Even though she is not a candidate in any of the elections holding this year, Senator Gbemisola Saraki is about the most keenly watched politicians in Kwara State at the moment.
By Emmanuel Aziken and Demola Akinyemi
SEnator Bukola Saraki, the new king on the bloc in Kwara State is reported to have done almost everything to appease his immediate younger sister for his action in passing over her to support Abdulfatah Ahmed for the governorship four years ago.
Visits, emissaries, childhood reminisces were said to have been of no effect in assuaging the hurt of Gbemisola who lost the 2011 governorship election to Ahmed upon the support thrown to the later by her brother.
Gbemisola Saraki
Gbemisola Saraki
When the opportunity opened for her to spite her brother a year ago, she wasted no time when the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP opened its doors to her after the brother left the party for the newly emerged All Progressives Congress, APC.
However, the elders in the PDP only took her in only to widen the gulf with her brother it apparently dawned on the former senator.
Gbemi and her brother Bukola and their late influential father, Olusola form a unique partnership in the country’s political firmament in being the only family to have produced three senators.
That image is, however, said to be the envy of many political stakeholders in Kwara who allege that they cannot serve father, brother and daughter.
So, when she returned to the party and Abuja sought a heavy weight politician in Kwara to serve as minister to counter the influence of Bukola, Gbemi was a top name that came for consideration, but the anti-Saraki feeling helped to ensure that she was eased out of consideration.
Gbemi it seemed took it in quietly and pushed forward the process of seeking the PDP’s governorship ticket. Again she lost out, but her associates and several other independent observers allege that the process was skewed.
Even more embarrassingly for her was the fact that Senator Simon Ajibola who emerged as the governorship candidate was one her supporters claim answered to Gbemi while they were all in the Senate together. Besides, insiders in the Gbemi camp alleged a systematic attack on her structures within the party. It was as such no surprise that throughout the presidential campaigns that Gbemi stayed away, a development that inevitably worried party chieftains.
Over time it again increasingly emerged that Gbemi was about to make a statement.
A signpost to her exit from the PDP came to the fore in mid February when she visited Ilorin and was received by a mammoth crowd who were conveyed in a long entourage of buses. Conspicuous in the convoy were beautiful posters of the radiant Gbemi noticeable by the absence of the logo of any political party.
It was not surprising that top party chieftains in the state immediately sought to woo her. Initially, she was given the slot of the deputy governor but taking it as an insult she reportedly immediately turned her back on it.
In apparent move to stave off her exit from the party the PDP state chairman, Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo and the secretary Barrister Abdurazaq Hassan in separate press statements pleaded with her to consider her efforts and investments in the party and reconsider her alleged plan to dump the party.
Gbemi tactically kept her distance from them and from the speculations about her political trajectory.
That was until the eve of the presidential and National Assembly election when she arrived Ilorin to a mammoth reception organised by her supporters.
From the airport, the convoy moved to the Saraki family home where she symbolically told her supporters to vote for the broom party.
An eye witness account disclosed that Gbemi told her supporters to take into consideration that the presidential election fell on the same day as the Environmental Sanitation Day. She was as such reported to have told them to sweep their environments thoroughly with their brooms.
Defection of women leader
Senator Saraki
Senator Saraki
“All of you know that tomorrow March 28 is the last Saturday of the month and also the day for the presidential elections, I urge you to sweep your environment very well with your brooms,” a source present at the occasion reported her as saying.
She was quoted as having directed her supporters to vote for the APC at all levels.
An indication to her imminent defection from the PDP was given by the defection of the women leader of the PDP in the state, Mrs. Nimota Suleiman penultimate Sunday. Mrs. Suleiman is a well-known associate of Gbemi.
Sources close to the former senator confided that, the national leadership of the APC may storm Ilorin, the state capital anytime soon to receive her into the APC fold.
The return of Gbemi to the fold would only harden the already difficult grounds in Kwara for the PDP. But for the Saraki family compound Gbemi’s return would only soften the grounds with tears of joy.
Monday, 6 April 2015
Buhari: "We Feared Jonathan Would Not Accept Defeat".
By Levinus Nwabughiogu
Up to the time Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was announcing the results of the March 28 presidential election on Wednesday, fear of uncertainty engulfed the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari (L) waves in Abuja on April 1, 2015. Nigeria's new president-elect Muhammadu Buhari hailed polls that will lead to the first democratic change of power in Africa's most populous nation as "historic" hours after he secured a decisive victory. AFP PHOTO
Buhari
However, it was not a fear occasioned by any conceivable loss of the election because with the result already trickling in the previous day, the camp knew the APC was coasting home to victory. But it was the uncertainty that President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, would reject the results and invoke a military intervention to stop Buhari from ascending to the presidency.
The otherwise, after all, smacked a big surprise to APC, Buhari and his campaign organization.
And for conceding defeat and subsequently calling to congratulate the president-elect even before the last result was officially announced, Jonathan did not only carve a niche for himself but also launched into the community of patriots and statesmen.
These were thoughts expressed by the Director, Media and Publicity Directorate of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organization, APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Shehu, who was central to the election of Buhari by way of information dissemination and management, said that the campaign was the fiercest he had ever witnessed since he debuted into partisan politics.
He said: “I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.
“Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced. This is the most life threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it.
“So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief.
“Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government.
“Look, everyone felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on Youtube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him.
“This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They had said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won.
“But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.”
Shehu assured that the president-elect would not avenge the attacks on his person by the allies of Jonathan, saying there was enough work to do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians than pursuing mundane things.
Excerpts from interview:
Your camp alleged hate campaign and messages from the other camp. How were you able to weather it?
The starting point is that the presidential candidate himself laid down the rule from day one. General Buhari said ‘don’t abuse anybody’. ‘Don’t beat or attack anybody because of this campaign’. He set the rule that we must not abuse or insult anyone. So, we were guided by that. But let me tell you this also without meaning to be boastful. Coming from some professional background, you know that the most important thing in a campaign is the message. Insult, abuses and throwing of muds don’t win elections anywhere. If those things win elections, they would have won it for President Jonathan because they threw everything at us. Look, let me tell you, we didn’t do one documentary that was negative on Jonathan. We isolated the issues.
We knew that the country is concerned about security, the economy and the effect of joblessness and corruption. And you know, the presidential candidate led the way. He said at every rally, people were attacking him for saying too little. He has a load of agenda for the country and he isolated them to be these three things. He called them the tripod of evil upon which every wrong doing in Nigeria rested whether it is Boko Haram, kidnapping, or anything you can think of. Because, if you have young people gainfully employed, corruption –
free country, economy that is thriving and doing well and people are living in a secure environment; who is that person who is going to create trouble? So, we had a message and the message was successfully taken to the people. If you ask me, was it easy staying on the message, I would say no, it wasn’t easy. Because all of these people; the party supporters, the low level masses don’t understand the game that played out. If they see Fani-Kayode on the television throwing insults at Buhari, your phone will begin to ring. ‘You, what are you doing? What are you doing? You are not answering this man. Why won’t you respond?’
The masses want you to respond in like manner. But we understood what was playing out. They wanted to take us off the message. They didn’t want us to talk about corruption or insecurity. So, we had to fight. As it I said, it was not easy for our supporters. Some of them did not understand us. They felt like we were conspirators inside. That we had come to undermine the campaign because here is somebody who is throwing insults, abuses and why are you not replying him? Mr. Kayode even declared when he took up the job that he would go after the personal life of General Buhari. And we maintained that we would not join issues with him and you can see that all efforts for us to stand side-by-side with him in a TV debate failed. I can’t stand with somebody whose stock in trade is to throw mud, insults and abuses on people. So, that’s how we managed it.
There were speculations that APC campaign also hired its own experts to sharpen its campaign messages. How do you respond?
Where is the US expert? You know this breed. If you have a US expert, where is he hiding? The man should make a contribution from morning to sundown. We didn’t have them. The Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, did not have any foreign specialist. If we had one with us, you would have seen him. But we had wished we had because, you know, some of them can bring value to your campaign. There are those who had had presidential campaigns in 40 countries. You need that kind of experience to help you. But then, we were here and we did all by ourselves.
But are you not surprised that most of the perceived hate speech campaigners turned around to congratulate your presidential candidate immediately he was declared the winner of the election?
No, I wasn’t surprised because if one says one is surprised, then one does not really know Nigerians. There will be bandwagon. People will ride on the bandwagon train. They would like it. And it tells you that the people who were doing all of that didn’t even believe in the kind of things that were going on. They were just led to it. Basically, they had gone there to fight and there was plenty of food and money for them, otherwise why was it that they couldn’t defend the positions? They couldn’t defend anything because they never believed in it. So, for us, we are very happy about it.
The other day, one security man was saying ‘Oga, NTA and AIT people were at the door, we must stop them with your permission’. I said no. If we do that, then we are not graceful. We have won this election, we must show grace. In any case, the president-elect has said that he will be president for all Nigerians. And I can assure you that it is the same way he said that President Jonathan will have nothing to fear. That speech has been closed as far as we are concerned. Those guys have done their own part and we still believe that a good number of them still have things to contribute positively to the new administration because this is their own country. They have no other country than this one.
The campaign was time consuming. Did that have any impact on your family life? How do you also describe your joy having won the election?
Obviously, it had impact because it took you away from them. But that was expected having being a journalist, an editor yourself. I know an editor, after seven years somewhere, he said that if he walked the street of his town, most people will not recognise him because he would have left home when everybody had gone to work. By the time he comes back, everybody would have slept off, even his children. So, most times, no time for socialising. So, having been editor and all of that, you are used to all that with your family. Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced.
This is the most life-threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it. So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief. Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt at every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government. I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And, in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.
Your party did say that the President’s action helped to douse any conceivable post-election crisis. Did you share that perspective?
Absolutely. Look, everyone had felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on Youtube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him. This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won. But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.
But people may say that those statements were mere politics, that there was a time to play politics and they did play politics irrespective of what was said. Don’t you see it as that?
Let me tell you that even politics has norms. There is a bottom line. It should be said of somebody that this person cannot go beyond a given point. This is the most horrible campaign anybody could have run. It wasn’t politics. It was enmity. We saw it. It was hatred. And that was why when we took our case to the ICC, they were very quick to understand the import of our petition.
Now that politics is over, would the president-elect embrace everyone or would there be some temptation to…?
No. Don’t even ask this question. There will be no temptation to go after anyone. There is no time for witch-hunt. He has said it. The enormity of the challenges ahead of him is such that he doesn’t need to spend one minute looking back to what has happened. There is enough to do looking forward. He has extended his hand of fellowship to all Nigerians and please take note of this: it includes Fani-Kayode, Governor Fayose, Chief Clark, Asari-Dokubo, all of them. Those outrageous people, he has extended his hands of fellowship. He will embrace them and they should be prepared to play their role in the reinvigoration of this country. That is my understanding of what he has said.
Now, assuming the election went the other way, would you have accepted it the way President Jonathan has done?
With the credibility all across, let me tell you one thing, APC, in accepting all of the results, I believe you will agree with me that we have blind-sided all of the outrageous things that happened. You know that in Imo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers States, no elections took place because two things happened: they sabotaged the card reader technology, insisted on the use of voters register for accreditation and that took the election back to the PDP’s manner of doing things. And that’s how those numbers came. It is incredible that all House of Reps seats, all senatorial seats in Rivers, they have been taken. They will go to court I believe and they will recover their seats. But you know that the card reader worked in the North, South-West and this is why elections were credible in those parts. In some parts of the South East, it did work. But in Imo State, it didn’t. But I am saying that, for us, we have chosen to show grace because by accepting those numbers from Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers, you could see that it only narrowed our margin. It didn’t stop us. So, what else do you want? You have won the elections fair and square. So, what do you want again? You know that kind of thing. Otherwise, there is a real case to be made with all of things that happened there. And it had a substantial effect on our margin. We knew we were going to win the election. It was clear between 65 to 75 percent.
How do you mean, “you knew you were going to win the election”, even before the election?
No, not before the election. Even from the numbers we got. Look, we had polling agents in the 150,000 polling units across the country except in the places where they were chased away. So, before INEC announced their results, we had our numbers upstairs. We had a situation room where we collected all the results and I am telling you that the accuracy with which we recorded our numbers was such that except in Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers and Imo states, every result that came here seemed to be confirming the results. As Professor Jega was reading the numbers, our people were saying “yes, yes, yes”. So, we didn’t get it wrong.
Some people also complained of a litany of underaged voters especially in the North.
No. If they have evidence, they should produce it. And how do you know if those were not historical pictures? Let me tell, the card reader technology worked in the North and South-West. It didn’t work in the South East and South-South.
But it didn’t dictate age?
Well, people had a responsibility. If anybody was voting with under aged children, everybody was represented by an agent. It is not like in Port Harcourt where some ex-militants came with guns and chased them away. They had representatives there. I don’t want to believe what you saw. I don’t believe it happened.
Unlike in the past contests, the love Nigerians showed to General Buhari this time around was unprecedented. Would you attribute that to the coming together of the legacy parties to form APC?
