Buhari Asks Nigerians to Search for Credible Leaders

From Thisday;s John Shiklam in Kaduna, 07.30.2010

Former Head of State and presidential aspirant of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the forthcoming 2011 elections, Maj-Gen.Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), has challenged Nigerians to search and evaluate politicians that can address the problems bedevilling the Nigerian nation rather than engage in unnecessary and selfish detractions.

Buhari said it was unfortunate for Nigerians to be wasting their energy on discussing presidential zoning instead of scouting for credible Nigerians that would provide leadership and good governance for the country.

Speaking in Kaduna yesterday at a book launch titled “The Sixteen Sins of Gen. Mohammadu Buhari” written by a former Minister of Petroleum, Prof. Tam David-West, Buhari said the right way to prosperity is the emergence of a credible leadership that would be transparent and accountable to the people.

Buhari, who lamented that the Nigerian nation had suffered so much from the art and science of deceit, corruption, sectional, ethnic and religious sentiments, stressed that only the conduct of free and fair elections could bring about credible leadership which would lead to prosperity for Nigeria.

“In my view, the right way to prosperity is for this country to get credible leadership; leadership that will provide good governance, transparency and accountability in the handling of the public affairs; leadership that will rule with the fear of God and be fair and just to all.

“This country has suffered so much from the art and science of deceit, corruption, evils of sectional, ethnic and religious sentiments. Let us for once address issues on how to repair our decayed infrastructure, provide energy, good education, healthcare, security and generate employment.

“I therefore challenge the people especially the media, organized labour, the academia and the civil society to evaluate us, the politicians, on these rather than engage the nation on unnecessary and selfish detractions.

“The Nigeria of this era should be made of a community that tasks its leaders on their past performance and how they will improve upon that. I think it is out of date to bore the people of where one comes from, the language he speaks or his mode of worship.

“We should ask: Can we trust him? Can he put our country right? This is what Nigeria requires today, leaders of character, achievement and accomplishment.
“In the end, getting credible leadership and the conduct of free and fair election is not the responsibility of anybody but that of Nigerians.”

“If Nigerians choose to remain where they are or even want to go backwards, it is their choice; if they choose to make the country better, it is also their choice,” Buhari said.
In his remarks, the author of the book, Prof.David-West, who served as petroleum minister under Buhari’s regime in 1984 urged Nigerians to give Buhari another chance in his quest to rule the country again.

According to him, Buhari performed well when he was in power, pointing out that one of the feats of the Buhari administration was the increase in Nigeria‘s oil quota.
He said; “Buhari performed a feat that no country has ever achieved. No one country has been selected to be given increase in oil quota. Nigeria made over $20 billion.
“So, I have to stand up for Buhari. I have to shout from the Niger Delta creeks to the Sahara, that here is a good man that Nigeria is suppressing, please God, let him lead us.
“Buhari used Shagari’s furniture till the end, he did not change anything. They are afraid of him and when people are afraid of truth, then they are evil.

“Nigeria must move forward. If you ask Nigerians what the greatest evils in this country are, they say corruption and indiscipline. Who is one leader that is not corrupt and disciplined, they say Buhari, then, why are they afraid of him. Buhari must win by the grace of God.”

New Electoral Law Bans Consensus Candidature

All candidates for future elections in the country must emerge through properly conducted primaries, as the new section 87 of the 2010 Electoral Act has outlawed the use of affirmation for endorsing candidates by consensus.

The law provides strictly for compulsory balloting at primary elections by parties with prescription that only aspirants with highest number of votes cast at primaries will be forwarded to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as candidates for the main elections.

This is one of the provisions of the 2010 Electoral Act whose harmonised version was passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly yesterday.
The final passage of the Act yesterday at the Senate followed the adoption of the report of the Joint National Assembly Conference Committee, which harmonised the differences in the versions passed by each chamber of the federal legislature.

The new electoral law, which is now ready for transmission to President Goodluck Jonathan for assent, also gives INEC longer time to prepare for the 2011 elections as it moved the period for the completion of registration of voters from the existing 120 days before elections to 60 days as requested by the commission.
This gives INEC up to late November to conclude the update of the voters register.

The report presented by Senate Whip, Senator Kanti Bello, shows that Section 25 of the new law which fixed the election of the president before that of state governors is retained despite pressure by some state chief executives to reverse the arrangement. It also increased limits of election spending by candidates by 100 percent.

To further ensure internal democracy in parties, the new law bars the use of courts to stop the conduct of primaries and placed restriction on the replacement of candidates by primaries except on the ground of death.

Also, Section 91 of the new law pushed up expenses for presidential election from N500 million to N1 billion, and that of governors from N100 million to N200 million.
The law also places the maximum election expenses for National Assembly at N40 million for Senate and N20 million for House of Representatives and provides for N10 million for state assembly, N10 million for local government chairman and N1 million for councillors.

Despite pressure from some state governors, the National Assembly maintained its position on the new order of election fixing that of the president ahead of the governors.
The new election order provides that the 2011 elections are to start with the National Assembly elections, followed by the presidential election and then governorship and that of state assemblies.

State governors had last week mounted pressure on the leadership of the National Assembly to reverse the order and place the election of governors ahead of that of the President, following fears that conducting the presidential election will give the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) a lead and reduce their chances of winning in their gubernatorial polls.