₦airaland Forum

criminalmindz:
VOTE WISELLY

Letter to Buhari from the grave of the innocents –
By Bashir Yusufu
Dear General Buhari; I would’ve addressed this letter privately to you, but in the expectation that you may not receive it, I decided to make it an Open Letter, in the hope that you would stumble on it, read it and hopefully feel some of the pains and anguish that have been my lot. Having said that, permit me therefore to proceed with the rest of this missive from the grave of innocents departed.
Last night, while I was at my modest home in Katsina, relaxing and probably half-awake, I heard the voice of my cousin who was killed in the North in April 2011 during the post-election violence instigated by your loss of the presidential election. With bloodshot sad eyes, my cousin, looking apparition-like, was wailing “Gen Buhari, why why”. My cousin’s name is (or was) Mallam Yusuf Danfulani, a bright young lad originally from Katsina State, who was slaughtered in cold blood and set on fire by youths chanting “Sai Buhari”, like they are again now chanting in 2015.
Gen Buhari, in case you have forgotten, Yusuf was slaughtered in your name even though he never did any wrong to you, and even voted for you against Dr Jonathan. He lost his life just because the murderers you encouraged by your many hate speeches believed Yusuf to be from middle belt or southern Nigeria, most probably because of his bulky looks and brave, patriotic attempts to prevent the killing of an innocent Youth Corper, Ukeoma Ikechukwu. Even though he cried out in Hausa and Fulfulde, he was still not believed by those you (Buhari) managed to brainwash to see all non-Fulani Nigerians as conspiring to vote against you. In this very case, Yusuf voted for you but his ‘Sai Buhari’ killers never believed he did. Like you, Gen Buhari, the mob was baying for the blood of innocents.
If not for Yusuf’s best friend who was with him and was himself nearly killed, we would not have recognized his charred body that was burnt beyond recognition. And thanks to the same friend for recounting to us the little he could make out at the last moments of Yusuf’s life, the agony he passed through and the most important words he uttered before he gave up. It is the same words I heard him utter last night from the grave: ‘Gen Buhari, why why’. Yet, to this day, you (Buhari) have not cared to apologize or show any remorse, but you instead offered lame excuses for the bloodletting you had instigated, and still instigate. I now ask you this: Gen Buhari, must you always shade blood, like you started doing from 1983, to rule Nigeria? Do you recall how you killed Brigadier Bako in 1983 just so you could take power by force from Shehu Shagari?
General Buhari, Ukeoma Ikechukwu himself was reported missing that same day Yusuf was murdered by your supporters, and finally confirmed dead the following day when his charred remains was discovered in a hooded area. Apparently, your supporters had dragged him out of the open and tortured him before finally snuffing life out of him. Like my cousin, Yusuf, Ukeoma was very young and an innocent. Unlike Dr. Jonathan, they were not contesting against you. Yet, when they were killed, part of Nigeria was killed with them; the same Nigeria that you are now angrily campaigning to rule.
Yusuf and Ukeoma were not alone. Six other innocent Youth Corpers were also murdered in Bauchi, where you Buhari, polled 1,315,209 votes (almost 82 per cent), defeating Dr Jonathan who scored 258,404 votes and did not even hit the 25 per cent mark. The corps members were reportedly chased to a police station where they sought refuge. But the rioters, who were raving mad with bloodlust and chanting “Sai Buhari”, overran the station and murdered the young Nigerians in cold blood. So, Gen Buhari, as you can see from the Bauchi result and it’s aftermath, your supporters even shade blood when you win; still you have no qualms. Today, you are prancing around the nation, arrogant and angry as usual, behaving like you have already won the election; and thus setting up another bloodletting if you are not announced winner.
The story of Obinna Okpokiri is as heart-wrenching as Yusuf’s. The 27-year-old was butchered and burnt to ashes, in the service of his fatherland. Okpokiri’s own circumstances were as gruesome as they could be. He had run to the Corpers’ Lodge as the rampaging ‘Sai Buhari’ rioters targeted Youth Corper polling officers recruited by INEC for the election. As painful death loomed, the young Nigerians contemplated fleeing to the barracks. But they were not lucky enough. Your ‘Sai Buhari’ supporters caught up with them, slaughtered and set them on fire. Like Yusuf, these innocents are human beings and future leaders on the last laps of fulfilling their national duty before moving on to a bright future. But it was not to be because, in your name, Gen Buhari, they were slaughtered, sliced, soaked in petrol and scorched. Reduced to ashes in minutes and in the most callous fashion by those that are not better citizens or humans than them.
General Buhari, while you are now busy inciting another violence, please bear in mind that in 2011, your supporters turned violent in whole 12 northern states as they burned the homes, vehicles, and properties of innocent Nigerians, some of whom are also Muslims and Northerners like you and my cousin Yusuf. Your ‘Sai Buhari’ supporters also targeted and killed Christians and members of southern Nigerian ethnic groups, who were seen as supporting the PDP, and they burnt churches across the north. One particular attack in Bauchi stood out as most heart-breaking. According to Human Rights Watch, on April 17 in Giade, a rural town in northern Bauchi, ‘Sai Buhari’ mobs attacked youth corps members in the town. The Corpers, who were mostly from Yoruba, ran to the local police station to seek refuge, but the mobs stormed the police station. The mob killed the police officer on duty and burned down the police station. They raped two of the female youth corps members and then hacked them to death with machetes, along with five male youth corps members. In total, rioters killed ten youth corps members in that town alone.
A lecturer at the Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria, Kaduna State, described to Human Rights Watch how a mob of Muslims chanting “Change, Sai Buhari” attacked and killed several Christian students, a Christian lecturer and four Muslim students suspected of being PDP sympathizers on April 17: He said “Between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m., they entered the school chanting slogans and shouting: “Where are the Christians and Muslims that supported the ruling party?” They had painted their faces black and were shouting that they needed “change”, the Congress for Progressive Change campaign slogan. The mob had all sorts of weapons – machetes, sticks, and clubs. They started breaking the glass on the buildings. The students ran away but the mob pursued them into the staff quarters and they had nowhere to go. The mob beat them to death. The lecturer they killed was Yoruba“.
Finally, Gen Buhari, let me end this letter by asking you this question: When are you going to apologize to me, to Yusuf’s aged parents, to Ukeoma’s parents, to parents of all innocents murdered by your brainwashed supporters, to Nigeria and to mankind? And here is Yusuf again, asking you from the grave: “Gen Buhari, why why”.
Bashir Yusufu.
yusufubashir@yahoo.com

