By Donu Kogbara
There are many who do not want – for several reasons – to discuss replacing Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s President come 2019.

Such people see Buhari as the person who can effectively move Nigeria away from the decadence of the past. Although, I supported his candidacy with the idea of him being a buffer between the past up to 2015 and the future in 2019.

Many also believe that it is premature to consider a replacement for him now – an opinion I regard as naive, given that some early contenders have already thrown their hats in the ring by testing the waters and will soon be joined by others.   Then there are those who are convinced that Buhari needs two terms to solidify his reforms. And my response to this viewpoint is: Nope! All he needs is a successor who will continue from where he left off and take Nigeria to the stratosphere!

Having sincerely appraised the performance of this administration from every possible angle, I have concluded that it could have been much better.

President Buhari

Yes, Buhari inherited a mountain of problems. But he asked for the job and once he realized how much of a mess was waiting for him, he didn’t give up or run away. To his credit, he decided to give it a shot.

However, his best right now is not good enough unless we want to be very optimistic. My evaluation of the man I campaigned for is that he will do exactly what I expected of him and reset the nation. But no more.

What do I mean by that?

Think of what Nelson Mandela did for South Africa in a limited sense. While Madiba was not the kind of President who leads a nation hands-on, he was a buffer between the evil Apartheid past and South Africa’s all-inclusive future. And, after one term, he stepped down, having bridged the gap, his duty done.

This is what I campaigned for. I supported Buhari so he would strengthen Nigeria’s institutions – which he is doing with the Military and Judiciary right now, and hopefully will with other sectors as well. I expected him to be a buffer between Nigeria’s profligate past and a more economically viable future. And I dare say that President Buhari has been successful in that regard, despite difficulties.

Those who claim that those of us who supported Buhari against Jonathan but do not want him to contest or be re-elected in 2019 because we have realized that we made an error do not get it at all!

In 2015, Buhari was the better choice of the two available! And if that election were to be held again, knowing what I know now, I for one would still campaign for Buhari. Let us get that straight. There are certain things I do not like about his presidency but there is much more that I disliked about his predecessor’s.

My intention is not to be harshly critical. I am just being pragmatic in stating that President Buhari is limited in how effective he can be beyond a single term, from what we have seen so far.

His abilities are more in line with setting basic standards of ethical expectations for governance — fixing the system as it were. But strategic designs that will take Nigeria forward — running the system – demands a different kind of personality.

Those who disagree with me and feel that PMB can be relevant beyond 2019 must either be satisfied with what they have seen so far or believe it could not have been better. But I do not buy that at all.

To have an eight-year Buhari presidency will be counter-productive. A more ‘talented’ candidate – not necessarily a technocrat or seasoned professional with an economic, monetary, legal or business background, even though that would certainly not hurt – will be a more suitable fit for the 2019 presidency.

With Nigeria’s institutions in better shape now than they were in 2015, hurdles ahead should not be too high for a candidate who does not belong to the generation of politicians that Buhari belongs to. Who are the people that might fit this bill?

This is where we all come in as right now, political platforms which should be projecting replacement candidates are nowhere to be found!

Nigeria is not bereft of men and women who can sit in the President’s seat and drive Nigeria on the road to prosperity! We are blessed with manpower that many nations envy. The intellectual ability of Nigerians is acknowledged worldwide. Where I live (Boston), many people respect our sagacity!

And yet, we are limiting ourselves in terms of quality of leadership. Celebrating mediocrity has made many blind to what could have been. Sacrifices made on the altar of ethnic, religious and political bigotry are being heralded.

But we are better than this! 

I could start mentioning names of people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who can be projected as future presidents. You and I know them but Nigeria does not know of them… well enough. Voters are not aware of them and so usually go with the party candidate or “big name politicians”. And here lies the dilemma.

How do people who are not currently famous get name recognition without becoming disciples of apparently rotten platforms such as APC/PDP/AD/APGA and the others, which have thrown up the kinds of politicians we see today?

Independent candidacy is a very difficult path to tread. Usually, it ends in failure because of a lack of financial backing. That is the reality.

If we want to develop the Nigeria of our dreams, shying away from this reality cannot be the choice we make.

2019 is not that far off; and unless efforts are made today to galvanize the electorate to seriously consider new choices for tomorrow, the same old choices will be made and all of us will pretend they are new, fooling no one but ourselves.