That Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is back to battle for the presidential diadem for the fourth time is fiddler’s news. That he has gone for another pastor is also a stale piece of news. Perceived as a religious bigot, the People’s General, so fondly referred to by his admirers, was accused at one time (was it in the build-up to the 2003 presidential poll?) to have called on Muslim electorate not to vote for a Christian presidential candidate. That declaration, which his traducers could not prove, stood against the General for a very long time. I am surprised that the mantra has been laid to rest. Not much was heard about the accusation in the race for 2007. So far, the anti-corruption czar has also been spared the spiritual brush this time around.
Perhaps what has smothered the accusation is Buhari’s choice of a running mate. In 2003, Buhari picked the loquacious political scientist and a nominal Christian, Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, as his running mate. That did not douse the suspicion in the Christendom. For the 2011 race, he settled for a man of God in person of the maverick Pastor Tunde Bakare, on the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Though highly respected and well-known for his stance against what he calls Pentecostal rascality – euphemism for inherent shenanigans in the new generation churches – Bakare was seen as a black sheep in the Christendom. His fellow pastors did not like him for being too vocal and hyper critical of their modus operandi. He was even said to have read and vandalised a book written by his fellow man of God he did not breathe the same spiritual air with.
If Buhari’s strategy to win the sympathy of Christians and their votes was to pick not only a Christian but also a minister of the gospel, he misfired. Although he performed better at the 2011 poll compared to those of 2003 and 2007, his strength concentrated mainly in the North was no match for the incumbent helmsman, President Goodluck Jonathan, who made serious inroads into his stronghold weakened by the northern minorities, and had the South-south, South-east and South-west under his thumb. Jonathan had Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to thank for the electoral windfall. Ex-super cop and anti-corruption hound, Nuhu Ribadu, who flew the 2011 presidential flag of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) led by Tinubu received minimal votes in the South-western states save Osun. As a reward for delivering massive presidential votes to Jonathan, the South-westerners were denied juicy appointments at the centre. Hon. Mulikat Akande came close to being garbed as the speaker of the House of Representatives but she lost out to the incumbent holder, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal.
In the race for 2015, the People’s General has picked another man of God and an erudite lawyer, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (some call him Osibanjo) as his running mate for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Osinbajo is not a full-time sacerdotalist, though. However, he is an ordained pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) with branches located in every nook and cranny of this country. Its followership runs into millions of worshippers. Someone drew my attention to the clarion call made by the General Overseer of the church, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, to all his members across the land to ensure that they are duly registered for the 2015 polls. He and his Mama waved their voter cards in public as an indication that they were ready for 2015. The flashing of their voter cards, in the wake of the rumour of Osinbajo’s emergence as Buhari’s running mate speaks volumes.
In the build-up to the 2011 polls, President Jonathan visited a number of high profile churches like the RCCG and the Living Faith where he kowtowed to their GOs in return for their blessings which he eventually got in full measure. Jonathan is yet to renew his visit to the fertile grounds to canvass for support. But by picking a pastor of RCCG, the APC has delivered a coup de grace not only in the South-west but wherever the Redeemed churches are planted in the country. So, Jonathan should not even go there.
However, I would not know the feelings of the other Christians who are not Redeemed. I am referring to the Catholics, the Methodists, the Cherubims and Seraphims, the Celes, the Jehovah Witnesses, the CACs, the COCINs, the ECWAs, the Baptists, etc. The Anglicans will not look the way of Buhari/Osinbajo because Jonathan is one of them. Jonathan will also have the massive backing of members of the WIZAN or Witches and Wizards Association of Nigeria who foretold his triumph way back in January, this year. As for the Winners, I expect Bishop David Oyedepo to join forces with Pastor Adeboye’s man not because he will want to spite Pastor Tunde Bakare for despising him by rendering one of his books apart but because the influential General Overseer of the “Let someone shout halleluiah” fame is the spiritual father to most of the Pentecostal Christians and their pastors.
The 2015 presidential poll is just seven weeks away when two forces wait to decide Buhari’s fate: the impoverished citizens and the beneficiaries of corruption… the invidious crime that impoverishes the masses. And if truly politics is a game of number, then Buhari, seen as a beacon of hope for the hungry masses that are in the majority and are at the receiving end of corruption, is expected to win the race. However, this has never been the case in Nigeria because hunger is used by corrupt politicians as an electoral weapon. A hungry man is supposed to be an angry man. But reach for stomach infrastructure by handing him some grains of rice, a pinch of salt and a fowl leg and he will mortgage his future and that of his generation. Has corruption sealed the doom of the Nigerian masses? The answer is in the wind of 2015 polls.
