Buhari has been accused of various 'crimes' and no one has been able to prove these with facts.
I have read write -ups on Buhari by Tony Momoh,Duro Onabule,Prof. Tam David-West etc. and good commendations on him by Nuhu Ribadu,Kingsley Osadolor,Femi Falana and even Olusegun Obasanjo etc; none of those who parade themselves as politicians in this our democratic dispensation since 1999 has come out clean as Buhari.
Also, i have read some write-ups on Buhari by some journalists accusing him of being a dictator,fanatic, religious bigot and ethnic promoter etc,all without facts and evidence to convince me of such accusations.They are all sponsored write-ups just to discredit Buhari.
The political class brand him as a dictator and the Press amplify it to please their masters who amassed wealth ,stole and are still stealing the country blind.
It will be then proper and safe to refer to our former President Olusegun Obasanjo,our no.3 citizen David Mark the Senate President,Olagunsoye Oyinlola,Governor of Osun State,Murtala Nyako,Governor of Adamawa State,Tunde Akogun,majority leader in the House of Representatives and many others in the NASS, as dictators because of their military background and having participated in military coups and regimes in one appointment or the other in the past.
If the above named ex-military officers can benefit in the present democratic dispensation,which many of them,as we know,worked hard to truncate in the past,why should Buhari be singled out for branding as a dictator?Who therefore are those afraid of Buhari?
If there is a politician that has contributed more to our democratic process since joining politics in 2003, that politician is Buhari with the meticulous approach to presenting his cases at the election tribunals up to the Supreme Courts in 2003 and 2007 elections.
What else do Nigerians require therefore, to prove that Buhari is a true democrat?
For the first time in the history of Nigeria, Buhari/Idiagbon regime was a muslim/muslim pair.Nigerians did not complain and throughout the period of the regime,there was no religious riot,sponsored or otherwise. The country's observer status at O.I.C was not upgraded to full memebership status and there was no religious persecution of any sort.What therefore makes Buhari a religious bigot and fanatic?
I have always blamed a section of the Press for the negative publicity of Buhari because of their refusal to forgive him on decree4 and the jailing of Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson.The Press forgot conveniently that Buhari's regime was a military regime that came on a corrective mission and therefore,such situation as we found ourselves during the NPN 'moonslide'etc, required special handling as the political class then was worse than armed bandits.
In a military and corrective regime,the constitution is suspended and decrees promulgated and amended. When the regime took over,top and senior journalists from Newswactch magazine interviewed Buhari and when asked about the Press decree,he bluntly replied that he was going to 'tamper with it' and that was as honest as he could be and he is.The Press knew this and for Christ sake,it was a military regime! and subsequent regimes and democratic governments did same and worse.
The irony of it all is,if you will recall, when Nduka Irabor served as Press Officer to the CGS during the IBB regime and the sacking of Patrick Itioghe as NTA DG during the Oyakhilome/Madike issue. Nduka Irabor gave a verbal order to Itioghe through the telephone to announce the removal of Oyakhilome as DG of NDLEA and that is, after the government had expressed confidence on the NDLEA boss.When Itioghe demanded a written statement from Irabor,which he bluntly refused to give,Itioghe was removed as NTA DG unceremoniously!
Buhari is also accused of jailing politicians for being corrupt during the Shagari administration.Were the politicians not corrupt?Most of them are still around today and they form the main stakeholders of the ruling party - a party bent on leading the country on a path to destruction and implosion.
In 1984,during a Rotary Club(Kaduna/Kawo precisely)session,an officer from the American Embassy in Kaduna was invited to give a lecture on drug trafficking and attendant implication.He drew our attention to the fact that Nigeria was being used as a transit route to traffic drugs to Europe and America and that concerted efforts were being made by European and American governments to close and mark their borders against the inflow of drugs to these countries.The implication therefore will be that the traffic routes like Nigeria, will become dumping grounds for drugs and therefore the consequent usage of these drugs and the gradual destruction of our youths.See what has become of our youths and thier generation today!
Then the Buhari regime apprehended some young men for trafficking in drugs and sentenced them to death. Their godfathers,sponsors,barons and kingpins have not forgiven Buhari for that attempt to cleanse the country and save our youths.Most of them are the key players in our polity today.
Whereas in some civilised and democratic countries of the world today,drug traffic offenders face stiff penalties including death sentence.These countries have come out more sanitised than our country.