Yes, that is one of the factors. Of course, another one is also the fact that this country has been mismanaged by the PDP in the last 16 years and the environment was ripe for change. Let’s give it to Nigerians. Number three is the integrity factor of General Buhari. Nigerians, at this time, are looking for someone they could trust. So, it won it for him. Yes, the opposition parties have the majority than the ruling party. They came together with their number and won the election. I think it is an important lesson Nigerians have come to teach the rest of the world and African countries that atomization of the parties is unhelpful. This one gets five percent, that one gets 10 percent. But by the time you bring it together, you will see that you can defeat the ruling party and it has worked this time around.
Transition will soon take place. What do you think both the outgoing and incoming governments should do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians?
No. This should be made very clear. Even our supporters should know that this country must have only one President at a time. And between now and May 29, Dr. Jonathan remains the President of Nigeria and he calls the shots. So, don’t expect General Buhari or his team to interfere in any way, trying to influence this or that. No. One thing has been assured: Full cooperation to Mr. Jonathan by our team and also the fact that he would be given his full regards. We will respect him. So, whatever Buhari has by way of a plan, this must wait until May 29 and beyond.
There is speculation that General has said that as soon as he is sworn in, Boko Haram would be a thing of the past. How do you react?
We have just reported that General Buhari never said that. We have circulated all the speeches, the interviews he did on CNN, BBC, never did he say that. Yes, he did promise quickest end to Boko Haram, saying that we will show them the strength of the will of the people of this country. What is he saying? He is saying that some appreciable progress has been made by the outgoing administration. We will bring it to full completion and eradication as soon as we can. How can he promise two weeks or two months? He hasn’t even sat down with the army commanders. He hasn’t seen the number of troops we have, the weaponry available to the army. What more do they need? There must be calculations based on facts and he needs to get in there, receive the intelligence, the knowledge and information that is needed to make this decision
Up to the time Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, was announcing the results of the March 28 presidential election on Wednesday, fear of uncertainty engulfed the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari.
President-elect Muhammadu Buhari (L) waves in Abuja on April 1, 2015. Nigeria's new president-elect Muhammadu Buhari hailed polls that will lead to the first democratic change of power in Africa's most populous nation as "historic" hours after he secured a decisive victory. AFP PHOTO
Buhari
However, it was not a fear occasioned by any conceivable loss of the election because with the result already trickling in the previous day, the camp knew the APC was coasting home to victory. But it was the uncertainty that President Goodluck Jonathan, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, would reject the results and invoke a military intervention to stop Buhari from ascending to the presidency.
The otherwise, after all, smacked a big surprise to APC, Buhari and his campaign organization.
And for conceding defeat and subsequently calling to congratulate the president-elect even before the last result was officially announced, Jonathan did not only carve a niche for himself but also launched into the community of patriots and statesmen.
These were thoughts expressed by the Director, Media and Publicity Directorate of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organization, APCPCO, Mallam Garba Shehu, in Abuja.
Speaking with Sunday Vanguard, Shehu, who was central to the election of Buhari by way of information dissemination and management, said that the campaign was the fiercest he had ever witnessed since he debuted into partisan politics.
He said: “I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.
“Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced. This is the most life threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it.
“So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief.
“Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government.
“Look, everyone felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on Youtube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him.
“This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They had said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won.
“But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.”
Shehu assured that the president-elect would not avenge the attacks on his person by the allies of Jonathan, saying there was enough work to do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians than pursuing mundane things.
Excerpts from interview:
Your camp alleged hate campaign and messages from the other camp. How were you able to weather it?
The starting point is that the presidential candidate himself laid down the rule from day one. General Buhari said ‘don’t abuse anybody’. ‘Don’t beat or attack anybody because of this campaign’. He set the rule that we must not abuse or insult anyone. So, we were guided by that. But let me tell you this also without meaning to be boastful. Coming from some professional background, you know that the most important thing in a campaign is the message. Insult, abuses and throwing of muds don’t win elections anywhere. If those things win elections, they would have won it for President Jonathan because they threw everything at us. Look, let me tell you, we didn’t do one documentary that was negative on Jonathan. We isolated the issues.
We knew that the country is concerned about security, the economy and the effect of joblessness and corruption. And you know, the presidential candidate led the way. He said at every rally, people were attacking him for saying too little. He has a load of agenda for the country and he isolated them to be these three things. He called them the tripod of evil upon which every wrong doing in Nigeria rested whether it is Boko Haram, kidnapping, or anything you can think of. Because, if you have young people gainfully employed, corruption –
free country, economy that is thriving and doing well and people are living in a secure environment; who is that person who is going to create trouble? So, we had a message and the message was successfully taken to the people. If you ask me, was it easy staying on the message, I would say no, it wasn’t easy. Because all of these people; the party supporters, the low level masses don’t understand the game that played out. If they see Fani-Kayode on the television throwing insults at Buhari, your phone will begin to ring. ‘You, what are you doing? What are you doing? You are not answering this man. Why won’t you respond?’
The masses want you to respond in like manner. But we understood what was playing out. They wanted to take us off the message. They didn’t want us to talk about corruption or insecurity. So, we had to fight. As it I said, it was not easy for our supporters. Some of them did not understand us. They felt like we were conspirators inside. That we had come to undermine the campaign because here is somebody who is throwing insults, abuses and why are you not replying him? Mr. Kayode even declared when he took up the job that he would go after the personal life of General Buhari. And we maintained that we would not join issues with him and you can see that all efforts for us to stand side-by-side with him in a TV debate failed. I can’t stand with somebody whose stock in trade is to throw mud, insults and abuses on people. So, that’s how we managed it.
There were speculations that APC campaign also hired its own experts to sharpen its campaign messages. How do you respond?
Where is the US expert? You know this breed. If you have a US expert, where is he hiding? The man should make a contribution from morning to sundown. We didn’t have them. The Presidential Campaign Council, PCC, did not have any foreign specialist. If we had one with us, you would have seen him. But we had wished we had because, you know, some of them can bring value to your campaign. There are those who had had presidential campaigns in 40 countries. You need that kind of experience to help you. But then, we were here and we did all by ourselves.
But are you not surprised that most of the perceived hate speech campaigners turned around to congratulate your presidential candidate immediately he was declared the winner of the election?
No, I wasn’t surprised because if one says one is surprised, then one does not really know Nigerians. There will be bandwagon. People will ride on the bandwagon train. They would like it. And it tells you that the people who were doing all of that didn’t even believe in the kind of things that were going on. They were just led to it. Basically, they had gone there to fight and there was plenty of food and money for them, otherwise why was it that they couldn’t defend the positions? They couldn’t defend anything because they never believed in it. So, for us, we are very happy about it.
The other day, one security man was saying ‘Oga, NTA and AIT people were at the door, we must stop them with your permission’. I said no. If we do that, then we are not graceful. We have won this election, we must show grace. In any case, the president-elect has said that he will be president for all Nigerians. And I can assure you that it is the same way he said that President Jonathan will have nothing to fear. That speech has been closed as far as we are concerned. Those guys have done their own part and we still believe that a good number of them still have things to contribute positively to the new administration because this is their own country. They have no other country than this one.
The campaign was time consuming. Did that have any impact on your family life? How do you also describe your joy having won the election?
Obviously, it had impact because it took you away from them. But that was expected having being a journalist, an editor yourself. I know an editor, after seven years somewhere, he said that if he walked the street of his town, most people will not recognise him because he would have left home when everybody had gone to work. By the time he comes back, everybody would have slept off, even his children. So, most times, no time for socialising. So, having been editor and all of that, you are used to all that with your family. Look, I have been involved in presidential campaigns about three or four times in the past, the difference is that this is the most fearful campaign that I have ever experienced.
This is the most life-threatening campaign because we were dealing with opponents we thought would stop at nothing because they were throwing everything into it. So, we were not taking anything for granted. It affected our lives. Would you see me in a night club? You couldn’t risk it because you didn’t even know who was trailing you. And it came as a huge relief. Again, we were getting security reports from our own sources. Until the President said ‘I concede’ and congratulated Buhari, we felt at every minute that something wrong would happen. There was a clear and discernible threat to democracy as a system of government. I can say that the President acted with grace. He surprised us because we never expected that they would accept defeat. In fact, the sense everyone had was that they probably had plan A, B, C or D. And, in any case, with the kind of thing that Mr. Orubebe did at the collation center, you knew that even when the President had grace, given the chance with the community of people around him, they could have threatened this democracy.
Your party did say that the President’s action helped to douse any conceivable post-election crisis. Did you share that perspective?
Absolutely. Look, everyone had felt concerned because, what if, God forbid, he declared a coup? These scenarios had been laid before Nigerians. Mr. Okupe, the Special Adviser to the President, was he not on Youtube, recorded on video, saying that Buhari will never become President? What do you take that for? It means that Buhari would win and they will take it away from him. This careless talk, arrogant display of power, it had come from the Villa. Many sources with linkages to power: Asari-Dokubo, Chief E.K. Clark and all of them, were they not sounding words to the President? They said it that they would take away their part of the country from Nigeria if Buhari won. But for the President to have come and say ‘I accept accept defeat as the leader of the country’; that had an effect of really calming things down. And that’s why, whether they like it or not, President Jonathan has written his name in gold in so far as this is concerned.
But people may say that those statements were mere politics, that there was a time to play politics and they did play politics irrespective of what was said. Don’t you see it as that?
Let me tell you that even politics has norms. There is a bottom line. It should be said of somebody that this person cannot go beyond a given point. This is the most horrible campaign anybody could have run. It wasn’t politics. It was enmity. We saw it. It was hatred. And that was why when we took our case to the ICC, they were very quick to understand the import of our petition.
Now that politics is over, would the president-elect embrace everyone or would there be some temptation to…?
No. Don’t even ask this question. There will be no temptation to go after anyone. There is no time for witch-hunt. He has said it. The enormity of the challenges ahead of him is such that he doesn’t need to spend one minute looking back to what has happened. There is enough to do looking forward. He has extended his hand of fellowship to all Nigerians and please take note of this: it includes Fani-Kayode, Governor Fayose, Chief Clark, Asari-Dokubo, all of them. Those outrageous people, he has extended his hands of fellowship. He will embrace them and they should be prepared to play their role in the reinvigoration of this country. That is my understanding of what he has said.
Now, assuming the election went the other way, would you have accepted it the way President Jonathan has done?
With the credibility all across, let me tell you one thing, APC, in accepting all of the results, I believe you will agree with me that we have blind-sided all of the outrageous things that happened. You know that in Imo, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers States, no elections took place because two things happened: they sabotaged the card reader technology, insisted on the use of voters register for accreditation and that took the election back to the PDP’s manner of doing things. And that’s how those numbers came. It is incredible that all House of Reps seats, all senatorial seats in Rivers, they have been taken. They will go to court I believe and they will recover their seats. But you know that the card reader worked in the North, South-West and this is why elections were credible in those parts. In some parts of the South East, it did work. But in Imo State, it didn’t. But I am saying that, for us, we have chosen to show grace because by accepting those numbers from Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers, you could see that it only narrowed our margin. It didn’t stop us. So, what else do you want? You have won the elections fair and square. So, what do you want again? You know that kind of thing. Otherwise, there is a real case to be made with all of things that happened there. And it had a substantial effect on our margin. We knew we were going to win the election. It was clear between 65 to 75 percent.
How do you mean, “you knew you were going to win the election”, even before the election?
No, not before the election. Even from the numbers we got. Look, we had polling agents in the 150,000 polling units across the country except in the places where they were chased away. So, before INEC announced their results, we had our numbers upstairs. We had a situation room where we collected all the results and I am telling you that the accuracy with which we recorded our numbers was such that except in Akwa Ibom, Delta, Rivers and Imo states, every result that came here seemed to be confirming the results. As Professor Jega was reading the numbers, our people were saying “yes, yes, yes”. So, we didn’t get it wrong.
Some people also complained of a litany of underaged voters especially in the North.
No. If they have evidence, they should produce it. And how do you know if those were not historical pictures? Let me tell, the card reader technology worked in the North and South-West. It didn’t work in the South East and South-South.
But it didn’t dictate age?
Well, people had a responsibility. If anybody was voting with under aged children, everybody was represented by an agent. It is not like in Port Harcourt where some ex-militants came with guns and chased them away. They had representatives there. I don’t want to believe what you saw. I don’t believe it happened.
Unlike in the past contests, the love Nigerians showed to General Buhari this time around was unprecedented. Would you attribute that to the coming together of the legacy parties to form APC?
Yes, that is one of the factors. Of course, another one is also the fact that this country has been mismanaged by the PDP in the last 16 years and the environment was ripe for change. Let’s give it to Nigerians. Number three is the integrity factor of General Buhari. Nigerians, at this time, are looking for someone they could trust. So, it won it for him. Yes, the opposition parties have the majority than the ruling party. They came together with their number and won the election. I think it is an important lesson Nigerians have come to teach the rest of the world and African countries that atomization of the parties is unhelpful. This one gets five percent, that one gets 10 percent. But by the time you bring it together, you will see that you can defeat the ruling party and it has worked this time around.
