dele.momodu@thisdaylive.com
Fellow Nigerians, miracles shall never end. That
is the only way to describe the incredible story
of Major General Muhammadu Buhari at this
auspicious moment. No one could have
envisaged or foretold the huge drama being
enacted before our very eyes. It was not as if
his popularity and cult-followership was ever in
doubt but the general belief and assumption was
that it was dominantly limited and restricted to a
particular section or region of Nigeria. What was
never expected was a cross-over appeal to all
areas and segments of our nation.
Buhari’s fate as a perennial contestant was
supposed to have been sealed by many
debilitating factors. The first and most crucial till
this day is on account of his odoriferous
reputation as a coup plotter and rabidly
draconian dictator who appeared mercilessly
vengeful. Depending on whom you talked to in
the past, Buhari conjured different images to
varied people. Some saw him as an Angel who
represented a sword of Damocles to the wicked
and reckless politicians who wreaked havoc on
Nigeria’s economy and wrecked the collective
future of our citizens. But to others, he was a
Luciferous character who must have escaped
from the pit of hell to haunt God’s creatures on
planet earth.
I will not attempt to bore you with well-rehashed
tales of his cardinal sins, both real and imagined.
They are in the realm of fables and mythology
and already in public domain courtesy of his
opponents and unrelenting attackers. But one
can never gloss over the allegations of religious
bias and intolerance. If possible, many would
want us to see and hold Buhari as Nigeria’s
version of Osama bin Laden who was regarded
as the world’s most notorious terrorist. Buhari
would forever bear the cross of ever defending
his personal faith and the interests of his
Northern people like most of us would normally
do. Many quotable quotes have been ascribed to
him but most have never been properly validated
by his accusers thus casting doubts on the
veracity of those vituperations.
The last but not the least albatross against
Buhari is the matter of old age. I must confess
that I belong in the category of the vociferous
proponents of sacking most of our ancient
leaders and replacing them with young and
vibrant whizzkids.
I must sincerely thank the media and publicity
committee of the People’s Democratic Party for
finding my past comments and stance on Buhari
so important and worthy of sponsored
countervailing advertorials in several newspapers
and social media platforms. They were generous
enough to put me in good company by attaching
me to accomplished Nigerians such as Asiwaju
Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Mallam Nasir El Rufai.
On a serious note, it was such a great honour
seeing all manner of caricatures about me
including the one stuffing my brains with
noodles.
The truth is that I, like many other Nigerians,
was a veritable victim of the almost
unprecedented propaganda against Buhari. In my
purview, the definition of propaganda is not
about telling lies but an attempt to magnify non-
fiction until it becomes what the famous author
Kole Omotoso called “faction”, when you mix
facts with fiction. The demonization of Buhari
was therefore a fait accompli emanating from the
many years of ferocious regurgitation of his
supposed misdemeanours. But, still, I would
never have imagined that a day would come
when I, and so many former antagonists of
Buhari, would not only change my mind about
this walking firebrand but actually plunge myself
fully into his presidential campaign while not
being a member of his political party. Strange
are the ways of God indeed.
In my nearly 55 years on earth, this is the
second time I would witness a complete
transfiguration of a Nigerian from being most
hated to most loved. My first recollection was in
1988 as I searched frantically for a job. My
dream then had been to get a teaching
appointment after concluding a Master’s degree
in Literature-in-English at the great Obafemi
Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I was already
contributing articles on the opinion pages of The
Guardian which was edited by Odia Ofeimun and
The Sunday Tribune, edited by Folu Olamiti. I
was then subsequently invited by my friend,
Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, a prodigiously gifted
journalist, to try my luck in Lagos. He tried to get
me a job at the African Guardian, edited by
Nduka Irabor, but wasn’t successful.
Onukaba then suggested that I should try the
African Concord magazine, owned by Chief
Moshood Abiola and edited by Lewis Obi but I
was most reluctant. Just imagine that though I
was desperately in need of a job, but I was not
very keen about working in the Concord Group.
You, like me, will laugh at my reasons now. I
was discouraged by so many things I had read
or heard about the fabulously wealthy ‘Money
Kudi Owo’ Abiola, who was supposed to have
been the biggest thief in Africa, courtesy of
Fela’s album, ITT, International Thief Thief. That
song had done incalculable damage to Chief
Abiola as many self-righteous people, including
myself, completely tuned off the man.
I remember very vividly how there was a war of
words between the Awoists (who believed the
support of Chief Abiola, a Yoruba, for the
National Party of Nigeria was partly responsioble
for robbing Chief Obafemi Awolowo of victory
against Alhaji Shehu Shagari who won the
Presidential election in 1979) and the Abiola
supporters who felt there was nothing wrong in
Yorubas belonging to opposing parties. The
Nigerian Tribune had fiery writers led by Chief
Olabisi Onabanjo, Ebenezer Babatope (aka Ebino
Topsy) while The Concord Group assembled
some of Nigeria’s finest journalists including
Doyin Abiola, Dele Giwa, Ray Ekpu, Yakubu
Muhammed, Duro Onabule, Sina Adedipe and so
many others. The columnists of both rival papers
tackled themselves endless and joined issues on
various national and personal matters. Of
particular interest to me was a columnist
popularly known as Abiodun Aloba (also known
as Ebenezer Williams) who wrote so brilliantly
that I asked God for his kind of diction.
