OBASANJO DOES NOT OWN NIGERIA - ABIMBOLA JONES

When Senator Iyabo Obasanjo, daughter of the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, wrote a vitriolic letter to her father some time ago reminding him that he does not own Nigeria, many of us thought she was a bit too harsh on the old man. Iyabo had, in very strong words, dismissed the former president as an irresponsible father, megalomaniac, liar and hypocrite. It is not that Iyabo said anything new that the public does not know about her father. Even then, some of us thought that coming from a daughter – estranged or beloved – that was way too harsh. But in recent times, Obasanjo himself is beginning to justify his daughter’s public expression of her opinion of her father.

Just a few days ago, Obasanjo continued in what has become his favourite pastime, the public bashing of one of his political sons, Goodluck Jonathan, the Nigerian president while addressing participants in Abeokuta at a programme “First Green Legacy Moments with Chief Olusegun Obasanjo on Leadership and human Security in Africa”. This programme, which we understand was put together by the former president’s shop, Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, in conjunction with the University of Ibadan, had in attendance undergraduate students of Nigeria’s premier university of Ibadan, Obasanjo’s own private university, the Bells University of Technology, Crawford University as well as their vice chancellors, and students from select secondary schools in Ogun State. This was the forum that Obasanjo chose to obfuscate facts and wrongly accuse President Jonathan and his government of failing over power supply.

The former President, according to newspaper reports, had blamed the governments after his, specifically, the Yar’Adua government and the Jonathan government, for failing to implement his administration’s initiative of the National Independent Power Project (NIPP). As always the former president went on and on regaling the young impressionable students and, of course, some of the adult audience who should know how he alone has built up the country right from his military presidency and to his second coming as a civilian. That was typical of Obasanjo who believes that he alone knows Nigeria and he alone can save Nigeria. Wel, there is nothing wrong if the former president derives joy by telling his audience and whoever cares to listen of his unrivalled patriotism and missionary zeal in the service of the fatherland.

Yet what is unacceptable especially from Obasanjo, an elder statesman, iconic personality and former president, is the passing of barefaced lies to younger people looking up to him, as facts. The former President knows full well that he was lying when he repeatedly stated that the present administration has abandoned the NIPP projects. He was equally not telling the whole truth when he is aware that the country is generating more power now than any other time in the nation’s history. It is undeniable that the late President Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua probably hesitated on the NIPP projects. Those who knew him readily agree that it was in the character of the late president, to be sure about probity, accountability and due process in anything he was involved in. He inherited the NIPP project from Obasanjo and all kinds of fuzzy stories of corruption were flying around and Yar’ Adua was never the kind of person who would compromise accountability for speed. He wanted to make sure that Nigerians were not fleeced all in the name of tackling the power challenge through the NIPP projects.

But it is really intriguing that Obasanjo forgot to tell the young ones listening to him that after the initial lull under Yar’ Adua, the Jonathan administration more than his own era has achieved milestones in the power sector. It is equally unfortunate that Obasanjo failed the younger generation listening to him (although the vice chancellors and Professor Akin Mabogunje know the truth) that his NIPP project is defective in design and execution by failing to take into account, the supply of gas to the newly-built power stations across the land. How to get gas to power those plants is one of the challenges that the Jonathan government is dealing with today but Obasanjo would rather obfuscate that fact in his self-praise.

It is understandable anyway that an Obasanjo who still believes that he is the best thing that has happened to our country will never give credit to anyone who has out-performed him in any sector. That is why former President Obasanjo failed to tell the young people around him that President Jonathan by liberalizing the power sector with the privatisation of the power generations and distribution and the consequent unbundling of the former PHCN, took the decision he and previous leaders were afraid to take. Instead, the former president is insinuating corruption and nepotism in the privatisation in the power sector. Maybe Obasanjo has forgotten that he carried out the massive liberalisation that took place in the communications industry, the downstream sector of the oil industry, the ports sector and the Nigerian economy as a whole and Nigerians are aware, how cronies of the former president bought up Nigeria. Nigerians equally know who the real owners of the port terminals in Apapa concessioned by Obasanjo are. The same Obasanjo who, while granting licenses for ownership of private universities, found it convenient to sign one for himself is now accusing Jonathan of selling the power sector to his friends.

It is time Obasanjo came to terms with the fact that a new Sherriff is in town. There is no doubt that the former president has given his best to this country but he must also realise that he does not own Nigeria – just as Iyabo had rightly noted.

Mr Jones, a public affairs analyst, sent this piece from Ikorodu, Lagos.

BUHARI CAN NEVER RULE NIGERIA AGAIN - ARIBISALA

On Friday, 23rd August, 1985, the military government of Major-General Mohammadu Buhari decided to place me under arrest. My crime was that I wrote, among others, an article entitled: “Counter-trading Nigeria’s Future” in the National Concord, exposing the government’s scam of diverting public funds into private coffers through barter-trade with Brazil. A man by the name of Benson Norman was sent from the State Security Services (SSS) to my office to get me. Not finding me, he left a note that I must present myself unfailingly at the SSS office at 15 Awolowo Road, Ikoyi Lagos the next Monday morning. However, on Sunday, 25th August, 1985, Lateef Aminu came first thing in the morning to my house to inform me that the government of Buhari/Idiagbon had been overthrown. For this reason, I am fond of telling people that God brought about a change of government in Nigeria just because of me.

Coup-plotter

Under the Buhari/Idiagbon regime, once you ended up at 15 Awolowo Road, you may never be heard of again. Decree Number 2 of 1984 empowered Tunde Idiagbon to arrest and detain anybody indefinitely without trial and without legal reprieve. After Buhari was overthrown, Mohammadu Gambo opened the prison doors of 15 Awolowo Road on public television, revealing people in various stages of undress and malnutrition that had been kept in the dungeons without trial by Buhari’s hound-dogs.

As self-imposed Head of State, Buhari had no regard for human rights. Immediately he seized power, he announced that he would “tamper with” the press. Soon, the infamous Decree Number 4 was promulgated which made even the publication of the truth a punishable offence. Under this cover, Buhari jailed innocent journalists, including Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabo. He abolished civil liberties, promulgated retroactive decrees enabling him to kill Nigerians through jungle justice, proscribed civil society organizations and professional groups and exercised “absolute” power.

