I read with keen interest the editorial published by Daily Trust newspaper in its Wednesday, July 25, 2007 edition, followed by more recent articles written by such respected writers as Mohammed Haruna, Father Matthew Hassan Kukah, Adamu Adamu, etc, all seeking to defend the position of Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd), in his crusade against the imperfect presidential election of 2007.

Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, all of these writers, including the respected Daily Trust newspaper, never bothered to fathom how Buhari has come to find himself in what could be called this sorry pass. They all seem to concentrate their energies in urging the General not to withdraw his petition from the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, as demanded by a leading Islamic cleric and some elder statesmen, with some of these writers going as far as strongly condemning and insulting these people for seeking the withdrawal of the petition.

And in the Daily Trust of Monday, October 9, a certain Ali Abare Abubakar wrote yet another article in the Monday Column, chastising the national chairman of the ANPP as well as all those who disagree with Buhari on his current crusade. This Abare and Adamu Adamu chose the language of the gutter in venting their anger, as if two wrongs could make a right, while Daily Trust, Father Kukah and Mohammed Haruna had their expressions laced with some decorum. But as I pointed out, the similarity in all their write-ups is that they addressed a less fundamental issue, ignoring the more serious matter of Buhari's antics that have landed him where he is now, and which, without any doubt, would land him in greater mess if the issue continues to get swept under the carpet.

Let me start by correcting Daily Trust newspaper for making very erroneous claims in its editorial of July 25, 2007. It says a lot about the credibility and esteem on which I hold the newspaper that since its debut more than six years ago, I have never had cause to disagree with its editorials. But to everything, there is a first time, and for once, I beg to disagree with its opinion that the ANPP has betrayed its presidential candidate in the 2003 and 2007 elections, Major General Muhammadu Buhari for accepting to be part of President Yar'adua's Government of National Unity (GNU). This is also the view expressed by many pro-Buhari writers. I know that my opinions are going to be condemned by the cabal around Buhari, for the truth is always bitter to swallow. But this should not dissuade me from placing the facts on their true and proper perspective - for the benefit of the Nigerian nation and posterity.

To start with, I disagree with Daily Trust's claim that "the ANPP was virtually dead before Buhari's entrance brought it back to life and made it the credible opposition party it has become today." It is indeed difficult for the politically conscious to doubt General Buhari's credibility, but it is most uncharitable to say that a political party that has produced nine governors long before Buhari ventured into party politics was "virtually dead." The newspaper also stated that the "marriage of convenience" between the ANPP and Buhari "was far more beneficial to the ANPP than it was to Buhari." But this, as I would soon illustrate, was only on the short run, because while Buhari met the ANPP with nine executive governors and a considerable showing at the national and state assemblies, the number reduced to only six ANPP governors several months after he joined, and then only four, almost five years after he joined the ANPP, as is obtained today after the 2007 elections. So instead of ANPP's fortunes to appreciate after Buhari joined it, it ended up depreciating astronomically. The figures have shown and proved so. Any opinion to the contrary is just sentimental opinion often expressed by those who believe Buhari always does no wrong. The reason is not that the party has lost its appeal with the electorates, but General Buhari's antics which rather than heal wounds, often ends up not only opening them but also rubbing salt into them.

Secondly, Daily Trust did not do its home work well when it stated that Buhari was left virtually alone to pursue his petition in 2003. If only it had gone back on its editions in that year, the newspaper would have seen pictures of Buhari being shown alongside Governor Ibrahim Shekarau in each and every sitting of the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. The Kano governor is on record to have given Buhari massive moral and financial support to pursue his petition, so much that neither Buhari nor any member of his TBO - many of them very rich men and women - had to contribute a kobo. But what was Governor Shekarau's reward? The answer follows shortly. And until most recently when the ANPP withdrew its petition on the presidential election, neither Buhari nor any TBO member was financing his petition. It was largely being financed by the ANPP as a party, and this is a fact that Daily Trust should have crosschecked, though I would not be surprised if TBO members deny it, as they have been denying every good thing done to them.

