The Truth About Buhari's 20 Months Regime - Ope Banwo.

Dr. Ope Banwo watched the infamous AIT-aired documentary The Real Buhari and points out to a number of facts that the 55-minute-long feature may have gotten wrong in depicting the former military ruler of Nigeria who is today contesting for a presidential seat.
Much like the highlypublicized scandal regarding Buhari’s school certificates, the aforementioned broadcast has become a subject of scrutiny and harsh criticism for portraying Gen. Buhari (rtd.) in a mostly negative light.
Dr. Ope Banwo is a Nigerian attorney and a PhD holder in Law, a pastor, author of several books, and a business consultant. In his opinion article, entitled The BIG FAT LIES Of AIT In “The Real Buhari” Documentary EXPOSED! and published on the hardtalknaija.com website, Dr. Banwo admits that AIT is a privately-owned TV station and is, therefore, entitled “to advertise or air anything it wants”. However, he is quick to point out that “it should be a criminal act for a nationally-licensed TV station” to broadcast “falsehood against a contestant in the Nigerian elections” and “pull the wool over the eyes of unsuspecting Nigerians who trust his station to report the news to them daily.”
Dr. Banwo decided to watch the 55-minute documentary himself to do his own fact-checking. Below is the list of nine points that AIT got wrong on Muhammadu Buhari, as stated by Dr. Banwo.
The documentary claimed the Maitatsine riots started during Buhari regime: A simple online fact-check will reveal that the Maitatsine riots started in 1980, and the riots in which over 3,000 people died actually occurred from 1975 -1982, many years before Buhari came to power. In fact, Maitatsine was killed in one of the riots in 1980, though some of his adherents continued to inflict damage up to 1984.
Truth be told, unlike the lackluster campaign we have witnessed under Jonathan against the Boko Haram sect, the Maitatsine sect was actually crushed during the Buhari regime, and its leaders scattered to Cameroon, when Buhari sent an overwhelming military force to confront them in 1984. Again, this happened in my school activism days so I know what I am talking about. Also, the objective history books and websites still online support this history. Yet, AIT shamelessly tried to claim that religious riots started under Buhari.
The documentary claimed Buhari expelled Ghanians from Nigeria: Simply Google or ask any Ghanaian who was old enough at the time. It was President Shehu Shagari of NPN who first expelled over 1,000,000 Ghanaians in 1983 in the infamous ‘Ghana-Must-Go’ inicdent, as some sort of retaliation for what the Ghanaians did to Nigeria in 1969. This was before Buhari came to power. You can check the facts yourself from this 1983 story by New York Times.
The documentary claimed Gloria Okoh, the drug carrier, disappeared from justice under Buhari: We all know the Gloria Okon fake “death” and disappearance saga happened under Ibrahim Babanginda after he overthrew Buhari. In fact, the late Dele Giwa was rumored to have been bombed to eternity after Buhari had been overthrown, for being too nosy about what really happened. I remember very well how Gani Fawehinmi fought a gallant battle to bring the perpetrators to justice. Again, the person most people accused at the time was Ibrahim Babangida, who overthrew Buhari, and not Buhari himself.
The documentary claimed Fela identified Buhari in the $2.8billion oil money scandal in his song: Fela’s song about the missing money is still available everywhere. I have a copy of it and have listened to it again just in case I didn’t listen well before. Truth is, Fela never mentioned Buhari’s name. He only mentioned OBJ and Abola. Of course, the AIT people disingenuously edited that part of the tape out when they played Fela’s music in their documentary. This is definite proof they deliberately lied, otherwise why not let the song play to the point where names were mentioned?
Continue reading from the link
http://www.naij.com/377951-opinion-the-real-buhari-got-the-facts-wrong.html
The documentary claimed that Buhari had a nabd in the death of Fela’s mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti: Again, a simple fact check by my 6-year-old daughter would reveal that Fela’s mother died after Olusegun Obasanjo invaded the Kalakuta Republic of Fela in 1978. It was OBJ that ordered the house of his former Abeokuta Grammar schoolmate to be burnt down over his criticism of OBJ government. I remember that one very well because our house was a walking distance from Fela’s shrine then and we all rushed to witness the “unknown soldier” saga play out in living colors ,and I saw Fela’s mother actually being thrown out of the window from upstairs by soldiers loyal to OBJ. Fela even released a song about it well before Buhari even came power more than 6 years later in 1984.
The documentary claimed Buhari imprisoned innocent politicians: History shows that all politicians sentenced to prison by the 1984 Military Tribunal were found to either having enriched themselves with public funds, or diverted public funds. None of them were convicted. Even President Jonathan whom they were trying to help did not really say the politicians were innocent. He only said there should have been a difference between stealing and fraud! He said, someone someday stole “only N5m” and was given 15 years jail, or someone stole money that was not enough to buy a Volkswagen and was sentenced to life. A government thief is a thief, whether N1 or N100M. They were all tried, not by Buhari but by a properly constituted tribunal. In any case, how any sane person who was an adult in 1983, could argue that people like Umaru Dikko, Akinloye, Ambrose Alli and even Ekwueme were innocent is beyond me.
The documentary claimed that Buhari has been losing since 1999: Buhari’s first shot was in 2003. In 1999, it was Chief Olu Falae of ANPP/AD that contested against Obj. In any case, why does it matter if he contested so many times and lost? Many great leaders have lost countless elections before finally getting a chance. Even the Great Obafemi Awolowo and the Great Nnamdi Azikiwe also contested many times, too, without winning, but I don’t see AIT criticizing that!
The documentary criticized Buhari for his stewardship of PTF: Yet, the truth remains that he was vigorously investigated by the vengeful OBJ and nothing was found on him. Even OBJ recently confessed that the Fraud Investigation report did not find anything against Buhari. Still, that did not stop the lying journalists at AIT from claiming he was corrupt as the PTF leader though they could not show any proof.
The documentary claimed that Buhari owned and benefited from Afri-Projects Consortium scandals: While I definitely agree that the Afri-Project Consortium did a poor job with the enormous responsibilities it was given as consultants by the PTF, there is no shred of evidence to suggest that Buhari is one of its owners or that he personally benefited from their operations. It is a testament to the deception behind this hogwash documentary that the narrator kept saying “APC” in its presentation of Afri-Projects Consortium to somehow connect the company with APC on a mental level. What a shame.
The truth behind this big fat lie is that Afri-Projects Consortium Ltd is a registered company in Nigeria, and the AIT should have published their Form CO2 and CO7 to show us the real owners. Buhari has constantly challenged everyone to show proof of any ill-gotten wealth in his hands and nobody, including the AIT crew, has been able to do that. The man still lives in a modest house and remains the only former head of state without mansions in Abuja or elsewhere, and yet these idiots would want us to believe he stole billions of dollars.
“The fact that President Jonathan and his paid supporters are desperate to win at all costs is all too obvious, even to the blind,” Dr. Banwo writes. “It is really annoying that every time you ask Jonathan’s supporters to give you a lucid reason why Jonathan should be returned for another