I’ll try to keep this brief.
Four years have gone by rather quickly.
This time 4 years ago, Dasuki was in Chatham House, justifying to the world the postponement of the 2015 elections using dubious reasons. And back in Nigeria, I was on full blast on social media, telling everyone who cared and didn’t care to listen, that Buhari was the best choice and Jonathan had to go.
To me, it was such a clear choice.
A choice between an inherently corrupt PDP government that was ceding land to Boko Haram like Lagos does to Tinubu and Mr Integrity led APC who promised us CHANGE.
In less than four years, the change don change for my eye.
Unlike in all previous elections where I had been vocal about my position (In ‘93, I remember arguing with Enaholo in Primary 5 why Tofa was actually the answer – my daddy said so) this time has been different. I have been almost mute. And it hasn’t helped that I am on a break from active social media posting.
So this post is for me to publicly record my position and serves as a response to those who somehow think my political position is relevant to them.
Buhari vs. Atiku.
On one hand, we have Buhari – I gave my ‘final’ verdict on the Buhari administration almost 2 years ago. He failed. I am not here to argue if he did better than Jonathan. Once you have Jonathan as your yardstick in governance, you have already failed.
And on the other hand, we have a party crime family in the name of PDP being led by Atiku.
So it is a choice between corruption and economic incompetence coated with faux integrity, and gross corruption coated with pseudo economic brilliance.
What a choice?!
However, gun to head, I will say Buhari should lose even if it means Atiku will become president.
My hope is that, once it becomes the norm to be kicked out if you fail, then maybe great performance in the first term will be the only gamble a sitting president will take.
However, the tarnished image of PDP (how the hell didn’t they change their name?!), the aloofness of their big hitters (neither their living past Presidents nor current governors participated in the campaigns), and the very poor strategic choice in running mate (plan politics with Ndi Igbo Lefeledum, really?) combined with the relative sincere rabidness of Buhari’s unpaid followers, plus the rather smart and brute powers behind Buhari, nick it for the incumbent.
Were UK and US not distracted with Brexit and Trump respectively, I would have been bold enough to bet that we would see a runoff. But with the nuisance of Obasanjo and his international friends, one can never tell.
So who am I voting for?
My friends and family bitterly accuse(d) me of making Buhari president. It was not until 2015 that I realized that my vote counted 2 million times spread accordingly as needed. So this time around, and for the first time since I became eligible, I will not be voting. I misplaced my voter’s card and decided not to get another so I will not make a wrong choice for the nation.
So go ahead my good friends, and like our President advised in Ogun State, vote for whoever you want. Your vote is your right, so do with it as you please.
NB:
How about the third faorce? you ask me.
The Presidential election is all about party distribution. Coca Cola level distribution and not Nuli Juice popularity in Lekki and environs.
Of the other candidates though, only Sowore’s AAC has the right foundation to shake things in the future. Perhaps harness the activist constituency duplicitous Labour abandoned a long time ago. We’ll see.
But I must commend the others for sticking their heads out. Ko easy to come out and state you