I mentioned this earlier. About ten days ago, I revealed to our great party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), and fellow Nigerians that the world is against President Muhammadu Buhari’s second term bid. I asserted that the opposition is coming from “influential leaders within our major allies, including Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Russia, China, Canada, etc.”
I added “that the emerging consensus among these nations is that President Buhari’s second term ambition lacks in cogency. They point to Buhari’s failing health, lack of clear vision, lack of intellectual capacity, an apparent pattern of torpor, nepotism, wanton killings, disregard for the rule of law, and a growing sense of disunity and uncertainty in the land, among many failings.”
However, both the Presidency and the hon. minister of foreign affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, vigorously countered my account. According to Onyeama, “The international community is very supportive of President Buhari. As you can see President Buhari has transformed our relationship with foreign countries and also the perception of Nigeria by foreign leaders.”
But the hard truth is trickling in. The trending report by Financial Times, whereby U.S. President Donald Trump blatantly refers to Buhari as “lifeless” is a partial testimony. In short, my sources within the White House confided that Trump believes that Africa has the potential to be fully independent, “but the countries over there need to get their act together. They need good leaders who can get things done. Nigeria, for example, has huge, huge resources and can do much better than what is going on over there.”
This view is popular among the Western nations. I also gathered that some of the world leaders plan to visit or talk to Buhari soon.
Perhaps, leadership is contingent upon the environment. What is good for America may not be good for Nigeria and vice versa. But if any relationship with the outside world is a factor in solving Nigerian problems, President Buhari has no business touching the APC nomination form.
Further, the Financial Times does not speak for the world, quite alright, but its report is a part of the pressure from the international community that will continue to mount as the months leading to the 2019 go by. Such global campaign is expected to be more robust than what President Goodluck Jonathan faced in 2015.