Wadeoye:

And who is Wole Soyinka in South West?

Who followed him when he registered a party and attempted to contest?

Wole Soyinka, though a professor, doesn't still understand the difference between an academic scholar and a leader. People follow leaders willingly while some people think they can become leaders by trying to win argument using big grammar. It doesn't work that way.

tai wo: (Very interesting read folks)
WOLE SOYINKA ON BUHARI_________ _______________
_____________ This intervention has been provoked, not so
much by the ambitions of General Muhammadu Buhari to return
to power at the head of a democratic Nigeria, as by declarations
of support from directions that leave one totally dumbfounded. It
would appear that some, myself among them, had been
overcomplacent about the magnitude of an ambition that seemed
as preposterous as the late effort of General Ibrahim Babangida
to aspire yet again to the honour of presiding over a society that
truly seeks a democratic future.
What one had dismissed was a rash of illusions, brought about
by other political improbabilities that surround us, however, is
being given an air of plausibility by individuals and groupings to
which one had earlier attributed a sense of relevance of historic
actualities. Recently, I published an article in the media,
invoking the possible recourse to psychiatric explanation for
some of the incongruities in conduct within national leadership.
Now, to tell the truth, I have begun to seriously address the issue
of which section of society requires the services of a
psychiatrist.
The contest for a seizure of rationality is now so polarized that I
am quite reconciled to the fact it could be those of us on this
side, not the opposing school of thought that ought to declare
ourselves candidates for a lunatic asylum. So be it. While that
decision hangs in the balance however, the forum is open. Let
both sides continue to address our cases to the electorate, but
also prepare to submit ourselves for psychiatric examination.
The time being so close to electoral decision, we can understand
the haste of some to resort to shortcuts. In the process however,
we should not commit the error of opening the political space to
any alternative whose curative touch to national afflictions have
proven more deadly than the disease. In order to reduce the
clutter in our options towards the forthcoming elections, we urge
a beginning from what we do know, what we have undergone,
what millions can verify, what can be sustained by evidence
accessible even to the school pupil, the street hawker or a just-
come visitor from outer space. Leaving Buhari aside for now, I
propose a commencing exercise that should guide us along the
path of elimination as we examine the existing register of would-
be president. That initial exercise can be summed up in the
following speculation: “If it were possible for Olusegun
Obasanjo, the actual incumbent, to stand again for election,
would you vote for him?”
If the answer is “yes”, then of course all discussion is at an end.
If the answer is ‘No’ however, then it follows that a choice of a
successor made by Obasanjo should be assessed as hovering
between extremely dangerous and an outright kiss of death. The
degree of acceptability of such a candidate should also be
inversely proportionate to the passion with which he or she is
promoted by the would-be ‘godfather’. We do not lack for open
evidence about Obasanjo’s passion in this respect. From Lagos
to the USA, he has taken great pains to assure the nation and the
world that the anointed NPN presidential flag bearer is
guaranteed, in his judgment, to carry out his policies. Such an
endorsement/ anointment is more than sufficient, in my view, for
public acceptance or rejection. Yar’Adua’s candidature amounts
to a terminal kiss from a moribund regime.
Nothing against the person of this – I am informed – personable
governor, but let him understand that in addition to the direct
source of his emergence, the PDP, on whose platform he stands,
represents the most harrowing of this nation’s nightmares over
and beyond even the horrors of the Abacha regime. If he wishes
to be considered on his own merit, now is time for him, as well
as others similarly enmeshed, to exercise the moral courage that
goes with his repudiation of that party, a dissociation from its
past, and a pledge to reverse its menacing future. We shall find
him an alternative platform on which to stand, and then have
him present his credentials along those of other candidates
engaged in forging a credible opposition alliance. Until then, let
us bury this particular proposition and move on to a far graver,
looming danger, personified in the history of General Buhari.
The grounds on which General Buhari is being promoted as the
alternative choice are not only shaky, but pitifully naive. History
matters. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of
memory, but to operate as guides to the future. Of course, we
know that human beings change. What the claims of personality
change or transformation impose on us is a rigorous inspection
of the evidence, not wishful speculation or behind-the-scen es
assurances. Public offence, crimes against a polity, must be
answered in the public space, not in caucuses of bargaining. In
Buhari, we have been offered no evidence of the sheerest
prospect of change. On the contrary, all evident suggests that
