Before and after the emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as the presidential candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), a few people hold different opinions about him contrary to majority opinions that support his candidacy. While political analysts say his emergence and subsequent pairing with Professor Yemi Osinbajo is a technical knock-out for the incumbent, the President Goodluck Jonathan’s camp would not agree in absolute terms but they had in principle. Hence their resort to all sorts of tactics including but not limited to name calling, image murdering, and intimidation.
Recall that immediately after Buhari won his party’s primaries, Dr Doyin Okupe was among the first set of Aso Rock’s attack dogs to crucify the peoples’ General. Okupe had said the APC committed a fatal error in choosing General Buhari. What actually is the business of Aso Rock and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the choice of candidate by the opposition? That’s the first sign that the Jonathanians are not happy and, therefore, jittery that Buhari won the APC primaries. Then, I remember what Okupe said about APC surviving beyond its first year of formation. He boasted and ‘instructed’ to be called a bastard if his speculation didn’t come to pass. It’s now been some 21 months since APC was formed and it has not crumbled as boastfully predicted by Seer Okupe. So, egbon is now a bastard! Now that bastard Okupe’s sooth-saying didn’t come to fruition, isn’t he a fatal error within the ranks of the Jonathanians? I can’t imagine what his failed prediction would have caused the Jonathanians if they actually believed him in the first instance.
Hardly had the fatal error made by Dr Doyin Okupe in calling the APC’s choice of Buhari a fatal error been forgotten than we had a bigger salvo fired from Wadata Plaza. Like Okupe, the shot was fired by another Yoruba doctor, Wale Oladipo, the National Secretary of the PDP. He had called Buhari a “semiliterate jackboot”. This is another fatal error by the Jonathanians. Unlike Doyin Okupe who I know is a medical doctor, I’m not sure Wale Oladipo is a medical doctor. Hence, I assume he holds a PhD like President Goodluck Jonathan. Though, despite Oladipo’s unintelligent remarks about General Buhari, I still have my respect for PhD holders. But going by a definition of the adjective (semi-literate) with which he qualified Buhari, I could see he (Oladipo) and his principal (President Jonathan) are also semi-literates. While Oladipo has limited knowledge and understanding of issues-based political campaigning, his master at Aso Rock has limited knowledge and understanding of governance.
Oladipo’s attempt at forcing us to comply with (and vote for) his party’s candidate using the bullying tactics qualifies him as a jackboot. By extension, President Jonathan too is a jackboot.
One other noise maker from the ranks of the Jonathanians is the PDP revert, Femi Fani-Kayode. His dislike for General Muhammadu Buhari seems to have no equals. He, like Doyin Okupe, sees Buhari as a religious bigot. Fani-Kayode goes further seeing Buhari and his APC as the brains behind the Boko Haram terrorists group. At every given opportunity, Fani-Kayode will condemn Buhari on account of his faith. He wrote a damning article succinctly describing Buhari’s running mate, Yemi Osinbajo, a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), as a son of God mingling with the children of devil. He warned Osinbajo, the light, against his relationship with the ‘sons of Boko and daughters of Haram’. To Fani-Kayode, Buhari is Boko Haram and Boko Haram is Buhari. Yet his ruling-party, despite claims by President Jonathan that he knows those behind Boko Haram and the yet to be substantiated allegations by Femi Fani-Kayode, has not been able to prosecute and convict any of those being alleged as sponsors of Boko Haram.
Having said this, does anyone not see Femi Fani-Kayode as a bigot himself? His criticism of Buhari on account of his (Buhari’s) religion and disagreement with his political views as well as his intolerance of Buhari’s ideas on politics and religion make Femi Fani-Kayode a worse bigot.
However, I have not heard from two of the leading Jonathanians – Dame Patience Jonathan, the First Lady and Dr Reuben Abati, the President’s Special Assistant on Media and Publicity.
As I was thinking on this, I stumbled on a Facebook link which re-directed me to Reuben Abati’s website. The link featured an article written by Ebenezer Babatope in January 2007 titled “How Buhari Humiliated Awolowo”. Dr Abati has a mission to achieve by featuring a January 2007 article in December 2014. You and I know his mission. One thing I noticed in Abati’s recent postures is that he seems to have learnt a lesson. Not many people know Abati was the brain behind the statement credited to Buhari about making the country ungovernable for Jonathan after the 2011 elections. Abati had caused a stinker he authored titled “For the Attention of General Buhari” to be published by the Guardian in 2011. The General sued him and the Guardian for libel. The presidency intervened and pleaded with Buhari for an out of court settlement. GMB agreed and the Guardian published a retraction in 2013 apologizing to Buhari.
This is a new Reuben Abati. He will rather publish other people’s articles about Buhari rather than pen his which may likely land him in troubles again.
Like Dr Reuben Abati reminding us of Buhari’s past, a Jonathanian on Facebook shared some information on the role played by a 21-year-old 2nd Lt. Muhammadu Buhari in 1963/64 during the popular ‘Operation Weti E’ in the South-West. He reminded us in that post he shared in the Ogun State Today group that it was Muhammadu Buhari as Platoon Commander of the 2nd Infantry Brigade Abeokuta that obeyed an order from his seniors and shot at the Yorubas protesting the imprisonment of Chief Obafemi Awolowo by the Tafawa Balewa regime. Hence his campaign was to #ThinkYorubaFirst #StandWithJonathan and #RejectBuhari. In my comment on the thread, I asked if the Jonathanian had forgotten that Buhari was a soldier only obeying the orders and instructions from the authorities. I reminded him that some 54+ young soldiers were recently sentenced to death for refusing an order to fight Boko Haram with ‘bare hands’. Hence, they committed mutiny and have to die except God intervene in their matter.
And, on Christmas Day or thereabout, General Muhammadu Buhari was reported in the news to have said his government would not have an ‘Office of The First Lady’ because it is unconstitutional. The next day, Mama Peace told women who had come to witness the civic reception put up in her honor by her maternal community in Abia State not to vote politicians who don’t have respect for women. To Dame Patience Jonathan, Buhari’s plan to scrap the Office of the First Lady which she presently occupies and which gives her the status of a de facto president is a disrespect to women. So, saying we don’t have to continue doing things the way our fathers did them because they are against the law is disrespect to our fathers.
If this statement was made by Buhari’s wife, I’m sure the Jonathanians would have said Buhari made a fatal error marrying an illiterate civilian jackboot. Though, Fani-Kayode would disagree with them as he won’t see anything wrong in a bigot son of Boko marrying a bigot daughter of Haram. And, Abati would have gone back to the archives to dig out Professor Wole Soyinka’s article describing some Oga at the Villa’s wife as an illiterate.
One thing these Jonathanians have not noticed or are ignoring is the fact that Buhari’s profile and followership are rising at a faster rate than Jonathan’s did in 2010 when he bought our sympathy with his shoelessness. Like Jonathan did in 2010 when he cried he had no shoes (to wear on Christmas), Buhari has bought people’s sympathy with his cry of “I’m a pensioner. I’m poor”. That, coupled with Jonathan’s dismal performance are the reasons the CHANGE will take place through the ballots in 2015.
Ola Olatunji is an Accountant working in the GCC and a blogger operating the Nigeria Newsroom (http://nigerianewsroom.blogspot.com) and two other blogs. You can follow him on fb.com/OlaOlatunjiOla; @Ola_Olatunji on Twitter; and +OlaOlatunji on Google+
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