19 Feb 2007 |
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Pat Utomi as General Muhammadu Buhari’s Vice Presidential running mate?By Dan Azumi Kofarmatadanazumikofarmata@yahoo.comMonday, 19 February 2007With due respect to my admirable good friend Professor Pat Utomi (Nigeria’s own Barack Obama), I would like to suggest to him to consider joining hands with General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Nigeria Peoples Party’s (ANPP) 2007 presidential flag bearer to form the next federal government of Nigeria on May 29, 2007. I am very much aware of the fact that Professor Pat Utomi is already the presidential flag bearer of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). I have also no any doubts whatsoever, that Pat Utomi is one of the best presidential contenders vying for the presidency of Nigeria in the forthcoming 2007 general elections. I am therefore not in any way demeaning his stature and standing in the contemporary Nigerian political landscape. There are several reasons that can be advanced to support the proposition that Pat Utomi is the most eligible vice presidential material to be considered by any serious mainstream presidential contender for the April 2007 Nigeria’s presidential contest. The first reason has to do with the nation’s geopolitics. If one looks at how all the so-called major political parties selected their presidential flag bearers, one would easily conclude that the selections were principally based on political and presidential power shift to the north. For example, with the timely death of the ill-fated evil designed “third term” tenure elongation contrived by President Olusegun Obasanjo and his rampaging ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the PDP settled for a northern presidential flag bearer in the person of Governor Umaru Musa Yar Adua of Katsina State. The ANPP on the other hand returned its 2003 presidential flag bearer also from the north in person of former Nigerian Head of State General Muhammadu Buhari, who is also from Katsina State. Similarly, the other newly emerged Action Congress (AC) party picked the embattled Vice President Atiku Abubakar, a founding and very influential member of the ruling PDP as its presidential flag bearer. Furthermore, other fringe political parties also picked their respective presidential flag bearers from the north. Some of the political parties zoned the choice of their presidential flag bearers to the southern part of the country. Among the political parties with presidential flag bearers selected from the southern part of the country are: The African Democratic Congress (ADC) which fielded Professor Pat Utomi as its presidential flag bearer, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) that has the Ikemba of Nnewi Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu as its presidential flag bearer as it did during the rigged 2003 presidential poll and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) that similarly fielded the erstwhile embattled former PDP member, the Abia State Governor, Chief Orji Uzo Kalu who is now with the PPA. Each of these three- mainstream politicians has very strong personality and great influence in the southern geopolitical zones of the country and beyond. However, with the pendulum swinging more towards political and presidential power shift to the north, these three political parties and their respective flag bearers are not likely to do well in the April 2007 presidential poll compared to the other big three mainstream political parties that selected northern politicians as their presidential flag bearers. Therefore, it does not make any sense for a presidential candidate like Professor Pat Utomi to be eased out of the race by virtue of this geopolitical swing. It is for this principal reason that I am proposing that Professor Pat Utomi join hands with General Muhammadu Buhari of the ANPP in order for the nation to tap the enormous reservoir of resourcefulness of this great mind without any waste of time. Furthermore, Pat Utomi’s ADC as presently constituted does not have the national spread and infrastructures that can enable it win the 2007 presidential election. There are a number of reasons why Utomi should team up with General Buhari. For the sake of brevity I would only discuss one here. For example, as I mentioned above, with the political and presidential power shifting to the north in 2007 and probably staying there for the next eight years and the fact that the ADC does not have a national presence, it would amount to shutting and freezing the presidential ambition of Pat Utomi, a man with real and very high potentials to positively and progressively contribute to good governance at the highest level of governance in Nigeria. Pat Utomi for example, is a very seasoned, tested and very experienced technocrat –cum-intellectual, who has done well in his areas of calling. A young man, who given the chance, will turn this country around and make every Nigerian citizen proud the world over. He therefore doesn’t deserve to be shut out and or eased out of the leadership of this country in the current battle of leadership succession for the simple reason of geopolitical power shift configuration. Already, the ruling PDP has picked its vice presidential running mate from the south-south geopolitical zone of the country in the person of Bayelsa State Governor, Chief Jonathan Goodluck, while the Action Congress has picked its own presidential running mate from the south-east and similarly, the ANPP has (temporarily) picked its presidential running mate from the south-east in person of its national Chairman, former Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Second Republic Chief Ume-Ezeoke. My understanding is that since the 2006 