KANO (Nigeria): The young man hawking T-shirts at a campaign rally in northern Nigeria said he had no regrets in undertaking a long road journey to see his favourite presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari.
“I like Buhari because he is my Muslim brother,” said Nasir Abdullahi with a ready grin.
“He is from Katsina State like me, and he is the one that the talakawa (masses) want,” Abdullahi added. “By the Grace of Allah, Buhari will win, unless there is rigging.”
At the centre of the race course in northern Nigeria’s biggest city of Kano, Buhari, a former infantry general, towered above the campaign crowd in his trademark ramrod posture. Eighteen years after the former military ruler lost power in a palace coup, Buhari is seeking the country’s top job again, but is having difficulty shaking off the label of being a candidate of the Islamic north.
Buhari, candidate of Nigeria’s biggest opposition party, the All-Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) is widely seen as the biggest poll challenger to President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Nigerians started voting on Saturday in the first elections since 15 years of military rule ended in 1999. Saturday’s legislative poll will be followed by a presidential election on April 19, the most important in the process.
Buhari is the main candidate from the largely Muslim north which dominated power in Nigeria for nearly four decades after independence from Britain in 1960.
Obasanjo was the first politician from the mainly Christian south of the country to be elected president in the multi-ethnic country of over 120 million people.
He won the 1999 military organised polls largely because the north backed him and fielded no candidate of its own.
But northern politicians have since accused Obasanjo of sidelining them. Buhari has been attracting cult-like following in northern cities since he joined the political fray.
His supporters point to his strict discipline and honesty in public service, a rare attribute in Nigeria. But he is also remembered for the draconian laws he introduced during his short tenure as military ruler when he executed drug offenders.
The failure of Obasanjo and his Peoples Democratic Party government to end prolonged economic stagnation and rampant corruption have enhanced Buhari’s credentials, analysts say.
REGIONAL RIVALRIES: But analysts say his entry into politics has revived the heated rivalry among Nigeria’s three main regional blocks — north, south and east — blamed for its political woes.
The main eastern presidential candidate is former rebel chief Emeka Ojukwu who led his fellow Ibo people into a failed secession bid in the mid 1960s.
Some analysts say Buhari’s chances have been eroded by the Sharia controversy which has undermined the political solidarity of the once powerful north. They also say Obasanjo’s retention of the wealthy northern political maestro Atiku Abubakar as his running mate would split the region’s vote to Obasanjo’s gain.
Buhari’s supporters remain undaunted.
“The north may not be as united today...but it remains one north and a strong political force,” said leading northern politician Wada Nas.—Reuters
