Found this interesting article written by Mark Amaza and decided to share, enjoy!
In 2011, deciding who to vote for was a pretty simple decision for
me: I saw Nuhu Ribadu of the now defunct Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) as inexperienced and Ibrahim Shekarau of the then All Nigeria
Peoples’ Party (ANPP) did not have an excellent performance as Kano
State Governor to use to convince me. So it came down to the last two
main contenders – Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples’ Democratic Party
(PDP) and former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari of the Congress
for Progressive Change (CPC).
My vote eventually went to President Jonathan, because of my deep distrust for Buhari based on divisive statements on religion
credited to him in the past and the manner in which many Northern
politicians within the PDP had tried to use what they call “zoning” to
have one of theirs become the party’s candidate. For me, those two
issues touched on areas really sensitive to me – my freedom of worship
and how my ethnicity was being used by others as a glass ceiling to
limit how far I could go in life in Nigeria.
I never for once bothered about Buhari’s past record as a military
head of state, whether good or bad, because as a personal principle, I
believe any time spent in office under two years is too short for an
objective assessment of performance, and knowing that he cannot do as a
president of 12-year old democracy what he did as a military dictator.
That sentiment has not changed even today.
After the post-election riots in parts of the North by mainly Buhari
supporters which largely turned ethno-religious that killed over 800
people, I was convinced beyond every reasonable doubt that I will never
vote for him. In fact, I became passionately against him, so passionate
that my friends would always come to me when in search of arguments
against him.
However, my support for the Jonathan administration began to wane
with the gradual escalation of the terrorist activities of the Boko
Haram sect and general insecurity in the North-East, especially in my
hometown of Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
Gradually, his actions and inactions chipped away at my support for him, sometimes in bits – such as his statement that Boko Haram members existed in his cabinet,
and yet not taking any action on it – and other time in large chunks –
like the presidential pardon granted to his former boss, DSP
Alameyeseigha.
I could not for the life of me fathom how a president could seem to
not be bothered with the terrorist activities in his country,
deliberately “unlooking” the states most affected, and only visiting
when it seemed expedient to do so because of politics – the first time
in March 2013 when the newly formed opposition party, the All
Progressives’ Congress (APC) had all its governors in Maiduguri.
How about his presence at his party’s rally in Kano the very day
after a deadly bomb blast killed 80 people in Nyanya, Abuja? What about
his silence when 59 kids were killed at the Federal Government College,
Buni Yadi, Yobe State or when 35 students of the Federal Polytechnic,
Mubi in Adamawa State were murdered or on the numerous clashes and
murderous raids on villages in the Middle Belt? What about the way his
party and people in his government have carried on about the abduction
of 219 girls from the Government Girls’ Secondary School, Chibok and
their successive attempts to intimidate and discredit the
#BringBackOurGirls campaigners?
I have not even mentioned the manner in which his government got
increasingly intolerant of criticisms, evident in the way they always
attacked the messenger rather than the message. This peaked when all
former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and now Emir of Kano,
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi got for his troubles on sounding the alarm that as
much as $20bn in oil revenue had been stolen over three years was to be
sacked.
I have not even mentioned the fact that the few successes of his
administration are grossly overshadowed by the fact that our record high
revenues from oil have not been judiciously used, coinciding with
constant revelations of high corruption in government places or the fact
that he seems unable to take certain drastic actions, such as not
firing Minister for Interior, Abba Moro after the Immigration
recruitment scam which cost the lives of 19 people.
Day by day, I was finding it harder to justify my support for him,
especially when I was seeing people I know & am related with losing
their lives to terrorism and the lucky ones hurriedly moving away from
those areas. It was infuriating that the fight against these terrorists
seemed to be compromised by those directly profiting from it, or even
politicized by people around him. It was time to support someone else –
and I threw my weight behind the candidature of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the APC.
Sadly, my heart was broken when Buhari won the APC nomination and I
found myself with the unsavoury choice of supporting Jonathan again. But
it was only getting harder.
In an even more rapid manner, my deep opposition to Buhari was
chipped away – starting with the pick of his running mate, Prof. Yemi
Osinbajo, a man hardly anyone is in doubt about his intelligence and his
integrity and the appointment of Kayode Fayemi, the immediate past
governor of Ekiti State, a man I greatly admire as his campaign’s
Director of Policy. I could hardly argue that the man was going to be
clueless about Nigeria’s problems and its solutions as he was rapidly
surrounding himself with smart men.
Yet, my stubborn nature came to the fore I stood my ground in my
opposition to him. Although I was far less enthusiastic about Jonathan
compared to 2011, I was not prepared to entertain the possibility of a
Buhari presidency.
Another turning point came when President Jonathan visited Maiduguri
twice in eight days last month, despite his handlers saying previously
that the area was not safe enough for him to visit. So what miracle made
the place suddenly safe enough or was it the approaching elections that
made it so?
There was also the fact the APC campaign has by far been more
effective and cleaner compared to that of the PDP, with less use of
religion in campaigning – I could not help but admire from across the
fence. Seeing many people close to me and whose stories are like mine,
who used to share the same fears about him now enthusiastically support
him was melting the ice in my heart.
But many times, the process of someone changing his mind happens gradually rather than suddenly.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was the postponement of the
elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on
Saturday. I was infuriated with the manner in which national
institutions like the military that should be apoliticial were used
force INEC’s hand to shift the elections. How else could one explain
that the military went from being ready for the elections to saying that
they will be unavailable to provide security on the 14th of February as they will be fighting the Boko Haram insurgents?
This was a continuation of past behaviors where these institutions
have been politicized – such as the claim of the Department of State
Services (DSS) that APC tried to bribe them to rig the Ekiti State
elections and that they were attempting to hack into INEC servers from a
remote location, despite the servers being offline, yet has not charged
anyone to court. It did not help matters that last week, a taped
conversation of high-ranking members of the PDP, a couple of them
cabinet ministers, and an army general discussing how to rig the Ekiti
State gubernatorial elections last year, which PDP won, was leaked.
One has to admire the ingenuity of the incumbent administration –
they have realized that gone are the days of brute-force rigging. Thus,
they are trying to take advantage of prevailing situations to actualize
their aims without actually breaking any laws.
However, they forget that Nigerian voters are much smarter than
before and can read in between the lines. For me, attempting to tamper
with such institutions is a severe no-no. Many people died for us to
have this democracy we are enjoying, imperfect as it is, and it will be a
severe betrayal on our part if we allow this democracy to be twisted
and its institutions subverted.
If this administration is acting with impunity in its first term, one
can only imagine what it will do in its second term – attempt to get a
third term, perhaps? There needs to be a punishment for incompetent
governments and right now, we have the opportunity to use our votes to
punish them by denying them a second term.
I admit that General Buhari is not an ideal candidate, and that the
APC is not an ideal party. But right now, we do not have the luxury of
waiting for ideal candidates and parties. When as a voter, you give
someone your goodwill and he rubbishes it, it is your duty to take it
away from him, give it to someone else and ensure that you hold the new
beneficiary of your goodwill lest he suffers the same fate.
Goodluck Jonathan has not made good use of my goodwill, and I will
very much prefer that I give it to someone else this time around. His
efforts and lack of it have turned me from being his supporter to
becoming his opponent’s campaigner, dedicating my little time and even
money to his campaign.
It is about time that Nigerians experienced change.