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Old Nigeria Must Be Replaced By New Nigeria

The President of Nigeria,  Muhammadu Buhari has formally declared his intention to contest as President of Nigeria for another 4 years.

This is sad.

President Buhari represents Old Nigeria, the Nigeria of the civil war, Federal quotas and crude oil. The old Nigeria of Federal Character and disregard of human rights, that is what President Buhari represents.

If you are aged below 50, and you vote for or campaign for President Buhari, you are simply saying you want to remain in Old Nigeria, that prioritizes crude oil revenues to revenues from Services. You are saying you support a nation where the President is aloof and literally absent, where the military kill and buried off citizens at will.  It is old Nigeria that killed agriculture in Nigeria by  taking agricultural revenues away from States. It is old Nigeria that killed off the elite Nigerian civil service by mass purges in the 1980s..It is old Nigeria that passed a Land Use Act that took land away from the citizens, made mortgages expensive and made farmers asset less.

Someone said of Buhari, “the problem with Buhari is not his age, but the age of his ideas”.

Buhari represents Old Nigeria, he is their mascot. Old Nigeria does not understand, Human Development Index, but they understand crude oil prices, old Nigeria do not understand Gini Coefficient, but they understand Estacode, Old Nigeria does not understand Freedom Of information, they understand Mobile Police. We must leave Old Nigeria  and transit to a New Nigeria.

A new Nigeria where every Nigerian can go to school, learn a skill and move up the income ladder, Old Nigeria has not built a new school in 3 years

A new Nigeria where we replace crude oil with services such as Tourism, Agriculture, and IT.  Old Nigeria is still drilling for oil in the agricultural zones

A new Nigeria where millions of jobs are created by simply giving farmers legal right to land to enable them access low interest long term loans to farm. Old Nigeria does not want devolution of power

A New Nigeria where railways are removed from the exclusive preserve of the Federal Government and devolved to allow private ownership of rail tracks that increase productivity. Old Nigeria is still borrowing $billion to build a Federal railway

A New Nigeria where farmers can farm, and herders can have expansive green ranches, with farmers selling feed meal to ranches and ranches selling fertilizer to farmers. Old Nigeria is casting blames.

In 2019, all of Nigeria will have to opportunity to choose between Old or New Nigeria, the choice will be yours.  do not let them tell you to vote based solely on corruption of road construction, that is like choosing a wife based on the brand of makeup she uses…. immaterial old Nigeria thinking.

it is old Nigeria that is is pushing Buhari, not the North. 16 Northern based political groups including the Arewa Consultative Forum have refused to endorse Buhari for a second term, this is telling. A joint statement issued March 2018 reads,  “political office holders from the North are hereby served a notice that they have failed the test to lead the region towards economic recovery and growth.”

If President Buhari cannot get an endorsement from his own regional political groups that endorsed him in 2015, why should you consider voting him back in?

However, we must address the realities on ground, this election is an election to replace Buhari, with a candidate from the Northern part of the nation.

I have lived and worked in the North a total of 15 years plus, I have worked with leaders who are from the North, I refuse to believe the lie that there is only one option and that option is Muhammed Buhari, there is too much quality in a region of 19 States to make that argument…..that is Old Nigeria thinking. Nigerians must choose new leader to run a New Nigeria. Many have indicated interest, many are from Old Nigeria but I particularly like Sen Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed. Here is  a PhD holder, young Senator, educated in Harvard and London Business Schools, that owns a University in the North of Nigeria. This the definition of New Nigerian. I have not seen his economic plans, I hope to do so and score him properly, but with him the North does have an option.

2019 is more than roads and corruption, it is a starting point for a New Nigeria.

I so post

One Comment

  1. Nice article, I agree we have to move Nigeria away from where we are currently

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