This same Buhari would now have us believe that he has gone through some metamorphosis and has become a democrat. I am sure you will forgive me if people like me don’t believe him. Buhari is not, has never been, and will never be, a democrat. Only in Nigeria would a man with his track record, who came to power through a military coup that illegally overthrew a democratic government, now be acclaimed as a democrat. It is on record that Buhari’s military regime is the only one in Nigeria’s history that failed to promulgate a programme for return to civilian rule.

Facts and fiction

So what exactly qualifies Buhari as a democrat today? Precious little! There is nothing democratic about forming and joining political parties just in order to be the presidential candidate. Little wonder then that Buhari’s parties have a short shelf-life. Buhari would like to be Nigeria’s head of state once again. He can no longer achieve this through the barrel of a gun. The only route now open to him is through the democratic process. That is the reason he now conveniently fashions himself as a democrat. It is merely a means to an end; no more, no less.

Buhari’s reputation as an anti-corruption crusader is also a myth. As head of state, he did not make any dent in Nigerian corruption. All we got was a cosmetic “war against indiscipline.” The counter-trade scam happened under his watch. Rather than deal with it, he sent his hound-dogs after nonentities like me who dared to expose it. That scam was no different, in scope and scale, from the petroleum subsidy and other corruption scandals that have since plagued Nigeria. The Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) that Buhari headed under Abacha was also a citadel of corruption. While Buhari himself might not have enriched himself, his cronies and those who worked under him did so handsomely. And he did nothing to correct such looters. So how come he is called a good leader?

On three different occasions, Buhari has run for the presidency. On three different occasions he has failed. That should really be enough. Now he is running again for the presidency a fourth time in 2015, there is no question that he would fail yet again. Try as he might again and again, Mohammadu Buhari can never be President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Buhari’s sectarianism

There is a fundamental reason behind this. Buhari is a bad politician. He is an unbending former military dictator and not a democratic consensus-builder. Like his new ally, Bola Tinubu, Buhari is a regional, sectional politician. Such politicians are practically impossible to package and market nationally in the ethnically-delicate Nigeria of today.

Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir El’Rufai, one of those Northerners who deserve to be serious contenders for the presidency of Nigeria, observed that Buhari remains “perpetually unelectable” as a result of his “insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus.” This is an elegant way of saying that politically, Buhari has an uncanny tendency to put his foot in his mouth. He talks before thinking of the political implications of his words. He shoots from the hip.

The strength of Obasanjo, which enabled him to capture the presidency on two different occasions, was that he was perceived as a broadminded politician, not overly partial to his people in the South-West. As a matter of fact, in his first election, his people did not want him. The strength of Goodluck Jonathan, which propelled him to win the presidency, was that he was able to string together a coalition that stretched both north and south of the Niger. The weakness of Buhari is that he is totally unacceptable to people outside his region.

Buhari is a Northern regional champion. As head of state in the 1980s, his government was unapologetically Northern. No attempt was made to balance the ticket at the top. It was the only regime in Nigeria’s history headed by two Northerners. When he seized power, Buhari put Shagari, the Northern head of state he overthrew, under house arrest. But then he jailed Alex Ekwueme, the Southern vice-president. You may well ask what makes Shagari less culpable for the misdeeds of the Second Republic than his number-two man. The simple fact was that Buhari was Fulani as was Shagari; but Ekwueme was Igbo.

Impolitic words

At the height of the Sharia debate during the Obasanjo administration, Buhari declared that Muslims should vote only for fellow Muslims. This was politically suicidal for a man seeking national office. He became an advocate for implementation of Sharia all over Nigeria. He protested to the Oyo State governor, in the context of a dispute between Fulani herdsmen and indigenous farmers in the state, that “your people are killing my people.” This turned out to be unfounded and perhaps the reverse.

His threats during the campaign for the 2011 elections incited widespread violence in the North after he lost. His supporters went on a rampage; looting and killing; in spite of the fact that, by all accounts, the elections were adjudged the most free and fair in the history of Nigeria’s current democratic experiment. By the time the mayhem had subsided, over 1000 people had been slaughtered in cold blood and some 65,000 displaced.

Forgetting that a statement made in Hausa would readily be translated into English, Buhari later declared unapologetically in a BBC interview: “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.” These are the tokens of an irresponsible politician, whose ambitions for power supersede the national interest. Who then are the dogs and baboons that Buhari has in mind to soak in blood if and when he losses yet again coms 2015?

Are they his children or are they those of others?

With the Boko Haram insurgency in the north, Buhari played to the Northern gallery yet again, calling the Jonathan government “the biggest Boko Haram.” Wole Olaniyi was a fly in the wall at a meeting in Kano Government House designed to persuade PDP rebel governor, Rabiu Kwankwaso, to decamp to the APC. Assuming that only Northerners were present, Buhari declared the Boko Haram was a “strategic plan” by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to “destroy the North.” When Jonathan declared a state of emergency in Yobe, Borno and Adamawa states, Buhari still saw this with Northern goggles, insinuating that the President is waging war on the North.

President of the North

Without a doubt, Buhari has massive support in the North. Indeed, he is the most popular Northern politician in the North today. But that precisely remains his undoing at the centre. The more he has been identified as a Northern champion, the less attractive he has become as a national choice. Even in the North, his support base is limited to the Muslim population. He does not appeal to Northern Christians. Then there is the added factor of the opposition of his implacable opponents among the Northern elite. Men like Babangida and Atiku would rather die than allow Buhari get to Aso Rock.

One thing is certain, the South-South and the South-East will not vote for Buhari in 2015. Not only that; there are no buyers for Buhari’s sectarian politics in the South-West. No matter what Tinubu might be telling him, the people of the South-West will not vote for Buhari in 2015. We already had the template in 2011, when Buhari tried to sell himself, first by balancing his ticket with a Yoruba man; and then by making sure the Yoruba man is a Christian; a pastor no less. But it just did not wash. It will not work in 2015.

The worst thing that can happen to Northern presidential aspirations in 2015 is for Buhari to be on the APC ballot. That is a sure guarantee that the North will not be providing the next president. Buhari would be a shoo-in in an election for president of Northern Nigeria. But in an election encompassing the entire country, the best he can envisage is to be a kingmaker. He cannot be king. The nearest Buhari will get to Aso Rock in 2015 is by attending the Council of State meetings.

