One ally close to home is mounting the rostrum to create an uphill task for Muhammdu Buhari’s bid – the fourth, and probably the last, since he is aged 71 – to become president and validate his credential as a democrat, having once ruled as military head of state.
Sam Nda-Isaiah
Conspiracy theorists smell a rat in the surprise move by Sam Nda-Isaiah, publisher of Leadership, to run for Aso Rock on the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC), of which Buhari is a founding member and de factor presidential candidate even before the party’s convention to choose one.
Nda-Isaiah was taken aback when told of this kind of plot, which detractors speculate comes from the column of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Nobody is using me against Buhari, he clarified.
He said he is his own man, gunning for the coveted job in the Villa, the most powerful in Africa, without any desire to undermine Buhari, whose loyalists insist is the best person to clean up corruption, Nigeria’s national disease.
In the three consecutive attempts Buhari has made to become president, he had the unflinching support of Nda-Isaiah.
Now both men have to slug it out for the presidential ticket of the APC for the ballot next year.
Both of them are from the North. That means votes in the region will be split between them, reducing the chances of Buhari against other contestants in the APC – and, ultimately, against the presidential flag bearer of the PDP, most likely President Goodluck Jonathan, who has the advantage of incumbency.
If Nda-Isaiah loses the ticket to Buhari at the APC convention in November, and if that leads to rancour, his supporters may not vote for Buhari in the general election in February 2015.
They may vote for Buhari’s opponent or abstain from voting altogether. Either way, that gives a hand to the candidate of the PDP.
In 2003 when Buhari first took a shot on the wings of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Nda-Isaiah spearheaded The Buhari Organisation (TBO), which helped to promote Buhari’s bid.
He was around for Buhari during his bids in 2007 and 2011.
In November 2012, when Buhari’s image came under fire following Boko Haram’s mischievous nomination of him as one of their negotiators with the federal government, Nda-Isaiah came to the rescue with a powerful piece in his column titled, “The Buhari I Know”.
He wrote: “Only very few people would claim to be closer to General Buhari than I. And even among those close to him, very few can claim to know him like I do.
“Buhari is one of the most outstanding human beings I know, with all his faults. He is certainly not a perfect man. It is not for nothing that I have supported and voted for him in all the three attempts he has made to be president of this country.”
Why then is he contesting the same position he had argued that only Buhari is most qualified to occupy? Is he being used to reduce the support of the home base for Buhari and give room for others who want the APC ticket?
Nda-Isaiah replied with a surprise look. “By who?” he asked.
“I am hearing this for the first time,” he added. I have heard many things about me contesting but I have not heard this one. I don’t know about spoiling his chance, how? I don’t think so.
“Buhari is my role model. I have said that over and over. My respect for him has not diminished a bit. But I intend to contest. There was a time he said he won’t contest. It appears now that he wants to contest.
“He has a right to change his mind. But fine, I have no problem with that. I am contesting also. If he is going to contest, at least there are two very good people Nigerians can choose from. I have no problem with that at all.”