this is one individual who remains convinced that this is one ex-
ruler that the nation cannot call to order.
Buhari – need one remind anyone – was one of the generals who
treated a Commission of Enquiry, the Oputa Panel, with
unconcealed disdain. Like Babangida and Abdusalami, he
refused to put in appearance even though complaints that were
tabled against him involved a career of gross abuses of power
and blatant assault on the fundamental human rights of the
Nigerian citizenry.
Prominent against these charges was an act that amounted to
nothing less than judicial murder, the execution of a citizen
under a retroactive decree. Does Decree 20 ring a bell? If not,
then, perhaps the names of three youths – Lawal Ojuolape (30),
Bernard Ogedengbe (29) and Bartholomew Owoh (26) do. To
put it quite plainly, one of those three – Ogedengbe – was
executed for a crime that did not carry a capital forfeit at the
time it was committed. This was an unconscionable crime,
carried out in defiance of the pleas and protests of nearly every
sector of the Nigerian and international community – religious,
civil rights, political, trade unions etc. Buhari and his sidekick
and his partner-in-crim e, Tunde Idiagbon persisted in this
inhuman act for one reason and one reason only: to place
Nigerians on notice that they were now under an iron, inflexible
rule, under governance by fear.
The execution of that youthful innocent – for so he was, since
the punishment did not exist at the time of commission – was
nothing short of premeditated murder, for which the perpetrators
should normally stand trial upon their loss of immunity. Are we
truly expected to forget this violation of our entitlement to
security as provided under existing laws? And even if our
sensibilities have become blunted by succeeding seasons of
cruelty and brutality, if power itself had so coarsened the
sensibilities also of rulers and corrupted their judgment, what
should one rightly expect after they have been rescued from the
snare of power” At the very least, a revaluation, leading
hopefully to remorse, and its expression to a wronged society.
At the very least, such a revaluation should engender reticence,
silence. In the case of Buhari, it was the opposite. Since leaving
office he has declared in the most categorical terms that he had
no regrets over this murder and would do so again.
Human life is inviolate. The right to life is the uniquely
fundamental right on which all other rights are based. The crime
that General Buhari committed against the entire nation went
further however, inconceivable as it might first appear. That
crime is one of the most profound negations of civic being. Not
content with hammering down the freedom of expression in
general terms, Buhari specifically forbade all public discussion
of a return to civilian, democratic rule. Let us constantly applaud
our media – those battle scarred professionals did not completely
knuckle down. They resorted to cartoons and oblique, elliptical
references to sustain the people’s campaign for a time-table to
democratic rule. Overt agitation for a democratic time table
however remained rigorously suppressed – military dictatorship,
and a specifically incorporated in Buhari and Idiagbon was here
to stay.
To deprive a people of volition in their own political direction is
to turn a nation into a colony of slaves. Buhari enslaved the
nation. He gloated and gloried in a master-slave relation to the
millions of its inhabitants. It is astonishing to find that the same
former slaves, now free of their chains, should clamour to be
ruled by one who not only turned their nation into a slave
plantation, but forbade them any discussion of their condition.
So Tai Solarin is already forgotten? Tai who stood at street
corners, fearlessly distributing leaflets that took up the gauntlet
where the media had dropped it. Tai who was incarcerated by
that regime and denied even the medication for his asthmatic
condition? Tai did not ask to be sent for treatment overseas; all
he asked was his traditional medicine that had proved so
effective after years of struggle with asthma!
Nor must we omit the manner of Buhari coming to power and
the pattern of his ‘corrective’ rule. Shagari’s NPN had already
run out of steam and was near universally detested – except of
course by the handful that still benefited from that regime of
profligacy and rabid fascism. Responsibility for the national
condition lay squarely at the door of the ruling party, obviously,
but against whom was Buhari’s coup staged? Judging by the
conduct of that regime, it was not against Shagari’s government
but against the opposition. The head of government, on whom
primary responsibility lay, was Shehu Shagari. Yet that
individual was kept in cozy house detention in Ikoyi while his
powerless deputy, Alex Ekwueme, was locked up in Kiri-kiri
prisons. Such was the Buhari notion of equitable apportionment
of guilt and/or responsibility.
And then the cascade of escapes of the wanted, and culpable
politicians. Manhunts across the length and breadth of the
nation, roadblocks everywhere and borders tight as steel zip
locks. Lo and behold, the chairman of the party, Chief Akinloye,
strolled out coolly across the border. Richard Akinjide, Legal
Protector of the ruling party, slipped out with equal ease. The
Rice Minister, Umaru Dikko, who declared that Nigerians were