WE WILL DEEP THE KORAN IN THE ATLANTIC OCEAN - BUHARI.

"I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria. God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country. Muslims should only vote those who will promote Islam. We are more than the Christians if you add our Muslim brothers in the West."- Chief Imam/Caliph Muhammadu Buhari. 

Icheoku says now you know where the heart of Muhammadu Buhari truly is. Records are kept for a reason, admitted Buhari would rather wish that such his past fiery Islamic rhetorics and propagation statements simply disappeared. But hey, Nigerians will decide if such a zealot is deserving of the highest office in the land in 2015. Say no to Buhari, 'baa abu' Buhari. Not this time and not in the future of Nigeria as is presently constituted and still existing.

BUHARI'S STYLE OF GOVERNANCE, NO ENCORE PLEASE - EL RUFAI

"It makes sense to ask those who have been recurring decimals in our country’s sorry history to leave the stage. These men who think that their failure to do their best for Nigeria when they had the opportunity automatically qualifies them for a return to office. Nigerian people surely deserve better. Buhari has remained perpetually unelectable because his record as military head of state, and afterwards, is a warning that many Nigerians have wisely heeded. His insensitivity to Nigeria’s diversity and his parochial focus are already well-known. 

In 1984, Buhari allowed 53 suitcases belonging to his ADC’s father to enter Nigeria unchecked at a time the country was exchanging old currency for new.  Against all canons of legal decency, he used retroactive laws to execute three young men for drug-peddling after they were convicted by a military tribunal and not regular courts of law. Buhari was so high handed that he gave himself and his officials immunity even from truthful reporting. That obnoxious Decree 4, against which truth was no defense  was used to jail journalists and attempt to cow the media as a whole. That tyrannical legislation shows the essence of his intolerance. The story of counter-trade and import licensing, the cornerstone of Buhari’s stone-age economic strategy. 

These are facts of recent history. It is time for a new generation of leaders with new thinking and wholesome democratic attitude and credentials to move our nation forward. The vicious response by the Buhari camp to a simple statement that their 70 year plus old principal should retire is proof enough that a Buhari, the new Democrat, tolerant of views different from his own, is yet to evolve. Having tasted his style of governance, Nigerians are not craving an encore."  - El Rufai.

Icheoku says who else would know the chief caliph of their fundamentalist brand of Islam better than a fellow adherent? Nigerians, you have heard from an insider mullah describing their mullah-in-chief, so please listen to El Rufai when he says that Muhammadu Buhari is perpetually unelectable, practices stone age economic policies and left a sore taste in the mouth of Nigerians for them to desire his repeat governance. Icheoku urges Nigerians to please not break the curse of Buhari, the unelectable Buhari, by electing him this time. Say no to Buhari, Baa abu Buhari, not this time and not in the future of Nigeria as is presently constituted and still existing. 

BUHARI HATES KILLING PEOPLE EXCEPT THEY ARE 'DOGS AND BABOONS?'

Icheoku says the man from Daura is a certified fraud, admitted he is cleverly applying his artful deceit in manipulating his mostly illiterate, unsuspecting and unwary followers; as well as few other less literate Nigerians, who are incapable of self thinking. Every day, Buhari flip-flops on issues he once held a different position on,  acts and says things as though  records of his past suddenly melted away and are no longer available nor exist anywhere? His latest fable is that he does not like shedding human blood? Icheoku counters that this hyena of the human specie did not see those millions of Biafrans war dead, including their women and children who were starved to death, as humans? Also it is possible that he did not see those politicians who died in his detention as well as those three innocent drug peddlers he illegally killed as humans too, using his warped "standard" definition? 

Imam Muhammadu Buhari on the sinful act of killing people: - "I have seen enough of death and I know what God means by human life. Any human person, God values their life. And anybody who  hopes to meet God, he should be careful about killing people." (Cable News Interview.)

Icheoku says except that those his referenced "dogs and baboons that would be soaked in their blood" when he loses yet again in 2015 are not human beings or persons for purposes of his being barred from seeing God? Query, a man who consistently threatens mayhem and sees them through by proxy of his fanatical nihilists, with attendant loss of so many innocent human lives, cannot be said to be living by his creed of shed no blood? Icheoku says a person like Muhammadu Buhari, saying what he says and doing what he does to the contrary, can only be motivated by one thing and one thing only - the seeing of those victims killed as not real human beings but merely "dogs and baboons?"

So Nigerians, now you know what the austere, mean and lean marabout from Daura really thinks of those of you who are not his followers. They are expendable "dogs and baboons" whose lives does not have meaning and which could be so easily wasted without any consequence, including not seeing God? Icheoku says it is obvious from Muhammadu Buhari's rantings that he is seriously desirous of making heaven and as a result would not "kill anyone nor has he killed anyone" yet; except those he could successfully distinguish as "dogs and baboons?" In that way shedding their blood would not amount to anything nor matter at all nor deter him from making a triumphant entry into heaven? 

So sin-free, with only thousands of "dogs and baboons" killed to his credit, Muhammadu Buhari hopes to someday join his compatriot Sani Abacha, alongside Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida in heaven? Icheoku here now puts the entire Christendom-world on notice that on the last day, any heaven Icheoku enters and finds any of these three munchkins in it, Icheoku would treat it as the wrong heaven and would make a b-line out of it. Icheoku would thereafter, robotically proceed to the opposite dwelling even if it means hell, as no good heaven would give accommodation to these three nemesis of Nigeria. 

In Election 2015, say no to Buhari, reject his candidacy if APC does not beat you to that much earlier. 'Baa abu' Buhari. Icheoku is emphatic that Buhari is a wholesale misfit and is not good for a futuristic looking and geared Nigeria that is finally beginning to take baby-steps after such a long hibernation in rehab. Nigerians, please do not let the train to progress be derailed once again by Muhammadu Buhari and his band of marauders. Enough of his interruptions. This cannot be deja vu December 31 1983; this is 2015, a completely different millennium and Buhari belongs to the ancient past. Muhammadu Buhari is both stale and spent, his sinews drained of their energy and his brain has gone into a rest mode. What good is such an empty shell to Nigeria? None, Nada, Zilch, so reject him and reject what he stands for if any and if you still makes any sense of it.

