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"BUHARI VS ATIKU"

CREDIBILITY ASSESSMENT OF THE RENOWNED PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRANTS

The emergence of the two political bigwigs, President Muhammadu Buhari and Atiku Abubakar as presidential aspirants has set the media abuzz. These paragon flag bearers under the auspices of the two renowned political parties, the People's Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC), creates an edifying spectacle, seeing the duo political histrionics keenly contest for the grand prize. The world of power indeed has the dynamics of the jungle. Convincingly, the veteran politicians are obviously no paper weight and this posits them as the political celebrities of the season, with a phalanx fan base.

The search light is beamed to uncover the candidate with the required administrative acumen and velocity to get the nation accelerated to her lofty height. This quest is driven towards achieving strengthened infrastructural development, security , education e.t.c.

The cut throat competition between the two mainstream politicians brings to the fore this mind boggling question, if the duo are the most innovative minds Nigeria has to offer in the 2019/elections and in this 21st century politics that requires an heterogeneous showcasing of skills to perfect interest and ambitions?

Obviously, the dice is cast and the electorates who stand as the political umpires are keenly watching and making strategic calculations to ascertain the man with the credibility to wear the crown of leadership at the apex of administration (Presidency ). The similarities in their personalities can be adjudged from the fact that they are both of the Fulani clan, Muslims, functioned in the Nigerian governance space, educated and this puts the electorates in a discombobulated position in deciding whom to vote and whom not to vote.

Emphatically speaking, both aspirants have made landmark achievements in various capacities they have served and worthy of retrospect. The essence of this punctilious analysis is to draw a dichotomy between both politicians, in a bid to provide the electorates with a non visceral analysis of the vista political and economic antecedents on which the electorates can hinge their sense of political judgement. This is to avoid all forms of political obsessions and hobnobbing with politicians on the ground of chauvinism.

Every politician at this critical time wants to come out of the water dry, but a thorough scrutiny of the antecedents of both presidential hopefuls speaks volume of their administrative efficiencies. This is aimed at averting the dangers associated with the electorates succumbing to the political decoy of politicians, responsible for faulty candidature choice over the years.

The X-raying of their antecedents is not targeted at any form of eulogy or display of resplendence, but to cause a U-turn from the cultural off-cycle electoral pattern , accountable for the caricature governance style that Nigerians seek to get emancipated from.

The current state of the nation is considered obnoxious by the citizenry and amplified by political spoilers and fighters, back stabbers, ethic champions and sycophants, orchestrated by media hypes, fathomed largely on speculations that lack substance, with the efficacy to disintegrate nationalism.

The template for their proven track records should be distanced from party affiliation and hypocritical analysis, rather on the administrative competence of political hopefuls. According to Robert Green, the author of the 48 laws of Power, "Reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected".

This analogy is an inquisitional and informative analysis to banish the electorates from a delusional mindset analysis. In a nutshell, antecedents assessment should be based on the individual achievements and not political parties and this is necessitated on the premise that Buhari the APC presidential flag bearer is an offspring of the PDP, Which Atiku represents.

Obviously, the lifespan of the APC administration is too short to commensurate with the elongated 16years rule of the PDP. This implies that the contest should be between the person of Buhari and Atiku and not the PDP versus APC. It is time for a paradigm shift from party politics to an individual based politics which is more people oriented.

The past is considered an extrapolation of the future. The antecedents of *President Buhari* for the purpose of this discuss should be divorced from his tenure as a Military Head of State rather on his Democratic reign that came to being in 2015. This can be attributed to the fact that there is a a huge gap between military style of governance and a democratic dispensation.

Unarguably, President Buhari inherited a weak economic structure , deteriorated to a state of recession and characterised by legions of economic and political imbroglio.

The Buhari's administration going by history has suffered a canister of pressure and criticisms. This is justified in the crescendo associated with the vilifying certificate forgery scandal, clone and doctored videos over His health status, the declining of acquiescence to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill , and the threatened national strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) that seems almost like a ransom to determining the fate of Mr President in the forthcoming elections.

An economic performance assessment of Mr President is considered an elixir of the discuss at this juncture.

The first shot fired at Mr president in the wake of his administration was the perceived lopsided appointments, tied to religious and ethnic sentiments, evident in the ethic and religious background of his cabinet members and the recent appointments into the EFCC. This has obviously sparked dust and portrays Nigerians as people who are too quick to jettison their history. Why should emphasis be on regional and ethnic affiliations rather than administrative competence? The evils constituted by such sentiments and the devastating impact on governance over the years cannot be over emphasised.