And the last of the corrections: General Buhari did not join the ANPP in 2003 as stated in the editorial under reference. He joined in 2002 and met a ready platform on which he contested the presidential election in 2003. Now to the main issues: Did the ANPP betray Buhari? My answer to the question is a capital NO. The truth is that the General and his TBO are their own enemies for the following reasons and more:

First is the politics of exclusion which Buhari and his TBO played. When the General ventured into politics, there was the euphoria that the messiah had come. Truly, he had to his credit an excellent record in both personal and public life. And with then President Obasanjo strangulating Nigerians, what they needed was a man who would lift the nation off the edge of the precipice that the civilian dictator was fast pushing it into.

General Buhari easily became the beautiful bride, being courted by Nigerians, especially the downtrodden. But instead of allowing other credible Nigerians to get close to the General and contribute their utmost to his quest for the presidency, those at the TBO decided, rather selfishly, to own Buhari alone and allow no one outside their fold any proximity to him. This is what started frustrating and scaring away many important politicians and other distinguished Nigerians from joining the Buhari project, as they felt unwanted.

And as Buhari became more and more popular, two things started happening almost simultaneously: those at the TBO and many Nigerians took it for granted that he was going to emerge president after the 2003 presidential election owing to his massive popularity. Buhari started displaying a holier-than-thou attitude which alienated and disenchanted many influential Nigerians. By so doing, he succeeded in injecting serious fear into the elite members of the Nigerian society, so much so that they started thinking of what would become of them if he succeeded in becoming Nigeria 's president. It is noteworthy that not all of these people made their money in government as to fear being probed. But the PDP just took advantage of this to instill fear in those in the organized private sector, as well as those in the public service, showing that their fortunes were going to nosedive if they allow a Buhari presidency.

Instead of the TBO to correct this impression, many of its members carried on with a toga of arrogance - please permit the expression - believing that their principal had become a president in waiting; and that he is the all-powerful kingmaker who could make and dethrone kings. This of course is an attribute of God - for Him alone. But in displaying this arrogance, not even the nine ANPP governors were spared. Indeed, not even Shekarau who financed Buhari's petition and was patronizing many of the TBO chieftains was spared of their sharp-tongue. This explains why as early as 2003, many ANPP governors started feeling threatened, and when the insults continued unabated, they naturally could take it no longer. Some of them vent their anger on Buhari for his refusal to call these TBO people to order.

At a time when General Buhari, in 2007, should concentrate in building bridges of friendship, he and his TBO people were busy rejecting virtually all hands of friendship extended to them. Once again, they thought the presidency was just theirs for the asking. So they did not deem it fit for Buhari to embark on any serious nationwide campaign. They hid behind the spurious excuse that there was no money to finance the campaign - a false allegation whose implication is that the candidate did not even build the needed bridges of national goodwill to attract patronage. While a few in his fold advanced strong arguments for fund rasing, Buhari was instigated against it by his other handlers, some of whom later left him and decamped to the AC and PDP.

But aside from the feeling that the presidency was as good as theirs for the taking, the real reason why those at the TBO refused to allow Buhari go round the country and campaign was their wish to exact their own pound of flesh on the ANPP governors. They calculated, rather very wrongly, that none of the governors could win election without Buhari's support. A few in the TBO foresaw the danger though, and they insisted that the General must go round like Yar'adua and Atiku were doing. But they don't want to help the governors seeking a second term in the ANPP as well as some seeking the seats for the first time. And a general consensus was reached among them that the best thing to do was to ensure that those candidates and governors in the bad books of the TBO, though they have legitimately won their primary elections, are dropped and replaced with those in its favour.

And this was how the TBO and General Buhari embarked on a fruitless and totally needless war against its own ANPP candidates in many states. In Katsina, they made sure Engr. Khalil was replaced with their own member, Senator Abu Ibrahim, eventhough Khalil is by far more popular. In Kaduna , Senator Aruwa was replaced with Hon. Sha'aban. In Kano , the TBO and Buhari did everything to replace Governor Shekarau and prevent him from seeking a second term, but God proved His supremacy over man. Shekarau's case is most instructive because everyday, for at least five months to the gubernatorial election, the people of Kano State were regaled with insults heaped tirelessly on the person of the governor in a private radio station operating in the state. What is more! Those perpetrating these insults were known associates of General Buhari and they always claim they were doing so with his full backing.