ORJI KALU SOMERSAULTS ON KESHI?

Icheoku says it is eerily strange that many a Nigerian do not have a core nor do they have any established ideological philosophy that serve as their guiding beacon. As a result they sway and swing on issues depending on what is popular and politically germane and expedient at the moment. Simply put, their decisions and positions on issues are usually prostitution(al) and you wonder the genuineness and sincerity of such circumstanced, fair-weather posturing. They lack forthrightness and they lack convictions; and their actions are not often good-purpose driven but derivatives therefrom. This is of the reason the country has remained in the vice hold of despicable persons, whose real intentions are usually masked and murky, and whose only real interest is the maximization of their exploitation of the comatose country and its people. Otherwise how does anyone make a head or tail of this dual opposites of Orji Kalu on the issue of then sacked and now reinstated Nigeria's Eagles Coach Stephen Keshi?

Just a few weeks ago precisely on October 23, 2014, Orji Kalu was lampooning Stephen Keshi for deservedly bringing about his ouster because of his stubbornness and failure to be a get-along team-player and all inclusive, listening coach? According to Orji Kalu, 

“We need to go to East European countries like Serbia or a good football nation like France to get a foreign coach. He will be a Technical Adviser and then we have a Nigerian as the chief coach; I thought Keshi would have been extra ordinary and learn from others but it is unfortunate that he ended up like this. He was stubborn, and you cannot be stubborn in the national team because a tree does not make a forest. You must listen to other people’s opinions, that is very important. You cannot win if you are not a team. Shaibu Amodu is a very good coach who is a straight forward person and he always have a good rapport with his players. And most importantly he listens to people.” 

Today, November 2, 2014, barely ten days after, the same Orji Kalu is now singing praises and  kumbaya in adoration and admiration of Keshi and effusively thanking President Jonathan for bringing "HIS" Keshi back as coach of the national team Eagles? In his statement today, Orji Kalu said 

"I salute Mr. President and NFF’s decision to return Keshi. It is timely considering the on go­ing African Nations Cup qualifying matches.” The return of Ike Uche by Keshi shows that the national team is set for business. Keshi has been able to forget the past and he is now focusing on the future. I am indeed glad that Ike Uche is back on the field.” 

Icheoku says may the real Orji Kalu please stand up so that Stephen Keshi and other Nigerians will know which one was indeed speaking and who to listen to? But unfortunately, Orji Kalu has no avatar or body-double, but is one and the same person who was merely speaking on both sides of his mouth, in the trait common to many a Nigerian. What a shame!

'MUDASHIRU, I DON'T CARE' - BUHARI

Icheoku says who knows what Buhari told Tinubu was the reason why he cancelled the Lagos Metro Rail project or did Bola Tinubu not demand an explanation before his current Buharimania? Imagine Buhari, so meanly and without any care for its attendant benefit to Lagosians whatsoever, dismissing a futuristic, palliative project that would have drastically reduced if not resolved the ever traffic logjams on Lagos roads. Even when Buhari was reminded of the hefty cost-implication of over sixty million dollars in interests and charges alone for arbitrarily canceling the project,  which project cost was not even being borne by his then Federal Government, the wicked, lean and mean Cassius still ordered its cancellation anyway. 

Now could somebody please tell Icheoku that this Buhari is the same Buhari whom Bola Tinubu is supporting after what he did to his Lagos State? Late Gbolahon Mudashiru, a Lagosian, then Lagos State military administrator, tried to do good by and for Lagosians by persuading Buhari to see reason on why the project should not be cancelled. But Bola Tinubu, a claimed Lagosian and former civilian governor of the same Lagos State is now cavorting with the enemy of Lagos State instead, and is not asking Buhari the tough questions? Icheoku asks why not? Why the sellout Bola Tinubu and the ghost of Mudashiru cries out from the grave, please Lagosians and Nigerians STOP BUHARI.

Icheoku concludes that this Bola Tinubu must have sold his soul to the devil with his support for Muhammadu Buhari, despite Buhari's lack of democracy credentials and a fact of general knowledge that Buhari parades a litany of very anti-peoples antecedents. Icheoku asks why would any thinking person cancel such a laudable project that would have placed Lagos State on a solid footing by helping alleviate its chronic transportation problem as well as attendant traffic jams. Icheoku urges Nigerians to be both wary and vigilant of this unholy alliance between Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu and guard their democracy as mother hen would her chicks. The two ideologically polar-opposites banding together, can only be for one thing and one thing only, a mischievous gang up that portends evil for Nigeria as we know it. This two men are wolves masquerading as sheep and while Tinubu would loot Nigeria dry, Buhari will finish what he started in December 31st 1983 - a complete emasculation of Nigerians. 

Please Nigerians do not let this apocalyptic nightmare descend and cover the country's rising sun; do the NEEDFUL to stop these men cold before they irreversibly turn things upside down on their heads in Nigeria. This 2015, remember the Lagos Metro Rail project when you cast your ballot. Say no to Buhari, 'baa abu' Buhari. Say to Buhari, not this time and not in any future time of a Nigeria as is presently constituted and still existing, even if on a life support. What a heartless conniving and contriving serpent this mullah from Daura is whose zealotry for spreading Islam throughout Nigeria is feverish and he confessed as much. 

ELECTION 2015, JONATHAN'S COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE?

Icheoku says President Goodluck Jonathan goes into Election 2015 with a huge leg up over Muhammadu Buhari. In addition to power of incumbency and limitless cash base, Buhari's North is too fragmented to mount any serious challenge with a bloc vote. There is the Boko Haram North? There is the Hausa/Fulani North? There is the Cattle rearers North that has been killing the other Norths? There is the Christian North? There is the different Islamic sects' North? There is the Progressive New North? There is the Conservative Old North? There is NEC North? There is NEF North? There is the Almajiri/Talakawa North and of course there is the perpetually oppressed and ever marginalized Middle Belt North. Icheoku says galvanizing all these Norths into a united one North for Muhammadu Buhari, to serve as a bull walk against Jonathan, might be an unattainable uphill task. 

