So Bubu wants to seek re-election in 2019?

Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari (Bubu) declared his
intention to seek re-election as President of Nigeria in the 2019
general election and people are losing their minds over this
announcement. The man has a right to contest again if he wants to.
He has a right to want to live out his last days in Aso Rock if he
so pleases.

He has a right to think himself the messiah of Nigeria without
whom Nigeria will make no economic or social progress. He has the
right to think himself the best thing that has happened to Nigeria
since Independence. These and many more are his rights. But the
beauty of democracy is that we as citizens also have rights. We
have the right to dream for Nigeria and use our votes to actualise
those dreams. If our collective dreams are in conflict with the
dreams of one man and his crew, then so be it, majority rules.

In 2015, President Buhari came into office with great
expectations. The rhetoric on the campaign trail was assured, and
confident that Bubu and his crew could navigate Nigeria out of
despair and economic freefall. Unfortunately, it seems there is
confusion in the control room. The compasses of the navigators seem
to be malfunctioning and no one is sure in which direction Nigeria
is headed.

But they want us to give them more time to get their act
together. They are well within their rights to ask us for more
time, and we as citizens will be well within our rights to deny
their ambition. Nigeria is like a big ship, floating aimlessly
towards an iceberg. The spate of killings across the country; the
insecurity; the insensitivity of government; the disregard of
fundamental rights; the inequality in the distribution of
resources; the lack of basic infrastructure for human development;
and the disconnection from the plight of the ordinary citizen are
all indicators that is time to start calling “Mayday, mayday,
mayday.” We are in distress and we do not need Bill Gates or Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo to tell us that something is wrong. We
can feel the pain.

Some people argue that we must go through this pain to come out
on the other side in prosperity. Say what now? The ordinary
citizen, struggling to eke out a living and swim against the tide
of all the challenges of living in Nigeria must also
disproportionately carry the burden of the consequences of
mismanagement of resources; incompetent governance; and lack of
vision. Ordinary citizens are asked to make sacrifices while
government sits on their backs, loaded with the paraphernalia of
office and the fruits of incompetence.

Some others argue that things would have been worse under former
President Jonathan. Well, we are not under Jonathan, are we?
Jonathan was voted out presumably because the majority recognised
that his performance was flawed. That chapter is closed now. We are
marking the performance in front of us.

The people I do not quite understand yet are those who say that
they will vote President Buhari again as revenge against those who
voted for him in 2015. By all means, please vote for Buhari again
if you are convinced that he is the best candidate for Nigeria in
2019, but a revenge vote does not make any sense to me. When you go
to the market, will the garri seller reduce the price of a mudu of
garri for you because you did not vote for Buhari in 2015 but voted
him in revenge in 2019? Will the Central Bank of Nigeria sell
foreign currency to you at a preferred rate because of your revenge
voting? The truth is we are all in the same boat, whether you voted
Buhari in 2015 or not. You might have had better foresight than the
majority but the end result is the same. The consequences are the
same for all ordinary citizens. Your life is still in peril the
same as a person who voted for Buhari due to our poor healthcare
infrastructure. We are all travelling in the same boat whether you
chose the Captain or not. If the boat sinks, we all drown. Drift
wood will not seek out those who did not vote for Buhari in 2015 so
that they only can float to safety.

When you realise that you have made a mistake, you can wallow in
the mistake or you can make plans to change it. Therein lies the
beauty of democracy (where we can vouch for the sanctity of the
ballot box; and where elections are truly free and fair). The wave
of wins for Democrats in the United States of America since Donald
Trump’s election into office is a show of how people express
themselves through the ballot box.

It is not enough for us to complain and point fingers at each
other over who voted for Buhari and who did not. Our duty now is to
organize and strategize to get the results that we want in 2019.
Organize amongst your friends, in your communities, etc. Use
whatever voice you have to express your resolve for Nigeria. The
important thing is that we all get involved. Are we ready to
support a non-establishment candidate who is not sharing bags of
rice? Are we ready to rally round a candidate who is not presented
by the two majority political parties?Are smaller political parties
ready to form coalitions for the public interest? It shall all be
revealed in a few months.

Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari (Bubu) declared his
intention to seek re-election as President of Nigeria in the 2019
general election and people are losing their minds over this
announcement. The man has a right to contest again if he wants to.
He has a right to want to live out his last days in Aso Rock if he
so pleases.

He has a right to think himself the messiah of Nigeria without
whom Nigeria will make no economic or social progress. He has the
right to think himself the best thing that has happened to Nigeria
since Independence. These and many more are his rights. But the
beauty of democracy is that we as citizens also have rights. We
have the right to dream for Nigeria and use our votes to actualise
those dreams. If our collective dreams are in conflict with the
dreams of one man and his crew, then so be it, majority rules.

In 2015, President Buhari came into office with great
expectations. The rhetoric on the campaign trail was assured, and
confident that Bubu and his crew could navigate Nigeria out of
despair and economic freefall. Unfortunately, it seems there is
confusion in the control room. The compasses of the navigators seem
to be malfunctioning and no one is sure in which direction Nigeria
is headed.

But they want us to give them more time to get their act
together. They are well within their rights to ask us for more
time, and we as citizens will be well within our rights to deny
their ambition. Nigeria is like a big ship, floating aimlessly
towards an iceberg. The spate of killings across the country; the
insecurity; the insensitivity of government; the disregard of
fundamental rights; the inequality in the distribution of
resources; the lack of basic infrastructure for human development;
and the disconnection from the plight of the ordinary citizen are
all indicators that is time to start calling “Mayday, mayday,
mayday.” We are in distress and we do not need Bill Gates or Former
President Olusegun Obasanjo to tell us that something is wrong. We
can feel the pain.

Some people argue that we must go through this pain to come out
on the other side in prosperity. Say what now? The ordinary
citizen, struggling to eke out a living and swim against the tide
of all the challenges of living in Nigeria must also
disproportionately carry the burden of the consequences of
mismanagement of resources; incompetent governance; and lack of
vision. Ordinary citizens are asked to make sacrifices while
government sits on their backs, loaded with the paraphernalia of
office and the fruits of incompetence.

Some others argue that things would have been worse under former
President Jonathan. Well, we are not under Jonathan, are we?
Jonathan was voted out presumably because the majority recognised
that his performance was flawed. That chapter is closed now. We are
marking the performance in front of us.

The people I do not quite understand yet are those who say that
they will vote President Buhari again as revenge against those who
voted for him in 2015. By all means, please vote for Buhari again
if you are convinced that he is the best candidate for Nigeria in
2019, but a revenge vote does not make any sense to me. When you go
to the market, will the garri seller reduce the price of a mudu of
garri for you because you did not vote for Buhari in 2015 but voted
him in revenge in 2019? Will the Central Bank of Nigeria sell
foreign currency to you at a preferred rate because of your revenge
voting? The truth is we are all in the same boat, whether you voted
Buhari in 2015 or not. You might have had better foresight than the
majority but the end result is the same. The consequences are the
same for all ordinary citizens. Your life is still in peril the
same as a person who voted for Buhari due to our poor healthcare
infrastructure. We are all travelling in the same boat whether you
chose the Captain or not. If the boat sinks, we all drown. Drift
wood will not seek out those who did not vote for Buhari in 2015 so
that they only can float to safety.

When you realise that you have made a mistake, you can wallow in
the mistake or you can make plans to change it. Therein lies the
beauty of democracy (where we can vouch for the sanctity of the
ballot box; and where elections are truly free and fair). The wave
of wins for Democrats in the United States of America since Donald
Trump’s election into office is a show of how people express
themselves through the ballot box.

It is not enough for us to complain and point fingers at each
other over who voted for Buhari and who did not. Our duty now is to
organize and strategize to get the results that we want in 2019.
Organize amongst your friends, in your communities, etc. Use
whatever voice you have to express your resolve for Nigeria. The
important thing is that we all get involved. Are we ready to
support a non-establishment candidate who is not sharing bags of
rice? Are we ready to rally round a candidate who is not presented
by the two majority political parties?Are smaller political parties
ready to form coalitions for the public interest? It shall all be
revealed in a few months.