Dele Momodu in his article today said President Buhari would have
preserved his image as a ”poor man, friend of the poor, the
incorruptible avenger, the Messiah without a blemish, if he had not gone
in to politics.”
He also said, ‘Buhari and his cronies appear to have forgotten
how time flies. They stepped on toes without realising elections were
just round the corner and that the day of reckoning begins from the day
after Inauguration’.
See his full piece below….
Fellow Nigerians, despite the open and brazen braggadocious
posturings of the ruling party, things seem to be fast falling apart
within the All Progressives Congress (APC). The arrogance of power
probably must have misled some of the powerful gladiators in the party
that they are invincible and infallible. But unwarranted arrogance and
pride go forth before a calamitous fall. There seems no doubt that the
APC also underrates the extensive networks and connections of Alhaji
Atiku Abubakar who has been in this race for 25 solid years.Speak to most of them, they will boastfully tell you that Buhari owns
the North of Nigeria, as if the North is one State or monolithic or
homogenous region. Except for those too lazy to analyse the ethnic,
religious and political configuration of Nigeria, there has never been a
single place called the North. It was merely one of the cunningly
systematic way some politicians inferiorised and brainwashed Southern
Nigeria into thinking “Oh we can’t win the election because the North
will not agree.”Except for military interventions that gave some parts of the
Northern region some edge and predominance over other parts of Nigeria,
particularly in the South, only three Northerners and three Southerners
have ever won Presidential elections at the highest levels, namely,
Shehu Shagari, Moshood Abiola (though conspired against and could not
assume office), Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck
Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.We had pre-Independence leaders who presided as our first and only
Prime Minister ever, Tafawa Balewa, 1957-1966, who shared a bit of his
power with Nnamdi Azikiwe, who was our first and only ceremonial
Governor General of Nigeria, from 1960-1963, before emerging as the
first President of Nigeria, from 1963-1966, when our country became a
Republic. In reality, Nigeria is too diverse, and too intertwined to be
claimed by any one group.What has happened is that the politicians, from both sides of the
divide, have managed to manipulate our brains and hoodwink us in such a
way that most people begin to doubt their own existence, like the French
philosopher, Rene Descartes. Nigerians have also been kept down through
the greatest forms of hypnotism, mass illiteracy and abject poverty, a
very lethal combination.No Nigerian politician has benefitted from this political cocktail
than President Muhammadu Buhari, who the poor masses see as their friend
and Messiah who will free them from their wicked oppressors and
fiendish looters. Prior to 2015, Buhari could do no wrong, as far as
this class of people were concerned. But the burble is beginning to
burst. I will explain how it happened in a jiffy.Buhari would have preserved his image as a poor man, friend of the
poor, the incorruptible avenger, the Messiah without a blemish, if he
had not gone in to politics or if he did not win the 2015 Presidential
election. Many of us would have been screaming our heads off, that he
was cheated a fourth time, that unscrupulous Nigerians wickedly robbed
us of yet another good leader, like Obafemi Awolowo, Moshood Abiola,
Gani Fawehinmi, and a few other icons who contested at one time or the
other. To win that election, Buhari needed to go through some rituals,
or rites of passage, which were totally controlled by those he once
regarded as bad guys. And of course, he needed what James Hadley Chase
called The Whiff of Money to sustain and fulfil his ambition.And no individual could possibly have matched the PDP, cash for cash
since they were getting their cash by dipping their hands, indeed their
whole beings, into the most secure and productive vaults in the country –
the Central Bank and the NNPC. So, Sai Baba got practical and sought
the kind benevolence of his erstwhile sworn enemies. He had to
crisscross the country, cap in hand, pleading for help and support. He
knew he had to visit and beg the big dons, the acclaimed owners of the
land who have the keys to unlock the doors of power and fortune.Buhari navigated his way to former President Ibrahim Badamasi
Babangida in Minna, Niger State, the same military General who sacked
him unceremoniously from power in September 1985, and from there
meandered his way to former President Olusegun Aremu Okikiolakan
Obasanjo in Abeokuta. He also travelled to see General Theophilus Yakubu
Danjuma in various places. He must have had to swallow his pride in all
this sallying to and fro.Having engaged the powerbrokers, Buhari went for the financiers. He
knew that one of the major problems of his previous failed bid was the
inability to sustain campaign as he did not have the financial resources
to maintain the same. He needed billions and billions to pay polling
agents or risks his votes being diminished or outrightly stolen. He
turned to Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who was a Director General of a
Presidential campaign, like no other, from 2014-2015.He went all out to seek funds and made available a gleaming private
jet owned by the Rivers State Government which more than eased the
campaign itinerary and logistics of the Buhari Campaign Organisation.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the capo di tutti capi of Lagos, was eventually
beckoned and coaxed to come on board and persuaded to be on hand to
arrange this and that. Bukola Saraki was also heavily involved in
mobilising funds from his wealthy friends many of whom he managed to get
to drop some heavy sums out of their billions. Aliko Dangote, Femi
Otedola, Wale Tinubu, Muyiwa Bakare and many others were some of the
faces who were regularly at Saraki’s Ikoyi home in Lagos to make
contributions.Meetings were also sometimes held in Femi Otedola’s iconic apartment
in Knightsbridge, London., where Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana once
lived. Buhari was very much in the know of the powerful military,
political and financial coalition that were behind him.These personages were united in one mission, to arrest the perceived
perfidious drift of the nation towards perdition. They were all close to
President Goodluck Jonathan but felt that he had allowed too much
laxity and excess and was allowing some of his aides to get away with
murder. They did not expect freebies from Buhari, but they felt he was
going to reorder the nation and provide a level playing field and
opportunities for every Nigerian, without fear or favour. Let’s again
postpone the full story.However, no sooner than Buhari took power that things began to turn
awry. Many of his supporters began to see a new Buhari. The Buhari that
used to listen and act on advice during the campaign was no longer
available and when accessible began to speak in monosyllables. By the
time he moved finally into the gilded cage of the Aso Rock Presidential
Villa, things were no longer at ease.And before you could shout Tinubu, Buhari had been hijacked and
pocketed by a few members of his innermost caucus. This was the
beginning of rapid descent into chaos and confusion in the ruling party.