yet to eat from dustbins – escaped through the same airtight
dragnet. The clumsy attempt to crate him home was punishment
for his ingratitude, since he went berserk when, after waiting in
vain, he concluded that the coup had not been staged, after all,
for the immediate consolidation of the party of extreme right-
wing vultures, but for the military hyenas.
The case of the overbearing Secretary-Gener al of the party, Uba
Ahmed, was even more noxious. Uba Ahmed was out of the
country at the time. Despite the closure of the Nigerian airspace,
he compelled the pilot of his plane to demand special landing
permission, since his passenger load included the almighty Uba
Ahmed. Of course, he had not known of the change in his status
since he was airborne. The delighted airport commandant,
realizing that he had a much valued fish swimming willingly
into a waiting net, approved the request. Uba Ahmed
disembarked into the arms of a military guard and was promptly
clamped in detention. Incredibly, he vanished a few days after
and reappeared in safety overseas. Those whose memories have
become calcified should explore the media coverage of that
saga. Buhari was asked to explain the vanished act of this much
prized quarry and his response was one of the most arrogant
levity. Coming from one who had shot his way into power on
the slogan of ‘dis’pline’, it was nothing short of impudent.
Shall we revisit the tragicomic series of trials that landed several
politicians several lifetimes in prison? Recall, if you please, the
‘judicial’ processes undergone by the septuagenarian Chief
Adekunle Ajasin. He was arraigned and tried before Buhari’s
punitive tribunal but acquitted. Dissatisfied, Buhari ordered his
re-trial. Again, the Tribunal could not find this man guilty of a
single crime, so once again he was returned for trial, only to be
acquitted of all charges of corruption or abuse of office. Was
Chief Ajasin thereby released? No! He was ordered detained
indefinitely, simply for the crime of winning an election and
refusing to knuckle under Buhari’s reign of terror.
The conduct of the Buhari regime after his coup was not merely
one of double, triple, multiple standards but a cynical travesty of
justice. Audu Ogbeh, currently chairman of the Action Congress
was one of the few figures of rectitude within the NPN. Just as
he has done in recent times with the PDP, he played the role of
an internal critic and reformer, warning, dissenting, and setting
an example of probity within his ministry. For that crime he
spent months in unjust incarceration. Guilty by association?
Well, if that was the motivating yardstick of the administration
of the Buhari justice, then it was most selectively applied. The utmost severity of the Buhari-Idiagbon justice was especially
reserved either for the opposition in general, or for those within the ruling party who had showed the sheerest sense of
responsibility and patriotism.
Shall I remind this nation of Buhari’s deliberate humiliating
treatment of the Emir of Kano and the Oni of Ife over their visit
to the state of Israel? I hold no brief for traditional rulers and
their relationship with governments, but insist on regarding them
as entitled to all the rights, privileges and responsibilitie s of any
Nigerian citizen. This royal duo went to Israel on their private
steam and private business. Simply because the Buhari regime
was pursuing some antagonistic foreign policy towards Israel, a
policy of which these traditional rulers were not a part, they
were subjected on their return to a treatment that could only be
described as a head masterly chastisement of errant pupils. Since
when, may one ask, did a free citizen of the Nigerian nation
require the permission of a head of state to visit a foreign nation
that was willing to offer that tourist a visa.?
One is only too aware that some Nigerians love to point to
Buhari’s agenda of discipline as the shining jewel in his scrap-
iron crown. To inculcate discipline however, one must lead by
example, obeying laws set down as guides to public probity.
Example speaks louder than declarations, and rulers cannot
exempt themselves from the disciplinary strictures imposed on
the overall polity, especially on any issue that seeks to establish
a policy for public well-being.
The story of the thirty something suitcases – it would appear that
they were even closer to fifty – found unavoidable mention in
my recent memoirs, YOU MUST SET FORTH AT DOWN,
written long before Buhari became spoken of as a credible
candidate. For the exercise of a changeover of the national
currency, the Nigerian borders – air, sea and land – had been
shut tight. Nothing was supposed to move in or out, not even
cattle egrets.
Yet a prominent camel was allowed through that needle’s eye.
Not only did Buhari dispatch his aide-de-camp, Jokolo – later to
become an emir – to facilitate the entry of those cases, he
ordered the redeployment – as I later discovered – of the
Customs Officer who stood firmly against the entry of the
contravening baggage. That officer, the former Vice-president is
now a rival candidate to Buhari, but has somehow, in the
meantime, earned a reputation that totally contradicts his
conduct at the time. Wherever the truth lies, it does not redound
to the credibility of the dictator of that time, General Buhari
whose word was law, but whose allegiances were clearly
negotiable.

