My advice to Buhari is to look above the deceitful and ugly crowds milling around him now to his real and actual supporters – the poor men and women who did the actual job.
Since March 28, 2015 when General Buhari made unforgettable history in a political landscape, I have put my eyes and ears on the ground to monitor the events around the President-elect, whether he is in Daura, Katsina or at the Defense House, Abuja. All manner of people, including those who are claiming to be trekking for the President-elect (even though they may not have voted for him), interlopers, intruders, scavengers, supporters of any government in power (SAGIP), defectors from PDP, professional congratulators, food-is-ready professionals, and five-minutes-to-greatness cheats have not allowed the President-elect to have breathing space. They have no shame, no honour, no history, no antecedents, no records to show, no decency, and no grace to show the world except the inordinate ambition and desire to belong in power circles at all cost. They were yesterday’s men who were ardent followers of PDP, those who pillaged and plundered our commonwealth, those who killed, those who preached hate and swore to disgrace the President-elect. They sponsored hate advertorials on the radio, TV stations and on the pages of newspapers. They pulled down Buhari’s posters and billboards and cursed the day he was born. They used pulpits to abuse and curse him as an uncircumcised religious bigot who desperately wants to rule Nigeria and to consequently Islamise the country. They abused his family, his wife, his children, his in-laws, his supporters, his associates as Osus (outcasts in Igboland). They murdered his supporters across Nigeria with reckless abandon, especially in Rivers and Akwa Ibom States.
In the South-East, these 21st century cowards stole the people’s mandate and made supporters of Buhari to look like foreigners in their own land. In Lagos, the Odua Peoples’ Congress led by Chief Gani Adams and Dr. Faseun did the unthinkable on a Monday morning in Lagos from the old Toll gate to the National Stadium, Surulere. It seized Lagos, abused Lagos, vandalised Lagos, humiliated Lagos and disgraced Lagos and South-West Nigeria. As the OPC marched with tanks and hundreds of AK47s, it pulled down APC Campaigns materials on the entire stretch, leaving only the PDP campaign materials to stand, and history recorded it. In the South-East, the moribund MASSOB, an outlawed organisation like the OPC, seized Umuahia and other state capitals, replicating what OPC did in Lagos.
Now, like rain beaten chickens, they are lining up to seek Buhari’s hand shake and favour, and pouring encomiums on him.
These rogues milling around Buhari today told us that he has no certificate and is therefore an illiterate. They told us that he is sick and has cancer. They said he is too old to rule Nigeria. They said Buhari is unelectable. They used money, brute force of the police, Army, DSS, SSS etc. to stop him but the man of destiny remained undaunted. He moved on, braved it and damned the consequences. The rest is now history. Now, like rain beaten chickens, they are lining up to seek Buhari’s hand shake and favour, and pouring encomiums on him.
I fear that APC may not have opposition for a long time to come and this is not good for Nigeria.
In one fell swoop almost all of them abandoned President Jonathan who provided shelter for them as a Vice-President and then President for eight years. Since Buhari won the presidential election of March 28, 2015, the usual thousands of visitors to Aso Rock have dropped to a miserable level, almost zero. They have also abandoned the Party (PDP) that gave them succour for 16 years, which they now – unbelievably – describe as a a forest. Hours on end, they are knocking at APC doors to find a place to hide. They have no ideas on how to go and rebuild their party. They have no plans whatsoever on where to start. Having been in power for sixteen years, I guess they have so become used to power that it may be difficult, if not impossible, for them to survive without being in power. Two pictures of Jonathan’s Aso Rock and Buhari’s temporary residence in Abuja, which were published on the front page of the Punch on Sunday, May 17, 2015 tells a big and pathetic story of what has become of PDP and its followers after sixteen years. How have the mighty fallen? What went wrong? How did the boastful PDP get to this sorry pass? Where did the rain start beating them? What caused the mess we see these days? Who will bell the cat? Who will build the new PDP, the way Nehemiah rebuilt Jerusalem?
Where are the men and women who will do this job? This is indeed ugly and at best, despicable. Where is the capacity and strength to do this great job? I fear for PDP. I fear that APC may not have opposition for a long time to come and this is not good for Nigeria.
My advice to Buhari is to look above the deceitful and ugly crowds milling around him now to his real and actual supporters – the poor men and women who did the actual job. I want General Buhari to talk to Sahara Reporters, Premium Times, Nigerian Village Square and other online publications. If the story of Buhari and the 2015 revolution is a book, Sahara Reporters, other online platforms and truth merchants wrote a significant part of it. I want Buhari to be talking to these many good individuals and platforms, the likes of Dele Momodu, Femi Adesina, Peter Claver, Reverend Moses Iloh, Rev. Ikem Igbodike, Declan Ihekaire (the one man show for Buhari in Agege Lagos), Sonala Olumhense, etc. The President-elect should remember that the late Chukwuma Azikiwe worked so hard for him. These are some of the real men I would love around the President-elect, and not those that I see today. One should not work, while others position themselves to reap where they did not sow. Advice – I am told – is like a stranger, if it is welcomed it stays for the night, if not it leaves the same day.
Joe Igbokwe is the Lagos APC Publicity Secretary.
