2. As if to confirm the special relatiobship he has with the Boko Haram Islamic terrorists, General Buhari was to confirm that on Sunday,June 2, 2013 in a program on Liberty FM Radio Kaduna. Vintage General Buhari confirmed his open support for the Boko Haram terrorists when he protested vehemently the military crackdown on the terrorists. In that interview with LIBERTY FM Radio Kaduna, Buhari,has this to say, while the Niger-Delta were treated like kings, the Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’Awati Wal–Jihad which some people call Boko Haram are being killed and their houses destroyed unlike the special treatment given to the Niger Delta militants. This is injustice to Northern Nigeria.
In his first reaction to his nomination by Boko Haram, it took five days and much persuasion by his now estranged friend Engr Buba Galadima to say that he will not accept Boko Haram’s offer.
3. Major General Muhammadu Buhari is too divisive to become a civilian president in Nigeria.
Hear vintage Buhari again at his best. Day was Sunady 20th January 2002. Place was Gusau Zamfara State. The politicalsharia was blowing in the air as it were and General Buhari was quoted as follows— “As the year 2003 elections draw closer, former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) has called on Muslims across the country to vote only for the presidential candidate that would defend and uphold the tenets of Islam. Buhari who made the call yesterday at the closing ceremony of the 16th National Qur’anic Recitation competition held in Gusau, Zamfara State told Muslims that they have every reason to thank Allah for restoring the Islamic Sharia under the present dispensation, which he said was destroyed by British colonialists during their crusade in 1903 against the Sokoto caliphate”
4.The 2011 post election violence had been largely attributed to inciting comments by General Buhari. The security operatives still believe that Buhari incited his supporters to violence.
General Buhari allegedly made some inciting comments on local television, on the British Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, (Hausa service) and on the Voice of America, VOA, (Hausa Service) on 16 April, 2011. He was reported to have claimed to be in possession of evidence that aircraft had been conveying ballot papers meant for rigging the elections to predetermined locations, including his home State, Kastina.
Analysts believe that such comment led directly to the first attacks on churches and property in Kastina on Sunday morning, April 17, 2011. Then Mr Buhari was alleged to have urged his supporters during a political rally to “lynch and roast alive” anyone perceived to have “rigged” the elections in 2011.
In the final analysis, 800 people, including 10 youth corps members, were reported to have been killed in 12 Northern states. And just when many Nigerian’s were beginning to get over the 2011 post-election violence, came Mr Buhari’s “dog and baboon” comment.
He allegedly said if what happened in 2011 should happen in 2015, then the dog and baboon would be soaked in blood. Now, who is the dog and who is the baboon? If Jonathan is the dog and Buhari is the baboon, what then is the place of Nigerians in this context?
Buhari spoke when he received some politicians from Niger State. He had reportedly said: “God willing, by 2015, something will happen. They either conduct a free and fair election or they go a very disgraceful way.
“If what happened in 2011 (alleged rigging) should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood.’’ Unfortunately, he did not elaborate further, thereby giving room to sundry interpretations.
Another odd against Buhari is his seeming lack of basic knowledge on the economy. While recently appearing on a Channels Television political affairs programme, the former Head of State, who was once a Petroleum Minister and Chairman of the defunct Petroleum Trust Fund PTF, had told viewers that he was going to stabilise oil price when voted into power.
Oil price is subject to the international forces of demand and supply and not the whims of a Third World African leader. Certainly, crude oil is not like garri whose prices can be determined by local economics and politics.
Then came his inability to pick his running mate immediately. Rather than carrying out his first crucial task, Buhari conceded the choice of his running mate to Ahmed Bola Tinubu, one of the leaders of the party. The development only helped to strengthen the long-held speculation that Mr Tinubu would dictate the affairs of the nation in the event of a Buhari presidency.
His past human rights records are also nothing to write home about. The retroactive decrees he made by which he hung three Nigerian youths as well as his press gag decrees are more like a dent on his credential.
Of course, there is still the issue of 53 suitcases and removal of the nation’s currency, the Naira from international currency market. These are sore areas that many Nigerians would want Buhari to defend himself.
There is the arrest of Southern political leaders in contrast to the “house arrest” given to their Northern counterparts.
Buhari’s current “window dressing” of taking pictures in clean suits, to appeal to the corporate world is largely seen as deceptive, knowing that before now, he never dressed that way. In one of such pictures where he is seen with a kid, critics have accused him of trying to copy President Barak Obama of the United States of America.