The Hausa/Fulani North and the rest of Nigeria.by Lasisi Olagunju.

“I know that no captor, no slave owner wants the captive free. I know that the day the fool gains wisdom is the day the wise loses his power. But since Buhari no longer needs the Almajiri as the tap root of his electoral power, he should use his last years to assist all of us by taking his 'boys and girls' to school. It will help the future of Nigeria if the North gives us men and women who have competence and knowledge to contribute to the national asset pool.

Poor, illiterate Northern Kids

We just had an election in which the two major candidates were northerners. An election conducted by a president who is from the North and by an INEC chairman who is also from the North. These men just gave us a challenged presidential poll closely guarded by security chiefs all from the North. The North, through this election, has told us clearly that it owns the yam and the knife of Nigeria. It should therefore learn to be a responsible husband, doing things well and tidying up properly going forward. I would have said that we need an educated North to give us a believable election in 2023 but my friend would counter that. My friend would say 2023 is too soon for our unprepared North to do right. So how long should we wait for the North to be ready for excellence? This 2019 stuff is sick and sickening. Was it INEC's incompetence or pure mischief that figures in our 2019 presidential election became problematic? The figures announced by Professor Mahmood Yakubu are these:

Total number of registered voters: 82,344,107

Total number of accredited voters: 29,364,209

Total votes cast: 28,614,190

Total Valid votes: 27,324,583

Rejected votes: 1,289,607

Did INEC not tell us some hours to the elections that it registered a total of 84,004,084 voters? So where did it get the new number of 82,344,107 as our total registered voters? What happened to the balance of 1,659,977 voters? Did they vote in that election and if they did, where are their votes? Or they died before the elections or they went on exile renouncing their citizenship? Or they reside in Sambisa forest where there were (are) no polling booths? What happened to them

 

A Northern Nigerian King

Again, why did INEC announce different figures for accredited voters and for total votes cast when all of us who voted saw clearly that voting and accreditation were done simultaneously? INEC said accredited voters were 29,364,209 and total votes cast 28,614,190. Between those two figures are 750,019 voters and their votes. What happened to them? Or did INEC give ballot papers to these almost a million persons who took the ballot papers home instead of dropping them in the ballot box? Then there is the huge number of rejected (cancelled) votes - 1,289,607 (4.5percent of total votes cast). What explanation has INEC for these? Or, again, is it too much to demand reasons for the wasted efforts of millions of our compatriots?

Above all, if you have Buhari's ears, tell him to help us by educating the children of the North. They should not be useful only on election days.” 

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

The Urgent Need for the Political Restructuring of Nigeria.

In the electoral battle between Buhari and Atiku, there are various interest groups. In the core north, there is not much dilemma because both Atiku and Buhari are Fulani muslims. The only exception is in the choice to be made by the Christian north whose people have been consistently attacked and murdered because they dare practice a religion other than Islam.

In the south, there are people supporting Buhari because, to them, it's a sure way for Osibanjo (a Yoruba) to become president in 2023.  And there are those in support of Atiku so that Obi (an Igbo) can have a shot at the presidency in 2023. How myopic both ethnic groups are! Who gives them the guarantee that, come 2023, another Fulani will not emerge as a presidential candidate?

However, there are some of us, moreso in the south, who don't really care much about the current dispensation. Rather, our interest lays in the desire for the nation's restructuring. 

Now, let's assume that Buhari wins the 2019 election and a Yoruba becomes the President in 2023, what did 8 years of Obasanjo's tenure fetch the Yoruba land and its people? The people were still held back in terms of education and socio-economic growth.

And what has the four years of Osinbajo as a vice president  earned or contributed to the educational and the socio-economic growth of the Yoruba land? The man has merely been turned into a glorified office boy and disrespected at every opportunity.

As for the Igbo/south-south, what gains in terms of economic and educational growth accrued to them in all the years Jonathan was the vice president and president respectively?

While Buhari will never "upset the apple cart" to hurt the political and economic interests of his Fulani people, Atiku has, at least promised to allow the restructuring process to take place. In Nigeria, what does it really matter in future political calculations whether an ethnic group in the south produces the Nigerian president when the same people of the south will still be considered as second-class citizens as reflected in Buhari's lopsided appointments into sensitive positions?