Buhari excelled as a brilliant,humble and incorruptible military officer and Head of State.Out of the four(4) or so Army Divisions,Buhari was GOC in at least three(3) of the Divisions.No other officer achieved that feat in his time.I stand corrected.Added to that, no one so far has accussed Buhari openly of ethnic victimisation in these Divisions.
Buhari has followership both in the military and civillian(oppressed) classes and he also has his faults like any human being,which is expected.
At this point in our country,we need a NATIONAL REBIRTH and we should be able to speak up, identify with the truth and identify the leadership qualities and antecedents we require of our leaders and chart a direction for this country instaed of the directionless leadership we have now,after eleven(11) years of 'democracy' by the ruling party.
It has always been my opinion that since 1999,we should still be transitting from military to civilian rule before full democracy.We needed to be disciplined,we needed to confront corruption head-on,we needed to check the military mentality of our politicians who are products of the military class and we needed a Buhari character to lead us through the transition.But then,we missed it in 2003 and 2007.Can we afford to miss is this time?The consequences will be unimaginable.
I thank you Simon Kolawole,for your incisive and truthful write-up and you have earned my respect for that.It is the type of write-ups we need and not double speak or flip-flopping.We have to tell ourselves,at this defining moment in our polity,the truth.We should get over sycophancy,political jobbing and condemnation of everyone without expressly endorsing a canditate based on performance and antecedents.
Let every Nigerian constitutionaly qualified to contest for the Presidency present himself/herself and let the people decide who they want,through the ballot boxes,without bias.This is Buhari's stand.
When and if this is achieved,Nigeria will wake up from slumber and no more be refered to as the sleeping giant of Africa.
Finally,I call on true patriotic,progressive and proactive Nigerians to, as a matter of urgent NATIONAL DUTY and REBIRTH, support Muhammadu Buhari and forget ethnic and religious sentiments.
Consider antecedents,experience,leadership qualities,achievements,forthrightness,incorruptible personality,ability to clean the mess and rot in our system and most of all,choosing between the 'devil' and the deep blue sea.Nigeria will be great again to lead the African Continent into the next millenium and beyond.
I have read write -ups on Buhari by Tony Momoh,Duro Onabule,Prof. Tam David-West etc. and good commendations on him by Nuhu Ribadu,Kingsley Osadolor,Femi Falana and even Olusegun Obasanjo etc; none of those who parade themselves as politicians in this our democratic dispensation since 1999 has come out clean as Buhari.
Also, i have read some write-ups on Buhari by some journalists accusing him of being a dictator,fanatic, religious bigot and ethnic promoter etc,all without facts and evidence to convince me of such accusations.They are all sponsored write-ups just to discredit Buhari.
The political class brand him as a dictator and the Press amplify it to please their masters who amassed wealth ,stole and are still stealing the country blind.
It will be then proper and safe to refer to our former President Olusegun Obasanjo,our no.3 citizen David Mark the Senate President,Olagunsoye Oyinlola,Governor of Osun State,Murtala Nyako,Governor of Adamawa State,Tunde Akogun,majority leader in the House of Representatives and many others in the NASS, as dictators because of their military background and having participated in military coups and regimes in one appointment or the other in the past.
If the above named ex-military officers can benefit in the present democratic dispensation,which many of them,as we know,worked hard to truncate in the past,why should Buhari be singled out for branding as a dictator?Who therefore are those afraid of Buhari?
If there is a politician that has contributed more to our democratic process since joining politics in 2003, that politician is Buhari with the meticulous approach to presenting his cases at the election tribunals up to the Supreme Courts in 2003 and 2007 elections.
What else do Nigerians require therefore, to prove that Buhari is a true democrat?
For the first time in the history of Nigeria, Buhari/Idiagbon regime was a muslim/muslim pair.Nigerians did not complain and throughout the period of the regime,there was no religious riot,sponsored or otherwise. The country's observer status at O.I.C was not upgraded to full memebership status and there was no religious persecution of any sort.What therefore makes Buhari a religious bigot and fanatic?
I have always blamed a section of the Press for the negative publicity of Buhari because of their refusal to forgive him on decree4 and the jailing of Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson.The Press forgot conveniently that Buhari's regime was a military regime that came on a corrective mission and therefore,such situation as we found ourselves during the NPN 'moonslide'etc, required special handling as the political class then was worse than armed bandits.