Transition will soon take place. What do you think both the outgoing and incoming governments should do to meet the aspirations of Nigerians?
No. This should be made very clear. Even our supporters should know that this country must have only one President at a time. And between now and May 29, Dr. Jonathan remains the President of Nigeria and he calls the shots. So, don’t expect General Buhari or his team to interfere in any way, trying to influence this or that. No. One thing has been assured: Full cooperation to Mr. Jonathan by our team and also the fact that he would be given his full regards. We will respect him. So, whatever Buhari has by way of a plan, this must wait until May 29 and beyond.
There is speculation that General has said that as soon as he is sworn in, Boko Haram would be a thing of the past. How do you react?
We have just reported that General Buhari never said that. We have circulated all the speeches, the interviews he did on CNN, BBC, never did he say that. Yes, he did promise quickest end to Boko Haram, saying that we will show them the strength of the will of the people of this country. What is he saying? He is saying that some appreciable progress has been made by the outgoing administration. We will bring it to full completion and eradication as soon as we can. How can he promise two weeks or two months? He hasn’t even sat down with the army commanders. He hasn’t seen the number of troops we have, the weaponry available to the army. What more do they need? There must be calculations based on facts and he needs to get in there, receive the intelligence, the knowledge and information that is needed to make this decision
Sunday, 5 April 2015
How Ministers, Governors Sabotaged Jonathan.
catherine agbo, Chibuzo Ukaibe
President Goodluck Jonathan etched his name in gold in history books when he called president-elect, Gen Muhammadu Buhari (retd) on March 31, to congratulate him even before the result of the presidential election had been completely collated and the winner declared by the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC).
But while it would appear to all that President Jonathan has already moved on after conceding defeat, LEADERSHIP Sunday can authoritatively report that he is nursing the sting of betrayal by his close allies, which led to his loss at the polls.
According to reliable presidency sources, beyond the pain of losing out, he is disappointed that despite assurances from his cabinet members and other trusted political appointees as well as high ranking officials of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that they had vigorously campaigned and sold his achievements to the people and were sure from feelers they were receiving that he would be re-elected, it turned out that they had in fact, not campaigned for him as they made it seem.
The president, it was gathered is particularly peeved by the action of some governors of Northern and North-Central states where he suffered the worst defeat.
Of the 19 states in the north, the PDP, the president’s party only won the presidential election in Plateau, Nasarawa and Taraba.
LEADERSHIP Sunday gathered that the sum of N500million was given as campaign fund to each state but those who the funds were entrusted to, rather than use the money for the purpose it was meant, held on to it. The money was disbursed through PDP-led state governors and cabinet ministers or political appointees in opposition-led states.
In Ondo State for instance, LEADERSHIP gathered that the money was disbursed through one of the principal presidency officials from the state but as at night fall on the election eve, the official was yet to deliver the money to the state governor for the campaigns. The leadership of the PDP in the state, it was learnt, resorted to calling managers of banks in the state late in the night on the eve of the presidential election to ask for funds but could only get very little, by which time there wasn’t enough time to reach out to a large number of electorate in the state.
A similar scenario reportedly played out in Oyo State where a minister from the state who was entrusted with the campaign funds allegedly held onto the money. In Kogi State where the PDP also lost out in the presidential election, LEADERSHIP sources said money for the election was also diverted to other uses such as payment of debts, hence the abysmal result the party got in the state.
The abysmal performance of the party in Benue, Bauchi and Kano states, where the PDP has two governors, a Senate president, national chairman of the party and three cabinet ministers, Gabriel Suswam, Isa Yuguda, David Mark, Adamu Muazu, Bala Mohammed, Ibrahim Shekarau and Aminu Wali, respectively, but could not garner votes for the president, was also said to have drawn his ire.
Our source said the president despite having received security reports that a high ranking official of the party was allegedly covertly working for the opposition was particularly annoyed that he had trusted the said official and waved the reports.
Sources in Kaduna State where the vice president, Namadi Sambo hails from and where there is a PDP government in charge, also informed LEADERSHIP Sunday that in one of the local governments in Southern Kaduna, only N100,000 was allotted to two polling units in one of the wards with a voting population of over 1,000 people in sharp contrast with the situation in some local governments in Edo State, where eligible voters with Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) were given N2000 each to vote for the party, hence the success recorded.
Recall that few days before the election, LEADERSHIP Sunday’s sister publication, LEADERSHIP, had exclusively reported that allegations of embezzlement and diversion of campaign funds were rife in the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation (PDPPCO).
According to the report, coordinators of some of President Jonathan’s campaign groups as well as state and zonal coordinators were taking steps to ensure that they did not lose out completely, in the event that he does not win. LEADERSHIP’s investigations in Abuja revealed that the coordinators, rather than use the money for campaigns, had been scouting the Abuja property market with dollars, acquiring choice property. The campaigners, it was gathered, rather than use the money for the purpose it is meant, have resorted to investing the money in property, so that in the event that their candidate does not emerge, they would have something to fall back on.
Real estate agents privy to the development told LEADERSHIP Sunday that since the campaigns began and particularly after the postponement of the elections, there had been an upswing in the number of persons looking to buy property and most of them who usually pay in dollars had been linked to the campaign.
Recall also that about two weeks before the presidential and National Assembly election, there was a free-for-all among some PDP officials in Ogun State, following the failure of those entrusted with the money to release same to campaign coordinators across the state. It was gathered that the campaign coordinators suspected foul play when the money which was to be shared among 708 of them was not, over claims that it was yet to be paid into a certain designated bank account.
Similarly, another report had it that a former governor deeply involved in President Jonathan’s re-election campaign had rather than use money given to him for campaign, deposited it in a bank for it to yield interest and possibly remain there till after the election, after which it will be forgotten and he would convert it to personal use.
Sources within the president’s campaign organisation, said such funds were being used by those they were entrusted with as they pleased and that the situation had compelled the president to personally take charge of his campaign especially in the Northern and South-Western parts of the country.
At the time of the report, a high ranking member of the campaign organisation had confirmed to LEADERSHIP that the headquarters of the campaign organisation was in the know of the development.
“State coordinators are responsible for mobilising and organising campaign rallies in their respective states while zonal coordinators do same for zonal campaigns and when people from the headquarters attend such rallies, they take note of the lapses in planning for further action. The money for such organisation and mobilisation is disbursed by the PDPPCO.
“It has come to the knowledge of the campaign organisation that some coordinators have been telling party members that the money given to them is not sufficient to do what they expect of them but this is not true. They have been given adequate funds. However, the matter cannot be handled now till after the election when the coordinators would be required to retire their spending. The focus right now is on the election,” he said.
It was further gathered that while collation of results was on-going on March 31, after the result of Delta State was presented and it became imminent that Jonathan had lost out, as results from Sokoto, Borno and Yobe were still being expected, some allies of Jonathan met him at the Presidential Villa, where they reportedly prevailed on him to stop further collation and announcement of the results.
While the desperadoes were trying frantically to make Jonathan see reason why he should not accept the outcome of the poll, people on the other divide, led by former head of state, Gen Abdulsalam Abubakar, who were for peace urged Jonathan not to allow the moment of making history slip by.
The president eventually, the source said, rebuffed them saying after failing to convince people to vote for him, they were now suggesting ideas that would set the country on fire.
Following the president’s refusal to play ball, his allies who by now had realised that they would also lose out if he is not re-elected, immediately reached out to the party’s representatives at the collation centre, Dr. Bello Fadile, who is also a director in the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) and former minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Elder Godsday Orubebe, following which Orubebe disrupted collation of results for several minutes, citing INEC’s refusal to attend to a protest by the PDP over results from some Northern states whereas the commission had set up a committee to investigate allegations against the party in Rivers State.
Jonathan, our sources said, called and ordered Orubebe to desist from further disrupting the collation process, failing which he would be whisked out by security operatives, which explains why Orubebe who had earlier rebuffed all entreaties to retreat from the podium, suddenly went back to his seat and remained calm for the rest of the exercise.
The source said that following the development, the president had directed that certain members of the party including governors of some Northern states should not be allowed access to him for now, “and that is why it was only governors of South-East and South-West states that paid him a visit on Monday. The only Northern Governor on the entourage was the Plateau governor. The party won in his state.”
Meanwhile, governors, states chairmen and governorship candidates of the party have been strategising on how to win the governorship and state assembly elections this Saturday. They met at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja, on Friday.
Mu’azu Blames Loss On Voter Apathy
The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday blamed President Jonathan’s loss in last Saturday’s presidential election on voter apathy.
Mu’azu however charged all PDP gubernatorial candidates in the April 11 polls to guard against the bandwagon effect that could arise from the presidential election.
Mu’azu, in a statement signed by his media aide, Tony Amadi, said, expressed hope that the governorship election will certainly provide the PDP a soft-landing after conceding the presidency to the All Progressives Congress in the presidential election and urged the PDP faithful to pick up the pieces and ensure that they return quickly to the party’s old winning ways.
“There should be no room for voter apathy that was a major factor to our losing the presidential election. While our opponents were savouring their famous victory, we should out flank them and corner at least two thirds of the states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is not an impossible target if we return to our elements with immediate effect. We have done it before and we can do it again. Nothing will be sweeter than PDP taking Lagos, our own Rivers State and Imo. Our candidates in these states are first class material who have fully penetrated the political structures of those states and are set to win.
“Our target in this remaining election should be to retain our present states and then sink our teeth into the heart of our political opponents and show that their presidential victory is nothing more than a one-off that won’t be repeated in a long while,” he noted.
Muazu, in the statement, recalled that earlier in the week, he had reminded gubernatorial candidates of the party at Wadata House that one thing that won’t happen in the gubernatorial race is “the so called bandwagon effect. The reason is simple. Our party is used to bouncing back whenever we experience a setback.
“The PDP in the past 16 years of democracy has maintained fair play consistently, this much the APC admitted in their response to President Jonathan’s speech conceding to President-elect General Muhammdu Buhari.”
He emphasised that the key to winning the remaining election was heavy turnout and voting the PDP all the way.
“There should be no tactical voting. Be consistent in your support for the party. What we experienced in the presidential election is merely a hiccup which we must cast out in the gubernatorial polls. All PDP supporters must remember their pedigree, our track record and history of the party and the source of our electoral feats of the last 16 years. We are the reason that democracy has taken root in Nigeria since 1999. This is something every member of our great party should be very proud of.
“We have only lost a battle but the war to bring our country to the highest level of democratic governance is still to be won or lost. Our governorship candidates should go out and finish the good fight and come up trumps in the remaining gubernatorial and houses of assembly election on 11th April. We remain the winning party and by God’s special grace, we shall win again and again.”
THANK YOU, PROFESSOR ATTAHIRU JEGA.
PENDULUM BY DELE MOMODU, Email: dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com
“Most of us give up too early.
Failure is an absolute essential
In life.”
-Bryce Courtenay
“Risk it, go for it. Life always gives you another chance,
another go at. It’s very important to take
enormous risks.”
-Mary Quant
Fellow Nigerians, please permit me to congratulate us all on the success of the March 28 elections in our dear beloved country. But kindly allow me to single out one man, Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC, for his exceptional performance. My darling wife has asked me to focus special attention on this perfect gentleman for doing such a thankless job almost perfectly. In Attahiru Jega we found the hope of a New Nigeria. Everything we are celebrating today would have evaporated and disappeared into thin air but for the kamikaze daringness of Jega and his glorious team.
Let me spend a little more time on Jega. His achievement is not too surprising to those who knew his antecedents as a world class scholar and social activist. I remember when his name was announced as INEC Chairman by President Goodluck Jonathan on June 8, 2010. It came as a shock to many of us who had followed his trajectory as an upright and incorruptible man, in particular, during his headship of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, under the Babangida military junta. He was a vociferous and irrepressible critic of the Babangida administration. He was seen at the time as a Leftist with very close affinity to the Nigeria Labour Congress.
I had received the news of his appointment in Accra, Ghana, where I was hosting one of Jega’s colleagues and comrades, Dr Abubakar Momoh. We were both elated that Nigeria had reached the stage where credibility was beginning to count. Dr Momoh had assured me that Jega was going to deliver contrary to the tradition of most radicals turning coat on attaining powerful positions. On a personal observation, my main worry was how Jega was going to be able to change the mind-set of those under him who may be tempted by our politicians to capitulate when it matters most. I’ve been watching Jega ever since.
Jega started his job slowly but steadily. He took his time in warming up to the delicate and precarious assignment. The 2011 elections were not perfect but acceptable. He must have learnt some useful lessons from it and reasoned that the only way to deal with and obliterate the artful dodgers from our political landscape was to employ the new vista offered by technology. The resultant effect of that revelation was the birth of Permanent Voters’ Cards and the Card-readers! Those who thought they could rig themselves permanently into power couldn’t imagine what hit them like thunderbolt. By the time they understood the gravity of what was coming at them, they kicked vehemently against the introduction of this efficacious machinery and sought a return to our pre-historic ways of conducting elections. Everything was done to frustrate Jega, including resorting to vengeful attacks but the man remained stoic in his fervent disposition like a Tibetan Monk. But if he thought he had succeeded in achieving his aim, he was in for a crude shock.
