2015 Presidential Election: Buhari Or Jonathan?

President Jonathan

General Buhari

BY VICTOR AGUKU

For sometimes now I have desired to air my views on why Nigerians should take a careful look at the forthcoming Presidential elections and make a wise choice but somehow I have consistently found it difficult to muster the intellectual energy required for this all important piece. I have sort to know why this is so and only just recently placed my hands on the reason, I may be wrong though but the reason seems most pertinent to my weakness.

 

 

I have been in Nigeria for most of my life except the past five years when events back home forced me into an unplanned exile of sort. I was a young adult during the twilight of Shagari era, Buhari's brutal regime and of course the IBB regime of the greatest deceit. I have personal knowledge of the events that happened during these periods and do not rely on historical accounts. Even as a toddler, I can recall some personal experiences of the civil war as it affected my family so I have a direct stake on the position I take on issues concerning Nigeria.

 

 

My pain now is a pain I believe many Nigerians like me with a genuine passion for positive change in Nigeria and a personal commitment to air their views without any ulterior motive or persuasions, must be having at this moment considering the sorry trajectory we have taken on political discuss. A trajectory that is more dangerous than the political albatross presented before us. A trajectory that is at the root of everything that has gone wrong with our dear country. A trajectory that has gravel distorted political discuss.

 Long ago I noticed an unfortunate characteristics of many Nigerians at a desperate duplication of every successful innovation without any care for standards or principles but with every desperation to reap profits. This of course has led to the bastardisation of every such innovation, lowering of standards and inevitably discourage any genuine effort at innovative production. This in itself explains our never ending circle of penury in the midst of plenty.

 I am sorry to bore you with my long turenchi but this is because of the pain and weakness I feel which saddens me greatly. In 2011 many Nigerians all over the world with love and passion for the country wrote several articles postulating their views on how the elections should swing. I was amongst those who stoutly rooted for Goodluck Jonathan with reasons which could not be faulted. I espoused the antecedents of Buhari and IBB with clear reasons why they should never be allowed to return to power. Today we are presented with the same choice with the exception of IBB who was graciously retired by Atiku Abubakar and so cannot continue with his deceit fuelled sophistry.

 Sadly in 2014/15 we now have many voices in the political space discussing the presentations but most of them as contractors with commitments to fulfil contractual terms as against genuine passion and love for the country. Daily, we see these manifest especially in the electronic news media, social media and the blogosphere many of which without any shame swing every side with serious misinformation and often blatant lies. They have so muddled up the political discussion space such that it is virtually impossible for one to sieve the truth from the lies. It is such a grave pity and I must say, the singular reason that may truncate the fledgling democratic process in Nigeria

 One can hardly have any worthwhile discussion on the forthcoming elections without wondering whether the points of your opponents are genuinely borne out of their own convictions or they are merely a fulfilment of contractual obligations. The worst of these discussants are those that want to convince you that they know of some secret qualities of their candidate that you do not know yet they would not say what those qualities are but would want you to agree with them and support their candidate. These same people will refuse to hold any discussions based on empirical facts but will prefer to sing a mantra which mantra in itself is defeated by historical facts readily available everywhere.

 As we approach the 2015 presidential elections, I plead that all eligible voter should vote according to their heart and not according to the razzmatazz going on presently. Let the candidates present their score cards and not promises or shouting of slogans or mantra. The good thing we have going for us in this elections is that both Buhari and Jonathan have had a shot at the Presidency. Let them show us their result cards. This time around we should not vote based on promises or fables. Let us vote based on concrete and verifiable facts.

Victor Aguku is a UK based Lawyer