The gang up to unseat President Muhammadu Buhari has become intense and national – cutting across tribes, religions, regions, and parties.

Atiku Abubakar, Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso, Bukola Saraki, Kingsley Moghalu, Omoyele Sowore, Fela Durotoye, Ibrahim Dankwambo, Donald Duke, and so on are playing in the field. The likes of Olusegun Obasanjo, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Aisha Yesufu and thousands of online and offline activists are playing from outside.

They are kicking and pushing Buhari. They are all playing similar roles they played against former President Goodluck Jonathan, in the build up to 2015 elections. While I believe some of them are crusading for the true transformation of the lives of Nigerians, most of them are kicking in order to survive. Around 2014, many left the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC), and are now back to the PDP. The “16 Years PDP messed Nigeria”, they were there. The “3 years APC has bloodied Nigeria”, they were there. Now, they want you and me to vote for them through PDP.

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It’s okay, I’ll vote the PDP if the party proffers something different from what millions of Nigerians detest in the APC candidate, Buhari.

Time has proven that Buhari has not been fit enough for the office he occupies. The number of months he spends in foreign hospitals medicating and vacationing makes this point incontrovertible. Nigeria needs a vibrant leader, mentally and physically.

Nigeria needs a leader who believes that there are good Nigerians from every corner of the nation. Such a leader will believe that not only his or her trusted associates are worthy enough to serve in the federation. Such a leader will not create the 97 percent/5 percent discrimination. Once a president of Nigeria, you’re the President of all Nigerians. Such will not request international development agencies to focus on his or her region; nor will the location of social amenities, appointments and recruitments be to some sections of the country.

If the PDP and in general the oppositions really want to wrestle power from Buhari, they all need an untainted candidate. I mean a candidate who the mess up of the country has not rubbed on so much. The candidates paraded by many of the opposition parties are in the class of Buhari. They have contributed one way or another in dragging Nigeria so low. Check their profiles.

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The oppositions can’t win over Nigerians with a candidate who can pass off as President Buhari. The oppositions have to unite to present a fresh option. Fresh option I mean is something really new. Someone really new. If truth is laid stack, aside PDP, the rest of the opposition parties are not formidable enough to pinch the incumbent. However, candidates of some of these oppositions are what Nigeria direly needs right now: their exposure, pedigree, soundness; even though the act of the heart never shows in the face.

Keen observations and interactions with electorates have shown me that there are Nigerians who feel they can’t cast their votes for Buhari candidacy nor a Buhari-like candidate. They won’t vote a candidate who has been a part of those who messed up Nigeria. So, amongst these may be high voter apathy. They’ll simply join the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) in boycotting the elections. Buhari and APC will be praying for that. The base of his voters are in his region, the North-West and some parts of the North East. He seems to have lost the North central, but not to any candidate yet.

How do you win these set of voters? Without a clearly better candidate from the oppositions, Benue and Taraba citizens will simply sit at home on the day of elections to protect their families and farms from herdsmen attack.

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In the South, Buhari has lost almost all his blocks of voters. Simple interactions and observations, online and offline, can confirm this. However, PDP and the oppositions in general should not rejoice over that yet. These southern voters will never cast their votes for a candidate who has been a part of destroying Nigeria. So, invariably, it’s still Buhari’s gain. They’ve rejected the APC candidate but they’ve not been convinced with another party’s candidate.

Up north, you’ll find similar changes. Thought leaders like Moses Ochonu, Farooq Kperogi, and so on were off the court warriors for Buhari presidency. Today, Buhari is no more the ideal candidate for them. But, the main opposition party is not getting the support of these persons.

So, how will the oppositions settle this? By knowing what Nigerians want and what Nigeria needs. What do Nigerians want? What does Nigeria need direly now?

What Nigerians need is a candidate that is fresh, untainted, refined, national, unbiased, exposed, energetic, coordinated, healthy, young and understands the economy and how to improve it. Nigerians don’t want a president that they have to hold their breath whenever he or she speaks. Nigerians want a candidate they can be proud of in the international community; a candidate they can hang out with the way they did with French President Emmanuel Macron; a candidate that can stand shoulder to shoulder with Justin Trudeau of Canada, Angela Merkel of Germany, and so on.

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Earlier, I said that the minor opposition parties parade some candidates that have the right qualities that Nigeria direly needs now. This is what I mean. Sincerely, these parties are not formidable. I’m not discouraging them. They’ll find it difficult to cover the whole federation. The best strategy is for them to come together. PDP has the federal presence, but its major candidates are Buhari-like. They may not be as much parochial as him, but they are mini him in every other aspect: age, messing Nigeria, several years in the corridor of power, etc.

The opposition parties will have to come together to present a fresh candidate if they must win the 2019 election. Without coming together into APC; CPC, ACN, ANPP, nPDP would not have won 2015.

The fresh candidate I mean is someone that has not stayed long in Nigerian governance or someone that is outrightly unknown in Nigeria politics; a technocrat, a younger reformist who understands the economy and has a feasible manual on how to better the lots of Nigerians. I don’t mean someone with the most beautiful promises.

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Without campaigning for anybody, Moghalu or Durotoye fits into this. However, it would be suicidal to pick a southern candidate right now to compete with Buhari. If the opposition like the PDP picks a southern presidential candidate, even PDP gubernatorial and senatorial candidates in the North will vote for Buhari.

Therefore, it’ll be wise for the oppositions to unite and pick a fresh candidate from the North and his running mate should be a strong politician from the South. This kind of candidacy will be the only means to win over voters from all sections of the country. The appeal will cut across regions, tribes, religions and political affiliations.

Once more, a Buhari-like candidate is as good as Buhari and won’t be able to defeat him. There is no need placing Nigerians before the devil and the deep blue sea; they’ll choose the devil they know.