On March 28, Jega’s enemies succeeded in frustrating and destabilising his lofty ideals. By whatever magic or esoteric design, the President of Nigeria and his wife presented the world a pitiable spectacle as they approached an electoral officer to cast their votes in the presence of global media. The world came to standstill as the card-reader failed abysmally to accredit the First couple. It was such an embarrassment of tragic proportion. For about 30 agonising minutes, the INEC officials sweated profusely while battling with the fiendish machine. And the rumours began to fly like space-shuttles across the orbit. Many were convinced that someone had used a jammer to block the machines from performing its duty. In fact, I was feverish on behalf of Jega. How can this controversial machine fail so miserably at such a crucial moment?
I wondered what Jega was going to do to salvage this chaotic situation. We saw the President talking by phone and in a conversation with Jega in what lasted lasted a few minutes. In panic or frustration or both, Jega succumbed and caved in to the use of manual registration for President and Mrs Goodluck Jonathan. That was the carte blanche always wanted and now freely given to potential trouble-makers to annihilate what had started as a beautiful exercise with the prompt and blistering accreditation of General and Mrs Muhammadu Buhari. At that stage, the fate of Nigeria was hanging in the balance. The election went ahead anyhow but not as competently scheduled. Allegations flew right, left and centre about manipulations here and there. We all panicked about the possible derailment of our closest range to having a positive change in our strange polity since June 12, 1993. But we managed to pull through somehow.
While on the final laps, we noticed several lapses. The election results were trickling in snail-like as we waited in suspended animation. Nigerians, and indeed the world, were help spellbound as we stayed glued to our televisions and live-streams via internet links. The suspense reached a crescendo when Jega suspended the announcement and postponed it to the next day. Many people became so paranoid. I was scared stiff wondering if we were not going to have a sorrowful repeat of the 1993 elections when Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the then INEC Chairman, was arbitrarily stopped from releasing the full official results. That was my worst imaginable nightmare.
I assumed the worst was over when Jega and his many Professors resumed their tedious work the following morning until Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe came in to pour petrol into the fire in a most childish manner. I’ve never been so on edge in my life as I watched the show of shame live on television. Thank God for the uncanny maturity and remarkable sagacity of Jega, that act of indiscretion could have caused Nigeria a most outlandish conflagration. After the old man calmed down, I knew God was truly in control and expected that the next thing would be how to get President Jonathan and by extension PDP to accept the results and apparent defeat in good faith. I was privy to some high level information about pressure from local and international forces trying to persuade our overwhelmed President to accept his fate with equanimity and convince his acolytes also to do the needful. I shall return to this shortly.
Thus my special tribute goes to Professor Jega who seemed to have been specially sent to this world for the sole purpose of breaking the jinx of useless elections in Nigeria. Born in Jega, Kebbi State, on January 11, 1957, Attahiru attended Sabon Gari Town Primary School, Jega, from 1963 to 1969, before leaving for Government Secondary School, Birnin Kebbi and later enrolled at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria’s Bayero College, Kano in 1974. He bagged a BSc degree (Second Class Upper Division) in Political Science and lectured briefly before winning a Fellowship that teleported him to Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America, from 1981-84, where he awarded a PhD in Political Science. He came back home to continue his teaching appointment at Bayero University.
I can now move on to celebrate other key actors in the whole saga. I must acknowledge the patriotism of President Jonathan in several ways. First, for appointing the right man for the job, Professor Attahiru Jega. Second, for allowing him some free hand in doing his job. Three, for staying calm when it seemed Murphy’s Law was at play as everything that could go wrong started going awry and berserk. Fourth, for conceding defeat when it was most crucially necessary. That was probably the most difficult decision ever taken by the President but, trust me, that’s the wisest and most profitable as well. In endless epistles, I had forewarned the President that he was being scammed by those comparing him to Mandela, Lee Kuan Yew and Jesus Christ. I’m not sure if he ever had the chance to read any of those open letters I wrote most passionately and in good faith. Week after week, I was thoroughly insulted and washed down by the many busy-bodies that appointed themselves as Jonathan defenders on cyberspace.
I will pick my favourite contributors in no particular order. Top on my list is the one and only Baba Iyabo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ostensibly got us into the Jonathan quagmire. According to impeccable sources, General Obasanjo was so traumatised by the Jonathan debacle that he had to beg God to give him the opportunity to exterminate the pestilence he brought upon Nigeria. God obviously answered his prayers as Jonathan fumbled and wobbled from one crisis to another which made reconciliation practically impossible with his erstwhile benefactor. General Obasanjo rallied many of the retired Generals like Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Theophilus Danjuma on the need to exorcise the PDP demons from our political landscape. It was surprising to see how Baba buried his personal differences with old foes like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, in order for APC to germinate and grow into the hydra-headed party that tormented and bullied PDP into submission. It was a classic case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend and it paid off handsomely.
It did not end there. Foreign governments were enjoined to help Nigeria avert the monumental tragedy that was heading dangerously towards us at the speed of light. Special thanks must definitely go to the US government for its total commitment to the enthronement of true democracy in Africa’s most populous nation. Just imagine that the American Secretary of State, John Kerry, flew physically to Nigeria to meet both President Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari. The American Vice President, Joe Biden soon followed up with direct phone calls to the two leading candidates. The climax was the unprecedented broadcast to Nigerians by President Barack Obama which left no one in doubt of America’s special commitment despite its frosty and endangered relationship with Abuja.
One cannot underrate the powerful intervention of the European Union, United Kingdom, The African Union, ECOWAS, Dr Kofi Annan, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, His Eminence The Sultan of Sokoto, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, and so many others who intervened and worked frenetically for peace. The churches prayed and fasted. So many young stars on social media seriously canvassed for peaceful elections. The determination to achieve peace was hugely massive.
The youths of Nigeria demonstrated their seriousness about the Change Project in Nigeria despite being let down by some of their hustling celebrities and role-models who tried everything to kill the dream. I always wondered when some of our friends would use their powerful influence to bring about change in our country. I had learnt so much from the Oprahs and JayZs who went all out to support and actualise the Obama phenomenon in America. I hope our superstars have now gained new insights into how to help a nation desperately in need of rescue. It was not possible for President Jonathan to turn all of them into billionaires anyway. The problem is the unfortunate belief that only governments can make us rich. This has to change.
I doff my hat to the leading opposition party APC for a job well done. Many had expected the party to collapse even in its embryo and when that did not happen the enemies thought it would after the Primaries. It was one of those modern day miracles that the party did not disintegrate as predicted by doomsday prophets. My utmost respect goes to all those who bonded against all odds to prove the cynics wrong. The choice of General Buhari was a masterstroke that sent PDP into unrecoverable state of stupor. General Buhari’s amazing tenacity would be a case study for doctoral students and researchers in the near future. His abiding faith in his ability to bring Nigeria back from the precipice of destruction will inspire many generations to come. Also, his wisdom in picking the erudite scholar, accomplished legal luminary, a man of God and Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s son-in-law, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, sealed the deal.
I must congratulate all the candidates who contested. It is not always about winning, I know that the participation is always the beginning of a long journey in the wilderness of politics. General Buhari had been taunted over the years as a failure but we can all see how God has lifted him up. The pride he has restored to Nigeria through his winning this election is immeasurable. And it serves a didactic purpose to all of us. Our security forces, election monitors and others did their best. The youth corpers really put their lives on the line. May God bless them all.
I have been instructed by my young bosses on social media to tell our President-elect that the new generation is now in charge and their expectations must be met by fire by force. This is an impatient and angry group that won’t listen to excuses. They are not interested in the politics of power but the power of politics to assemble our best materials in order to deliver excellent performance. They are not willing to sit by idly only for the usual enemies of Nigeria to crawl back through the rear door. As such the government is expected to hit the ground running from day one.
There is so much to write but space and time won’t permit me. I will thank myself like the lizard that fell from the iroko tree for putting everything at risk at a time it seemed very foolish to do so. I actually feel like I won the election and not Buhari. Even those who opposed him are now rejoicing with us.
Such is the sweetness of victory.
“Most of us give up too early.
Failure is an absolute essential
In life.”
-Bryce Courtenay
“Risk it, go for it. Life always gives you another chance,
another go at. It’s very important to take
enormous risks.”
-Mary Quant
Fellow Nigerians, please permit me to congratulate us all on the success of the March 28 elections in our dear beloved country. But kindly allow me to single out one man, Professor Attahiru Jega, Chairman of INEC, for his exceptional performance. My darling wife has asked me to focus special attention on this perfect gentleman for doing such a thankless job almost perfectly. In Attahiru Jega we found the hope of a New Nigeria. Everything we are celebrating today would have evaporated and disappeared into thin air but for the kamikaze daringness of Jega and his glorious team.
Let me spend a little more time on Jega. His achievement is not too surprising to those who knew his antecedents as a world class scholar and social activist. I remember when his name was announced as INEC Chairman by President Goodluck Jonathan on June 8, 2010. It came as a shock to many of us who had followed his trajectory as an upright and incorruptible man, in particular, during his headship of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, under the Babangida military junta. He was a vociferous and irrepressible critic of the Babangida administration. He was seen at the time as a Leftist with very close affinity to the Nigeria Labour Congress.
I had received the news of his appointment in Accra, Ghana, where I was hosting one of Jega’s colleagues and comrades, Dr Abubakar Momoh. We were both elated that Nigeria had reached the stage where credibility was beginning to count. Dr Momoh had assured me that Jega was going to deliver contrary to the tradition of most radicals turning coat on attaining powerful positions. On a personal observation, my main worry was how Jega was going to be able to change the mind-set of those under him who may be tempted by our politicians to capitulate when it matters most. I’ve been watching Jega ever since.
Jega started his job slowly but steadily. He took his time in warming up to the delicate and precarious assignment. The 2011 elections were not perfect but acceptable. He must have learnt some useful lessons from it and reasoned that the only way to deal with and obliterate the artful dodgers from our political landscape was to employ the new vista offered by technology. The resultant effect of that revelation was the birth of Permanent Voters’ Cards and the Card-readers! Those who thought they could rig themselves permanently into power couldn’t imagine what hit them like thunderbolt. By the time they understood the gravity of what was coming at them, they kicked vehemently against the introduction of this efficacious machinery and sought a return to our pre-historic ways of conducting elections. Everything was done to frustrate Jega, including resorting to vengeful attacks but the man remained stoic in his fervent disposition like a Tibetan Monk. But if he thought he had succeeded in achieving his aim, he was in for a crude shock.
On March 28, Jega’s enemies succeeded in frustrating and destabilising his lofty ideals. By whatever magic or esoteric design, the President of Nigeria and his wife presented the world a pitiable spectacle as they approached an electoral officer to cast their votes in the presence of global media. The world came to standstill as the card-reader failed abysmally to accredit the First couple. It was such an embarrassment of tragic proportion. For about 30 agonising minutes, the INEC officials sweated profusely while battling with the fiendish machine. And the rumours began to fly like space-shuttles across the orbit. Many were convinced that someone had used a jammer to block the machines from performing its duty. In fact, I was feverish on behalf of Jega. How can this controversial machine fail so miserably at such a crucial moment?
I wondered what Jega was going to do to salvage this chaotic situation. We saw the President talking by phone and in a conversation with Jega in what lasted lasted a few minutes. In panic or frustration or both, Jega succumbed and caved in to the use of manual registration for President and Mrs Goodluck Jonathan. That was the carte blanche always wanted and now freely given to potential trouble-makers to annihilate what had started as a beautiful exercise with the prompt and blistering accreditation of General and Mrs Muhammadu Buhari. At that stage, the fate of Nigeria was hanging in the balance. The election went ahead anyhow but not as competently scheduled. Allegations flew right, left and centre about manipulations here and there. We all panicked about the possible derailment of our closest range to having a positive change in our strange polity since June 12, 1993. But we managed to pull through somehow.
While on the final laps, we noticed several lapses. The election results were trickling in snail-like as we waited in suspended animation. Nigerians, and indeed the world, were help spellbound as we stayed glued to our televisions and live-streams via internet links. The suspense reached a crescendo when Jega suspended the announcement and postponed it to the next day. Many people became so paranoid. I was scared stiff wondering if we were not going to have a sorrowful repeat of the 1993 elections when Professor Humphrey Nwosu, the then INEC Chairman, was arbitrarily stopped from releasing the full official results. That was my worst imaginable nightmare.
I assumed the worst was over when Jega and his many Professors resumed their tedious work the following morning until Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe came in to pour petrol into the fire in a most childish manner. I’ve never been so on edge in my life as I watched the show of shame live on television. Thank God for the uncanny maturity and remarkable sagacity of Jega, that act of indiscretion could have caused Nigeria a most outlandish conflagration. After the old man calmed down, I knew God was truly in control and expected that the next thing would be how to get President Jonathan and by extension PDP to accept the results and apparent defeat in good faith. I was privy to some high level information about pressure from local and international forces trying to persuade our overwhelmed President to accept his fate with equanimity and convince his acolytes also to do the needful. I shall return to this shortly.
