Did Buhari go too far?

General Muhammadu Buhari.

General Muhammadu Buhari’s recent warning against rigging in 2015 elections has pitched the opposition against the Presidency and Peoples Democratic Party. Sam Egburonu, in this report, examines the allegation that the retired general went too far in his choice of words.

If what happened in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood,”- General Muhammadu Buhari.
Former Military Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, may not have anticipated the kind of controversy the statement he made on Monday is generating across the country, considering that he probably considered the occasion to be a mere family meeting. As the National Leader and Presidential Candidate of Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the retired army general was addressing a delegation of the Niger State chapter of his party. So, like a father to his children, he spoke freely in Hausa language: “God willing, by 2015, something will happen. They either conduct a free and fair election or they go a very disgraceful way. If what happens in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, ‘the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood,” he said.
Perhaps because of his stature as former Head of State, the statement, which many Nigerians described variously as weighty, unbecoming of an elder statesman, deep, reckless or forthright, immediately struck a major chord that has both electrified the Nigerian polity and pitched opposition political parties against the Presidency and the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The Buhari’s utterance has also brought to the fore sensitive issues like fears over 2015 elections, rigging, violence and such like. Above all, politicians and observers, while reacting to the comments are sharply divided, as they debate whether the former Head of State erred in his criticism or exceeded his limits in his diction.
Blunder or forthrightness? 
While his political party, CPC, and most of the other opposition political parties have insisted that the general’s criticism was in order, the presidency, the ruling People’s Democratic Party and some other Nigerians have expressed disappointment at his choice of words, arguing that he went too far when he alluded to a bloody aftermath of 2015 elections.
First to react harshly was the presidency. In a statement, signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Communications, Dr Reuben Abati, the president said the former head of state’s statement was “unfortunate and unbecoming of a former head of state.”
The statement reads: “The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to unfortunate statements in the media made by former Head of State and presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) in which he allegedly predicted bloodshed in 2015 and labelled the Federal Government led by President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, as “the biggest Boko Haram”.
“But perhaps the most unfortunate part of the statement was the portion in which Buhari said that, “Since the leaders now don’t listen to anybody but do whatever they wish, there is nothing the north can do.”
“We find it very sad that an elder statesman who once presided over the entirety of Nigeria can reduce himself to a regional leader who speaks for only a part of Nigeria.”
The Presidency also said: “When Buhari says that “if what happens in 2011 should again happen in 2015, by the grace of God, ‘the dog and the baboon would all be soaked in blood”, we hereby state that it is Buhari himself who does not listen…
 “Indeed, such a reaction from Buhari is not totally unexpected since he has become a serial election loser who has never taken his past election defeats graciously even when such elections were generally acknowledged to be free and fair.”
Some other Nigerians have also come out to condemn the general utterance.  For example, Catholic Bishop of Ekiti Diocese, Most Rev. Felix Ajakaye, described the statement as “provocative” and “unguided” and must be checked, noting that the former Head of State was in the habit of threatening the nation as he similarly threatened the nation that he would make government ungovernable for the president if the election of 2011 was rigged.
Speaking with newsmen in Ado-Ekiti, during the week, he said” “Nigeria belongs to all of us, we have no other place to go and we should watch our utterances, no matter our status.
“We are in a very trying time and we need to be prayerful and work our prayers; we need to be positive and concrete in our thoughts and work our thoughts.
The clergy added that “The former Head of State ought to have been invited by security agencies for questioning if we are in other climes. I don’t know what our security agents are still waiting for. No matter whose ox is gored, if another person had made such a statement, they will say he is planning something against the country.
Buhari and his supporters were not perturbed by the presidential tongue-lashing and condemnations by some Nigerians. Reacting to allegations that the presidency may be considering the option of issuing arrest warrant against Buhari as a follow up to the explosive utterance, the former military leader said only those currently contemplating to rig the 2015 elections could have been afraid of the threat of a violent response.
The National Secretary of the CPC, Alhaji Buba Galadima, explaining the Presidency’s response said, “They are picking on the General because it is him they are afraid of and because once you take away rigging, they are gone; but they have forgotten that their master, Obasanjo was the first to talk of do or die, do or die means blood, if you don’t do what I want I will kill you, that is what he said.
“The issue is very simple; if you are not a thief why should you be afraid if they say whoever steals should be killed? That is why they are afraid.”
A member of CPC Renewal Committee, Comrade Wilfred Frank Agbotobo, from Bayelsa State, who defended Buhari told The Nation that PDP response to Buhari’s statement lacks content and logic. “The presidency and the PDP should realise that contrary to their distorted, narrow thinking, Buhari has over the years cultivated love, loyalty and respect in the hearts of the multitude of living fellowership in the South-South who cherish him in high esteem. Presently, there is recovery and deep regret over the manipulation that led to the emergence of the present apparently confused PDP administration. 
Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the leading opposition political party in the country, was also not impressed by the response of the Presidency. The party therefore scolded the administration for launching a personal attack on Buhari, just because he gave “a valid warning against election rigging.”
The ACN added that the verbal attacks against Buhari were reflective of the determination of the ruling administration to use the instrument of power to return itself to power.
In a statement, by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, issued in Osogbo, Osun State, the party said Buhari’s statement was “nothing but a warning against those who may be planning to rig the 2015 general elections hence should not have rankled anyone who believes in free, fair and transparent polls.”
‘’We hold no brief for anyone. But it is true that if elections are rigged, as they have been so shamelessly and brazenly done by the PDP since 1999, naturally people will react, and in doing so it is impossible for anyone to predict how far things can go. This is what, in our opinion, Gen. Buhari warned against. If the presidency and the PDP have no intention to rig in 2015, why are they so worried about the consequences of such action,’’ ACN queried?
The party said Buhari’s warning was in order, considering that the 2011 general elections remain the most systematically-rigged polls in Nigeria’s history, irrespective of the so-called endorsement by some visceral foreign election monitors. The debate is still ongoing.