Electoral Act has made it possible for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to allow political parties the opportunity to substitute candidates up to February 20, 2007, I strongly recommend to the national leadership of the ANPP to swap Chief Ume-Ezeoke with Professor Pat Utomi who is a much younger, energetic and technocratic candidate. He is no doubt well-educated, articulate and broadminded detribalised Nigerian. Therefore the synergy that can be derived from teaming of Prof Pat Utomi with General Buhari can be of great value and importance in making the ANPP Presidential ticket as the most all-round qualitative, superb and winning presidential ticket in the anal of presidential elections history of Nigeria since independence. For example, not even the 1979 – 1983 Shehu Shagari – Alex Ekwueme presidential ticket comes near to this proposed winning ticket! There is no any other existing presidential ticket that can beat the combination of General Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Pat Utomi in a combined presidential ticket in the forthcoming April presidential poll. In this proposed superb presidential ticket, we have great minds whose most important desire to be in the race is to serve the Nigerian electorates to the best of their abilities and capabilities; putting the nation first and forest in whatever they do. The past and present antecedents of these patriotic gentlemen and their individual successful careers and callings will be the greatest challenge to the other rival contestants to the exalted office. For example, none of the other rival contestants to the Presidency from the other political parties can match the credentials of General Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Pat Utomi combined. In this proposed fused presidential ticket, the ANPP and ADC will provide the Nigerian electorate the benefits of having candidates with starling incorruptible leadership qualities and experiences in both public and corporate management. For example, General Muhammadu Buhari was a military Head of State in the early 1980s taking over the affairs of the country from the second republic civilians was the country was experiencing serious political credibility and economic problems. Prior to that, he served as a military Governor and Minister in the previous government of General Murtala – Obasanjo in the late 1970s. Also, during the military regime of late General Sani Abacha he was given the sole responsibility of running the affairs of the multi-tasking Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF); the task which he credibly and successfully performed with great admiration from the generality of Nigerians, to date. Last but not the least, he tested the political waters of Nigerian politics in 2003 when he was the only credible rival contestant to the office of the President of Nigeria against the incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo of ruling PDP. These four major involvements in the nation’s governance and national politics are great values and experiences he will be bringing to the joint ticket in addition to the various distinguished top-level military command positions of responsibilities he held both during and after the Nigerian civil war. Ironically, in addition to leadership sweetness, General Muhammadu Buhari had also tested the bitterness of leadership. For example, his fundamental human rights, personal liberty and freedom were seriously trampled upon when his military colleagues under the leadership of General Ibrahim Badamasi (IBB) overthrew him in a military palace coup. Therefore, this time around, unlike in the previous dispensations when he served as a military leader, he is now in a position to uphold and respect human rights, freedom of expression and rule of law, amongst others, as enshrined in the 1999 Nigeria’s democratic Constitution. Professor Pat Utomi might not have had the opportunity of previous direct involvement of national and local governance experience in Nigeria (apart from his three months stint as a Special Assistance to President Shehu Shagari in the brief second term tenure of the administration), but he will nevertheless, be bringing to the ticket a lot of academic and intellectual ideas and progressive practical corporate experiences of over 20 years. He is sufficiently well educated, well travelled all over the world and in Nigeria. He is an outstanding and highly respected member of both the Nigerian and global corporate world. He understands the inner workings of the international political and corporate governance and regimes from both intellectual and practical experiences through his direct involvements in both national and global affairs. He is young, very humble and very talented and therefore, the best and suitable candidate to groom for generational leadership succession. Finally, Professor Pat Utomi’s seven-point Restoration agenda are very compatible with those of General Buhari’s three-point cardinal principles of Stability, Security and Prosperity. There are so many things that one can point out that make the joint Buhari – Utomi Presidential ticket the best thing that can happen to Nigeria and Nigerians in 2007. Therefore, if we made mistakes in the past in electing our national leaders, this time around we can correct our mistakes and not repeating them again at our own peril. The best way to correct the mistakes is to appeal to the consciences of General Buhari and Utomi to agree to a joint presidential ticket for the April 2007 presidential election. The time to decide is NOW, as the INEC’s Clock is just hours to the deadline for closing of submission of presidential candidates. May God hear and accept our prayers. Amen.
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