In a military and corrective regime,the constitution is suspended and decrees promulgated and amended. When the regime took over,top and senior journalists from Newswactch magazine interviewed Buhari and when asked about the Press decree,he bluntly replied that he was going to 'tamper with it' and that was as honest as he could be and he is.The Press knew this and for Christ sake,it was a military regime! and subsequent regimes and democratic governments did same and worse.
The irony of it all is,if you will recall, when Nduka Irabor served as Press Officer to the CGS during the IBB regime and the sacking of Patrick Itioghe as NTA DG during the Oyakhilome/Madike issue. Nduka Irabor gave a verbal order to Itioghe through the telephone to announce the removal of Oyakhilome as DG of NDLEA and that is, after the government had expressed confidence on the NDLEA boss.When Itioghe demanded a written statement from Irabor,which he bluntly refused to give,Itioghe was removed as NTA DG unceremoniously!
Buhari is also accused of jailing politicians for being corrupt during the Shagari administration.Were the politicians not corrupt?Most of them are still around today and they form the main stakeholders of the ruling party - a party bent on leading the country on a path to destruction and implosion.
In 1984,during a Rotary Club(Kaduna/Kawo precisely)session,an officer from the American Embassy in Kaduna was invited to give a lecture on drug trafficking and attendant implication.He drew our attention to the fact that Nigeria was being used as a transit route to traffic drugs to Europe and America and that concerted efforts were being made by European and American governments to close and mark their borders against the inflow of drugs to these countries.The implication therefore will be that the traffic routes like Nigeria, will become dumping grounds for drugs and therefore the consequent usage of these drugs and the gradual destruction of our youths.See what has become of our youths and thier generation today!
Then the Buhari regime apprehended some young men for trafficking in drugs and sentenced them to death. Their godfathers,sponsors,barons and kingpins have not forgiven Buhari for that attempt to cleanse the country and save our youths.Most of them are the key players in our polity today.
Whereas in some civilised and democratic countries of the world today,drug traffic offenders face stiff penalties including death sentence.These countries have come out more sanitised than our country.
Buhari excelled as a brilliant,humble and incorruptible military officer and Head of State.Out of the four(4) or so Army Divisions,Buhari was GOC in at least three(3) of the Divisions.No other officer achieved that feat in his time.I stand corrected.Added to that, no one so far has accussed Buhari openly of ethnic victimisation in these Divisions.
Buhari has followership both in the military and civillian(oppressed) classes and he also has his faults like any human being,which is expected.
At this point in our country,we need a NATIONAL REBIRTH and we should be able to speak up, identify with the truth and identify the leadership qualities and antecedents we require of our leaders and chart a direction for this country instaed of the directionless leadership we have now,after eleven(11) years of 'democracy' by the ruling party.
It has always been my opinion that since 1999,we should still be transitting from military to civilian rule before full democracy.We needed to be disciplined,we needed to confront corruption head-on,we needed to check the military mentality of our politicians who are products of the military class and we needed a Buhari character to lead us through the transition.But then,we missed it in 2003 and 2007.Can we afford to miss is this time?The consequences will be unimaginable.
I thank you Simon Kolawole,for your incisive and truthful write-up and you have earned my respect for that.It is the type of write-ups we need and not double speak or flip-flopping.We have to tell ourselves,at this defining moment in our polity,the truth.We should get over sycophancy,political jobbing and condemnation of everyone without expressly endorsing a canditate based on performance and antecedents.
Let every Nigerian constitutionaly qualified to contest for the Presidency present himself/herself and let the people decide who they want,through the ballot boxes,without bias.This is Buhari's stand.
When and if this is achieved,Nigeria will wake up from slumber and no more be refered to as the sleeping giant of Africa.
Finally,I call on true patriotic,progressive and proactive Nigerians to, as a matter of urgent NATIONAL DUTY and REBIRTH, support Muhammadu Buhari and forget ethnic and religious sentiments.
Consider antecedents,experience,leadership qualities,achievements,forthrightness,incorruptible personality,ability to clean the mess and rot in our system and most of all,choosing between the 'devil' and the deep blue sea.Nigeria will be great again to lead the African Continent into the next millenium and beyond.
No comments:
Post a Comment