In the middle of all this confusion, I would have
preferred to work in the less controversial and
highly cerebral environment of The Guardian but
here I was being asked to try my luck at the
African Concord. I had imagined all sorts about
having to work in a religious conclave, all the
restrictions, prejudices, and so on, but the real
fear of hunger was the beginning of wisdom for
me. I approached Mr Lewis Obi as suggested by
Onukaba who introduced us and was shocked
that I got a job on the spot. I had to plead with
him to let me resume in another two weeks as I
needed to return to Ile-Ife for proper preparation
for this journey of a lifetime. The rest is history!
The meat of this story is that I resumed work on
May 2, 1988, about fourteen days to my 28th
birthday. But contrary to my mortal fears, The
Concord Group was one of the most relaxed and
pleasant companies I would ever work. It was by
far the biggest media conglomerate in Nigeria.
Chief Abiola rarely came around but he breezed
in every now and then and everyone felt the
tremor of his presence as well as the aftershocks
after he’s been long gone. The Concord titles did
not discriminate against any tribe or religion. I
won’t be surprised if most of us were Christians.
The most senior employees paraded a galaxy of
more Christians than Moslems. We had a bush
Canteen within the premises where we were
allowed to eat or drink even alcohol as
journalists love to do. Our Chairman avoided the
News Room as much as possible because he
was certain to be welcomed by some whiff of
cigarette smoke.
Based on the much vaunted alleged prejudices of
the owner, Chief MKO Abiola, I tried very hard to
find out any shade of religious intolerance but
never found one. He was not a saint but he
towered above many of his peers. His love for
the poor marked him apart from others. He lived
for the needy and touched too many lives. He
had attended a Christian school, Baptist Boys
High School, Abeokuta, and could recite Biblical
passages by rote. He attended church services
when required to do so and even sang Christian
hymns from memory at my wedding in 1992. It
was a great lesson for me that we can all
misconstrue many things based on rumours and
gossip without seeking to ascertain the factual
reality.
Chief Abiola worked assiduously at turning
around the wrong impressions about him. Not
everyone ever gets that lucky. It takes a lot to
change human misperceptions. Many are often
too rigid and too set in their ways. As Abiola
himself used to say, the deaf always repeats the
last songs he heard before he lost his hearing. It
was one of those miraculous occurrences that
Abiola was eventually able to endear himself to
Nigerians from all works of lives. The secret of
his larger-than-life image was quite simple. He
never disconnected himself totally from the poor
even as he wined and dined with the rich and
famous. It is a lesson I hold very dear. Abiola
was ready to fight the cause of the common
man despite belonging to the oppressor class
himself. The ability to relate to both with equal
competence was uncommon. The truth is he
never forgot his humble beginnings and made
sure that this reflected in the way he related with
all manner of people.
I wasn’t surprised when he returned from his
self-imposed political sabbatical and jumped into
the fray in 1993. He had bided his time and knew
when to make the right move. Ordinary Nigerians
responded in kind and in sincere appreciation of
his genuinely generous gestures. Even the elites
who initially viewed him with suspicion and likely
disdain finally embraced him warts and all as
the most unlikely man became so radicalised
that he became a symbol of our struggle for
democracy and good governance. Ironically,
Fela’s Brother, Beekololari Ransome-Kuti joined
in that epic battle, and likewise many who were
never fans of Abiola.
As I watch events unfold around Major General
Buhari today, I just can’t help but draw some
comparison and highlight the similarities
between the People’s General and Abiola, the
only difference being that Buhari cannot by any
stretch of the imagination be called a wealthy
man. Both men had powerful enemies. They were
assumed to be religious bigots. Although, Abiola
was a Yoruba man it was felt that he was too
partial to the North as is the wrong perception
of General Buhari’s parochial feelings for his
home region. They derived their power from the
poor. Their passion for Nigeria could never be in
doubt. Abiola was rejected by the political class
resoundingly just like Buhari has not been able
to win the presidential election a record third
time. However, like Abiola, Buhari seems to have
gotten his groove finally and disabused the
Nigerian public of these erroneous views and
opinions.
This deal was finally saved and delivered at The
Chatham House, London on February 26, 2015.
At a public lecture which he delivered at that
world renowned venue, Buhari mesmerised the
world with his presence, carriage, and childlike
innocence. He did not pretend to be who he
wasn’t. It was such a glorious moment as he
introduced himself as a former dictator turned
reformed democrat. He spoke calmly and firmly
in front of a distinguished audience. He answered
the questions fired at him with candour, sincerity
and common-sense. Many were shocked to see
a Buhari they thought they knew but didn’t
know. Standing before the world was a man
whose image was falsely that of a Muslim
fundamentalist, stark illiterate, aged and tired
soldier, wicked and miserable soul, hypnotising
everyone with his carefully chosen but intelligent
words coupled with great wit and humour. This
was a truly transfigured Buhari, who certainly
has a date with history and it is certainly only a
matter of time before he gets his well-deserved
apotheosis.

very thoughtful

well written thumbs up uncle dele