Thus my special tribute goes to Professor Jega who seemed to have been specially sent to this world for the sole purpose of breaking the jinx of useless elections in Nigeria. Born in Jega, Kebbi State, on January 11, 1957, Attahiru attended Sabon Gari Town Primary School, Jega, from 1963 to 1969, before leaving for Government Secondary School, Birnin Kebbi and later enrolled at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria’s Bayero College, Kano in 1974. He bagged a BSc degree (Second Class Upper Division) in Political Science and lectured briefly before winning a Fellowship that teleported him to Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, United States of America, from 1981-84, where he awarded a PhD in Political Science. He came back home to continue his teaching appointment at Bayero University.
I can now move on to celebrate other key actors in the whole saga. I must acknowledge the patriotism of President Jonathan in several ways. First, for appointing the right man for the job, Professor Attahiru Jega. Second, for allowing him some free hand in doing his job. Three, for staying calm when it seemed Murphy’s Law was at play as everything that could go wrong started going awry and berserk. Fourth, for conceding defeat when it was most crucially necessary. That was probably the most difficult decision ever taken by the President but, trust me, that’s the wisest and most profitable as well. In endless epistles, I had forewarned the President that he was being scammed by those comparing him to Mandela, Lee Kuan Yew and Jesus Christ. I’m not sure if he ever had the chance to read any of those open letters I wrote most passionately and in good faith. Week after week, I was thoroughly insulted and washed down by the many busy-bodies that appointed themselves as Jonathan defenders on cyberspace.
I will pick my favourite contributors in no particular order. Top on my list is the one and only Baba Iyabo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ostensibly got us into the Jonathan quagmire. According to impeccable sources, General Obasanjo was so traumatised by the Jonathan debacle that he had to beg God to give him the opportunity to exterminate the pestilence he brought upon Nigeria. God obviously answered his prayers as Jonathan fumbled and wobbled from one crisis to another which made reconciliation practically impossible with his erstwhile benefactor. General Obasanjo rallied many of the retired Generals like Ibrahim Babangida, Abdulsalami Abubakar, Theophilus Danjuma on the need to exorcise the PDP demons from our political landscape. It was surprising to see how Baba buried his personal differences with old foes like Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, in order for APC to germinate and grow into the hydra-headed party that tormented and bullied PDP into submission. It was a classic case of the enemy of my enemy is my friend and it paid off handsomely.
It did not end there. Foreign governments were enjoined to help Nigeria avert the monumental tragedy that was heading dangerously towards us at the speed of light. Special thanks must definitely go to the US government for its total commitment to the enthronement of true democracy in Africa’s most populous nation. Just imagine that the American Secretary of State, John Kerry, flew physically to Nigeria to meet both President Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari. The American Vice President, Joe Biden soon followed up with direct phone calls to the two leading candidates. The climax was the unprecedented broadcast to Nigerians by President Barack Obama which left no one in doubt of America’s special commitment despite its frosty and endangered relationship with Abuja.
One cannot underrate the powerful intervention of the European Union, United Kingdom, The African Union, ECOWAS, Dr Kofi Annan, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana, His Eminence The Sultan of Sokoto, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, and so many others who intervened and worked frenetically for peace. The churches prayed and fasted. So many young stars on social media seriously canvassed for peaceful elections. The determination to achieve peace was hugely massive.
The youths of Nigeria demonstrated their seriousness about the Change Project in Nigeria despite being let down by some of their hustling celebrities and role-models who tried everything to kill the dream. I always wondered when some of our friends would use their powerful influence to bring about change in our country. I had learnt so much from the Oprahs and JayZs who went all out to support and actualise the Obama phenomenon in America. I hope our superstars have now gained new insights into how to help a nation desperately in need of rescue. It was not possible for President Jonathan to turn all of them into billionaires anyway. The problem is the unfortunate belief that only governments can make us rich. This has to change.
I doff my hat to the leading opposition party APC for a job well done. Many had expected the party to collapse even in its embryo and when that did not happen the enemies thought it would after the Primaries. It was one of those modern day miracles that the party did not disintegrate as predicted by doomsday prophets. My utmost respect goes to all those who bonded against all odds to prove the cynics wrong. The choice of General Buhari was a masterstroke that sent PDP into unrecoverable state of stupor. General Buhari’s amazing tenacity would be a case study for doctoral students and researchers in the near future. His abiding faith in his ability to bring Nigeria back from the precipice of destruction will inspire many generations to come. Also, his wisdom in picking the erudite scholar, accomplished legal luminary, a man of God and Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s son-in-law, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, sealed the deal.
I must congratulate all the candidates who contested. It is not always about winning, I know that the participation is always the beginning of a long journey in the wilderness of politics. General Buhari had been taunted over the years as a failure but we can all see how God has lifted him up. The pride he has restored to Nigeria through his winning this election is immeasurable. And it serves a didactic purpose to all of us. Our security forces, election monitors and others did their best. The youth corpers really put their lives on the line. May God bless them all.
I have been instructed by my young bosses on social media to tell our President-elect that the new generation is now in charge and their expectations must be met by fire by force. This is an impatient and angry group that won’t listen to excuses. They are not interested in the politics of power but the power of politics to assemble our best materials in order to deliver excellent performance. They are not willing to sit by idly only for the usual enemies of Nigeria to crawl back through the rear door. As such the government is expected to hit the ground running from day one.
There is so much to write but space and time won’t permit me. I will thank myself like the lizard that fell from the iroko tree for putting everything at risk at a time it seemed very foolish to do so. I actually feel like I won the election and not Buhari. Even those who opposed him are now rejoicing with us.
Such is the sweetness of victory.
How World Powers Plotted Jonathan's Defeat.
President Goodluck Jonathan lost his re-election bid several weeks before the March 28 poll to a web of plots hatched at home and honed abroad, according to the Tribune.
The Tribune said that last-minute contest between forces that wanted him to bow out and those that wanted him to hold out for as long as necessary even when it was evident that the news from the field pointed at a possible defeat.
It was learnt that as of 5.00 p.m. on Tuesday, hawks around the president were still at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, piling pressure on him not to concede defeat.
Those working on him to concede and bow out, reportedly led by a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, were also said to have stayed put in the same Presidential Villa, persuading him that it was the most honourable way to go since it was clear that figures from the field were not in his favour.
The drama in the Presidential Villa was also said to be closely monitored by combined international forces that had concluded on post-Jonathan presidency, reportedly led by the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
One of those around the president persuading him to stay put was said to be a General in the army from a not-too-core Northern state, reportedly assuring him that the alleged irregularities in the North, underage voters, among other issues, which were beamed live by a national television station and shown on the Cable News Network (CNN) would be enough ground for him to reject the outcome.
The Tribune reported that the president was also allegedly told that he would be making General Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) heroes by conceding to them, because all the good works he had done which were nearing fruition would blossom during their reign and would count as their achievements.
He reportedly told them that no matter how long he stayed in office, he would still leave one day and since crisis was certain to herald his opposition to the outcome, he would be reneging on his promise that no Nigerian blood would be worth his political ambition.
Convinced that it was the way to go, the president reportedly took “his own” by surprise by making the now-famous phone call to Buhari without telling them, although they were present at the president’s abode.
He was also said to have played a fast one on the hawks by making the call before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Buhari as the winner, following his assessment of the figures available to him, while those pressurising him to hang on reportedly thought the concession would be after the announcement by the electoral body as is usually the practice.
The western world, according to available information, keyed into the Buhari presidency project months before the election and the refusal to sell arms to Nigeria to fight the Boko Haram insurgency by Washington was said to be mainly predicated on the likelihood of Jonathan’s administration using same to quell possible civil disobedience if he manipulated the results to remain in power.
With political forces in the nation led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo reportedly concluded on getting him out at all cost, the western world, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, were said to have been persuaded into the project on two main planks; corruption and insecurity.
Settled that Jonathan’s administration had been underwhelming in performance in those two critical areas and convinced that the incumbent was bent on retaining his job, the international coalition allegedly undermined his administration as much as possible, with allies elsewhere, including Africa, also allegedly brought into the Jonathan-must-go project.
A source pointed at two main happenings in the course of the election to show how deeply the international community was involved, while making the outgoing president to be at ease, despite the rug being pulled off his feet.
The US and the UK had been at the forefront of peace pacts across the nation, starting with Jonathan and Buhari in what came to be known as Abuja Peace Accord, with Jonathan’s government having to react angrily at a point at the perceived temerity with which top diplomats from the western world were handling peace pacts and activities regarding the electoral process.
“They almost became a parallel government in Nigeria. That is what you get when a leader is too pacifist,” a source in the government said.
The unprecedented joint statement by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, overtly accusing Jonathan’s camp of moves to tamper with the incoming results of the presidential election was seen as the final move by them to show the side they were on in the contest.
The government source noted that APC was always calling on the international community to wade in when accusing Jonathan’s government of plots to manipulate the elections, because an understanding existed between them after Buhari’s appearance at Chatham House and his famous interview with the CNN.
After the field job was done and figures confirmed Jonathan’s loss, those behind the plot to ease him out and save the country from chaos were said to have moved to the last stage in the presidential contest, which was to persuade him to accept defeat, since his refusal of same could ignite the South-South and South-East and possible bloody attacks on Northerners in such states.
A predictable reprisal in the North was projected as possible fulfilment of the feared break-up. The oil interests of those western nations in the Niger-Delta also reportedly necessitated a negotiated peaceful exit for him by persuading him to accept defeat and assurance obtained from Buhari that Jonathan would face no harassment out of office.
Having fulfilled his own part, Buhari had also fulfilled his with public pronouncement that Jonathan had nothing to fear under his administration, while engaging in peace preachment to his supporters.
Apart from obtaining assurance from Buhari, the western world would also lead in global praise of Jonathan, aimed at attenuating the pains of making the wrong history of being the first defeated incumbent, while leading opposition figures were also said to be under firm instruction not to attack him in any ways until he steps down on May 29.
The US and UK were particularly said to have completely bought into the anti-Jonathan project following his decision to turn to Russia for purchase of arms, with a diplomat in foreign service saying that it would have been better for Jonathan to completely move over to Russia’s side instead of playing in the middle.
According to him, “whoever advised him to purchase arms from Russia when a real war was on with the United States misled the president. You don’t even do that during the Cold War, let alone during this “Hot War.” There was no way US intelligence circle would forgive a big nation like Nigeria making such diplomatic faux pas.
“These security experts have serious leverage over American presidents. Regardless of any friendship that could be between (American president, Barack) Obama and Jonathan, when such security goons say it is time for a leader of a nation to go, American presidents hardly say no and, obviously, Jonathan had no serious pact with (Russian president, Vladimir) Putin, beyond buying arms.”
Since the presidential election result was announced, President Obama had issued about three press statements on the outcome, Jonathan’s concession and the need for the two leaders to keep preaching peace to their supporters as well as asking that finest democratic ideals should be upheld in the conduct of the April 11 governorship election.
A government source explained that Obama’s unusual interest in the governorship election was borne out of fears that Jonathan might take his frustration of loss out on the process and tamper with it in a way to give his party, which would be in opposition from May 29, an edge in governorship spread by winning as many states as possible.
In days ahead, it was gathered that beyond the phone calls, Jonathan may be visiting the United States as a special guest of Obama which, an insider said, is aimed at retaining him as the face of peace offering to the Niger-Delta, which is feared could become the breeding ground for fifth columnists that would make the nation’s economy unmanageable for Buhari.
Senate Presidency: APC Leaders Push For Saraki.
By Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
Fresh facts emerged at the weekend on how some top leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the geo-political zones of the country have thrown their weight towards the emergence of former governor of Kwara state and senator representing Kwara central senatorial district, Senator Bukola Saraki, as the next senate president come June, this year.
The choice of Senator Saraki, it was gathered, was informed by the enormity of his sacrifices for the party’s success at the presidential and national assembly polls.
The APC leaders pushing for Saraki’s Senate Presidency followed the zoning of the position of the Senate President to North Central zone by the party.
THISDAY checks revealed that Saraki remains the only Senator that is worth compensating in view of his doggedness and commitment towards the successes recorded by the APC across the nation.
It was his efforts together with other former PDP leaders that put up various strategies that finally assisted the APC to “remove” President Goodluck Jonathan from office through the massive votes recorded by the APC during the last general polls in the country.
However, with the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (North-west) and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (South-west), some of the top positions left to be allotted are Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies. Other positions are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and the Chief of Staff.
Prior to the presidential election, the party had considered the option of rewarding the North-central with the Senate Presidency and the South-east with the Speaker. The Secretary to the Federal Government or the Chief of Staff is reserved for the South-South.
However, with the presidential election over, the party leadership may no longer be disposed to the earlier arrangement as one of the National Working Committee members who sought anonymity told journalists in Ilorin yesterday that, “it would amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
The party leader from the North-east who pleaded anonymity argued that: “How can the party reward the zones that worked against the party and our presidential candidate with juicy positions while the zones that delivered the party are allocated mere deputies?
