Gen Buhari… campaigning with knives!
A visitor to the city of Jos would find it difficult to reconcile the fact that the city of Jos is indeed the home of peace and tourism, considering what happened Yesterday 23rd march 2007.
The campaign team of the All Nigerians Peoples Party (the major opposition party in the country) led by its presidential candidate for the 2007 elections Gen Mohammed Buhari, "stormed" the city of Jos for their campaign rallies like most parties have done but suffice to say that theirs was unique.
Unique in the sense that aside the normal rowdiness that accompany campaigns of this nature , knives and heavy sticks also characterized the campaigns which left some innocent citizens injured not to mention the reckless manner in which the supporters drove their vehicles and motor bikes with most, exceeding the speed limit.
I was worried at the ugly happenings for 2 major reasons, firstly Youths who are custodians of the future appeared to be used by the rich and mighty to cause nuisance.
Also the presence of knives and sticks didn’t appeal to me at all it looked more like a riot than a campaign . It is a common knowledge that knives have never symbolized anything positive. For all I know ,it represents death, bloodshed, crisis and pain. Till this moment, I still find it difficult to connect with the message the party passed intended passing across to Nigerians and the world. Are they by any means telling Nigerians ahead of time that bringing them into power will result in crisis or are they intimidating Nigerians to vote for the party , I think the peaceful people of Jos, deserve an explanation for disturbing their peace and party should apologize to them as well. Whoever was responsible for the campaign rally in Jos should bow his head in shame for embarrassing the party. Gen Buhari, from all indications is a fine gentle man by all standards, just as he has portrayed himself as a noble man. I had expected these values to be reflected in his campaigns but I guess I was disappointed. If the general must think of getting the votes of Nigerians, I will advise that he encourages his supporters to desist from the use of dangerous weapon that could send fear to the populace especially when you remember that the people have not gotten over the crisis that engulfed Joss some years back.
I am a young man that has the interest of this nation at heart and have a duty to make it work because it’s my business. I strongly believe Nigerians deserve more, more respect than what is been obtained at the moment. A situation where an ordinary man on the street is flogged by security agents, assaulted by political thugs sponsored by political aspirants and major roads blocked because an aspirant is coming to town should be condemned.

And to the youths, like my big brother Gbenga Sesan will always say," we represent a generation that can say YES and NO". NO to political thuggery, violence, corruption, mediocrity and laziness. While we must at all times say YES to opportunities, hard work, innovation and excellence because that is the Nigerian spirit. Am proudly Nigerian!

BEYOUND ELECTIONS

The posters are littered all round major points in the cities, with smiling faces
And convicting slogans. They have bought over nearly all the airtime available
on most media houses, they have increased the promises should they get into power( that’s no problem Nigerians are used to it) having intensified their campaigns, all is now set for April !4 and 21, days were aspirants will be selected ,sorry elected into various elective positions.

A look at the faces of most Nigerians especially those on the street reflect pain, regret and hunger. 7 years into democracy, many Nigerians think they deserve more than what they gotten so far. Daily we hear about huge sums of naira that has been said invested in improving power supply yet more than half of the nation population still live without power supply for a better part of the week, most homes now rely on generators for power supply. Our supposedly ivory towers has “achieved a lot” especially in increasing the number of students that are graduated yearly into the already over populated “labour market “in search of non existent jobs with little or no skills for self reliance. The question on the lips of most Nigerians is “when will we get the dividends of democracy? When will it get to the average man on the street?

But there is good news, we have yet another opportunity to decide our destiny, future and that of generations yet on born. The era of “what will be will be “ is gone, Nigeria is our project and we are all stake holders in it regardless of our tribe, age , backgrounds, making Nigeria work is our collective responsibility and not just for a selected few.

As we vote, lets ask questions and demand answers, its not enough to tell us what they will do for us when they get to power , they should also tell us how they will do it and what will be the result. We have come of age as a nation; a man at 40 is not a baby at all. As such we deserve the best kind of leaders, people who understand integrity, have character, with vision, and strong will tenacity just like Baba.

I affirm Chief Olusegun Obasanjo for his efforts since the inception of this democratic government, I believe he has achieved a lot since may 1999 of course he has weaknesses like me and you like our people say lets not give a dog a bad name simply because we want to kill it. The truth remains that baba has given us pride as Nigerians, given us hope and once again placed us at the center of the globe. I bet you still remember that the macro economic reform programs that have already started yielding great fruits.

I cant think of another place that I d love to be at this point in time, than in Nigeria, the true giant of Africa, this is even more so considering the unfolding events in the country, like I always say to my friends we may not be where we should be as a nation but we are certainly not were we used to be some years back, am proudly Nigerian!