Since that turbulent beginning, it has been crisis upon crises, with no
end in sight.Naturally, the party got distracted by this unholy war of attrition.
Buhari that was supposed to provide leadership, focus and direction
acted like he was not bothered. His personable Vice-President, Professor
Yemi Osinbajo, who could have helped the situation by providing strong,
innovative and youthful leadership, did not have the cooperation of
many of his subordinates who felt they owed their total allegiance to
Buhari and no other person.It has always been obvious that Osinbajo has what is needed to set
this great country on the path to greater heights, development, security
and UNITY and this was made palpable and real whenever Buhari was on
medical vacation. Osinbajo mingled freely with the populace, the
intelligentsia and the privileged. He interacted well with members of
his parties and other parties alike. They all liked and respected him.
He was able to douse the brewing and explosive tension in the South East
where Nnamdi Kanu was not only gaining momentum but was becoming a
figure of hagiography.He assuaged the hurt feelings of the Niger Delta and got our oil
production moving properly again. The economy thrived and with new rules
of engagement about the ease of doing business, investors began to see
Nigeria with fresh enthusiasm. Even the dreaded menace of militants in
both the North and the South subsided as prosperity loomed and the
things causing tension became calmer.For me, there was a great moment when Osinbajo went to the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and cleaned the place of the
duplicitous agents harassing passengers at will and we all applauded the
new look, but within little time, the nuisance returned with a
vengeance. Thus, as soon as his boss returned, he reverted to his
military preference for using a sledgehammer to kill flies regardless of
the ensuing damage.Please, let me give one more example of how APC finally missed
Paradise, in my humble opinion. Agents of the Federal Government had
serially combined to harass and intimidate the National Assembly which
was saddled with the task of checks and balances in the Nigerian
Constitution. The last straw that broke the camel’s back was the
invasion of the National Assembly by hooded operatives of the
Directorate of State Security.The sad development soon went viral and the thoroughly embarrassed
Acting President promptly corrected the anomaly by sacrificing the
Director General, Lawal Daura. Osinbajo, immediately, announced the
appointment of a new Director General, Matthew Seiyefa, in an acting
capacity. Seiyefa was clearly the most senior officer in service at the
time, and many applauded the decision.Then rumours began to fly as always that some powerful forces did not
like the decision. The rumour became reality when Seiyefa, a harmless
scholar, from Bayelsa State, was removed. Many were sad that day.
Anyway.Buhari and his cronies appear to have forgotten how time flies. They
stepped on toes without realising elections were just round the corner
and that the day of reckoning begins from the day after Inauguration.
The Tinubus that had been studiously side-tracked would soon be needed.
God’s judgment no longer flies on a chariot of fire but on supersonic
jet. Oh, before I forget, APC sacked a perfect gentleman, John Odigie
Oyegun, and brought my Brother, Adams Oshiomhole, the firebrand
ex-unionist, who began his own war, and may ultimately become the
Waterloo of the party.Again, Buhari failed to act decisively and the acrimonious war of
attrition has since turned into a third world war, unabated, less than
40 days to the final day of reckoning. A house divided against itself is
surely in peril of eventual collapse and this is the script playing
before our very eyes.Nothing has convinced me more that APC and President Buhari and his
cronies are in panic mode than the abdication of campaign
responsibilities to the Don, Bola Tinubu, who I know many of Buhari’s
close allies cannot stand. But they all know, as a matter of fact, that
this daring politician is their last chance. What is more, if they fail
at the polls, they will be able to blame Tinubu for their failure.I do not envy my big Brother, Tinubu, at all. This position appears
to me to be a poisoned chalice! To add to the conundrum for Tinubu, he
has to go all out and destroy the last chance of his very good friend
and former co-traveller, Atiku Abubakar, who has been on his own epic
journey since, 1993, some 25 odd years ago.This promises to be the biggest heavyweight bout in history. The world is watching with bated breath…