But unlike the fragmentation problem Buhari will be facing in the North, President Jonathan for most part, does not face similar "to your tents Oh Israel" problem in the South? So, aside of the Bola Tinubu showboat shenanigan, the South is united in their desire to continue to drive the narrative on the future of Nigeria. The South, although not openly mouthed in some quarters, is proud that finally an educated person is at the helm of affairs after such a long time of ill-educated "itinerant do or die" leaders of the past, including the semi-illiterate army personnel Muhammadu Buhari. So when the chips are down, the South would come together and overwhelmingly cast their lot with Jonathan as opposed to Buhari whose antecedent is of a general knowledge. Equally in the South, both Christians and Muslims as well as animists and none believers are getting along very well and are not killing themselves. As a result there is no seething bad blood to create any wide chasm of suspicion and/or political insecurity between the disparate Southerners to result in an antagonistic anti-Jonathan voters' outrage. But please tell Icheoku which true son or daughter of Plateau or Benue State that would vote for Miyetti Islam to continue pillaging, destroying their farmlands, maiming and killing their people? 

It is also worth noting that many Nigerians would, mindful of the ever restive Niger Delta terrorists who have mellowed down lately, vote for Jonathan in the interest of their-insured relative peace continuing. That way, it will be safe for everyone and anyone coming after the Niger Delta South-south has completed their term, as they will no longer have any reason to turn off the spigots. This Election 2015, Icheoku predicts that President Jonathan will trump Buhari and if the Hausa/Fulani do not like the outcome, let Nigerians revisit the Gideon Orkar manifesto. Say no to Buhari and please let Bola Tinubu know that Nigerians say "baa bu Buhari." Never again for this Buhari whose medicine Nigerians have tasted before and not in the lifetime of this Nigeria as is presently constituted and still trudging on. Icheoku reiterates that Muhammadu Buhari is so yesterday and the future of Nigeria cannot be safely anchored in his  arthritis ravaged phalanges. At 75 years, the septuagenarian has nothing to offer Nigerians as his brain has begun the process of calcification and their neurons are no longer firing optimally. Icheoku says instead of Aso Rock, Nigerians should send Buhari to a senior care facility to live out his sunset years in peace! AWAY WITH BUHARI!

I WILL BAN QUOTA SYSTEM - BUHARI?

Icheoku says when one thinks he has heard it all from Buhari, the veteran presidential candidate, now on his fourth attempt to hoodwink Nigerians and sneak back into Aso Rock, has thrown the mother of all statements. Muhammadu Buhari said he will abolish 'QUOTA SYSTEM' and 'FEDERAL CHARACTER' policies of the Federal Government of  Nigeria! Icheoku says Nigerians should either believe this guy at the pain of a future disappointment or just treat it for what it is - another blow hot political pandering of a desperate politician? Apparently, to say that Buhari is desperate for the office is understating his near exasperation as the man from Daura is near psychotic in his desire to re-assume the presidency of Nigeria. As a result, whatever he could say or do that brings Aso Rock's doorway nearer, is a good gambit and the man is deploying them in quantum-loads. 

Muhammadu Buhari is now morphing into everything and anything to everybody depending on what moves the needle of their politics. Just tell Buhari what it is about him that you disagree with or which you are against and Buhari will magically appear on its opposite side as its campaigner and advocate in chief? Such has become his forte these days that the proverbial throwing of everything including the kitchen sink is now his strategy in order to sway Nigerians' opinion to swing favorably towards him. Icheoku asks should such a man be trusted and why should Nigerians believe him that he is going to follow through with all these promises when it is legendary that he listens to no one? Who is going to hold him accountable if he does not follow through since he will not be seeking a reelection as promised and therefore has no incentive to do the promised in order to secure a second term? But who is even trusting that an elected Buhari would honor his promised one term only in office, after all he did not keep his promise not to run for office again? 

Icheoku says Buhari is deploying various strategies to help him get him elected. It is a trait common with the  Hausa/Fulani - deploying cheating, lying, deceiving, pretending,  maiming and even killing in order to achieve an objective. Now to the litany of promises and flip flopping of Buhari thus far. To those anti-coup Nigerians who stand unshakably against his candidacy because of his overthrow of President Shehu Shagari's democratically elected government, Buhari in currying their favor, completely disassociated himself from the coup and instead blamed Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha for the putsch?  According to his tale, after the boys risked their necks to pull off the criminal act of a military coup de tat, they collectively "stepped aside" for him to reap where he did not sow? Icheoku says believe that on your own sanity question.  To those Nigerians who said he was too despotic, he said, hell no, it was my second in command Tunde Idiagbon who was an unrepentant viciousness incarnate. Unfortunately Idiagbon, who was poisoned in Aso Rock, is no longer alive to defend himself; but anyone believing this Buhari's tale, must first have to check his head for some misfiring neurons. 

To those Nigerians who assailed him for murdering those three innocent Nigerians based on a retroactive death decree, Buhari denied complicity and indeed blamed Supreme Military Council for insisting that those Nigerians be murdered? Icheoku says really? To those Nigerians who blamed Buhari for decree 4 and for the imprisonment of Tunde Thompson and Nduka Irabor, Buhari said his government was only protecting civil servants in order to create a conducive atmosphere for them to function properly? Icheoku says what a tale by the moonlight except that Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson seem to have been 'settled', the Nigerian way; as they have maintained sealed lips on the Buhari question thus far. 

Muhammadu Buhari also denied that he is not an Islamic fanatical zealot by pointing at Chuba Okadigbo, Edwin Umezoke and Pastor Tunde Bakare as all Christians he has ran for office of the presidency with over the years? Except that he did not go further to explain why he supported the introduction of SHARIA in Northwestern Nigeria and similarly prohibited the drinking of beer before 5.00pm during his first time in power throughout Nigeria including Christian Southern Nigeria? Buhari has also not explained why he forced his wife into a life in Purdah as Nigerians wonder in the event of his win, who will serve as Nigeria's First Lady, unless he plans to also proscribe the office? 

