WILL BUHARI BE ABLE TO SHOULDER THE PRESSURE?

After much anxiety, May 29 has passed and Muhammadu Buhari is finally the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. To think Goodluck Jonathan won’t be the one handling the affairs of the country for the next four years is still a bit of surprise to me. Much more is the fact that the PDP won’t be having a representative in the seat of the three most powerful people in the country: the President, the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. All will be taken by the APC, a party whose domain has been prominent in the South-West. To that effect, kudos to Bola Tinubu for doing his homework well.

It has to be said that transition of the presidency to the APC should be a time of reflection for the PDP. You obviously can’t be in power forever. Even Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF, which has had Robert Mugabe in power ever since the Southern African country gained independence in 1980 seems to be falling apart. Has PDP fallen apart? It’s a tough call to make. Regardless of the defeat, the party still remains strong and is still one of the biggest parties on the African Continent.

Goodluck Jonathan has failed in his leadership, asides his kind gestures since he accepted defeat during the March 28 polls, if PDP is to succeed again, they need someone with charisma like Obasanjo. Not a Jonathan who doesn’t seem to know anything about politics and governance. As a president you don’t go about making careless statements in the heat of a crisis and allow your wife who is supposed to represent you to make mockery of your position as the president. You also do not handle intra-party conflicts carelessly. Losing Kano to the APC and allowing an incumbent governor in Rivers State to join the opposition all under your nose is disheartening. It means you don’t know how to do your homework. Such couldn’t have happened under the watch of Obasanjo. That the former head of state pulled out of the party is the biggest blow of all. PDP therefore need a rethink, a rebranding and reorientation if they are to stand a chance of taking back the presidency in 2019. That of course is dependent on how incumbent president Buhari performs in his first four years.

It’s no doubt that Nigeria is need of a great fix in almost every corners of development you can think of and that’s why the Nigerian populace came out to cast their votes for the ex-military head of state. The current National Assembly dilemma is already a bad omen happening right under Buhari's nose. He had made statements that we should not expect a miracle. That is true but he needs to act fast. Gains need to be made as soon as possible so the Nigerian nation can see reasons why they voted for the 72 year Fulani man. That the Christians could vote for him with high expectations asides form the fact that his vice is a reputable pastor is more intriguing.

Nigerians have decided to overlook some of the harsh and somehow brutal records Buhari had as a military head of state. Well that really doesn’t matter today because this is a different dispensation so he obviously won’t have the same approach to things. 

*To be continued.

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*All photos sourced randomly from Google Images.