Sincere 9gerian: Obviously the article was written few years back but the MESSAGE is still VERY RELEVANT.

For those who feign RECEPTIVE APHASIA, below are important quotes from the article:

1 "Buhari – need one remind anyone – was one of the generals who
treated a Commission of Enquiry, the Oputa Panel, with
unconcealed disdain. He (Buhari)
refused to put in appearance even though complaints that were
tabled against him involved a career of gross abuses of power
and blatant assault on the fundamental human rights of the
Nigerian citizenry"

2 "Does Decree 20 ring a bell? If not,
then, perhaps the names of three youths – Lawal Ojuolape(30),
Bernard Ogedengbe (29) and Bartholomew Owoh (26) do. To
put it quite plainly, one of those three – Ogedengbe – was
executed for a crime that did not carry a capital forfeit at the
time it was committed. This was an unconscionable crime,
carried out in defiance of the pleas and protests of nearly every
sector of the Nigerian and international community – religious,
civil rights, political, trade unions etc"

3 "Not
content with hammering down the freedom of expression in
general terms, Buhari specifically forbade all public discussion
of a return to civilian, democratic rule"

4 "Buhari enslaved the
nation. He gloated and gloried in a master-slave relation to the
millions of its inhabitants. It is astonishing to find that the same
former slaves, now free of their chains, should clamour to be
ruled by one who not only turned their nation into a slave
plantation, but forbade them any discussion of their condition"

5 "So Tai Solarin is already forgotten? Tai who stood at street
corners, fearlessly distributing leaflets that took up the gauntlet
where the media had dropped it. Tai who was incarcerated by
that regime and denied even the medication for his asthmatic
condition? Tai did not ask to be sent for treatment overseas; all
he asked was his traditional medicine that had proved so
effective after years of struggle with asthma!"

6 "The head of government, on whom
primary responsibility lay, was Shehu Shagari. Yet that
individual was kept in cozy house detention in Ikoyi while his
powerless deputy, Alex Ekwueme, was locked up in Kiri-kiri
prisons. Such was the Buhari notion of equitable apportionment
of guilt and/or responsibility"

7 "The
Rice Minister, Umaru Dikko, who declared that Nigerians were
yet to eat from dustbins – escaped through the same airtight
dragnet. The clumsy attempt to crate him home was punishment
for his ingratitude, since he went berserk when, after waiting in
vain, he concluded that the coup had not been staged, after all,
for the immediate consolidation of the party of extreme right-
wing vultures, but for the military hyenas"

8 "Recall, if you please, the
‘judicial’ processes undergone by the septuagenarian Chief
Adekunle Ajasin. He was arraigned and tried before Buhari’s
punitive tribunal but acquitted. Dissatisfied, Buhari ordered his
re-trial. Again, the Tribunal could not find this man guilty of a
single crime, so once again hewas returned for trial, only to be
acquitted of all charges of corruption or abuse of office. Was
Chief Ajasin thereby released? No! He was ordered detained
indefinitely, simply for the crime of winning an election and
refusing to knuckle under Buhari’s reign of terror"

9 "The story of the thirty something suitcases – it would appear that
they were even closer to fifty – found unavoidable mention in
my recent memoirs, YOU MUST SET FORTH AT DOWN,
written long before Buhari became spoken of as a credible
candidate. For the exercise of a changeover of the national
currency, the Nigerian borders – air, sea and land – had been
shut tight. Nothing was supposed to move in or out, not even
cattle egrets.
Yet a prominent camel was allowed through that needle’s eye.
Not only did Buhari dispatch his aide-de-camp, Jokolo – later to
become an emir – to facilitate the entry of those cases, he
ordered the redeployment – as I later discovered – of the
Customs Officer who stood firmly against the entry of the
contravening baggage"

10 "The grounds on which General Buhari is being promoted as the
alternative choice are not only shaky, but pitifully naive. HISTORY MATTERS. Records are not kept simply to assist the weakness of
memory, but to operate as guides to the future"

noblezone:

Thanks for the grate job.

Buhari and his likes can shed blood (may be it will be his tears of blood that will soak "the dogs and the baboons), but he will never rule Nigeria again. The blood thirsty General, should go home and weep for his crimes against humanity.

Once again, I advice southerners living in the North to come home!
Nigeria is on a brink and blood thirsty old men like Buhari whose thirst for blood surpasses those of witches will push the country beyond the brink!

Wadeoye:

The first line discouraged me...

noblezone:

Sincere apologies!
This language is not ours and besides, it is advisable to always proof read but then, sometimes we don't have all the time.
I have corrected it.

thanks all the same.

rafhell: It is a big pity that most nigerians are too blind, dumb and stupid to know this evil man called buhari.
Smh for them.

madam_oringo:

How many years ago was this write up? I don't hope brief for Buhari but in a matchup with the corrupt retardeen monster, he wins completely!

doncaster: @wadeoye,
How can the Oputa panel findings implemented when the key figures did not appear. Ok from the write up you only saw the disregard of Buhari towards the Oputa pane but you did not see the three names of your kingsmen that was murdered by Buhari. You must be a blind bat.

If this article is against GEJ this thread must have reached 20 pages by now.