Now to the latest of his bombshell, meant as red meat for all those overachieving Nigerians who are anti quota system and federal character, Buhari promised to go hard on those almajiris Northerners who are demanding equal opportunity when they are not as qualified? Icheoku says to Buhari, please tell that to the marines as we are not buying into the tale and anyone who believes that Buhari will see this promise through might as well believe in snake oil salesmen. Listen to Muhammadu Buhari on the issue of quota system and federal character catchment policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Policies which routinely sacrifices merit on the alter of trying to carry Northerners along, resulting in over qualified Southern students not getting placements in Universities and colleges in order to make room for mediocre Northern students and which deny appointments to over qualified Southerners for beginner Northerners. Hear Muhammdu Buhari now in his own words:-

"I think it is important in the federation when you come to the centre, it is better for people to feel that they too are participating at the centre. But it must not be at the expense of standards. Any geopolitical zone or state, if they want their people to participate at the centre, must ensure they can compete professionally. You can't take somebody who did not go to school or who said he went to the university but cannot write a two-page memo, to become a permanent secretary. How will he do it? How can he articulate policies that will be taken to executive council to be debated by ministers? We really have a problem. We have to remove sentiments and not excite or provoke our constituencies that they have to participate. You can only participate if you develop the capacity to participate." - Muhammadu Buhari, APC Presidential candidate contender (The Cable Interview).

Icheoku says those are Buhari's own exact words as he claims he will stop unqualified and under qualified, as well as incompetent Hausa/Fulani Northerners from getting special 'handicapped' treatment in Nigeria. By this, Buhari has promised to ban the skewed 'quota system and federal character' policies and replace it with an all comers, open season, qualified, competency and ability test. Icheoku says of all that Buhari has so far said and promised, this sounds most far reaching and encouraging; except that in silly season of politics, politicians would promise to even raise one's dead mother in order to get one's vote. Nigerians, like every other peoples in other democracies know better that politicians, the lying scoundrels of society they are, readily forget they ever made some promises once the election has come and gone until the next episode. 

Icheoku says to hell with Buhari and his truckload of promises as his second coming can only drag Nigerians thirty something odd years back. Who wants Nigeria to go back to the time when there was still 'Union of Socialists Soviet Republics; who wants to continue the ding dong one step forward, two steps backwards that has been Nigeria's modus operandi for sometime? Definitely not Icheoku and not anyone seriously interested in a new dawn for Nigeria. Nigerians please reject Buhari and let Bola Tinubu know that Nigerians do not want a Buhari flying the APC presidential candidate flag this 2015.

BUHARI RULED NIGERIA WHEN REAGAN WAS PRESIDENT?

In Buhari's own words:- 

"Secondly the American president then, Ronald Reagan, sent his friend, General Walters, to me saying we should accept the IMF program." - Muhammadu Buhari, APC presidential candidate wanna be. 

Icheoku says since Ronald Reagan first term, America has had four years of his second term, four years of George Bush Sr, eight years of Bill Clinton, eight years of George Bush Jr and now six years of President Barack Obama. That is a total of thirty two long years, yet the man who ruled Nigeria then, when Ronald Reagan  of America and Margret Thatcher of Britain held sway in the world wants to rule Nigeria again? Query, what manner of a banana republic country would readily rehabilitate such a 'centurion' back into their policy chair as the wonk in chief? Please Nigerians, you can do better by doing away with this great grandfather as your president. Say no to Buhari, tell Bola Tinubu that Nigerians will not accept a Muhammadu Buhari's presidential candidacy of the APC. 

WAKE ME UP WHEN JONATHAN WINS - OBASANJO?

Icheoku says "Wake me up when Jonathan wins" might have been a better caption since Baba Iyabo who now cavorts with the APC seems to have over-played his hand? With no acceptable formidable presidential candidate for the APC, who could stand national muster, yet in the offing, Baba Iyabo decided on a 'wait and see or rather sleep' strategy? Now instead of laughing, Baba dey snooze! Icheoku asks how about that Nigerians for those who lead you and this picture was taken at an important conference.

BUHARI IS TONE DEAF - OBASANJO

Icheoku once again finds himself agreeing with the man, whose thought alone causes me serious internal convulsion and  repulsion, in opposing the arrant nonsense that is Muhammadu Buhari's declared disposition towards running with a fellow Muslim, as both presidential and vice presidential candidate of the APC, in the forthcoming 2015 election. Icheoku says Muhammadu Buhari might as well run with a fellow Northerner, possibly El Zaki Zaki, as his vice presidential candidate since he does not seem to find anything wrong in so flagrantly defying certain sensibilities in Nigeria? 

Icheoku says the contemplated running of a Muslim-Muslim ticket is as good as running an all Northern Nigerians ticket for crying out loud. But hopefully, voices of reason in the APC, who still mean well for a one united, multi-cultural and multi-religious Nigeria, will help Buhari to see reason on why his position is fraught with all manners of dangerous permutations and connotations. Buhari did it with Idiagbon but no one elected them; Abiola and Kingibe were both Muslims both they were neither fanatical zealots nor was the religious climate as ominous then as it is now. Icheoku says neither Muhammadu Buhari nor anyone else could pull off that same-adherents' candidacy wool over the eyes of now sensitized, primed and ever-watchful Nigerians and expect to get way with it. Icheoku says not this time and not in the life of Nigeria as is presently constituted and still existing.

Fortunately, Baba Iyabo has now added his voice to all those calling on Muhammadu Buhari to tone down his religious fanaticism and begin to understand that Nigeria is bigger than just Daura, Katsina and the entire Islamic Northeastern Sharia states. Icheoku recalls when Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu was forced to remind Buhari that there are other parts of component Nigeria that did not vote for him in 2007; so he should stop believing that just because he won election in the core Muslim North means he was elected president of Nigeria. Anyway, now that Olusegun Obasanjo has told Muhammadu Buhari to check his religious excesses and tone deafness, Icheoku hopes that Buhari would listen and learn henceforth how to indeed by truly a centrist Nigerian and without unmitigated bias to Muslim Northeast Nigeria. 

Here below find Olusegun Obasanjo's admonition to Muhammadu Buhari against any attempt to carry out his threat to run an all Islamic presidential ticket in 2015 :-

"Sensitivity is a necessary ingredient for enhancement of peace, security and stability at this point in the political discourse and arrangement for Nigeria and for encouraging confidence and trust. It will be insensitive to the point of absurdity for any leader, or any political party to be toying with Muslim-Muslim or Christian-Christian ticket at this juncture. Nigeria cannot at this stage raise the specter and fear of Islamization or Christianization. The idea of proselytization in any form is a grave danger that must not be contemplated by any serious-minded politician at this delicate  situation in Nigeria, as this time is different from any other time. Therefore, disregarding the fact that there are fears that need to be allayed at this point, will amount not only to insensitivity of the highest order but will also amount to very bad politics indeed."