“I am sure the party will reward hard work. APC in South-south returned only one Senator in Edo North while South-east returned two members of the House of Representatives from Imo State. PDP also posted massive victory in North-central where it won states like Plateau and Nasarawa”, the official added.
The APC’s leadership, it was gathered has scheduled a meeting for Abuja after the Easter break to continue with the discussion on power sharing.
Fresh facts emerged at the weekend on how some top leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) across the geo-political zones of the country have thrown their weight towards the emergence of former governor of Kwara state and senator representing Kwara central senatorial district, Senator Bukola Saraki, as the next senate president come June, this year.
The choice of Senator Saraki, it was gathered, was informed by the enormity of his sacrifices for the party’s success at the presidential and national assembly polls.
The APC leaders pushing for Saraki’s Senate Presidency followed the zoning of the position of the Senate President to North Central zone by the party.
THISDAY checks revealed that Saraki remains the only Senator that is worth compensating in view of his doggedness and commitment towards the successes recorded by the APC across the nation.
It was his efforts together with other former PDP leaders that put up various strategies that finally assisted the APC to “remove” President Goodluck Jonathan from office through the massive votes recorded by the APC during the last general polls in the country.
However, with the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (North-west) and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (South-west), some of the top positions left to be allotted are Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and their deputies. Other positions are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and the Chief of Staff.
Prior to the presidential election, the party had considered the option of rewarding the North-central with the Senate Presidency and the South-east with the Speaker. The Secretary to the Federal Government or the Chief of Staff is reserved for the South-South.
However, with the presidential election over, the party leadership may no longer be disposed to the earlier arrangement as one of the National Working Committee members who sought anonymity told journalists in Ilorin yesterday that, “it would amount to robbing Peter to pay Paul.”
The party leader from the North-east who pleaded anonymity argued that: “How can the party reward the zones that worked against the party and our presidential candidate with juicy positions while the zones that delivered the party are allocated mere deputies?
“I am sure the party will reward hard work. APC in South-south returned only one Senator in Edo North while South-east returned two members of the House of Representatives from Imo State. PDP also posted massive victory in North-central where it won states like Plateau and Nasarawa”, the official added.
The APC’s leadership, it was gathered has scheduled a meeting for Abuja after the Easter break to continue with the discussion on power sharing.
Lessons From Buhari's Victory
Femi Adesina
When God turns to you, it’s your turn. Nothing can change or reverse it. Not any power on earth, underneath the earth, or even from hell can alter it. That was what happened to former military head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, last weekend, when over 15 million Nigerians trooped out to elect him as the next president from May 29, this year.
Buhari, our next president? What happened to the health certificate allegedly procured by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), showing that he had a terminal illness? What happened to the claim that he has no secondary school leaving certificate? What of his alleged extremist religious views, or his draconian inclinations, as alleged by opponents? Is he not supposed to be brain-dead? What of the many other virulent and venomous accusations? They were all like water off a duck’s back. They didn’t stick. And lo and behold, Mr President has emerged, waiting for inauguration in about eight weeks.
The emergence of Muhammadu Okechukwu Buhari as President in-waiting holds many vital lessons for Nigerians, and indeed, humanity.
I am the son of a teacher (and later school principal) in the old Western State. And before I learnt to crawl, I had been subjected to memorisation of quotations. Pa J. O. Adesina did not differentiate between the home and the school. Everywhere was his classroom. So, from infancy, I learnt to recite: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.” It was like a singsong in our home. And that truism has been given flesh and blood by Gen. Buhari. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.” He ran for president in 2003, 2007, and 2011, after which he wrote himself off. On the eve of the presidential race that year, he announced that it would be his last outing. He didn’t win. And the man retired to his modest homes in Daura and Kaduna. However, fate and fortune were not done with him yet. He had reckoned that by 2015, he would be 72 years, and might be too old for the soapbox. But that was the time ordained for him to be president by God. Those of us who had always believed in him asked him to join the race again. He did. And won. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.” That is the lesson from Abraham Lincoln, the American president popularly called Honest Abe, who had lost elections many times, before fortune smiled at him. And that is also the lesson from our own Honest Abe, Muhammadu Buhari. Please join me in that boyhood chant: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.”
Another lesson. Integrity may seem not to pay at the beginning, but it will eventually bear the right fruits. Let’s invoke Pa J. O. Adesina’s memory once again, as he always told his seven children: “Honesty is the best policy.” It was a staple we grew up on. If you lose every other thing, remain honest. “Honesty is the best policy,” he would say, till it began to ring in our ears.
Buhari has been almost everything that can be called something in this country: military governor, petroleum minister, head of state, chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), everything. Yet he remains a man of modest means. In his last public position as chairman of PTF, he could not afford to send his daughter to school abroad. So, what did he do? He sold his house in Lagos. Mama mia! He sat atop billions of naira in PTF, why not simply take money from the till? Or call some PTF contractors, and tell them his need? They would fall over themselves to meet such need, and even more. But not our own Honest Abe. He rather sold his house in Lagos.
But what goes round comes round. Sow good seed, and reap bountiful harvest! Buhari’s honesty has now yielded positive dividends. When corruption became stifling, almost asphyxiating Nigerians, the people looked for a man of good report to rescue the situation. And they found one in Muhammadu Buhari. They gave him their overwhelming votes last Saturday, urging him; please come and restore probity and accountability to our country. We know you can do it. Come to Macedonia and help us. Please do. And the lesson? At the risk of disturbing Pa Adesina in his eternal sleep of 20 years, let’s quote one of his favourite sayings again. “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one!” (Marcus Aurelius, in his work, Meditations). When you are a good man, goodness returns to you. So it is with our Honest Abe. Integrity is beyond cash, and it is worth its weight in gold.
Another lesson, this time political. Pragmatism demands that if you would ever be President of Nigeria, you need a coalition that is national in outlook. That was what Buhari lacked in 2003 and 2007, when he ran on the platform of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). The party was largely circumscribed in the Northeast of the country, and in some parts of the Northwest. It was not formidable enough to win him the presidency.
In 2011, Buhari ran on the platform of newly formed Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He ran a good race, but I kept emphasizing that he needed an alliance with the then Action Congress of Nigeria. The latter was very strong in the West, while CPC was strong in the North. I almost shouted myself hoarse, saying the two parties needed an accord if they would upstage the PDP. The alliance was not consummated before the polls, and the two parties lost out.
But they learnt their lessons. In 2013, a rainbow coalition, comprising of ANPP, CPC, ACN, and a part of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), formed the All Progressives Congress (APC). They kindled the fire that has now cooked the goose of the PDP. Lesson: you need a national platform to win the presidency in Nigeria. That is what APC has proven.
Let me digress a little, and talk about the mistake of the Igbo nation. I love their sense of enterprise, and regret that they have not produced the president of this country, beyond the six months done by Gen Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, as military head of state. Inevitably, a time should come when the Igbo must be president. But how do they do it, without a national alliance? In 2011, when the power sharing agreement of the PDP was being subverted, I counselled that it paid them to queue behind a northerner, who would rule till 2015. The North would then ally with the East in an expression of one good turn deserving another. But no. Out of questionable sentiment I can’t fathom till tomorrow, the Igbo allied with the South South, and Goodluck Jonathan became President. But that was also because the Southwest was in the picture. Now that the region has gone with the North in 2015, they have elected a President from the North, and the Igbos are left with the very short end of the stick. Not even an APC senator. If Chris Ngige had been re-elected last weekend, he could have emerged Senate President, as a ranking senator. But the scenario now is that the Igbo cannot even have Number 3 position, since they don’t have a returning APC senator. This is self-immolation, if you ask me. A Southeast / South South alliance can never produce the president. What then is the future of the Igbo nation politically? Big question. They need political re-alignment, and fast too.
But we return to the lessons. Pastor Tunde Bakare, Overseer of The Latter Rain Assembly, who ran as vice presidential candidate with Buhari in 2011, has spoken about the men who supported the former head of state to now become president-elect. He says he believes in “contact without contamination,” so he can’t stand some men who are now around Buhari. Well, as a preacher, Bakare has a point. But as a politician, unless you work with all sorts, power would just be like a pie in the sky. You would just look at it longingly forever, but it would never drop in your mouth. Just like the saying that a roasted partridge would never land in your mouth just by wishing, you would never gain power unless you ally with those who have the levers of power in their hands. Does it necessarily mean you get contaminated? Only if you are not your own man! Gen. Buhari sure knows where to draw the line, and the alliance he formed to get power does not mean he would cede the national treasury to anybody. And by the way, none of the people who worked with Buhari has been convicted of corruption. Suspicions or allegations are not the same thing as conviction. We would never get a Buhari if he had continued playing holier-than-thou. If the men who supported him are corrupt, let the security agencies do the needful. At least, some of them have been out of office for about eight years, and have no immunity from prosecution.
Oh, can I forget this lesson? I dare not. Hubris. Pride. Arrogance. God hates it. The Good Book says pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. PDP became haughty. Insufferable. Conceited. Disdainful of Nigerians. It had not even ruled for 20 years, it was already talking of being in power for a minimum of 60 years. Now, after 16 years, it has kissed the dust. Who is that person that ever has tomorrow in his hands? The Good Book says when we are making plans for tomorrow, we should add the caveat: by the grace of God. Because we are not even assured of tomorrow! But PDP was talking of 60 years. Never abuse the alligator till you have safely crossed the river. But PDP was midstream, and it was cursing the father and mother of the alligator. And today, it is resting (in pieces?) in the stomach of the alligator. Pride goes before a fall.
We cannot exhaust the lessons in one piece. But some people actually did Jonathan in, by the very words of their mouths. By your words, you shall be justified, and by your words, you shall be condemned. How can the former Niger Delta militants threaten war if Jonathan loses in a free and fair election? It was a huge disservice to the President. And how can campaign spokesman, Femi Fani-Kayode, spew out those hate speeches continually, and think it would not boomerang against his principal? It did, and mightily too. And first lady Patience Jonathan, how could she utter those bilious things against Buhari and the North, and expect to get votes for her husband in that region? The people were rather mobilised against Jonathan in the process.
The last lesson, for today: human resource is the greatest resource available. How can a party lose five seating governors in one day, and still pretend that everything was okay? How can such party lose its national secretary, a former acting national chairman, many former governors and other bigwigs to the main opposition party, yet everything remained okay? It couldn’t be okay. They even lost a two-term former president, who directed that his PDP membership card be torn openly. They are the ones that have now done PDP in, and Buhari has reaped the advantage. Hold the people you have tight. They are your greatest resource. Don’t shrug your shoulders in indifference if they leave, or it would come back to haunt you. Ask the PDP. That party, for the first time, now has to learn how to be in opposition. How are the mighty fallen!
Last week, I promised to sing one of two songs after the presidential election, depending on which side victory swung. I thank hundreds of people who have phoned in to sing the song with me after the results were announced in the wee hours of Wednesday. My phones were virtually jammed, and I have hundreds of text messages that I am yet to reply. Surely, I would reply all in due course. Things are turning around for Nigeria’s good, as Buhari would surely perform, taking us through the straight and narrow path. If he does not, you know I won’t keep quiet. Change has come, and you need not stone anybody as somebody had counselled. It is change for good, and our eyes would see it. Our hands would touch it, and our mouths would sing:
I can see everything turning around
Turning around
Turning around for my good.
This change is for the good of all Nigerians. I can bet on it.
Kalu as hero of change
This is not yet the tribute I intend to pay to those who made themselves agents, heroes and heroines of change in Nigeria. As God gives grace, I still intend to do a full piece on that topic later.
But I should single out a man for honourable mention today. He is Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, former Abia State governor, and publisher of this newspaper, The Sun.
In the run up to the presidential election, Kalu minced no words about his support for President Goodluck Jonathan to get a second term in office. But there I was, Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of his newspaper, writing and advocating for change. Muhammadu Buhari had always been my man since his days as military head of state, and I said so unmistakably.
But in his liberality and large-heartedness, Kalu allowed me to express my opinion freely. When I wrote a piece with the headline, ‘We need Buhari more than he needs us,’ all hell was let loose from the highest quarters in the country. Kalu was told to sack me. And he would have been justified if he did. But he did not. What did he do? He merely wrote in his column in Saturday Sun that I was entitled to my opinion, but my opinion does not equate the opinion of the paper.
What Kalu has done is very, very rare. Even strange. Do you sit in Pope and kick at the Pope? The Pope can then kick you out of Rome, since he rules the Vatican. Kalu could have given me a kick so hard, that I would have landed in my Osun State homestead, jobless and licking my wounds. But he did not. I salute his free spirit, his sense of fairness, which I believe the world may never have seen before in newspaper proprietorship. I remain thankful to him.
Also in The Sun, you would have noticed that the regular columnists that stood with Gen. Buhari were former presidential spokesman, Chief Duro Onabule, and myself. We were the ‘two-men-battalion’ against anti-Buhari writers like Lewis Obi, Steve Nwosu, Dan Onwukwe, Ebere Wabara, Amanze Obi, Robert Obioha, Onuoha Ukeh, Clem Aguiyi, and many others. Because Kalu gave me liberty, I also censored no opinion article, except just one that crossed the boundary of decency, filled with hate and bile. As Editor-in-Chief, you really could stop anything you didn’t want published, and nobody can hold you, except the publisher of the newspaper.