At a time when the people of Kano , tired of this politics of sheer irresponsibility, expected General Buhari to come out and disown these people or at least reprimand them for resorting to politics of blackmail, he did none of that. In fact, he even sent a Sallah message which was aired in all private radio stations in the state, asking the people to assess what the Governor has done or failed to do and vote for any person of their choice as their governor in the 2007 elections! The opposition PDP as well as those at the TBO seized the moment and joyfully interpreted this to mean a vote of no confidence on Shekarau by Buhari.

In Gusau where Buhari was scheduled to personally hand over the ANPP flag to the gubernatorial candidates of the party in the states of the north-west, he reluctantly gave the flag to Governor Shekarau. This was witnessed by the several thousands of people, including this writer, that graced that occasion. Even when he did so, he issued a caveat that it did not mean those who received the flags were going to remain as candidates and contest the elections; that people should wait for the list to be released by INEC in March, which according to him, was going to affect one or two candidates in the zone.

In General Buhari, we had an ANPP presidential candidate clearly supporting PDP-federal government's plans to strengthen the chances of its own candidates by blackmailing their ANPP counterparts. This was ridiculous. And when in March INEC released a final list of candidates contesting the gubernatorial election and Shekarau's name was on it, the TBO guys became more desperate. They dug deeper in their trenches and embarked on all sorts of blackmail aimed at stopping him.

But the last straw that could be said to have broken the camel's back was the presidential campaign Buhari was scheduled to hold in Kano two days to gubernatorial election. Supporters of the General gathered at the announced venue in their hundreds of thousands, if not millions, waiting to show him love and support. But just because the state government was involved in organizing the reception, some hawks around Buhari instigated him and asked him not to come; that his coming to Kano only two days to the gubernatorial election was the only thing that will make Shekarau win re-election, the last thing they wanted. They hid behind the excuse of a meeting the General was attending in Abuja , eventhough Buhari could still have made it to Kano after the so-called meeting. The people waited for several hours in vain. At the end, the General refused to come, and the people were angry. Many of them prayed openly to God to give Governor Shekarau victory inspite of Buhari, and without any godfather's support. And God answered their prayers two days later when the jinx was broken to make Shekarau the first man to be voted for a second term as governor of Kano State.

when the presidential election held a week later, eventhough the governor had made a passionate appeal for all his supporters to go out en-masse and vote for Buhari and the ANPP. Apart from the fact that Obasanjo's INEC supplied only about two million voters cards in Kano, the peoples disenchantment largely explains why Buhari got only barely a million votes, out of over four million registered voters in Kano, the one Nigerian state he received most support. The fact is many Kanawas opted to stay at home during the presidential election, out of frustration with his politics of vengeance.

Worse of all, Buhari had always claimed that he had nothing personal against the candidates he vigorously sought to undermine. But his handlers at the TBO had a contrary opinion, and they insisted and succeeded in having their ways. They pointed at a White Paper the PDP Government cooked up to create advantage for its own candidates. They made all sort of spurious claims. They insulted Shekarau and others and accused them of 'biting the finger that fed them,' while providing no credible, other than personal and selfish proof of such. They are so carried away by the political favours done to these people by Buhari that they shut their eyes against any good thing done to him and/or the TBO in return, by these people. No effort to appease them was ever enough.

Not even when Governor Shekarau led other ANPP governors to ensure victory for Buhari at the presidential primary election did they accept he is truly loyal to the man. They claimed General Babangida was instrumental to the withdrawal of the aspirants seeking the ANPP's ticket, for Buhari. But posterity soon proved them wrong, as Babangida was nowhere to help them during the election proper, as he is known to have wined and dined with the PDP. And even when Buhari had made a show of dissolving the TBO, it was only on paper, as its leaders allowed then Governor Ahmed Sani no room to operate in his position as appointed head of Buhari's campaign because of their distrust of anyone outside their fold. The man became so frustrated that he had to throw in the towel, diplomatically claiming he needed medical attention abroad, though he was later begged to recant and return to the fold.

In Kano when Shekarau's supporters took stock of the great role the governor played in ensuring Buhari's emergence as presidential candidate of the ANPP and opined that he has paid back the General for his earlier support in 2003, the TBO disagreed, claiming God and no one else made Buhari's victory possible. But when reminded in like manner that Shekarau's emergence in 2003 was also God's making, they always counter by crediting that victory only to Buhari. That is the TBO for you.