Those of us in the southwest can still remember vividly the achievements of the then Western Region under the great Chief Obafemi Awolowo. One could imagine how frustrating it would have been for Chief Awolowo if the nation's structure then was as it is now. Definitely, he would not have been able to build the very first TV or International stadium in Africa. There would have been no Cocoa House (the then tallest in Africa). And, of course, the beneficiaries of the region's free education program would have been frustrated with lack of jobs, especially, at the federal level.

Such was the sad fate of Alhaji Jakande (the erstwhile governor of Lagos State) when he tried to build the first metro line in Nigeria. Who frustrated him? The Fulani hegemonic leaders (Shagari and Buhari). Yes, the same Buhari that is now commissioning imported second-hand trains in Lagos!

The Message Nigerians Must Deliver to Buhari Next Week by Dele Momodu.

Momodu (left) and Buhari

Fellow Nigerians, please, permit me to make some quick clarifications in this season of general bickering and mutual distrust and spiteful hatred. One. I do not work for any campaign organisation. I’m supporting the PDP candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, same way I voluntarily supported Major General Muhammadu Buhari in 2015. I do so because there is no viable or electable alternative among the fringe candidates. I believe it is within my fundamental right of association and freedom of speech to support whosoever I wish. Similarly, I respect the rights of others to support any candidate of their choice and see no reason why anyone should get angry and jittery over mine.

 

Two. I did not choose Atiku for pecuniary or any other gain. I have not been paid by him or anybody acting on his behalf. I would not sell myself where the future of my country, Nigeria, is concerned. As I write, I’m already on my way to Oxford University to resume and engage in academic ventures for the next six months. I’m gainfully employed and happy and content to manage my modest income, so I’m not desperate for government appointment or patronage, as the social media trolls try to suggest about opposition figures. But I cannot watch my country disintegrate or watch an incompetent government drown our dear beloved country in an ocean of bigotry, backwardness, bitterness and bestiality. I owe it to myself, and fellow compatriots, to stand for truth, and nothing but the truth, as one of those it has pleased God to give some visibility and voice globally. What shall it profit a man who keeps silent in the face of unbridled tyranny and abysmal cluelessness. If I wished, I could have supported PDP in the 2015 elections. Every comfort was assured and guaranteed. But I chose to support a supposed poor man we believed would be a Mandela figure that would rescue us from the scourge of PDP. Little did I imagine we were in the process of inviting a worse pestilence on our nation.

 

Three. I bear no grudge or personal animosity against Buhari. I love him the way I love mankind and respect the office he occupies which I once attempted to enter when I contested in 2011. I believe President Muhammadu Buhari has not reciprocated the massive goodwill bestowed on him in 2015 and that he has treated us with great contempt and disdain. He has also not properly utilised his professional, competent and capable Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. Had he done so, maybe we would now be saying something else. This is not to cause any disaffection within their ranks, but every discerning Nigerian knows that this quintessential gentleman is the reason that there is any real noteworthy success for this administration. Otherwise, Buhari has embarrassed his supporters, endlessly, with his reckless, insensitive and uninformed decisions. What many of those supporting him in public today say behind him is unbelievable and unspeakable. I have friends who confess to private threats of business and physical annihilation and are thus forced to endorse a man they know can never take Nigeria to anywhere meaningful, even if given four terms.

  

Four. I have tried strenuously to be fair to Buhari and wrote copiously to advise him, from time to time, as I promised him when we met in his office, one on one, in 2015. I gave up hope, after some time, when I saw the direction he was headed and noticed the irredeemable obstinacy in his DNA. Four years ago, many of us were very excited about the hope this great General offered to our nation. Perhaps, we overrated his capabilities. It has become clear that we wittingly dressed him in borrowed robes and we were all hypnotised and brainwashed, somehow. Today, our eyes have cleared from that giddiness and I’m ready to add my voice to those of others who genuinely believe, Buhari must go. I do this with every sense of responsibility to God and to my country. I will give my reasons shortly.

