THE REPEAT OF HISTORY AND 2019

Now we can see how about everyone is suddenly Atikulating. All caution being thrown to the gutters to get Buhari sent home.
Most of the Aticulators know that Atiku may not be a saint nor properly qualified to seek the presidential seat, 'but let us just use him to unseat Buhari after which then we can plan better'. Is this 2015 playing out once again? - when a 'clueless Jonathan must make way for Mr. Integrity'. Are you having this feeling of deja vu? I'm afraid a lot of wise guys will end up red-faced at the end of this.

Surely we all know that Atiku may 'certainly' not have the will to effect any meaningful aspect of the reform Nigeria demands. He's still a Fulani, a Northerner, a Muslim, and their elites are the ones mostly benefiting from the dysfunctional superstructure as it is. He may be the lesser devil. Yes, he may have made better friends, mixes in better circles, seems less a tribalist, has better certificates, but certainly may not be the messiah. And I guess Atiku himself knows that.
Thus, another waste of 4-8 years beacon.

Your bet is good as mine that by 2023, if Atiku wins this election, it will still be business as usual. The simple questions that keep resurfacing are; does Atiku possess the mental, moral and selfless capacities to tackle the overdue need to rebuild the foundation of this federation? Do you truly believe that our police and other security agencies won't still be looking unkept, untrained and yet still remain same criminality cesspools? Our judiciary won't still be a bleeding shame? Our infrastructure wont still remain in its primitive state with all the petrodollars? Our politicians will be repented of their bloodsucking ways? All the killings and stealings and denials would have stopped? And the country will still not be polarized in this tribal disharmony?

I wont be seen making this issue a Fulanis or the North verses the rest of us. We all know that great majority of the Fulanis are also going through same hell in this country like everyone of us- be you Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw or Hausa, etc. The suffering masses of the north would certainly prefer, in an informed state, any candidate that could ameliorate the dire socioeconomic condition we are living in today in this country. A candidate that will truly tackle the endemic corruption and the wanton bloodletting that permeates this landscape.

Truly there are far better candidates begging to be given the opportunity to help salvage this sinking ship - Nigeria, but the self-constrictive system we shamelessly muddled in can only gift them a concrete wall of deprivation in their pursuits to serve.
We may be gunning for Atiku as the best practical option but we must never allow ourselvs to forget that he's still one of them. The greedy, selfish establishment. In the end, yet, the difference between Buhari and Atiku may be the makeup of their advisers and the capacity to make wise decisions.

Whether Atiku chooses his running mate amongst the Hausas or Yorubas, as long as they are capable and willing to work in curing our maladies, does not matter. But considering the rotational agreement the PDP, you'd not want to disrespect the spirit with which such arrangement was made in the first place by its founding fathers. So while we seems now to see Atiku as a better and attainable option, we must not be fooled to think that the eldorao must certainly be reached with him.
President Buhari prepared well for the position he occupy today. He's done his best, depending from what angle you are looking at it. Everyone has his limit...and conviction. One should not be expected to give what he doesn't have.

A president Atiku, who's always been part of the decay, will be faced with the biggest challenges any president of this country before has ever faced. If he wins, good. We pray for him and for ourselves. Pray and hope he'd have the courage, the will and the resolve to face down and dismantle all the political mafia groups and the economic syndicates sabotaging our polity and devolve power back to the federating regions or zones with its corresponding internal autonomy.

This will re-establish mutual trust among the people and regions, allow every region the freedom to police itself and develop at its own pace, as well as  drastically curtail corruption as there won't be no more 'National Cake' to grab. And no one will then feel he'd have to look away when it's 'my brother' or an ethnic member that's stealing our common wealth or robbing Dokubor to pay a Madaki. But to get here will mean smashing into pieces, the lures of the power at the center that the likes of Atiku have been struggling over the years to get.

By Celestine Ebubeogu