By Sunny Ikhioya

IN recent times, the debate on the political situation is not about whether the All Progressives Congress, APC, has performed or not.  It is clear to even the key Buhari fanatics that they have fallen far short of expectations. The question that everybody is asking now is: if not Buhari,  who then should be President?

With our level of education and great human resource from this country in all walks of life across the globe, this would have been a simple question to answer. With the secularity of the nation as  enshrined in our constitution as one nation bounded in peace, unity and freedom, there would have been a straight forward answer to the question. But in a country soaked in ethnic and religious bigotry, with greedy and selfish politicians, with a very passive and lazy populace, this question has become an enigma.

In a country  with over  170 million  population, we are looking for a credible candidate who will replace a President who has been rendered ineffective by health and age-related factors, thus struggling to have a grip on governance. Some of us have continued to egg him on, the result of which is a cascade towards a potentially dangerous situation that will threaten the foundation and base of existence of this great country that is yet to wake up.

The people know what they want – a shared prosperity anchored on peaceful inter-relationship, freedom of movement and right to live in any part of the country, in good health, with good education and maximising all that we can get from our rich field of human and natural resources. That is what this government promised, that is what the previous People’s Democratic Party, PDP, government couldn’t deliver that made the party lose the sympathy of the people and got booted out.

The people wanted a symbol, a change from the past, an arrowhead that will bring to bear the required change and guarantee that the ways of the past are gone, a new broom that will sweep away all corrupted past. That was the vision we had of Buhari during the 2015 presidential campaign but, is this what the people have seen of President Buhari today? I have my doubt.

It has become very clear that the fusion of the progressive elements in the country, as  represented by the former ACN party and the conservative elements in the CPC, will be a hard nut to crack but nobody thought it will be this bad. When one realises the fact that Tinubu and Buhari had become great friends, even extending the bond to their wives.

The differences in ideology, background, thinking, and focus began to  manifest as soon as Buhari got the mandate to lead the country in 2015. How he kept the country without ministers for all of six months waiting for the right and clean men/women to deliver the goods, is not tales for the history books. How some elements in the National Assembly manipulated the gaps to hijack the leadership of the Assembly is already well documented.

How the executive and legislative arms  of the same party have carried out a cat and mouse game all through this period are already recorded in our history books. What we have not recorded is whether we should allow the system to continue in this manner, where the people continue to wallow in poverty and want.

When a government or leadership has failed on its promises to the people, there is no option but to step down. We all wish for a younger Buhari. The one we  see now cannot fulfill on the mandate that has been given him and he appears incapable of reining in the cabal that is said to be in control of the nation’s affairs. Some people have claimed that those he has placed at the helm of affairs are not providing him with the right information. For example, he was not aware that his directive to the Inspector- General of Police,IGP, on the Benue crisis was not adhered to.

No matter the pretense or, what appears to be semblance of good health, Buhari is hampered by his age and health situation and we must all accept it as such. There is a limit to which you can push nature and if you try to go beyond the limit, the consequences are always disastrous. Therefore, the APC and those in the saddle for now should begin to look out for a good replacement. It is a pity that people are saying that there is no replacement for Buhari; in this country of 170million people? We must be kidding.

Let us begin with clean conscience, there must be no boundaries to the search, the leader can be from any state in Nigeria, even if it is going to be zoned to the north, the selection must not be done by a cabal or group of old administrators. Those who have brought this country to its knees must be excluded from the selection processes. It must be transparent for all to see. I believe the APC can run this country successfully with a change in strategy. When the President went on sick leave, the vice-president stood in for him. The peace recorded in the Niger-Delta region today is a fall out of the efforts that were made during this period. We have other people who can run this country in the manner Osinbajo did when the president was away. We have liberal northerners who can also do same.

I do not want to mention names so that I am not accused of bias but it is clear to all discerning minds that what we have as leadership presently is not up to it. A symbol of nobility is to accept mistakes when we discover it. The Buhari project was a mistake, let us accept it and look for a capable replacement.

*Mr. Ikhioya, www.southsouthecho.com
Twitter: @SunnyIkhioya