 

I have had to apologise in the last couple of months to those who feel very aggrieved that a self-confessed democrat like me could ever support a blatant dictator like Buhari. You can never imagine the gale of verbal attacks I suffered and endured for what I considered my innocuous support. The last one that really hit me was in Ghana recently. I ran into the respected Legal luminary, Mr Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, at the lounge in Kotoka International Airport. There were two ladies seated with him, one of who I believe is his wife. I greeted them but the other lady snubbed me, and said, “Dele, I will never greet you.” I looked blank and wondered if we’ve ever met, and how I might have offended her. Madam soon threw a sucker punch. “Dele, you are one of those who brought that disaster called Buhari on us…” and she went into her tirade. I tried to explain that I’m indeed very sorry and it was not my fault that I fell for the charms and scam of APC. The woman was practically inconsolable.

 

I have encountered many people like her. A guy almost went physical with me on a flight to London, grumbling aloud about how some of Buhari’s ignorant decisions have messed up Nigeria, his business and family. All I could do was plead for understanding. Unfortunately, Buhari himself is totally oblivious to the way Nigerians feel or just couldn’t be bothered or is probably insulated from objective criticism by selfish advisers. The tragedy of it all is his Messianic complex. He and his cronies behave as if Nigerians owe them a load of gratitude for favours received. Such hocus-pocus and inanity.

 

I have no iota of doubt left in me that President Muhammadu Buhari has performed well below expectations and that he should be voted out, peacefully, on February 16, 2019. The message should be clear henceforth that there is no automatic second term for incompetence, irresponsibility, irreverence and impunity. It is a miracle that Nigeria has not exploded into a civil war with the manner Buhari has treated some parts as second-class citizens with no right to complain. Let me now give reasons why we cannot afford to donate a second term to Buhari when he has clearly not earned it.

 

One. At 76, and with a failing health, Buhari should go into permanent retirement at the expiration of his tenure on May 29, 2019. No man can cheat nature and Buhari isn’t an exception.

 

Two. Buhari has not been in charge or on top of government and governance since he assumed office on May 29, 2015. Some cronies, otherwise known and addressed as ‘the cabal’, have been ruling without being elected. This can only get worse if Buhari is awarded a second term through our collective stupidity.

 

Three. The human rights record of Buhari has never been anything to praise or applaud at any time. Nothing has changed since he was kicked out of power by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1985. He has refused to adhere to the rule of law and has continued to trample on the rights of Nigerian citizens despite several court orders. What makes matters worse is that he behaves like Constantin Demiris, a character in Sidney Sheldon’s Memories of Midnight, who never forgets a favour and never forgives an injury. He has kept his presumed enemies in prison, indefinitely and compensated a few of his benefactors with appointments. Buhari does not hold the Constitution of Nigeria dear to heart and as such behaves with maximum use of force. His goons have been harassing the Legislature and the Judiciary on the pretext that they are fighting corruption, but they deliberately target those they consider inimical to their hold on power. They have invaded homes of Judges in the middle of the night, breaking down doors, and swarmed on the National Assembly with thugs and later with hooded and gun-totting secret agents in broad daylight. He has suspended the Chief Justice of Nigeria when he has neither the authority nor the power to do so. Buhari and those who support this brigandage and total assault on recognised and reverent principles of law and established constitutional institutions choose to forget that the worst kind of corruption is the abuse of power itself.  When it is for ulterior and base motives, as is now obviously the case, it becomes a menace that all well-meaning and true democrats must resist with all their might. There can be no excuse or justification. Otherwise we may as well embrace not just dictatorship, but anarchy.

 

Four. Buhari has been a divisive leader who appears not to believe in the unity of Nigeria. Under his government, Nigeria and Nigerians have been more divided. The lop-sidedness of his security appointments have been dangerously fixated on people of the same ethnic group and religious persuasion, and he does it with nonchalance and condescension. If you like, jump into the Atlantic Ocean, our President won’t blink an eye. He claims, with a straight face that he makes appointments on merit, but we’ve not seen the reflection and positive effects of this merit on the war against corruption, terrorists and insurgents.

