Lagos — The DISCOURSE of Monday June 29, 2009 titled "When Will Buhari Rest President Bid?" was breezy and lurid in style of grammar but unfortunately missed the point in several vital respects.

I feel constrained to answer this question posed by Nosike in the said article, not because General Muhammadu Buhari {rtd}, requested me to do so, but because as a member of his campaign team, one needs to set the records straight on why Nigerians still need his patriotic service. Evidently, there is a subsisting national consensus that Nigeria is in the doldrums and as a matter of urgent national importance needs to be fixed. Who have the capacity to fix Nigeria among the contending forces?

Before going into Buhari's sterling leadership qualities premised on his noble qualities - integrity, stoicism and strong principles duly highlighted in this column last week, let me state clearly that Buhari is a major player in the effort to construct a mega party, built around the core ingredients of social democracy, pro-people economic policies and social justice.

As a member of this mass movement, one also knows that Buhari is devoting energy in nurturing a formidable platform that will erode one party state foisted on Nigerians by the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party {PDP}; more because of his abiding faith in deepening democracy rather than his personal ambition. He has severally made it clear that the will of the majority of the membership of the party must triumph. He relies on the people for he has no money to buy anybody.

It is very pertinent to refresh the minds of many that the Buhari of the military era is not the Buhari of today. Otherwise, he could not have had the patience to wage the electoral battle which spanned thirty months after the 2003 sham elections and eighteen months post 2007 fraudulent elections. He refused to heed the advice of those who called for mass action and cajoled him about their scant confidence in the judiciary. He said that democracy can only be sustained by abiding faith in the judiciary. This is not to say that he accepted the warped judgments, but he acknowledged the judiciary as an important arm of government in liberal democracy.

Buhari does not think as insinuated that electoral reform can all alone do the magic of balancing the political contest between unequal parties during elections; but reasons that the sanctity of the ballot box and elections conducted under free, fair and transparent atmosphere is the hallmark of genuine democracy. This is why he is deeply involved in lobbying for genuine electoral/constitution amendments that will enthrone a truly independent electoral commission and consequently genuine elections.

Buhari appreciates the essence of free and fair elections; internal democracy within the parties, for his support base is the masses not the elite. He is aware that the segment of the elite who are the beneficiaries of the monumental corruption going on in the land, do not want to see him come to power. For them, Buhari's ascendancy to power means that it cannot be business as usual.

The uncalled for phobia of some elite to the mention of Buhari, is a reminder that more than any other time in the past ten years of our democracy, is Buhari needed than now. In the midst of the rot in our clime, he remains one of the few Nigerians whose enemies can vow for his transparency, commitment to public service and unwavering concern for the masses.

One does not need to recount how as a Petroleum Minister, Governor and Head of State, he did not enrich himself. A top official of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) once told us how in the run-up to the 2003 elections, ex-President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo mandated them to comb all the files in an effort to rake up corrupt charges that will be used to disqualify Buhari. He said that after all searches they could not point out any misdemeanour on the part of Buhari.

We are not building the mega party around any personality or Buhari, but as a mass movement that will in the best traditions of democracy elect its candidates. It is a party that will not impose candidates nor adore godfathers. The reconstruction of Nigerian democracy which is fast sliding into one party dictatorship is at the bedrock of the new movement.

Granted that Buhari is not noisy, it becomes difficult for outsiders to estimate the underground work we are embarking on to deepen, restore and rescue our democracy from anti-democrats and anti-people elements who have squandered our golden oil age.

Let me as well restate that the number of political parties is the least problem at our door step. The major problem is the 360 degrees detour, from President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who after convening an Electoral Reform Committee {ERC} with granite terms of reference, which was religiously followed, turned around to submit Electoral Constitution Amendment Bills that are at variance with the core recommendations. The distortion of the ERC Report is the first phase of our struggle for without the material conditions for level playing field, it will be good bye to democracy.

Mr. Okechukwu, a member of ANPP Presidential Campaign Organisation during the 2007 elections, wrote from Abuja.