Not having standards at all is why some Nigerians think because Buhari is scoring 0/10 is why GEJ's 4/10 is excellence.

If Angel Michael had won in 2015, defeated Boko Haram, turned Nigeria into Garden of Eden, and restored our international pride,would you be talking of GEJ?

I dislike the idea of criticising a person who is no longer in office. But history matters.

For those who have forgotten, GEJ had goodwill from a majority of Nigerians in 2011 but he squandered it. At least, 10 reasons made (non-bigoted) Nigerians turn their backs on him:

1. The Boko Haram conflict escalated under GEJ's watch until the point that Boko Haram had real operational control over 3 states before they were recaptured - but very close to the 2015 election when most people had made up their minds.

2. The handling of the Chibok Girl abduction. From denial that it happened, to gaslighting the protesters. Then GEJ flew to France for a 'problem solving' meeting that yielded nothing. Most of the girls are still missing - and yes Buhari has done nothing about it either.

3. The entire existence of Abba Moro. Then add the tragedy of his NIS recruitment that killed dozens and shook every well-meaning Nigerian. All GEJ did was promise to find jobs for the injured and compensate relatives. He didn't sack the minister despite calls - sounds familiar?

4. The 2014 Centenary Celebration. Who celebrates the amalgamation of Nigeria? Lord Lugard was honoured. Abacha was honoured. Whoever GEJ thought he was trying to please, he ended up offending those who he should have been pleasing. All well-meaning Nigerians were embarrassed.

5. A presidential national conference when people asked for a sovereign national conference. It ended up being a political party conference that wasted a lot of money, had no legal framework, and the report finally went the way of all other reports - forgotten.

6. The $20B scandal. There was a lot of APC propaganda on this one but clearly, NNPC had not been remitting all profits to the Federation Account. The real trigger was how GEJ handled it: he sacked Sanusi and said it was a case of “stealing” not “corruption” and the rest is meme.

7. That time when they 'rebased' the economy and tried to convince us that life was better because the numbers said so. Also, we were told Nigeria had the most private jets in Africa so clearly we were rich and we should stop complaining. Then CBN gave us a N65 ATM fee on top.

8. The Signing of the “Anti-Gay” Law. Legislators gave GEJ a time-bomb to sign and he did and lost all the woke crowd in Nigeria. Sorry, but those were a lot of votes he wasn't getting again. At least, 10% of the voting population.

9. Inability to control the military. Let's not beat about the bush: GEJ never seemed to have control of the Army. Front pages were slashed, press trucks were waylaid, and buses were set ablaze by soldiers running amok - and GEJ barely did anything. Yes, I know Buhari too.

10. Dodgy people in the corridors of power. It is easy in 2021 to reminisce about GEJ's reign but even PDP people will tell you that by 2015, the names in the news running things were people like Oritsejafor, Alamieyeseigha, Tompolo, Dokubo, Obanikoro, Femi Fani-Kayode, etc.

Nigerians elected GEJ in 2011, they didn't elect all these other characters to run the show or a president who was always talking about his enemies but just could never do anything about it. When GEJ handed over in 2015, I think even he was happy to leave. The man didn't want it.

I refuse to be drawn into the GEJ vs Buhari debate.

GEJ was bad, Buhari is a catastrophe and Nigerians deserve better leadership than both of them offer. The existence of fire doesn't mean we should aim for the frying pan. Please, let the man rest and let's face the future.