A notable accolade to Mr President's achievement is the bail out of the nation from economic Summersault (Recession), attained through the application of fiscal and monetary policies and the diversification of the economy through agrarian based policies. Rice production capacity domestically has astronomically increased as attested to by the President of the Rice Farmers Association, Amino Gorogo who admitted during an Interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, that annual rice production in Nigeria has grown from 5.5million tones in 2015 to 5.8million tones in 2017. A very herculean task that indeed calls for an applause to Mr President's team of technocrats . Although the farmers /herders clashes has induced a contraction of the agrarian input on GDP, it is worthy to state that the premium given to agriculture in this administration has redefined the economy from a monoculture economy based on Black Gold to a multi sectoral source of revenue, with a heavy decline in the importation menace.

The change mantra is the cardinal focus of His administration and this poses the question of how well has the symbolic APC broom been able to sweep away traits of corruption in the country?.

Corruption in this sense refers to the pervasion of public coffer to private fiefdom. The looting of the national treasury is an undiluted act of economic sabotage. Although the drive has not attained fruition in terms of the prosecution of culprits, the plus can be allocated to the fact that the act of looting with impunity has been curbed to a reasonable extent by sealing all forms of financial leakages, through the introduction of policies as the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration (VAID)e.t.c. An affirmation of this point is the abandonment of jumbo sums in uncompleted buildings, moneys not linked to BVN or any account holder, the extradition of some culprits e.t.c.

This move against corruption has been interpreted to mean politicised, and the EFCC an instrument of political witch hunting. It should be taken into cognisance that the combat against corruption has helped instill trepidation in the minds of kleptomaniac political office holders whose intents is to launch the nation in a state of financial heamorage, through the paucity of public funds. Even when corruption seem not to have been fought to a standstill, success recorded in this regard seem more than modicum.

One will agree that during the Vice Presidential debate, a major emphasis of the PDP aspirant Peter Obi challenging Prof.Osibanjo was the issue of Subsidy. The bone of contention was anchored on the fact that some Nigerians don't see the necessity for subsidy payment by the Federal Government.

Be it as it may, it should be registered in the minds of Nigerians, that should subsidy be removed , the masses will bear the brunt of the removal as the prices of petroleum products will skyrocket beyond the purchasing power of the poor masses. Emphasis should rather dwell on the transparency in the manner in which the subsidy claim by the government should be conducted.

Removal of subsidy connotes that the refineries and gas turbine gaps have been bridged but what is obtainable signals the fact that it will take donkey years to fix. As it stands , the Federal Government should not be faulted for subsidy payment but on the transparency in the payment of subsidies and all other underlying issues addressed before the thought of subsidy removal can be entertained.

Employment wise, the administration can be rated high for prioritising the area of youth employment for both skilled and unskilled individuals. Thus creating opportunities for all categories irrespective of differences in academic backgrounds. A testimonial to this effect is the Npower initiative that has been able to accommodate 500,000 unemployed youths and this can be tagged plausible and heartwarming.

Women empowerment is also an area not left untouched, crystallised through the Market Moni Initiative amidst other Social Investment Programmes like the school feeding Program. This administration can be designated one of the highest employer of labour, attested to by job openings in Ministries, Departments and Agencies with quintessential as the recruitment by the Federal Road Safety Commission, the Federal Fire Service , Nigerian Prisons e.t.c.

It is argued that Nigeria has become the headquarter of poverty, overtaking India originally in that position. According to the World Poverty Clock and as compiled by Brookings Institute, statistics puts 87million Nigerians on the impoverishment status. This obviously undermines the achievement of this administration in this regard. considering the increase in the cost of living and decline in the standard of living, many have failed to see the significant impact in this regard but the bitter truth remains that employment wise, things have improved compared to the years of closed employment opportunities for millions of Nigerians through draconian downsizing and rightsizing policies. These policies sent into extinction lots of public assets such as NITEL, Ajaokuta Steel Company, DUNLOP, NAFCOM e.t.c. Employment debacle is not solely induced by the Federal Government as speculated by myopic thinkers. Why can't Nigerians quiz their state governors to give proper account of how the Paris club refund which amounted to the whooping sum of #1.9trillion allocated were used to service salaries?. Why can't some unproductive and parasitic states search for alternative source of revenue generation rather than the overburdening of the centre (Federal Government) for survival?. These are fundamental questions begging for answers.

Education aimed at developing Human Capacity currently can be defined to be in a precarious and pathetic state. The ongoing ASUU strike which marks the solicitation of adequate funding, geared towards revamping the sector, buttresses the aforementioned point. Let it also be noted that this administration doesn't account for the genesis of this setback. The strike is a function of noncompliance of the Memorandum of Understanding entered by previous administrations. Although the Federal Government can not neglect this demand on the above ground, it remains obligatory for the Buhari's government to meet the demands of ASUU and other pressing academic concerns. No nation can drive the path of development with its educational sector on a reverse gear.