On Tuesday evening, as the victory of Buhari became apparent, I went round the offices of the anti-Buhari troops, greeting and laughing with them, promising that I would be magnanimous in victory. And so I have been. When you are a recipient of grace, as I’ve received from Dr Kalu, why shouldn’t I also extend the grace to others? The robust commentaries continue, even in victory, and in defeat.
Re: God of FeBuhari is also God of March
Thank God for Buhari
Thank God that Buhari won and thank God that President Jonathan conceded defeat. Nigeria will not disintegrate. President Jonathan did very well to concede. He must be a good man.
The mandate given to Buhari is to fight corruption, win the war of insecurity and propel economic development. These were the issues he adequately and eloquently discussed. He abused nobody. But the jackals were busy abusing him. Whenever he replied, he did it constructively.
I saw this victory many years ago and I followed it bumper to bumper until its present realization. I congratulate General Buhari for this sweet victory. I congratulate the great Asiwaju and Prof. Osinbajo for their roles in bringing this about. I congratulate also Professor Jega for his unbiased officiating of the election. I will call him a great umpire.
With Femi Adesina I sing: ‘I can see everything turning around, turning around for the good of Nigeria.’ Prof Donald Nnemeka Ike, profdonald99@yahoo.com
Excellent
I want to describe your write up with one word. Excellent. I agree with you totally that the God of FeBuhari is also the God of March. For that is what the bible says in the book of Hebrews 13v8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Emmanuel O. Mbah,mbahbase@yahoo.com. 08034474210.
Divine court
I was extremely happy and contented that you took the case of who wins the presidential election to the divine court of justice. This rare quality is what clearly distinguishes you as a writer. Muhammad Rabiu Ada, Gwagwalada Abuja, 08054748244, 08035322484.
Why I love him
Ever since his emergence in January 1984 as Nigeria’s military head of state, Muhammadu Buhari’s sterling attributes of integrity, honesty, selflessness, simplicity, discipline, accountability, have endeared him so much to my heart. I have not only been his consistent supporter, but a resilient adherent, despite insults and threats to my life.
When mischief makers and propagandists labelled Buhari a religious bigot, I wasted no time in replying that if he was truly one, he would have taken Nigeria into the membership of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), when he had absolute powers as a military head of state. The last time the Onitsha-Enugu dual carriageway and the Enugu-Okigwe-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt highway were in good order was when Buhari used the PTF to reconstruct them. It was Buhari’s PTF that established the Greater Oji River water scheme. The scheme draws water from far away Oji River to Enugu metropolis, which the present state government is now reticulating to all nooks and crannies of the Coal City.
Have we so soon forgotten the intervention of Buhari’s PTF in the health and education sectors? PTF reconstructed (not rehabilitated) some major urban roads like in Enugu where I live, Edinburgh, Edozie, Obioma, Zik Avenue, etc? How can we be so easily swayed that Buhari is Igbo hater when he did all this in the southeast zone? The two dual carriageways earlier mentioned are today death traps, yet we have federal and state governments in place and our people are not talking.
General Buhari is a unique and quality brand that any person that cherishes integrity would like to associate with; and for me, no amount of threats, blackmail and castigation or name calling will wane, vitiate or remove my support for him to lead Nigeria again. Sir Abuchi Anueyiagu, veteran independent journalist/public affairs commentator, buchisbuchis1961@gmail.com, 08080242128.
Best president
I think there is need to study General Buhari, how he became so popular among Nigerians despite being modest. If you add all the former heads of state plus ex-presidents together, none can command the crowd of GMB. He will be the best president we ever had. solafakeye@yahoo.co.uk
Wise march
A critical analysis of the views held and expressed by Buhari’s supporters show how blunt they are in assessing reality without necessary hurling invectives on GEJ or disparaging him. But that is not the case on the flipside. The march for GMB remains the wise one. Emeghebo, Anthony Ebuka, 08033927370, ebucity2000@gmail.com
I’ll join you
I can’t wait to join you sing everything is turning around in our land. God bless you richly. Odofin Oluwaseyi, odofuat80@yahoo.com
The final say
Just like a number of your write-ups in the past, ‘God of FeBuhari is also God of March’ moved me almost to tears. Your deep commitment to the principles of the General makes me check how I form my own impression about people. ‘Who has the final say?’ was the exact song I led my family to sing on Saturday evening when indications of hope began to emerge when we remembered how ineffective all the calumny against GMB seemed to have turned out after all. Indeed it is God that has the final say, even if all the Nollywood stars and comedians are mobilized against the man from Daura. Femi Balogun, readalittlemore@rocketmail.com
God be praised
Our God has done it. I am happy and celebrating. My greatest joy is that the unity of our nation can now be restored. Sai Buhari. Emmanuel O. Mbah, mbahbase@yahoo.com
My prayer for him
I must congratulate you for standing with the man Buhari to the end. I am a regular reader of your Friday columns and have seen that and even in the midst of stiff opposition, even at the risk of your job and life, you supported the man. Our prayer now is for the president-elect to succeed, and I know our good God will give him the wisdom, strength and everything he will ever need for that exalted office. Samuel Idowu Alade, Dubai UAE, delealade08@yahoo.com
At last we won!
I remember during the announcement of 2011 polls, I reached you with tears, but today with joy. Shalom shalom. Uko, uko200089@yahoo.com
Flight APC OO1
Congrats and welcome to APC flight 001 taking off from Daura to Aso Rock. We shall be flying over Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Benue, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Borno, and Lagos states. We will, however, experience some turbulence over Taraba, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Cross River, and much heavier turbulence over Delta and Rivers states. Just fasten your seat belts and be assured that your pilot has many years of flying experience dating back to 2003. Just as the co-pilot is super experienced too. This is a flight you have waited so many years to take off. Congratulations. Ibrahim Bala, ibmahmood@yahoo.com
Pop the champagne
Let me send you a congratulatory message on the victory of GMB. You really championed his cause and stood by him all this while. Pop your champagne because you deserve it. Ben, bengudosai@yahoo.co.uk
Words for my Igbo brothers
When I declared my support for the people’s general, it was as if the world was against me. I lost friends, made more enemies amongst my Igbo brothers but never gave up my support for the People’s General, Oguefi Muhammadu Okechukwu Buhari.
Anyway, now GMB has won the presidential seat, what will my Igbo brothers do with the delusions of Islamisation and the civil war hatred? As for me, the civil war ended 45 years ago. Am neither ruled by hate or fear, and I advise my Igbo brothers to do the same. Congratulations GMB. Unjoerated Onwukeme, Enugu. Unjoeratedjoe@gmail.com
The lesson
When the opposition parties were coming together, PDP dismissed them as strange bedfellows. When they succeeded in becoming one, PDP told us they would soon scatter when it comes to sharing positions. When the opposition shared their positions gracefully, PDP had no Plan B.
Lesson: Do not underrate your opponent. Revd Canon Kayode Abegunde, kemmabbey@yahoo.com
Sweet victory
Mummy has been singing your Buhari victory song: I can see everything turning around… You deserve to be congratulated for your loyalty to Buhari and APC no matter what. Keep up the good work. Dr John Odiase, odiasejon@gmail.com
We have spoken
Congratulations. Nigerians have spoken. I am the Okoro who said I am from Nsukka not Daura, a Christian Muslim but I will vote Buhari again and again. My Nsukka and Igbo brothers almost killed me. Now that both north and south have made their choice, I don’t know what to say but hallelujah. Okoro Christopher, Nnewi, cokoro54@yahoo.com07062466361
When God turns to you, it’s your turn. Nothing can change or reverse it. Not any power on earth, underneath the earth, or even from hell can alter it. That was what happened to former military head of state, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, last weekend, when over 15 million Nigerians trooped out to elect him as the next president from May 29, this year.
Buhari, our next president? What happened to the health certificate allegedly procured by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), showing that he had a terminal illness? What happened to the claim that he has no secondary school leaving certificate? What of his alleged extremist religious views, or his draconian inclinations, as alleged by opponents? Is he not supposed to be brain-dead? What of the many other virulent and venomous accusations? They were all like water off a duck’s back. They didn’t stick. And lo and behold, Mr President has emerged, waiting for inauguration in about eight weeks.
The emergence of Muhammadu Okechukwu Buhari as President in-waiting holds many vital lessons for Nigerians, and indeed, humanity.
I am the son of a teacher (and later school principal) in the old Western State. And before I learnt to crawl, I had been subjected to memorisation of quotations. Pa J. O. Adesina did not differentiate between the home and the school. Everywhere was his classroom. So, from infancy, I learnt to recite: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.” It was like a singsong in our home. And that truism has been given flesh and blood by Gen. Buhari. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.” He ran for president in 2003, 2007, and 2011, after which he wrote himself off. On the eve of the presidential race that year, he announced that it would be his last outing. He didn’t win. And the man retired to his modest homes in Daura and Kaduna. However, fate and fortune were not done with him yet. He had reckoned that by 2015, he would be 72 years, and might be too old for the soapbox. But that was the time ordained for him to be president by God. Those of us who had always believed in him asked him to join the race again. He did. And won. “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.” That is the lesson from Abraham Lincoln, the American president popularly called Honest Abe, who had lost elections many times, before fortune smiled at him. And that is also the lesson from our own Honest Abe, Muhammadu Buhari. Please join me in that boyhood chant: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, and try again.”
Another lesson. Integrity may seem not to pay at the beginning, but it will eventually bear the right fruits. Let’s invoke Pa J. O. Adesina’s memory once again, as he always told his seven children: “Honesty is the best policy.” It was a staple we grew up on. If you lose every other thing, remain honest. “Honesty is the best policy,” he would say, till it began to ring in our ears.
Buhari has been almost everything that can be called something in this country: military governor, petroleum minister, head of state, chairman of Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), everything. Yet he remains a man of modest means. In his last public position as chairman of PTF, he could not afford to send his daughter to school abroad. So, what did he do? He sold his house in Lagos. Mama mia! He sat atop billions of naira in PTF, why not simply take money from the till? Or call some PTF contractors, and tell them his need? They would fall over themselves to meet such need, and even more. But not our own Honest Abe. He rather sold his house in Lagos.
But what goes round comes round. Sow good seed, and reap bountiful harvest! Buhari’s honesty has now yielded positive dividends. When corruption became stifling, almost asphyxiating Nigerians, the people looked for a man of good report to rescue the situation. And they found one in Muhammadu Buhari. They gave him their overwhelming votes last Saturday, urging him; please come and restore probity and accountability to our country. We know you can do it. Come to Macedonia and help us. Please do. And the lesson? At the risk of disturbing Pa Adesina in his eternal sleep of 20 years, let’s quote one of his favourite sayings again. “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one!” (Marcus Aurelius, in his work, Meditations). When you are a good man, goodness returns to you. So it is with our Honest Abe. Integrity is beyond cash, and it is worth its weight in gold.
Another lesson, this time political. Pragmatism demands that if you would ever be President of Nigeria, you need a coalition that is national in outlook. That was what Buhari lacked in 2003 and 2007, when he ran on the platform of All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP). The party was largely circumscribed in the Northeast of the country, and in some parts of the Northwest. It was not formidable enough to win him the presidency.
In 2011, Buhari ran on the platform of newly formed Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). He ran a good race, but I kept emphasizing that he needed an alliance with the then Action Congress of Nigeria. The latter was very strong in the West, while CPC was strong in the North. I almost shouted myself hoarse, saying the two parties needed an accord if they would upstage the PDP. The alliance was not consummated before the polls, and the two parties lost out.
But they learnt their lessons. In 2013, a rainbow coalition, comprising of ANPP, CPC, ACN, and a part of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), formed the All Progressives Congress (APC). They kindled the fire that has now cooked the goose of the PDP. Lesson: you need a national platform to win the presidency in Nigeria. That is what APC has proven.
Let me digress a little, and talk about the mistake of the Igbo nation. I love their sense of enterprise, and regret that they have not produced the president of this country, beyond the six months done by Gen Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, as military head of state. Inevitably, a time should come when the Igbo must be president. But how do they do it, without a national alliance? In 2011, when the power sharing agreement of the PDP was being subverted, I counselled that it paid them to queue behind a northerner, who would rule till 2015. The North would then ally with the East in an expression of one good turn deserving another. But no. Out of questionable sentiment I can’t fathom till tomorrow, the Igbo allied with the South South, and Goodluck Jonathan became President. But that was also because the Southwest was in the picture. Now that the region has gone with the North in 2015, they have elected a President from the North, and the Igbos are left with the very short end of the stick. Not even an APC senator. If Chris Ngige had been re-elected last weekend, he could have emerged Senate President, as a ranking senator. But the scenario now is that the Igbo cannot even have Number 3 position, since they don’t have a returning APC senator. This is self-immolation, if you ask me. A Southeast / South South alliance can never produce the president. What then is the future of the Igbo nation politically? Big question. They need political re-alignment, and fast too.
