Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), is easily the biggest masquerade in the APC. The former Head of State has contested the presidential election three times in the last 11 years against three different PDP candidates and lost thrice.
Buhari’s selling points are his personal integrity and discipline, attributes that are sorely needed in the Nigerian political space today.
There is also a growing feeling that as a former military leader, he might be able to handle better the security challenge confronting the nation.
And in terms of followership, Buhari has a cult-like support base in the North-West and North-East zones of the country that could easily be mobilized on election day.
Despite those attributes, Buhari is rightly or wrongly generally perceived as parochial in disposition and for that reason, not trusted by many Nigerians in the south and the middle belt.
But more importantly, most Nigerians (including this reporter) do not know Buhari’s position on critical political and socio-economic issues of the day since his few public interventions, almost always on BBC Hausa Service, have not provided any peep into his mind.
Buhari also carries a religious cross: “Honestly, what do Nigerians want me to do? If they don’t believe I’m not a fundamentalist, what else can I do?” That was Buhari, speaking in an interview with TheCable last week on an issue that will just not go away.
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