Infrastructural development has been a campaign objective of successive governments. President Buhari has achieved tremendous success in this regard. Criticism has trailed the president's effort, as many believe the incumbent's achievements in line with this objective is the continuation of his predecessorial initiatives.

Experience has unmasked the fact that lack of continuity in government policy is a killer of development goals and that accounts for the menace of abandoned projects and stomach infrastructures. Working on projects initiated by previous administrations portrays the president as a man with the spirit of sportsmanship, one who plays no politics of bitterness.

Some of His achievements infrastructural wise boils down to improved power supply, a quantum leap from 2450MW in May 2015 to 5000MW currently. The proposed $72billion for Electricity Distribution Program if allowed to materialise, may be a panacea to domestic and foreign Direct investment pitfalls.

Further Credence to Mr President in this direction, is the reconstruction of Gombe Yola Road and the Bauchi-Gombe road, completion of Kano-Maiduguri express way project, revival of the gigantic Mambilla hydroelectric dam in Taraba state that was abandoned 45years ago and the most captivating is the 2nd Niger Bridge sponsored by the public and private sector.

Discussing national security and defense, this point tries to underestimate the performance of this administration following dismay expressed by Nigerians over the incessant killings of Nigerians in cold blood. The carnage continues to create heightened temper from groups across the country. It is pertinent to note that this terrorism saga is not peculiar to Nigeria, as nations sophistically inclined technological wise have also suffered a touch of terrorism menace. An example is the U.S and the September 9/11 attack and terrorist activities in some war epicenter nations that Nigeria is threading the path with.

The Buhari's administration has also been labelled administratively deficient over ethnic cleansing by the herdsmen brutality with the cancerous spread across the nation.

No nation has completely conquered terrorism, as such the claim to at some point in time to have technically defeated insurgency could be considered a mare luring confessional statement.

Successive governments have applied perceived obsolete technique and have exhausted robust budgetary allocations (security vote ) with Lilliputian success recorded. This is majorly tied to the fact that the terrorist group is technologically sophisticated than the Nigerian army and that explains why they can no longer be underestimated as rag tag fighters but sophisticated fatalists who have lost their moral compass. The Metele attack that led to the massacre of scores of Nigerian soldiers and the use of drones by the sect says it all.

The war against terrorism calls for all manner of stratagem to holistically halt this menace. The Nigerian army has been playing a big brother role in ensuring peace in war prone zones in Africa as a functional arm of the ECOWAS under the auspices of it's security arm, the ECOMOG. She is also a member of the security arm of the United Nations (UN) and one cannot stop wondering Why member nations like the U.S technologically reciprocate to conquer security plaque. The Nigerian military seem overstretched and requires collaborative effort from all stakeholders. Nipping terrorism in the bud is not solely Mr president's responsibility but indeed calls for cooperative endeavours.

The declining of Mr president's acquiescence to the Electoral Amendment Bill 2018 for the third time has generated wave of altercations and national concern. Mr president gives his reason for the decline as "I am declining assent to the Bill principally because I am convinced that passing a new electoral bill this far into the electoral process for the 2019 general elections which commenced under the 2015 Electoral Act could create some uncertaintity about the applicable legislation to govern the process".

This is also backed by the ECOWAS protocol on Democracy and Good Governance which prohibits countries from making Electoral Act Amendments less than six months to elections. The 2019 election is actually too sensitive to serve as a test running ground for administrative incompetencies.

In defense of the above, it is worthy to state the hitch that emanated from the use of the card readers in the 2015 election gives a clue to the difficulty that may accompany the introduction of unfamiliar initiatives. As such, an amendment of the Electoral Act Bill at the dawn of the 2019 election may also incur some degree of adjustment issues, capable of thwarting the process.

The endorsement of the 2019 Election Peace Accord by presidential aspirants can be considered an alternative to the Electoral Amendment Bill. However, constitutional or electoral forms of amendments is no panacea to electoral ills. This can be argued on the premise that the workability of the constitution is encoded in the obliging to constitutional content (pragmatism) and not on rhetorics as obtainable in the Nigeria context.

It is succinct to say also that a synergy among lawmakers is considered indispensable. A consensus between the executive, the legislative and the judiciary arms in this regard is necesary in order to avoid allegations of executive highhandedness on the part of Mr President. The parliamentarians should focus on the implementation of laws that will be beneficial to the masses rather than politicise every bill that comes to their desk. For instance ,the PDP has ordered the Coalition of United Political Parties ( CUUP ) on 16/12/2018 to boycott Buhar'is budget implementation. Parliamentarians should stop politicking with the future of Nigerians on the ground of party rivalry.