 

Five. Buhari’s economic blueprint has been more involved in his stereotypical tightening up the noose on the economy, scaring investors away with ill-thought economic policies and reversal of contractual obligations without negotiations with parties involved, instead of opening up the economy.  This has all happened because of his obsession with so-called corruption. Yet, under his watch, not much has been achieved because of his desperation to hold on to power. This has forced him to compromise, capitulate and led him to bring the biggest and possibly most corrupt chieftains of other parties closer to him. He turns the proverbial blind eye to the infamous activities of these nefarious characters because they are perceived as being able to achieve his unbridled ambition for a second term. He had lost elections on three previous occasions and only won when he got the so-called bad guys to help him attain power. Right now, he is heavily relying on them again to bail him out of imminent defeat next week. And this is the man who falsely claims to espouse anti-corruption credentials and touts himself as a man of integrity.

 

Six. Buhari has failed spectacularly on all his major campaign promises. Nigeria is far worse than he met it. I will be the first to congratulate the government on its achievements in the rail sector and also the success with the militant problem in the Niger Delta. Other than that, he could not even stabilise what he inherited talk less of improving on it. His government has been struggling to control the free-fall of the Naira against the Dollar. He has not been able to cancel and eliminate fuel subsidies which he once described as a big scam and on which the corruption fight has been largely hinged. In fact, payments have more than doubled and the NNPC now holds a monopoly on importation of petroleum products with attendant risk of corruption in high places. We are none the wiser about security spending by him. This was the second plank on which the anti-corruption war was predicated. Loans have ballooned astronomically, yet infrastructure development remains outlandishly backward. We only get to read about monumental achievements on paper.

 

Seven. The last but not the least in my view is the perpetual and puerile blame game. Four years after getting power from PDP, Buhari has not stopped blaming his predecessors, forgetting that this was precisely the reason PDP was sacked from power. Buhari won those elections not on his own accord, but because the general populace had become totally disenchanted with PDP, it’s profligacy, looting and mendacity. Sadly, It seems we have come full circle. Since Buhari has shown the inability to perform the magic he promised, it is time to send him back home, with the sure message that whosoever comes next will suffer the same fate. It is a democratic template we must put in place now and forever. Otherwise, we must accept whatever fate befalls our dear country.

 

The world is watching.

A Reminder from Shehu Sani About Nigeria's President Buhari.

President Buhari of Nigeria.

If Buhari didn't win in 2015, we would have thought by now that Nigeria would have been like London.

Thank God he won for everyone to know that he can't perform magic.

Buhari said he did not know anything called subsidy. You clapped.

He later paid subsidy. You clapped again.

He said he would never devalue the Naira. You clapped.

He devalued the Naira. You clapped.

He said he would make N1 equal to $1. You clapped.

$1 now officially equals N350. You are still clapping.

He said he would reduce petrol price to N40, you clapped.

Now petrol price is N145, you clapped and even protested in support.

He said he would turn all presidential jets to national carrier. You clapped.

Today, he and his family are cruising on all presidential jets. You are clapping.

He said he would build one new refinery each year. You clapped.

It’s more than three years. No refinery has been built. You are still clapping.

When he cancelled Military road blocks, you clapped.

When he asked them to go back, you clapped.

When PMB promised to end medical tourism, you clapped.

When he spent several months in the UK hospital and allowed local doctors to go on strike, you clapped.

And as I am typing now, some Nigerians are still clapping....in need of a brain reset.

 

Shehu Sani.

Buhari no Longer the Only Problem in Nigeria by Abimbola Adelakun.

At some point, future historians of the present will give Donald Trump some credit for aptly summarising the dynamics of political following of our time. During his presidential campaigns, he bragged that he was so loved by his followers that he could shoot someone in public and not lose any voter. He has been right so far. There is virtually nothing he does wrong that has cost him in the way other politicians have paid for lesser sins. His supporters bend over to ameliorate the impact of his misdemeanors. The things they criticised President Barack Obama for are now justifiable; the Obama achievements they once downplayed as inconsequential now matter because Trump achieved similar feats.