But we return to the lessons. Pastor Tunde Bakare, Overseer of The Latter Rain Assembly, who ran as vice presidential candidate with Buhari in 2011, has spoken about the men who supported the former head of state to now become president-elect. He says he believes in “contact without contamination,” so he can’t stand some men who are now around Buhari. Well, as a preacher, Bakare has a point. But as a politician, unless you work with all sorts, power would just be like a pie in the sky. You would just look at it longingly forever, but it would never drop in your mouth. Just like the saying that a roasted partridge would never land in your mouth just by wishing, you would never gain power unless you ally with those who have the levers of power in their hands. Does it necessarily mean you get contaminated? Only if you are not your own man! Gen. Buhari sure knows where to draw the line, and the alliance he formed to get power does not mean he would cede the national treasury to anybody. And by the way, none of the people who worked with Buhari has been convicted of corruption. Suspicions or allegations are not the same thing as conviction. We would never get a Buhari if he had continued playing holier-than-thou. If the men who supported him are corrupt, let the security agencies do the needful. At least, some of them have been out of office for about eight years, and have no immunity from prosecution.
Oh, can I forget this lesson? I dare not. Hubris. Pride. Arrogance. God hates it. The Good Book says pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. PDP became haughty. Insufferable. Conceited. Disdainful of Nigerians. It had not even ruled for 20 years, it was already talking of being in power for a minimum of 60 years. Now, after 16 years, it has kissed the dust. Who is that person that ever has tomorrow in his hands? The Good Book says when we are making plans for tomorrow, we should add the caveat: by the grace of God. Because we are not even assured of tomorrow! But PDP was talking of 60 years. Never abuse the alligator till you have safely crossed the river. But PDP was midstream, and it was cursing the father and mother of the alligator. And today, it is resting (in pieces?) in the stomach of the alligator. Pride goes before a fall.
We cannot exhaust the lessons in one piece. But some people actually did Jonathan in, by the very words of their mouths. By your words, you shall be justified, and by your words, you shall be condemned. How can the former Niger Delta militants threaten war if Jonathan loses in a free and fair election? It was a huge disservice to the President. And how can campaign spokesman, Femi Fani-Kayode, spew out those hate speeches continually, and think it would not boomerang against his principal? It did, and mightily too. And first lady Patience Jonathan, how could she utter those bilious things against Buhari and the North, and expect to get votes for her husband in that region? The people were rather mobilised against Jonathan in the process.
The last lesson, for today: human resource is the greatest resource available. How can a party lose five seating governors in one day, and still pretend that everything was okay? How can such party lose its national secretary, a former acting national chairman, many former governors and other bigwigs to the main opposition party, yet everything remained okay? It couldn’t be okay. They even lost a two-term former president, who directed that his PDP membership card be torn openly. They are the ones that have now done PDP in, and Buhari has reaped the advantage. Hold the people you have tight. They are your greatest resource. Don’t shrug your shoulders in indifference if they leave, or it would come back to haunt you. Ask the PDP. That party, for the first time, now has to learn how to be in opposition. How are the mighty fallen!
Last week, I promised to sing one of two songs after the presidential election, depending on which side victory swung. I thank hundreds of people who have phoned in to sing the song with me after the results were announced in the wee hours of Wednesday. My phones were virtually jammed, and I have hundreds of text messages that I am yet to reply. Surely, I would reply all in due course. Things are turning around for Nigeria’s good, as Buhari would surely perform, taking us through the straight and narrow path. If he does not, you know I won’t keep quiet. Change has come, and you need not stone anybody as somebody had counselled. It is change for good, and our eyes would see it. Our hands would touch it, and our mouths would sing:
I can see everything turning around
Turning around
Turning around for my good.
This change is for the good of all Nigerians. I can bet on it.
Kalu as hero of change
This is not yet the tribute I intend to pay to those who made themselves agents, heroes and heroines of change in Nigeria. As God gives grace, I still intend to do a full piece on that topic later.
But I should single out a man for honourable mention today. He is Dr Orji Uzor Kalu, former Abia State governor, and publisher of this newspaper, The Sun.
In the run up to the presidential election, Kalu minced no words about his support for President Goodluck Jonathan to get a second term in office. But there I was, Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of his newspaper, writing and advocating for change. Muhammadu Buhari had always been my man since his days as military head of state, and I said so unmistakably.
But in his liberality and large-heartedness, Kalu allowed me to express my opinion freely. When I wrote a piece with the headline, ‘We need Buhari more than he needs us,’ all hell was let loose from the highest quarters in the country. Kalu was told to sack me. And he would have been justified if he did. But he did not. What did he do? He merely wrote in his column in Saturday Sun that I was entitled to my opinion, but my opinion does not equate the opinion of the paper.
What Kalu has done is very, very rare. Even strange. Do you sit in Pope and kick at the Pope? The Pope can then kick you out of Rome, since he rules the Vatican. Kalu could have given me a kick so hard, that I would have landed in my Osun State homestead, jobless and licking my wounds. But he did not. I salute his free spirit, his sense of fairness, which I believe the world may never have seen before in newspaper proprietorship. I remain thankful to him.
Also in The Sun, you would have noticed that the regular columnists that stood with Gen. Buhari were former presidential spokesman, Chief Duro Onabule, and myself. We were the ‘two-men-battalion’ against anti-Buhari writers like Lewis Obi, Steve Nwosu, Dan Onwukwe, Ebere Wabara, Amanze Obi, Robert Obioha, Onuoha Ukeh, Clem Aguiyi, and many others. Because Kalu gave me liberty, I also censored no opinion article, except just one that crossed the boundary of decency, filled with hate and bile. As Editor-in-Chief, you really could stop anything you didn’t want published, and nobody can hold you, except the publisher of the newspaper.
On Tuesday evening, as the victory of Buhari became apparent, I went round the offices of the anti-Buhari troops, greeting and laughing with them, promising that I would be magnanimous in victory. And so I have been. When you are a recipient of grace, as I’ve received from Dr Kalu, why shouldn’t I also extend the grace to others? The robust commentaries continue, even in victory, and in defeat.
Re: God of FeBuhari is also God of March
Thank God for Buhari
Thank God that Buhari won and thank God that President Jonathan conceded defeat. Nigeria will not disintegrate. President Jonathan did very well to concede. He must be a good man.
The mandate given to Buhari is to fight corruption, win the war of insecurity and propel economic development. These were the issues he adequately and eloquently discussed. He abused nobody. But the jackals were busy abusing him. Whenever he replied, he did it constructively.
I saw this victory many years ago and I followed it bumper to bumper until its present realization. I congratulate General Buhari for this sweet victory. I congratulate the great Asiwaju and Prof. Osinbajo for their roles in bringing this about. I congratulate also Professor Jega for his unbiased officiating of the election. I will call him a great umpire.
With Femi Adesina I sing: ‘I can see everything turning around, turning around for the good of Nigeria.’ Prof Donald Nnemeka Ike, profdonald99@yahoo.com
Excellent
I want to describe your write up with one word. Excellent. I agree with you totally that the God of FeBuhari is also the God of March. For that is what the bible says in the book of Hebrews 13v8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Emmanuel O. Mbah,mbahbase@yahoo.com. 08034474210.
Divine court
I was extremely happy and contented that you took the case of who wins the presidential election to the divine court of justice. This rare quality is what clearly distinguishes you as a writer. Muhammad Rabiu Ada, Gwagwalada Abuja, 08054748244, 08035322484.
Why I love him
Ever since his emergence in January 1984 as Nigeria’s military head of state, Muhammadu Buhari’s sterling attributes of integrity, honesty, selflessness, simplicity, discipline, accountability, have endeared him so much to my heart. I have not only been his consistent supporter, but a resilient adherent, despite insults and threats to my life.
When mischief makers and propagandists labelled Buhari a religious bigot, I wasted no time in replying that if he was truly one, he would have taken Nigeria into the membership of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), when he had absolute powers as a military head of state. The last time the Onitsha-Enugu dual carriageway and the Enugu-Okigwe-Umuahia-Aba-Port Harcourt highway were in good order was when Buhari used the PTF to reconstruct them. It was Buhari’s PTF that established the Greater Oji River water scheme. The scheme draws water from far away Oji River to Enugu metropolis, which the present state government is now reticulating to all nooks and crannies of the Coal City.
Have we so soon forgotten the intervention of Buhari’s PTF in the health and education sectors? PTF reconstructed (not rehabilitated) some major urban roads like in Enugu where I live, Edinburgh, Edozie, Obioma, Zik Avenue, etc? How can we be so easily swayed that Buhari is Igbo hater when he did all this in the southeast zone? The two dual carriageways earlier mentioned are today death traps, yet we have federal and state governments in place and our people are not talking.
General Buhari is a unique and quality brand that any person that cherishes integrity would like to associate with; and for me, no amount of threats, blackmail and castigation or name calling will wane, vitiate or remove my support for him to lead Nigeria again. Sir Abuchi Anueyiagu, veteran independent journalist/public affairs commentator, buchisbuchis1961@gmail.com, 08080242128.
Best president
I think there is need to study General Buhari, how he became so popular among Nigerians despite being modest. If you add all the former heads of state plus ex-presidents together, none can command the crowd of GMB. He will be the best president we ever had. solafakeye@yahoo.co.uk
Wise march
A critical analysis of the views held and expressed by Buhari’s supporters show how blunt they are in assessing reality without necessary hurling invectives on GEJ or disparaging him. But that is not the case on the flipside. The march for GMB remains the wise one. Emeghebo, Anthony Ebuka, 08033927370, ebucity2000@gmail.com
I’ll join you
I can’t wait to join you sing everything is turning around in our land. God bless you richly. Odofin Oluwaseyi, odofuat80@yahoo.com
The final say
Just like a number of your write-ups in the past, ‘God of FeBuhari is also God of March’ moved me almost to tears. Your deep commitment to the principles of the General makes me check how I form my own impression about people. ‘Who has the final say?’ was the exact song I led my family to sing on Saturday evening when indications of hope began to emerge when we remembered how ineffective all the calumny against GMB seemed to have turned out after all. Indeed it is God that has the final say, even if all the Nollywood stars and comedians are mobilized against the man from Daura. Femi Balogun, readalittlemore@rocketmail.com
God be praised
Our God has done it. I am happy and celebrating. My greatest joy is that the unity of our nation can now be restored. Sai Buhari. Emmanuel O. Mbah, mbahbase@yahoo.com
My prayer for him
I must congratulate you for standing with the man Buhari to the end. I am a regular reader of your Friday columns and have seen that and even in the midst of stiff opposition, even at the risk of your job and life, you supported the man. Our prayer now is for the president-elect to succeed, and I know our good God will give him the wisdom, strength and everything he will ever need for that exalted office. Samuel Idowu Alade, Dubai UAE, delealade08@yahoo.com
At last we won!
I remember during the announcement of 2011 polls, I reached you with tears, but today with joy. Shalom shalom. Uko, uko200089@yahoo.com
Flight APC OO1
Congrats and welcome to APC flight 001 taking off from Daura to Aso Rock. We shall be flying over Sokoto, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Benue, Yobe, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Borno, and Lagos states. We will, however, experience some turbulence over Taraba, Ebonyi, Bayelsa, Cross River, and much heavier turbulence over Delta and Rivers states. Just fasten your seat belts and be assured that your pilot has many years of flying experience dating back to 2003. Just as the co-pilot is super experienced too. This is a flight you have waited so many years to take off. Congratulations. Ibrahim Bala, ibmahmood@yahoo.com
Pop the champagne
Let me send you a congratulatory message on the victory of GMB. You really championed his cause and stood by him all this while. Pop your champagne because you deserve it. Ben, bengudosai@yahoo.co.uk
Words for my Igbo brothers
When I declared my support for the people’s general, it was as if the world was against me. I lost friends, made more enemies amongst my Igbo brothers but never gave up my support for the People’s General, Oguefi Muhammadu Okechukwu Buhari.
Anyway, now GMB has won the presidential seat, what will my Igbo brothers do with the delusions of Islamisation and the civil war hatred? As for me, the civil war ended 45 years ago. Am neither ruled by hate or fear, and I advise my Igbo brothers to do the same. Congratulations GMB. Unjoerated Onwukeme, Enugu. Unjoeratedjoe@gmail.com
The lesson
When the opposition parties were coming together, PDP dismissed them as strange bedfellows. When they succeeded in becoming one, PDP told us they would soon scatter when it comes to sharing positions. When the opposition shared their positions gracefully, PDP had no Plan B.
Lesson: Do not underrate your opponent. Revd Canon Kayode Abegunde, kemmabbey@yahoo.com
Sweet victory
Mummy has been singing your Buhari victory song: I can see everything turning around… You deserve to be congratulated for your loyalty to Buhari and APC no matter what. Keep up the good work. Dr John Odiase, odiasejon@gmail.com
We have spoken
Congratulations. Nigerians have spoken. I am the Okoro who said I am from Nsukka not Daura, a Christian Muslim but I will vote Buhari again and again. My Nsukka and Igbo brothers almost killed me. Now that both north and south have made their choice, I don’t know what to say but hallelujah. Okoro Christopher, Nnewi, cokoro54@yahoo.com07062466361
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