it would take for any president who comes after him to impress us is to:

1. Constitute his cabinet within a few days of being sworn in. It took Buhari nearly six months to appoint his cabinet, which is the worst record in Nigeria’s entire history. It slowed the country and hurt the economy. On September 17, 2015 when France 24’s François Picard asked him why he hadn’t named his ministers months after being sworn in, he said ministers were worthless and just “make a lot of noise.” That was a low point. And the cabinet he took months to put together turned out to be one of the most colorless and lackluster in Nigeria’s history.

Lagos City (Nigeria)

2. Appoint members of governing boards of government agencies in the first few months of being in power. It took Buhari nearly three years to do this. Since government agencies can’t legally function without governing boards, governance basically halted for more than half of Buhari’s first term. That’s why I once observed that while previous administrations were guilty of misgovernance, Buhari is, for the most part, guilty of “ungovernance,” which is worse.

3. Not be so incompetent as to appoint dead people into government—and living people without first consulting them.

4. Periodically speak to Nigerians through the domestic media, not when he is abroad.

5. Personally visit sites of national tragedy, show emotion, and make national broadcasts to reassure a grieving nation. In my March 18, 2017 column titled, “Why Buhari Should Learn from Osinbajo,” I wrote:

“In a tragic irony, it took Buhari’s sickness for Nigeria to get a chance at some health. It also took his absence for the country to feel some presence of leadership. Why did it take the ascendancy of Osinbajo to the acting presidency for this to happen? The answer is simple: symbolic presence. Buhari lacked symbolic presence in the 20 months he was in charge.”

6. Have an economic team made up of economists and not, as Buhari has done, appoint a diplomat as an economic adviser and then push him to the gaunt fringes of the Vice President’s office.

7. Reflect token religious, regional, and national diversity in appointments. Buhari won a national mandate, but his appointments are, as I’ve pointed out in previous columns, undisguisedly Arewacentric. His personal example shows that he doesn’t believe in one Nigeria, yet he often insists that Nigeria’s unity is “non-negotiable.” That’s unreasonable.

8. Not lie shamelessly about self-evident facts.

9.  Not budget billions for Aso Rock Clinic and yet starve it of basic medicines (so much so that his own wife and daughter would complain openly) and then fly to London for medical treatment at the drop of a hat even for “ear infections” and “breathing difficulties.”

10.  Not have a compulsive runawayist impulsethat ensures that he travels out of the country at the slightest opportunity and for the silliest reasons.

11. Even pretend that the whole of Nigeria is his constituency—including those who gave him “97%” of their votes and those who gave him only “5%” of their votes.

12. Add to the list

Sadly, these are really basic things that shouldn’t attract any praise. There is no greater evidence that Nigeria has regressed really badly in almost every index in Buhari’s less than 3 years of being in power than the reality of these grim facts.

And he wants you to extend this national tragedy for another 4 years in 2019? Well, it’s up to you. If that's what Nigerians want, who am I to deny them the "luxury" to inflict self-violence on themselves?

But what I won’t take is the narrative being promoted by apologists and beneficiaries of the government that there is no one better than Buhari at this time. On the contrary, it’s actually practically impossible to be worse than Buhari because he has brought Nigeria to the ground zero of incompetence, so almost anybody would be better than him. He descended from the zenith of “Sai Baba” to the slope of “Baba Go-slow” and finally to the nadir of “Baba Standstill.” It can’t get worse than that.”