They were so sure that Shekarau and other ANPP candidates in their bad book could not make it to the governorship for the second time without Buhari's support, that in Kano for example, some TBO members destroyed most billboards showing the governor and General Buhari. They did not want the Governor to gain from Buhari's famed popularity. At the end, Shekarau rode on his own goodwill and won the election with God's support, while both Buhari and his TBO toiled in vain to make sure he failed the election! So unhappy with this victory is General Buhari that he could not, even as presidential candidate of the ANPP, call the governor on phone to extend his congratulations, several months after the deserved victory.

Talking about the government of national unity which President Yar'adua proposed to three opposition political parties that have succeeded in winning at least a governorship seat, what the ANPP did only amounts to democracy in action. When the idea was broached to the party, it consulted Buhari and invited him for discussion where decision as to whether to accept the president's offer or not would be taken. But what did Buhari do? He simply stayed away from the scheduled talks. Typical of him, Buhari did not take into consideration the fact that politics is all about consultation and not issuing directives. Anywhere in the world, politics is a game of number, with the majority always having their way and the minority having their say. Betrayal would only have set in if at the time the "carrot" was dangled on the ANPP, it did not inform or sought to involve Buhari in its discussion. He did not even give the ANPP the chance to resolve the matter on consensus as Daily Trust was advocating. He only insisted on imposing his personal opinion on the party, constituted of many established adults, in a manner school headmasters talk to their pupils.

As I said earlier, rather than healing wounds, Buhari only exacerbated them. For example when former governors Attahiru Bafarawa and Saminu Turaki of Sokoto and Jigawa States , respectively, left the ANPP for other political parties, Buhari woefully failed to play the role of an elder statesman that was expected of him. Instead of attempting to woo them back to the ANPP, he issued a statement describing their exit as good riddance to bad rubbish. The governors naturally felt offended, and this was how Bafarawa ended up contesting the presidential election alongside Buhari. The loser in this case is Buhari because if Bafarawa had supported him, he would certainly have got more votes in Sokoto and perhaps elsewhere, though Bafarawa himself ended up making a dismal showing in the election.

By his very exclusionist style, Buhari obviously thought that he could rely on his famed popularity and successfully go it alone. Those around him must have made him believe he is a man of limitless political possibilities. During a meeting of the ANPP's leadership, he once ordered Alhaji Bashir Tofa, one of the founding leaders of the party, out of the meeting for merely disagreeing with him on an issue. This is the quintessential Buhari, almost always believing only in his own ideas, refusing to even consider other peoples perspectives on almost any issue.

While I am not in a position to speak for the ANPP, I agree with its leadership's claims that it based its action of joining the GNU on survival of the nation's democracy. Whatever anyone might say, the acceptance by the ANPP has gone a long way to lessen the tension in the polity, which was fraught with possibilities of military take over, given the widespread condemnation of the conduct of the presidential election. The acceptance has served to remove any excuse that the military could possibly have latched on to seize power and once again derail the nation's democracy, which eventhough imperfect, is agreed to be better than the noblest military regime.

And in fairness to the ANPP, it accepted the GNU proposal with dignity, far from the impression of hungry and malnourished politicians that the Daily Trust created. It intended to pursue its petition against the presidential election to its logical conclusion, until TBO members characteristically started calling them names. Should the ANPP cling to the petition when the person in whose interest they instituted the petition no longer has confidence in them? Certainly there is no basis, and this is why the party had to withdraw. But talking about the coalition with Yar'adua, we should not forget the fact that this type of coalition has always been in our politics since the First Republic , and is very popular even with established democracies that resort to it for strategic reasons, such as what obtains currently in Germany , France , etc.

And apart from orchestrated cases of some negative write-ups in the media, I cannot remember any major case of disapproval of the party's acceptance of the GNU offer by its membership - apart, perhaps, from isolated individual cases - anywhere in the country. So we should not be disparaging our politicians and building unnecessary mountain out of molehill for accepting what is legal and conventional. Such respected national icons as the late Sardauna and Azikiwe did embrace the idea of GNU at one time in our history or the other, even when the election in their time was also reported to be massively rigged.