Trump supporters, with their fervent devotion to him, mirror President Muhammadu Buhari’s supporters. By now, we can bet that Buhari can dagger someone in Wuse market at noon and they will claim it was necessary to fight corruption. I have come to understand about Buhari’s supporters by watching Trump’s, and I see that Trump supporters’ actions can predict Buhari supporters’ too. No matter how vastly different the two countries and their democracies may be, there is a fundamental strain in the following of both men that has transcended space and time. They are hyper-partisan, and there is no misdemeanour by the president, no matter its projected impact on democratic institutions, that is abominable enough to alarm them.

President Buhari (Left) and Senate President (Saraki)



Part of this uncritical devotion has to do with the manner the electoral victory was won. It was a hard-won contest, one for which people had to summon their most primal instinct and tribal identity as a mobilizing factor. In the US, it was racism, subtended by sexism and social anxieties induced by history. In Nigeria, it was a tribal victory underlined by the All Progressives Congress propaganda about fighting corruption. Now, with their win in the bag, these voters find themselves tasked with protecting the electoral success at the expense of democracy itself. What is at stake for them is no longer the end goal of democracy – social flourishing – but holding up their President’s banner as a middle finger to the other side that was defeated. They have adjusted their social expectations to match whatever the leader manages to achieve, and actual dividends of democracy are now considered a by-product.

Since Buhari was inaugurated as President, everything that has gone wrong has been the fault of everyone and everything but himself. What do his followers say to this? Sai Baba!

When the economy under him tanked, it was not because Buhari failed to apprehend the complexity of building an economy but because corruption money was no longer flowing freely. From Boko Haram to herdsmen and civil conflicts, security under Buhari has degenerated badly, but his followers will rather live with the hazards to their own lives than admit he is not getting it right. Buhari promised to fight corruption, but his government itself has become a monument to corruption. From party members to the blatant and incoherent lies this government tells about the progress of their administration, the entire structure of the APC reeks of rotting flesh but what does it matter to his followers? They work hard to convince themselves that what they have is the best it could get.

Buhari's supporters

Buharism has become a form of pietism, a ritual of religious devotion that demands a sacrifice of logic and reason in order to realize itself.

In the past one week, I have watched Buhari’s followers argue that it does not matter if Buhari’s niece, Amina Zakari, does not recuse herself from the election in which Buhari has a stake. To them, there is no conflict of interests even when the interests involved in the election include that of Buhari. These crusaders stridently argue that the woman is not central to the electoral process. Yet, they cannot connect the logic that if she is not indispensable to the election, it is the more reason she can easily recuse herself. If the woman herself has a sense of ethics, why is she so insistent on being a part of the election, letting her recalcitrance cast aspersions on the process?

Again, the invasion of the Daily Trust by the military alone should have led to a mass outrage, but we have been so busy fending off the illogic of Buharists there is not enough energy left to challenge the arrangement that allows soldiers to invade the media in broad daylight. They claimed they wanted to invite the pressmen over to talk about their publication, but why the Abacha-era invasion style? We should all be worried what these people will do if they win a second term. They will not only abandon governance; they will pillage the media and turn other arms of government into dust.

Nigeria approaches the polls, and the future after February is pretty gloomy. Any honest person who watched the Buhari interview with Arise TV would be concerned too. Given Buhari’s poorly thought-out responses on most issues, we should be bothered if such a mind can steer the ship of this nation for another four years without us hitting the rocks. Many people are concerned, most are not just saying it out. As the Chibuike Amaechi’s “secret” tapes have shown us, even in private, the APC members know that corruption is still rife in Nigeria, that social and economic conditions have declined, and that despite all the cheap propaganda, Lagos is not working. They know the truth, but it cannot set them free because they are their own jailers.

The only people who cannot admit the truth to themselves are Buhari’s followers. I have seen them argue that Buhari’s best efforts are hampered by due process and he should, therefore, suspend the constitution. They say it does not matter if the election was rigged in his favor, and they care less if he uses public funds to run his campaign. Their ethical thermostat is regulated by purely partisan sentiments and by now it should be evident that no rhyme or reason can ever sway them. They have reposed an identity complex in Buhari and relinquished every desire of theirs into their single agenda of a Buhari triumph.

