On October 29, 2014, Muhammadu Buhari, while commenting on the defection of the then Speaker of the House of Representatives said, “I will like to thank Aminu Tambuwal for what he did yesterday (defecting from PDP). Taking such a remarkable risk and sending everybody on holidays till December is an achievement”.
Muhammadu Buhari was referring to the deft move by the then Speaker, who after cross carpeting, sent the House on recess so that no work could be done on the 2015 budget and no legislative activity could take place.
The then Speaker, and those of his colleagues who had joined him to defect from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress, wanted to be able to focus on taking down the Peoples Democratic Party.
Fast forward to July 24, 2018, and the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, announced the defection of 14 All Progressives Congress Senators to the Peoples Democratic Party, and immediately after, he adjourned plenary to September 25, 2018, effectively placing on hold many urgent and important lending matters President Buhari has before the Senate.
When I read an appeal by the All Progressives Congress to the Senate begging the institution to reconsider its decision, I laughed because the chickens have come home to roost and the owners of the poultry are not happy with the outcome of the hens they have fed.
36 APC members of the House of Representatives had also followed suit and defected to the PDP. The house that APC’s propaganda built was being unraveled right before their eyes. President Buhari went into reactionary mode and along with the combative new Chairman of the APC, Adams Oshiomhole, started meeting the remaining APC Legislators to try to exact some form of loyalty commitment from them. The ruling party was in full panic mode.
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This behaviour was in sharp contrast to their celebratory mode of 2014 when the APC applauded legislators for defecting from the PDP to the APC.
If Nigerians can remember very well, at that time, the APC released a statement not only to applaud the defection of PDP legislators to the APC, but went further to call on its legislators, who were now in the majority, to block all legislation, including the 2014 budget.
It was obvious that the defections shook the Buhari government and distracted them because a day after the defection of the legislators, some Nigerian troops who were recently killed by Boko Haram were buried and photos of their mass burial surfaced. These men paid the ultimate price for Nigeria. Not one word appreciating them or comforting their families from President Buhari. But in one hour, Buhari responded to the defecting APC senators!
When a commander-in-chief behaves like this, how do you want our troops to have a high morale? The Buhari administration has shown its priority. It is power for themselves, not service to Nigerians!
And the new APC Chairman was trying to put up a bold face. After a meeting with President Buhari on the day the defections took place, Mr. Oshiomhole said that he would not lose any sleep over the 15 senators and 36 members of the House of Representatives that defected to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and described them as ‘big masquerades with no electoral value’. That reaction from the APC Chairman begged the question
Does Oshiomhole reason or is it the Lara effect that is affecting his judgment? Three days before making that statement, he was begging r-APC members not to leave. Two days before his reaction, he said he was not too proud to beg intending defectors.
Now on the day they left he calls them ‘mercenaries’ and says he is happy they left! Which is it? How can you be happy that they left when you went to their individual houses to beg them? Even Buhari met with Kwankwaso to beg him not to go. This is what happens when an old man marries his daughter’s age mate. He starts talking like a small boy!
And what was the complaint of the defectors? Why did they leave the APC? They gave almost exactly the same reasons as the legislators who defected gave in 2014 when they defected from the PDP to the APC. They cited the factionalism within the party and the shoddy treatment meted out to them.
This reminds me of the words then President Jonathan spoke on April 30, 2015 during the submission by the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation of its report on the 2015 general election at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
At that time, Dr. Jonathan had said, “I will encourage members of our party to remain faithful, not to be so disillusioned because we lost the presidential election and you decide to go to where you feel they will fill your stomach. Every PDP defector will return with EMPTY STOMACH”. Is Goodluck Jonathan a prophet or what!!!
As the APC house of propaganda falls apart, the truth remains that Buhari destroyed the APC with his own hand. How could he bring a labour leader, like Adams Oshiomhole, to head his party? Look at how the man has been acting. Barely a week old in the party and there is already so much turbulence around him.
Picking fights with the minister of Labour, Dr. Chris Ngige, threatening members with suspension. Applying coercion, instead of convincing members, wanting to correct members before he has had a chance to connect with them. Deriving authority from his office not his morals. Oshiomhole does not understand that unionism is a different kettle of fish from party leadership. Labour leaders may order union workers about.
A party chairman builds consensus by giving and taking. Oshiomhole was a huge mistake! And Oshiomhole made the classic mistake that many people who got power on the back of a strong man make. He thought he could strengthen his hold on power by being sycophantic to President Buhari instead of by reaching out to the party rank and file.
For instance, how could Oshiomhole call Buhari, an eccentric, power-crazed man with a very low mentality and very high pomposity, a man with a fatherly disposition? A man who thinks that all other Nigerians (including most definitely Oshiomhole) are corrupt and he is the only clean one!
A man whose army killed 347 Shiite men, women, children and infants? But the long and short of it all is that the current happenings in Nigeria are a vindication of the principle found in Galatians 6:7 which states: Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.
The APC sowed the wind in 2014, today they are reaping the whirlwind. They sowed propaganda in 2014, today they are reaping proper evil agenda. They sowed defection in 2014, today they are reaping the mother of all defections (which has only just begun).
Every obstacle that they put in Jonathan’s way in 2014 is coming back to them double in 2018. And no one should feel sorry for them.
Rather, people should learn from them because the evil that men do no longer lives after them.Nowadays, it lives with them! And the wind of change is not just blowing in the National Assembly. All over the country, Nigerians are showing that they are tired of President Buhari.
I believe it was just a week ago that Bishop David Oyedepo of Living Faith Church said thus to President Buhari without mincing words “that is my message to Mr. President, resign! Go!” President Buhari should see the thunderous applause that spontaneously erupted after Bishop Oyedepo called for his resignation as a warning. Bishop Oyedepo does not talk anyhow. It is no coincidence that he announced prayers last week and things began happening the next day!
Anybody that does not want Nigeria to rest shall be laid to rest. God is no respecter of persons. If you make yourself a menace in the palace, don’t be surprised when you are democratically rejected and ejected! A leader that pets killer herdsmen and threatens peaceful herdsmen is our history not our story Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2018/07/god-not-mocked-whatsoever-apc-sowed-so-shall-it-reap-reno/ 1 Like |