Obviously if Buhari had agreed to join forces with Atiku and form a grand alliance as many Nigerians called on them to do to forestall Obasanjo's plans for rigging, the story may have been different today, as the PDP would have found it virtually impossible to impose itself. But each of them held on to his individual position, ignoring peoples' opinion, and now that their intransigence did not work, they have turned to the people, seeking for blind support. Both Buhari and his handlers have stated in media interviews before the election that this time around, they are not going to court if the election is rigged, that they are going to sort it out with the riggers on the streets, as they are going to call out the people on a mass action. We should not so quickly forget history. Why did Buhari accept to go to court? Could his rigid personality have allowed the ANPP to coerce him to go to court as now being claimed? The simple reality is that his calls for mass action were generally ignored by the people, as the people are now wiser. Neither Buhari nor any TBO member would allow their children to partake in the mass action they called. Yet, they want children of others to risk their lives in defence of his so-called mandate! Buhari went to court as a face-saving measure to mask peoples' rebuff of him.

Such Buhari handlers as Adamu Adamu, Buba Galadima, etc, have in recent press interviews always harped on the view that Buhari cannot withdraw his petition because the fight is not his alone; that the General has to defend the interests of those supporters of his who were allegedly killed or suffered in the course of the election. But this argument is as hollow as it is preposterous. Is it only now that Buhari wants to be president that he sees human life as sacrosanct? What of the several thousands of innocent people that were killed when the General led a military coup in 1983? When would the Adamu Adamus and the Buba Galadimas of this world fight for the rights of these cheated people and get justice for them? Are they less human beings than those who were allegedly killed voting for Buhari?

When Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Gumi urged Buhari to withdraw his petition in the interest of northern unity and Islamic brotherhood, these writers and more condemned the Islamic cleric for supporting injustice. But what injustice are they talking about? Where were they when Buhari denied justice to Ahmed Aruwa, Nura Khalil and many others in recent past just because he was made to believe they no longer belong to his fold? Are these people not servants of God whose interests he should protect? And what of those former leaders ( Second Republic governors, ministers, etc) that were wickedly clamped into inhuman detention and imprisoned by Buhari without caring to know their culpability or otherwise? Some of them ended up dying of ailments contracted in Buhari's gulag. When are the families they left behind going to obtain justice? Didn't Buhari know the demands of justice in respect of the sanctity of the accused, presumed as innocent until and unless proved guilty?

Is there any justice in allowing such characters as Buba Galadima and Adamu Adamu to be insulting respected Nigerians just because they subscribe to a different opinion? How, for example, would the highly respected Emir of Kano feel when Buba Galadima (in his latest interview with Weekly Trust newspaper) categorically insulted the northern emirs and even suggested that the institution would be wiped out all because he has not seen them being supportive to Buhari? Did the Emir of Kano or Sultan of Sokoto facilitate the so-called rigging of the presidential election or asked Buhari to withdraw his petition to deserve this insult? And what did Buhari do to ensure justice for these innocent leaders? Absolutely nothing, just as he did nothing when they were insulting the ANPP governors and other leaders for selfish reasons.

When asked to assess President Yar'adua's first 100 days in office, Buhari answered that there was nothing to assess, as Yar'adua's was an illegitimate government! But this is laughable. Which, between the governments of Yar'adua and the one led by Buhari is more illegal? At least President Yar'adua has the decency to admit flaws in the election that saw him to office and he seems serious about ensuring a better election in future. But eventhough he truncated democracy and came to power courtesy of the barrel of the gun, Buhari is still carrying on as if he led the most democratic government, when our history has recorded his government as the most high handed and repressive.

While there is nothing wrong with anyone who feels cheated to seek for justice, it is important for General Buhari and his handlers to remember that the justice that they now claim to pursue at the tribunal is what they have been denying others for ages, and that the whirlwind that is injustice is what has now come back to them. Make no mistake about it. They should also remember that if you destroy others in order to succeed, you must await destruction at the post of your success. They have in the course of history done worst things to others. So they must accept the fact that what is happening to them is just nemesis at work. Arrogance and heaping insults on innocent people cannot make Buhari president. I await my own portion of the insult, as is traditional with them.

•Suleiman Uba Mohammed is a member of the Kano chapter of the ANPP and he is the senior special adviser on special duties to the Kano State governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. This piece is, however, his personal opinion and not that of the state government.