A rescue mission we must not bungle

Aliyu Musa

On November 11, 2014 the ruling PDP, once again, attempted to turn history on its head when it presented a fictitious record of achievements of the current regime. It was not only the claim that malevolently tried to rewrite a history we are all witnesses to and, by implication mock Nigerians, the event, itself, was inimical to reason. It was the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan’s re-presentation of himself as the ruling party’s flag bearer a day after about 50 innocent pupils were killed in a suicide bomb attack in a secondary school in Potiskum.

The previous day, shortly after the attack, not a few Nigerians had expected the president to at least in honour of the victims postpone his declaration by a few days. But those who have the ear of the president insisted the declaration went on. And it did.

On the front pages of national newspapers, on the day of the declaration, were spaces purposely procured and titled ‘TODAY HISTORY IS MADE’; purposefully packaged to psychologically disorientate the ordinary Nigerian whose eyes, ears and mind don’t see, hear or remember any of the achievements listed. How history was made with such an appalling performance in the six years of the president’s regime was what left many gobble smacked.

Truth is history on that day would never forget that the president only confirmed his nonchalance to the suffering of the people who by right he should protect. And so, in the memory of all and sundry, except those who deliberately impose amnesia on themselves, that’s the history that has been engraved and would be remembered on the day we finally send forth his regime to its rightful place, soon enough. And a new book of our history would begin.

The alliance that culminated in the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari last week as the presidential flag bearer of the opposition APC is remarkable; it’s one of the few cheering stories in recent times, not because of the outcome of the primary but because of the process. APC has, by that success, productively taken its place as an alternative government, ready to facilitate the conversion of the ruling party to nothingness.

Although initially almost reviled and ridiculed and dismissed as PDP’s bad imitation, APC redeemed itself after holding a completely faultless primary, second to none in the history of our beleaguered journey to befitting democracy. The convention that settled on Buhari as the party’s candidate had been expected to mark the end of the alliance, which in February 2013 was formed by the main opposition parties, and sufficiently reenergise the PDP to enable it elongate its overspent stay in power. But the storyline has since changed.

General Muhammadu Buhari definitely has his faults, like every human, but his biggest strength is that he is a charismatic leader. And charisma is hardly transferable. It is natural and naturally often vanishes with the possessor. And that is why after the death of Marshal Tito in 1980, for example, Yugoslavia basically collapsed, and despite the late Nelson Mandela playing the unusual role of midwife for the first multiracial democratic government in South Africa and personally mentoring Thabo Mbeki, Mbeki’s government turned out to be a monumental failure.

But it does not mean Buhari is incapable of bringing up a successor. And such successor does not necessarily need to be chosen on the basis of tribal or religious affiliations. A Buhari heir could be anyone with almost similar qualities and I once thought in the north the closest we could get to that was Nuhu Ribadu. But Ribadu’s newfound romance with the PDP does not, at the minute, put him in a reasonably favourable position.

So, a Buhari ticket with Professor Yemi Osibajo becomes a viable and credible option. Although with different expertise a combination of the two men could be what we have long awaited. General Buhari brings along the sort of integrity and firmness Nigeria badly needs now to survive the tide, while Osibajo’s credibility as a technocrat puts a new skill to the table. He may not be a political heavyweight but he comes along with experience of working with political heavyweights. He is an academic per excellence, a top name in the legal profession and, most importantly and like Buhari, a person no one can categorically link to any tainted wealth.

Under a regime led by the two men, we would be witnessing a rebirth of our politics and country. We would be rescuing our people from the throes of a cabal that long hijacked the ship of state and is recklessly, relentlessly and nonchalantly steering it towards to the rocks, damning the grave consequences. And we shall be bequeathing our children and children’s children a new Nigeria whose history is not diluted with lies that have been affirmed official seal. And to business as usual shall we bid farewell and rightfully take our seat in the front row, with nations whose leaders’ actions induce patriotism and whose people, because the state does not abandon them at moments of need, are more than willing to give up their today for country. God bless Nigeria.