Recently a friend of mine and member of one of the nosiest political parties asked me in the chambers, after the sitting of the House of Representatives why I strongly believe General Muhammadu is the next president of Nigeria. I was surprised naturally and wondered why it has taken him long to realized this simple fact. I looked him straight in the face and told him that it is God who gives power to whom so ever he wishes and at what ever time. The signs are all over the place. I recounted my experience to him in the hand of armed robbers. The travails of my neigbour whose daughter met her untimely death in a hospital due partly to shear negligence of government which failed to provide drugs and personnel to attend to her. These were but few of the reasons the people of this country looked up to Buhari as their messiah.

The emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) as the presidential candidate of the All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) for the April 2007 presidential polls is a cause for celebration by and hope for ordinary Nigerians, victims of misrule, injustice and deprivation. Even more reassuring was the transparent manner of his emergence as ANPP’s presidential flag bearer, in comparison to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primary, which saw the selection of the party’s candidate, through a brazen coronation. A sad and shameful situation replicated at the state level leaving the ruling party struggling for survival.

As we approach the April general elections, the centre is already crumbling and things are no longer at ease for the ruling party. The PDP is facing the greatest challenge of its survival with the reality of Buhari presidency continuing to concretise day by day. The sterling leadership qualities of the ANPP presidential candidate against the backdrop of the utter incompetence of the ruling PDP, which has caused severe socio-economic hardship, political crises, general misery, deprivation, frustration, despair, desperation and despondency in the land, makes a Buhari Presidency as inevitable as it is desirable.

An appraisal of General Buhari’s leadership qualities, would not be complete without mention of his contribution in the onerous task of keeping Nigeria one and united both before and after the civil war, his stewardship of the defunct North eastern state where he served as military Governor, his role as Minister of Petroleum and Energy and Chairman of the NNPC during the Obasanjo military regime. Buhari reached the pinnacle of his carrier when in December 1983 he was appointed head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. He was to serve his Country once more as chairman of the defunct Petroleum (Special) Trust Fund, PTF (between 1995 and 1999). General Buhari is patriot to the core. He has discharged all his assignments with a sense of mission. He is above board honest and sincere. The organization of oil exporting Countries (OPEC) was to tap from his managerial skill and leadership when he led the oil cartel as President. He played a key role in helping to stabilize the prices of oil in the world market to the benefit of the producing member states including Nigeria.

Following the return of the military to the barracks in October 1979, General Buhari went back to continue with his military career. He served in various military formations across the country as a commanding officer and was reputed in the military circles as energetic and disciplined officer. In the wake of the extremist Maitatsine religious uprising in the early 1980s in several northern states, it was Major-General Buhari, who some political detractors now call an extremist, that crushed the uprising and saved multi culturalism and religious freedom in that part of the country.

In the face of the crises generated by the 1983 presidential election, which the opposition parties accused the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) of rigging, coupled with the massive corruption and fraud, the military had to return back to power in December 1983 to save the polity from virtual collapse. The military regime headed by General Buhari, and Brigadier Tunde Idiagbon (of the blessed memory), who was himself a discipline military officer, embarked on a deliberate and systematic campaign of national cleansing and transformation. Through the War Against Indiscipline (WAI), the regime contributed to efforts geared towards encouraging behavioral and attitudinal change among Nigerians. In essence, the Buhari regime embarked on an ethical revolution that was directed against bribery and corruption, general indiscipline, drug pushing and other acts that cast the country in bad light and caused national retrogression.

Unfortunately, in August 1985, the Buhari regime was overthrown. Today, more than 22 years after the ousting of the regime, many Nigerians, are still nostalgic of its purposefulness, sense of mission and transparency hence the strong yearning for his return at the helm of affairs of our beleaguered beloved country.

With the scrapping of the PTF by the Obasanjo regime in 1999, the gains of infrastructure and social services development informed by the vision of the fund were rolled back tremendously, as could be seen from the dilapidated and lamentable state of our roads, hospitals, schools, water supply system and others today. What is more, the agencies the Obasanjo government set up to look like PTF, such as NAPEP, PPPRA and UBEC, have become a waste-pipe of public resources going by the abysmal performance and massive fraud happening there.

Given the remarkable performance of General Buhari as PTF chairman, it is my sincere belief that if voted into power by May this year, his administration would embarked on an accelerated campaign of provision of infrastructure and social services that would make life more meaningful for the suffering Nigerians. His presidency would turn our hospitals from their present status of less than consulting centres to centres of medical excellence that would compare well with those in advanced climes. His administration would not spend more than N450 billions on roads and yet have nothing but death traps for roads . Buhari’s administration would not spend up to N1 trillion on NEPA, within just eight years and yet power supply would remain at best epileptic and at worst non existent leaving the entire country into chaotic darkness most of the time. Furthermore, his presidency, going by the PTF feats, would not pay lip service to food security nor to resuscitation of our decaying educational system. In fact, if General Buhari is elected into office this year as president, he would inject accountability into our infrastructure and social services delivery system. During his stint as PTF chairman, he was not found wanting in the manifestation of the virtues of transparency and probity, a heartwarming situation that has made it difficult for the present government to black mail him. Even recently, the EFCC Chairman, Mr. Nuhu Ribadu, was reported to have said that General Buhari was one of the greatest leaders of the Nigerian state, comparable only to the late General Murtala Mohammed, on account of his selfless service, honesty and accountability.

With the monumental failure of the ruling PDP government, the imperative of a Buhari presidency could not be overstated given the suffering of Nigerians. Therefore, the choice today for us is to break ranks with the terrible chapter of regrets resulting from maladministration, corruption, mismanagement, right violations, mass deprivation and injustice, and join hands to install a transformative leadership in May this year that will abide by the ethoes of democracy, good governance, the rule of law, respect for fundamental human rights, social justice and general goods for all and sundry.

With unparalled travesty of democratic values and basic tenets of justice by the present government, mass poverty in the midst of plenty, insecurity of lives and properties the attendant desperation and repugnant acts of corruption and mismanagement in high places, the Nigerian electorate should now know that the future of good governance and the associated dividends of democracy like progress and prosperity lay in a Buhari presidency.

The electorate cannot afford to fail in realizing this, as the presidential polls draw closer. It is only General Buhari and the ANPP among the political parties and their presidential candidates that has a comprehensive programme of moving this country forward. The programme, which is anchored on security, stability and prosperity has in-put from re-known economists, scientists, lawyers, the Civil Society, politicians, students and other interest groups. Circulated widely, the programme has received the acclaim of Nigerians at home and in diaspora as a political master piece capable of rescuing the country from its present vicious circle of poverty, insecurity and instability.

Finally the realization of a Buhari presidency lies as much with the masses as with the elite particularly the progressives and indeed all committed democrats. Let us come together irrespective of party affiliation and support the election of an honest and credible leader for our country. The forthcoming general elections provide an opportunity for us to chart a new course for our nation. General Muahmmadu Buhari has all the qualities needed in a leader we can all trust. Let us support him. Let us vote him in as the next president of Nigeria.

* Hon. L. Garba is a member of the House of Representatives, National Assembly, Abuja