l Iash Buhari as much as I lash Atiku.

I’m not crazy about Buhari. My hope was on Atiku. My close friends knew I was rooting for him.
Then the manifesto came out. Putting sales of Govt assets especially NNPC as an achievement raised the red flag to me. The way Nigeria’s assets were recklessly under valued and sold for pennies by Atiku under OBJ came back to my memory. You don’t need proof of this more than what his boss OBJ wrote in his books.

Then the issue of restructuring which Atiku has been mouthing and which he used to convince gullible Afenifere came to my mind. In his manifesto he paid lip service to it by saying he will recall the deliberations of the National conference on it. That was an innitiative of Jonathan. Even if that was going to form a background, he should have offered Nigerians his own thoughts as to how the delicate ethnic balancing in Nigerian can be constitutionally restructured. I know for free that no Northern politician can re structure Nigeria.

Another downer for me is the band of mafia surrounding Atiku. Saraki, Ben Bruce, Dino, FFK, Fayoshe,Secundus  etc. I do not see any deep sense of patriotism and Nationalism in this bunch. I do not see the deep sense of sacrifice and self denial we require in this country’s quest to get out of our present quagmire. They are too sharp a bunch of marauders.

Finally the north after two Presidents, Yaradua and Buhari , should cede the Presidency to another part of the country. Federal character is entrenched in our constitution.  Another 8 years of Atiku will be unfair to the rest of the regions.

I am not crazy about Buhari. He has fallen short of my expectation in many many ways. I also detect a kind of lethargy in him physically and spiritually. Hes also an un repentant tribalist in the way he doles out Federal appointments. He’s a shell of his former self. However he has also impressed me in many of the projects I’m just seeing. I was still in Abeokuta yesterday. Got out of the car on a hilltop. Looked at the epochal railway tracks being built at frenetic pace. I drove over the Lagos – Ibadan express saw this project that has gone over four Presidencies nearing completion. I know this is the state of things round the country. Abandoned projects being completed and new ones springing up. A new President will come in and all these will be abandoned again. Buharis achievements are under reported by his handlers. Have you ever seen a sitting President whose party will be disqualified by INEC from elections, like in Rivers and Zamfara. One call to the Chairman of INEC and that will be reversed. Can that happen to PDP under OBJ. So I see a detachment from the process of this election. That’s fairness. That’s why OBJs rant about rigging conspiracy sounded crazy to me.

Look round the country. Can you imagine the kind of Fayoshe-Koro escapade where the Presidency will truck Billions in plain sight to one Governor for election bribes. Which Governor will discuss that with Buhari. There’s a certain recklessness with our commonwealth that has disappeared. I’m not saying corruption has stopped in our federation. The impunity and scale of it , as in the past, may God never let us see again.

My support for Buhari is not bc he’s a saint or ideal for the Presidency. I support him bc to me ATIKU IS A BAD ALTERNATIVE! I wish there was a third but credible choice. I can’t see that on the ballot. I will also not stop in criticizing Buhari. It is my right.

Tunde Alabi-hundeyin Dudu