This form of tribalism is not new. Since forever, humans have always tended to descend into tribal formations, but we now live in an age where the new media has amplified this penchant. Leaders, aware of this divisiveness in the polity, further muddle the pool. Their strategy for getting away with their sins is to continuously appeal to the lowest common denominator that binds their followers’ instincts. From America to Nigeria, tribalism reigns and it brings out the beast in people. The major difference is that the US is lucky to have a strong civil society to rein in the president’s recklessness. Nigeria’s civil society activists who made a lot of noise during the 16 years of the PDP are now mostly mute, severely compromised by their entanglements with the APC.

Five weeks to the election, I no longer think that only Buhari is the problem that needs to be overcome. We also need to defeat his voters and the negative energy they pour into the public sphere to shortchange everyone our due democratic dividends. Because this tribe of supporters is driven by a primal vigor, they are untiring, and they exhaust the rest of us who want a debate of issues that have to do with how democracy will guarantee a better life for all of us. They let the President get away with a ruinous attack on institutions, manipulate the representative nature of democracy to keep the worst of us in power and infect everywhere with their toxicity. The President, aware of the animosity in the polity, keeps sowing seeds of discord so that no one will have time to focus on his failings. Those of us who are interested in a Nigeria beyond Buhari will have to remain focused and find a way to argue above – not with –  these rabid followers who drag down everyone with their extreme partisanship support.

Nigeria's Buhari to face political heavyweight in re-election bid.

As per reports from AFP, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari (shown below) will run for re-election in February 2019 against former vice president Atiku Abubakar (shown above), a Muslim from the country's north who was nominated on Sunday as the main opposition party's poll contender.

Buhari, a 75-year-old former military ruler, was the sole candidate for his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party, so his confirmation by some 7,000 delegates gathered in the capital Abuja was a mere formality on Saturday.

The APC swept to power in 2015 with the first opposition victory at the ballot box in the country's history. But next year's presidential race appears to have tightened in recent months with the APC hit by a wave of defections over Buhari's leadership style. On Sunday, delegates to a convention of the former ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in Port Harcourt, nominated Abubakar, 71, as his challenger for next year's poll.

Reacting to the nomination, the presidency congratulated Abubakar but added that it "noted with interest all the reports in the media as to massive vote-buying at the PDP primaries. One wonders what such a candidate would do with public funds," the statement added.

The politician cum business tycoon has made four previous bids for the top job in Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation. Abubakar comes from the Muslim-majority north, and his nomination follows an unwritten rule in Nigeria that the presidency should alternate every two terms between a candidate from the north and south. Despite humble beginnings in northern Nigeria, he rose through the ranks of the customs service for two decades before entering the private sector, investing in oil services and agriculture, among others. From there he joined the civilian government where he became one of Nigeria's most recognisable and enduring politicians. But he has been dogged by controversies over his numerous wives and more than 20 children as well as corruption allegations.

'Baba Go Slow' - Buhari, the retired general who headed a military regime in the 1980s, has faced growing pressure to step down because of failing health after spending several months in London last year receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment. Dubbed "Baba Go Slow" because he took six months to appoint cabinet ministers, he has also faced attacks for his handling of the economy, which plunged into recession in 2016. He has also come under criticism on security issues, including the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, long-running farmer-herder clashes in the centre and militancy and kidnapping in the south.

We Must Vote.

 

"Too many of my friends gave their lives for our right to vote. I think about them every time I step into the voting booth.

I remember their faces, the sounds of their voices. I wonder what could have been, had we not been cheated of their light - of their lives.  

We must never, ever forget their sacrifice. We must honor it and cherish it. Tell your friends: We must vote."

- John Lewis, Congressman for Georgia 's Fifth District, civil rights hero, and author of March.



The Beginning of a New Era in Nigeria.

Today, inside the largest black nation in the world, something unprecedented took place a few hours earlier in the day. The erstwhile Nigeria’s president (Goodluck Jonathan) voluntarily stepped down from the exalted office after losing the presidential election to his opponent. To this end, Muhammadu Buhari was duly sworn-in as the new president. This great, unsurpassed political development will have a profound effect on the political future of sub-Saharan Africa and the global community. God bless Nigeria!

Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari rides in a motorcade while inspecting the guard of honour at Eagle Square in Abuja, Nigeria May 29, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde.

Slander as a Loser's Tool.