TRANSFORMATION, NOT SYNONYMOUS WITH CHANGE - OYEGUN

"Let me assure you that transformation is different from change. They said they have transformed the economy but there are no jobs. They said they have transformed energy but there is no light.  They said they have transformed security but the Northeast is almost gone and they said that have transformed education but out universities are shut down." John Odigie-Oyegun, Chairman APC.

Icheoku says a very beautiful campaign liner indeed, except that the APC is backing a wrong, untamed bronco in Muhammadu Buhari. Icheoku says with such an Islamic agenda fundamentalist record as Buhari's, Buhari does not stand a winnable chance in a national referendum about who will preside over a multi tribal, multi cultural and multi religious country like Nigeria. Icheoku says Buhari also does  not stand a chance among thinking Nigerians, especially those whose "stomach infrastructure" has been fully laid. Icheoku says Buhari does not also stand a chance among those Nigerians old enough to have lived through the nightmare and survived his gulag-themed first military adventure in Nigeria's governance. Icheoku says Buhari does not stand a chance among those Nigerians who treasure their liberties and who do not want the abolition of alcohol or the chopping off of body parts because of a little infraction like stealing a chicken. So like a beautiful golden casket does not change the fact of its dead content, so also will a well thought out sloganeering not help a politically damaged Buhari.

Icheoku says the fear of imposition of Sharia in Nigeria is real and pervades the polity like an un-lifting dark-cloudy fog. Icheoku says the fear of Buhari canceling everything in the pipeline including the few working policies of the present government, like he cancelled the Jakande era Lagos Metro project, is also real. Icheoku says the fear of a vengeful Buhari going amok with vendetta against his real and imaginary enemies is also real. Icheoku says the rule number one of survival is to not help bring about the threatening ominous opportunity, hence Nigerians will avoid like Ebola, any situation that will expose them to such detrimental possibilities through a Buhari's coming to power again. With Buhari's antecedent, every Nigerian know what the deal is, so why poke danger in the eye by giving him power to destroy people he disagrees with?  So, believing that the man who owns, runs and dictates to everyone in the APC, Bola Tinubu, is fully aware of all these shortcomings of candidate Muhammadu Buhari, Icheoku  says please Bola Tinubu, DO NOT SCREW this 2015 opportunity to have a truly competitive national election in Nigeria. 

Icheoku truthfully speaking, indeed believe that a good opposition candidate would give President Jonathan a run for his money as his performance in office is near mediocre;  BUT maintains that such candidate must not be or have a Buhari as his last name. Say no to Buhari, say no to taking Nigeria three decades back. Nigerians, forward ever and  backward never. Please Nigerians you don't have to vote because you like Jonathan, just vote against and in order to stop the train wreck that is a Buhari's second coming. It is only banana republics that goes so way back to find a near senile washed-out ex-leader to lead them. The last time Icheoku checked, it is not all that bad in Nigeria in terms of finding a viable effective leader to propel the country forward. 

Image is still about almost everything, so why settle for a barely-literate army man for someone who has a PhD, admitted in Zoology. But do not take Icheoku's word for it, just do some googling yourself to see the prestige involved in "The president of my country has a PhD" as opposed to "The president of my country has a pfi and is a former army coup plotter who desecrated the institution of democracy in Nigeria. How about that friends for motivation. So please  Nigerians get involved today in anyway whatsoever in helping to educate those still undecidedly quivering on the fence as to why Muhammadu Buhari is a wrong candidate for the APC and a flawed choice for Nigeria. Nigeria is moving forward and going back is not and should not be an option in 2015. Say no to Buhari and please let Bola Tinubu know that Nigerians say NO to a BUHARI's second coming. Icheoku says John Oyegun, please find an acceptable candidate to market to Nigerians in 2015v with this beautiful campaign sloganeering. Icheoku likes it but without candidate Muhammadu Buhari.

DOMINIC ADESANYA, NIGERIAN WHITEHOUSE JUMPER?

Icheoku says give it up to Nigerians and the things they do? Just  when the Ebola Virus Disease fame or rather notoriety was beginning to die down, here comes a Nigerian jumping over the White House fence? Luckily he was not shot dead owing to the numerous breaches of that perimeter fence which have put the Secret Service on trigger-edge and the fact that President Obama was in residence at the time of the incident. 

Dominic Adesanya, a 23 year old son of a Nigerian father, scaled the fence of the White House in his attempt to have a personal audience with President Barack Obama? Icheoku says possibly the young Adesanya thought that since the president looks like him or rather like his father, he reserved the right of an audience with the president? Except that he went about it in a wrong manner,  trespassing a restricted area, otherwise nothing in fact stops Mr Adesanya from holding court with the president provided he observed required protocols? Anyway, mental illness is to blame; a sickness which appears to be on the increase in America as this guy allegedly was hearing voices and wanted to let the president in on some of the things he felt would help the president succeed, one might add? 

Dominic Adesanya, the latest addition to this now growing numbers of White House jumpers, has since been charged to court with misdemeanor trespassing of a restricted building and for injuring a Secret Service dog; and if convicted might be imprisoned for up to one year on each count. Icheoku says except this young man needs treatment and not incarceration as no sane person would, fully aware of the implications and consequences of jumping the White House fence, embark on it anyway. According to his father, Dominic's problem is in his head and Icheoku agrees he manifested someone without full control of his faculties. Icheoku says like Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the underwear bomber, Dominic Adesanya, another Nigerian, has suddenly become world famous but for the wrong reason. Icheoku says it is quite unfortunate it happened.

JONATHAN, STILL GOVERNING - EZEIFE.

"Those who said they would make Nigeria ungovernable have failed. Nigeria is still governable and Jonathan is governing it.” - Ezeife, Okwadike N'Igboukwu.

GUMI WRITES BUHARI, A DO NOT RUN LETTER.

Assalamu Alaikum
The Humble People’s General.

I know I have access to you privately but this is meant for others to learn also.

