President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise not to stand for anybody in the forthcoming 2023 elections is an interesting subject matter. This is because considering the number of times President Buhari contested elections. The president had vowed that he will not participate in partisan politics in 1999 – 2003, but was persuaded to contest the 2003 presidential election on the platform of the All Nigeria People’s Party, ANPP, losing to the then incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo. Buhari again contested in 2007 and lost to late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua in 2011 he lost to President Goodluck Jonathan.
Following the merger of four political parties in 2015 to the All Progressives Congress, APC, President Buhari contested and this time he was lucky to be elected president and was reelected in 2019. All along, President Buhari was being helped by the whole segments of the APC. Some spent a lot to see President Buhari win both elections. So, saying he will not interfere with the 2023 general elections is tantamount to saying goodbye APC.
One wonders whether the chanted Buhari political adorations have come true, because when President Buhari embraced ANPP in 2003, the party had nine governors but before the 2007 elections, six of the nine governors had defected to other parties.
The assumption is that Buhari’s popularity had made APC formidable. Actually, President Buhari was popular during the civil war up to when he became head of state, having overthrown the elected government of late Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1984. Buhari was also toppled by the military junta.
Even though, the Shagari government was the best ever but the military overthrew it to the chagrin of the common man. The two events improved the popularity of President Buhari until when he became a civilian President in 2015.
The ordinary Nigerian trusted President Buhari, thinking he would replicate his performance as a military head of state. Many thought things would be better. President Buhari’s assignment since 2015 was to rescue Nigeria economically, socially and politically. But his government was bogged down by insecurity. Many also thought insecurity could easily be crushed, given that Buhari is a retired Army General.
Unfortunately, insecurity and the economic hardship facing the Talakawa have eroded the said popularity of President Buhari. This has also dimmed the chances of the APC to win the 2023 general elections. Perhaps that is why Buhari said he will not interfere in the elections.
Some Nigerians said despite being in abject poverty they will not vote for anybody whose ambitions are to destroy the good things done by some state governments, especially in the North. It will be foolish to spend billions of naira building structures for somebody to come and destroy it overnight. It is time Nigerians think deep about the future of Nigeria and say no to vengeance mission.
Comrade Ibrahim Abdu Zango,
Chairman, Kano Unity Forum,
Kano, Nigeria
08175472298
