For the first time in his political career, former military Head of State and frontline presidential aspirant in the All Progressives Congress, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is starting to rebrand himself, writes Olawale Olaleye
“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails…”
-William Arthur Ward
At conception, three headlines suited this article. Apart from the one above, also listed for consideration were: “The Buhari They’ve Been Waiting For” or “The Rebirth of Buhari.” But the one above seems to catch the fancy of this writer better, because in addition to other reasons, it aptly captures the essence of the piece as well as interprets the message more intelligibly.
Particularly poignant are the accompanying pictures to this report; they say it all. The pictures were exclusively obtained by THISDAY from the team now managing the general-turned politician, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, as part of the campaign props. You bet there are lots more wowing shots in the file!
The lead up to next year’s presidential election has continued to flash a recurring factor – Buhari. For the former Head of State, next year’s election will mark his fourth attempt at the presidency, the closest being the election of 2011 in which he garnered well over 12 million votes without boasting a war chest and on the strength of a relatively unknown party, the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC).
Needless to assume that he came that close on the strength of character, track record and the never-waning-popularity amongst the less privileged and the under-served in the North of the country. He is who he is with his people hence the growing cult-like followership he has continued to enjoy. No Nigerian, it is believed, currently enjoys such followership.
His electoral advantages notwithstanding, the South of the country has always seen him differently and so, he has remained a low performer in that part of the country at each election, in addition to other factors presumably responsible for winning and losing election.
But since Buhari switched camp and pitched tent with the progressives in the South, there have been conscious attempts by a concerned few, who genuinely believe in him to start rebranding the man, not only because he is said to stand a very bright chance in the presidential primaries cum the general election, but because he must be seen as having been indoctrinated properly into the class of the progressives, both in form and content.
Even then, in dealing with the Buhari candidacy, the APC knew it had a few perception issues to deal with, chief amongst which is his alleged religious extremism and of course, the age factor. A lot of his followers have since also dismissed the age limitation as irrelevant for as long as it does not inhibit performance.
His supporters have therefore designed a counter-strategy to the age debate. For them, they would rather a responsible, intelligent and decisive old man like Buhari as president than have an incompetent lot in power on the basis of age and youthful dexterity.
Interestingly, the allegation of his religious extremism is daily appearing some cheap propaganda by the opposition to undo him, more so that the allegation has never been proven. A true devout Muslim, Buhari has not just related well with Christians, there are facts to show that he is not who he is being projected to be, others have argued.
For instance, his first daughter is said to have married a Christian Igbo, while his driver and cook are also Christians of many years. While he would always allow Christians to take their Sundays off, their Muslim counterparts are never exempted from work on Fridays because there was no such mandate in the Holy Quoran.
For a man of his statute and devotion to his faith, the last time Buhari allegedly went on a Pilgrimage to Mecca was some 11 years ago. Rather than go on such capital extensive expedition, he would fund the education of the children of the less privileged with the money. Small wonder they would take a bullet for him.
The most strident of the factors against Buhari is what is generally known as the fear factor. Those who lay claim to owning Nigeria are believed not to like Buhari for who he is. They are said to worry about what a Buhari government could portend for them being establishmentarians.
It is against this backdrop that those who believe in the Buhari presidency both within and outside the APC have joined forces to start playing up the Buhari they know and the Buhari the people have been waiting for. The Buhari, who has been badly damaged by his traducers is now undergoing repairs and seems to be responding well to the dynamism of change as being propounded by his party, the APC.
In the administration of the country, this category of people believes that the APC has sufficient technocrats amongst its membership that could help Buhari in the onerous tasking of salvaging the country, observing the best democratic practices as well as delivering on promises. Indeed, this set of people believes Buhari has the brightest chance in the APC – a candidate ready to go to the battlefield with devoted troops that will not beat a retreat in the heat of superior firepower.
The most dramatic of the change Buhari is going through is his representative dress sense that cuts across the geo-political zones, typifying the Nigerian in him. And apart from regularly tutoring the man they describe as “excitingly teachable” in the things that bring him up to date on trending globally developments, the Buhari team also boasts a jaw-breaking blueprint that would jolt his opponents.
Although they have limited time to tidy up many things, the Team Buhari is excited that things are looking up good for them, both at the level of the party primaries and the general election which, they reckon looks very promising.
According to sources within the group, never before have the chances of the opposition been this bright in a national election, especially given the fact that elections these days are less rig-able, following INEC’s many safe mechanism.
While the coast really looks clear for Buhari, how well they are able to translate these chances into results remains entirely a problem of their internal extrapolation and workings, devoid of greed, interests and personal agenda. But until then, welcome to the world of the brand new Muhammadu Buhari…the one you’ve been waiting for.
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