The Prophet -peace be upon him- told one of the most honest and truthful of his companions, Abu Zar Algafary: “Oh Abu Zar, I truly love for you what I love for myself. I indeed see that you are weak so never accept to lead even two people and never accept safekeeping of the orphans wealth.”

An honest and candid advice from the prophet that is still valid today for any leader whose weakness borders on leadership qualities.

The reason for Abu Zar’s weakness has nothing to do with his credibility or truthfulness. Never! The prophet was narrated as saying: “there is nobody under the shadows of trees or bare sun that is more honest in speech than Abu Zar”.
Abu Zar – May Allah be pleased with him- is ascetic and inmaterialistic. Abu Zar is incorruptible. And yet he is not suitable for leadership.

I am not claiming to be even by an atom’s weight anything close to our noble prophet, yet I am encouraged to give you these same advice by the virtue that you are not also close to Abu Zar in piety. We are living in a time of great tribulations and fitnah especially for this Ummah because of our collective iniquities, ignorance of religious instructions and the love of Dunyah.

Sir, your weakness is not in your past impeccable record of accountability of public wealth and the fight against corruption and indiscipline. Your weakness is in your inability to control men compounded further by your strict and obsessive rejection of corruption.

Don’t be surprised. You may need to understand that Islam being a pragmatic religion allows the use of Zakkat and public wealth as an instrument to pacify and lure influential people for the sake of righteousness, peace and stability. In modern governance today it translate to security vote.

Thus men are also controlled by money. So if your policy of governance is obsessibly centered on sealing tight the use of money, you will have great problem with men. An Arab poet said: “A fool cannot be the leader of his people but the true leader of the people must feign foolishness”.

It’s convenient for your ardent supporters to quote copiously from the annals of history your great achievements but when your failures and weaknesses were pointed out they say that was in the past. Is the lessons of past history only good for the positive achievements? Doesn’t that also explains our incessant failures?

Your Excellency, good intentions are never enough. In the past, because of your clean records and straightforwardness you were lured by men who want only the vanities Dunya to uproot a young democracy on the caprices of fighting corruption. Corruption is no doubt an evil but there is a more monstrous evil than corruption. That is turmoil and insecurity. Peace and stability are the most important part of governance that no price is to high for them.

The lack of peace, stability and security is the major predicament of this nation since independence. So when you were naively used by men to derail one, that is the greatest disservice you committed to the nation the ills of which we are yet to recover from.

Do you truly believe Allah is still not in cognizance of that? You were led to uproot a duly elected leader and incarcerate him for close to two years knowing fully well that he has no charge of even the corruption that was labeled against him. Yes, Shagari was the leader and therefore he bears all the responsibility of misdeeds in his government, so also you were a leader and you should bear all the responsibility of derailing the peace and stability of governance in this country as a consequence of that putsch.

Your weakness in control of men became evident when the very people that used you to revolt against a constituted authority came back to uproot you from the seat of power. Your own kinsmen. Without a gun cocked in your defence.

Today the corruption you were deceived to fight against has reached unimaginable level coupled with the worst state of insecurity and peace in the nation. There was just recently an attempt on your life like many of us.

All this because you the honest people that are given the privilege of strengthening the Armed forces left it to meddle in politics. We thus lost everything. Neither the power nor the security.

A believer is not stung from the same hole twice. Men used your innocence before to get power and dump you. Please be sensible today. Some other men still want to use you to get power and surely they will dump you again. You don’t share the same philosophy at all. Even though as I explained later, your obsession and philosophy of fighting corruption is not the priority of Nigeria today. What Nigeria needs utmost now is peace and stability? This can only be achieved when the religious ethnic and regional divide is tamed. And you can only tame it with people without much precedence. People without much following. Yet people that are constructive and have the ability to control men.

If Sardauna today is alive in your situation he will never contest for the presidential seat because of his deep understanding of what the nation needs. He will step down for a more acceptable younger person. It’s on record that Sardauna even at the age of under 60 said he was not going to contest again, preparing his only house in Rabah for retirement.

I’ll give you a similitude to buttress my point of priority. A person seriously injured and fractured from a road traffic accident when brought to the emergency room, the first priority of the doctors is to secure an intravenous line. Meaning get a drip set working into his veins to protect his vital organs like the heart and kidneys from the effects of shock and loss of blood. The fractures, even though serious and the source of the blood loss, may take days and weeks before they are even attended to beside the superficial dressings.

Nigeria now needs peace and stability first. Then we talk of good governance later even though it’s the source of the predicament we are facing.

The present government has already charged the situation and played the religious divide to its advantage. It’s in circulation now, a SW pastor calling on Christians and the church to vote Jonathan as their only Saviour. This religious card will be used to cover his deficiency in governance.

Your Excellency, you should understand too, that many, if not most of your supporters, are also looking up to you to protect them from the onslaught on their religion and region. This also the Christian will never believe the otherwise.

Therefore the stage is set for religious confrontation which is the least the nation needs.

What we need as a priority is peace and stability.

From my view, if APC can support as an example Ameachi or Okorocha/Kwankwaso or El-Rufai or Tambuwwal ticket and the PDP will have Akpabio/Muazu or Ribadu or Shekaru, the next four years will. – insha Allah – witness stability both in the north and south. And the electoral body will get the necessary infrastructure that subsequently the next election will be free and fair and the true reflection of Nigerians.

If you may ask, why can’t this same peace be achieved with you and another Christian running mate?

Gen. you have antagonist, and they are many and also as ardent as your supporters. Your supporters have the biggest proportion of the underprivileged of the society which is the petrol that can be easily ignited by the slightest spark. The spark will be when you’re declared the loser. And you know you can very well lose if the Christians follow their church -and why not in this era of mediocrity.

On the other hand if Jonathan comes back. BH will be real not the political one we see. The turmoil will engulf the whole country not only the north. That is why I also call on PDP to present some other candidates.

My brother in Islam, please listen to the words of wisdom. And don’t follow the whims of the riffraff. Before they used you the first time to disrupt the second republic, my father advised you against it. Today I am also advising you against contesting in the 2015 presidential election because you will be used to ignite the nation -a dream well orchestered several years ago- and also be used by bad people as a ladder to grab regional and local powers.

I rest my case here.

My best regards and condolence for your recent loss.
May Allah guide you and protect you from the evil men and the jinn. Amin.