With the above assessment that captures thematic areas of this administration's campaign objectives, a call for a second term by president Muhammadu Buhari to complete what he has already started can be defined as worthwhile.

Besides its been a political culture since the inception of democracy for incumbents to seek a second term.This is because fixing Nigeria's problem is not a trans-human exercise or rocket science but calls for a measure of time to consummate, especially with regards to President Buhari's Next Level Campaign initiative.

The president has committed no sacrilege to call for a second term having fulfilled all constitutional righteousness, as such deserves the right to be voted for.

*Atiku Abubakar* on the other hand is a noble politician who has made giant thrives in his economic and political endeavours.

The thematic areas of his campaign initiative captures Poverty Alleviation, Education, National security, anti corruption, with the most enticing and resounding being the *"RESTRUCTURING/TRUE FEDERALISM"* Agenda. The restructuring policy although with large acceptability, has also been criticised for being devoid of specifics.

Restructuring as a term has suffered ambiguous interpretations and generated argumentative bifurcations in recent and time past for being too large a concept. This argument on ground poses a major question which area of restructuring Atiku seeks to address?. Is He talking about state policing, local government autonomy e.t.c.

The National Confab of 2014, with president Goodluck Jonathan as the conveyor and the failure to implement the report birthed from the confab, buttresses this assertion that perceiving restructuring as the way out of the wood is no easy task to accomplish. The implementation gap unveils that restructuring requires ethnic, religious, and regional reconciliation to see to its actualisation. The national confab report implementation has suffered a setback on the ground that the translation of the report into concrete reality is feared to mean an exit to federalism, a prelude and call for referendum and national disintegration .

Nigerians should not also jettison the fact that the ambiguous interpretations and lack of in depth understanding of policy objectives as evident in the giddy implementation of the privatisation and deregulation policies buried some supposed purposeful economic prospects.

Amidst these pessimism expressed , If Atiku with a sense of doggedness, coupled with the team of sound technocrats to champion the restructuring course, if eventually assumes office, will do justice to the ambiguity associated with the term "Restructuring". As a matter of fact, a recognition for the need for restructuring of the nation along ethnic, economic and political lines portrays Atiku as a man who has an in depth understanding of issues that can stand as an anathema to national cohesion.

The person of Atiku can be referred to as a rare asset to the Nigeria economy. Judging his economic adequacies, reveals he is gaining larger audience , because it is believed that as a business mogul, his economic expertise will help bail out this nation from the dungeon of unemployment, poverty e.t.c. if translated into economic policies.

Irrespective of the fact that a percentage of the populace still exercise doubt on the premise that He was a major beneficiary of the privatisation and deregulation policies, his landmark achievements in the world of business settles such discrepancies. This justification is anchored on the premise of private enterprise to his credit like the American University of Nigeria, Rico Gado Animal Feeds Ownership, Atiku Farms, Adamawa Beverages Limited e.t.c. have in no small measure helped curtailed unemployment and inject a boost to National Income. This is unlike many voluptuous politicians who syphon public funds and starch in foreign accounts, with no significant input to domestic advancement.

Just like President Buhari, Atiku has been confronted with plethora of counter allegations. One of the shots fired recently at him is the allegation of tax evasion that revealed his failure to pay His personal Income Tax for several years. In all, one begins to wonder why such a charge is surfacing at this crucial time of campaigns, thus painting the case to be more of a political witch hunting strategy. Despite series of of allegations trending, such as the Jefferson William laundering scandal, He is still considered the answer to the economic plight of unemployment, poverty e.t.c.

Another charming quality that defines the man as someone of impeccable reputation, is His tenacity and ambitiousness, synonymous with the case of Mr president, having contested the 4th time for the seat of the presidency. He has also proven himself a non sectional and embracing leader, attested to by his biography that reflects his transversing the nook and cranny of this country, with investments spread across regional domains. This portrays the man Artikulate as fondly called as a "One Nigeria Ambassador".

In brevity, the totality of his 2019 ambition is anchored on "Making the Nigerian Economy work Again".

Be it as it may, having fulfilled all constitutional quintessential, the man Atiku Abubakar is deserving of being voted and be voted like for any other aspirants in the presidential race.

Conclusively, having scrutinised the progressive and retrogressive tendencies of the two political Icons (Buhari versus Atiku) that portrays them as tested and trusted, the floor is now open for the electorates to make a rational candidature choice. Rationality in the sense that candidature antecedents assessment should be exclusive of any form of narcissistic and voracious appetite to maim the the integrity of the two political giants.

As I rest my case, having x-rayed the scorecard of both presidential pursuant (Buhari and Atiku) that can be placed on a pass mark, backed by reeled out figures and fact, I hereby present the duo before the People's

Court (electorates), to pass verdict base on facts and not shadows as highly speculated.