Choosing Between Two Evils- King, Award winning Screenwriter



It is joyful thing, I believe, that the 2015 general elections is only a few weeks from now. It is a sad pity, however, that the two leading political parties, the PDP and the APC, have only succeeded in fielding what, to me, seem to be two mediocres for the presidential elections.

In light of the 21st century challenges confronting and threatening the existence Nigeria as a nation, one would have naturally expected to see vibrant, brilliant-minded individuals with clear roadmaps for development emerging as the presidential flag bearers of the two major political parties in the country but the various party conventions, at best, have only presented us with two rottened oranges from which we must, unfortunately, suck or starve.

Being the first country on the African soil to win a Nobel prize for Literature; being the home country of Pastor E. A Adeboye, one of the most influential clergy in world's history; being the first African country to win an Olympic gold medal in soccer, among other things, Nigeria does not deserve to have two crude-minded persons, two double tragedy, seeking the highest office of the land at the same time.

The PDP presidential flagbearer, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and his APC counterpart, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, are, truth be told, only good presidential aspirants if Nigeria were to be a 15th century budding nation, where bows and arrows are the most sophisticated weapon. None of the two candidates have the capability to rescue Nigeria out of the present mess. None of the two candidates has presented a clear and unambiguous roadmap on how he hopes to strengthen the weakened institutions in the country, fix the nosediving economy, provide surplus jobs for the teeming youth population, tackle corruption, revive agriculture, stabilize power, and end insurgency in the North-eastern states.

Permit me to briskly run a commentary on the two presidential aspirants: Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is a Phd holder that doesn't know the difference between stealing and corruption. How will corruption not increase under his watch? Goodluck Jonathan was born without a silver spoon, going to school in a little wooden canoe but today he flies in and operates a fleet of private jet. Is he sensitive to the plights of the poor? Can a president who went to dance 'skelewu' at a PDP Kano rally less than 24hours after the Nyanya blast, which claimed over fifty innocent lives, fight insurgency to a halt?

Goodluck's cluelessness is not limited to his actions, they reflect in the way he responds to delicate national issues. In a live presidential media chat, when he was asked to express his views on the allegedly missing 20billion dollars in the oil sector Goodluck, looking calm and beaming with smiles as ever, said something that sounded like "I don't believe any money is missing. If any money is indeed missing, the United States would have raised the alarm before anybody else. Since the US has remained quiet, no money is missing..." Any SS1 student offering Government, who having taught the sovereignty of nations, deserves to be severely flogged for such utterances. It is a pity that a Phd holder will provide such an unintelligent answer to such a sensitive question before millions of viewers worldwide. How can people with this kind of childish mentality discern the demerits of the devaluation of Naira?

Now, I turn my attention to General Muhammadu Buhari, who was a former military Head of State and the only Nigerian in living memory that has contested for the presidency for a record three times in a row. The forthcoming presidential elections will be his fourth. If anything is known about Buhari, it is the fact that he has built for himself the reputation of uttering unguarded utterances. By the grace of God, Buhari said shortly after he lost the 2011 elections, the dog and the baboon will be soaked in blood....and the North has been boiling afterward. Buhari is also credited to have said 'an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north'. The fact that Buhari hasn't directly or indirectly apologized for these careless statements since he made them, portray him as a selfish, sectorial leader. How can such a leader protect the secularity of the Nigerian state?

Although I wasn't born during Buhari's regime, Buhari was said to have ruthlessly fought corruption. The peddlers of 'change' are claiming that Buhari's second coming will mark the end of corruption in Nigeria. This is candidly ridiculous. More than half of the national leaders of the APC are rottenly corrupt politicians. Will they spend their 'blood money' to finance Buhari's campaign and still get a jail sentence instead of a 'thank you' when Buhari eventually wins? God forbid. How then can Buhari be a trustworthy crusader of corruption? This writer is laughing in Greek.

Nigeria presently needs well-tutored, broad-minded presidents with lucid vision but, sadly, Goodluck and Buhari, two square pegs, cannot fit this rounded peg of socio-economic advancement of Nigeria. While Goodluck is merely a Phd holder on paper, he goes about with a standard six brain. Buhari is an old general who knows where his guns are kept but has carelessly left his educational certificates in the custody of the military. Both men are careless and half-baked. And people like them cannot save us now. We need new names.

However, sadly, if asked to choose between the two evils, Goodluck and Buhari, I will choose the lesser evil which, methinks, is Buhari. Here are some of my reasons for making this unfortunate decision. First, Buhari is a man of integrity - even the garrulous Obasanjos, Fani-Kayodes and Doyin Okupes of this world have not made any comment suggesting otherwise. Second, history has something to write about the achievements of the Buhari/Idiagbon regime - foremost which are the fight against corruption and the refusal to embrace the imperialistic policies of IMF. What will history write about Jonathan's administration?
 
 Third, Buhari has been contesting since 2003, a strong reason to believe that he truly has a vision, whether myopic or not, for Nigeria. Jonathan became president by providence and has continued to leave the destiny of Nigerians in the hands of Providence. Lastly, the choice of the young and vibrant Prof. Osinbajo as Buhari's running mate instills the confidence that APC can indeed lay a solid foundation for the 'change' Nigerians have been clamouring for.

I will close this discourse with this parable: man, as a rule, must die. Death is evil. Although death is death, it is better to die in one's sleep than to die by hanging. It is not my duty to tell the reader the candidate that is like dying in one's sleep and the one that is like death by hanging.

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