siraj1402:
Little time you same person will be preaching that Jonathan needs respect.That post deserve more respect only if you know.Precedent post is just for 4 years or max of 8 years.Show little respect.

Omooba77:
Please respect his position sir

Omooba77:
I beg warn them not to abuse our Emir oh

Eluwilussit:
For starters, na me give you that like. Lol. Talking about the PwC report, if I am not mistaken, we were told that less than 2B was not remitted to FG. I can't tell you if they were right or wrong.

My emphasis has been on the figures that kept changing from sanusi's office. I am only pointing out that SLS did a shoddy job and was in a haste to discredit the FG and Jonathan. I believe that he did it to smear his reputation. The moment SLS changed those figures, his credibility became questionable. There's nothing like innuendo, sentiment or speculation here. If you must accuse anyone of those three, then it should be SLS.

In evidential law, the moment the evidence is tampered with, it is no longer tenable. How do you go from $49b to $10b and finally to $20b, and expect any rational being to take you serious? Which figure do we accuse FG and NNPC of misappropriating? 49, 10 or 20?

Sanusi was wrong in accusing them without doing his homework well. I don't care how much is missing but as CBN gov, I expected a meticulous approach and due diligence from SLS before going to the media to rubbish the FG. It shows a hidden agenda.

nickxtra:
#ShowUsAuditReport. Join the movement to beg NNPC to publish the Audit Report. Nigerians are no fool.

VolvoS60:
^^^^
Your comment about the PwC report goes to the heart of the matter. That report has the information that will put this matter to rest OR perhaps lead to even more controversy. But we don't know which of these two roads we will take because the Jonathan administration has sat on the report and refused to release it to the public. Instead we are being given the information piecemeal. Are we children?

I have read some unbelievable news reports about the reasons a Federal Minister allegedly gave in February for the report not being released so far - something about the report being a potential campaign tool for the opposition against the Jonathan administration. Is that a tenable reason? Would you accept that reason from little children if you were investigating some minor infraction in your home? Why should you accept it from a Minister of the Republic?

I have tried to follow this NNPC matter quite closely since the news first broke. First of all, I am not aware of the former CBN governor going to the media to 'rubbish the FG'. He wrote a confidential memo to the President and that memo was leaked by I do not know whom. That was how the information first got into the public domain. Second - yes the NNPC remittance figures have not been constant and that may have had some effect on SLS's credibility. But it is precisely because there is no clarity on the affairs of the NNPC that all of us (and not just SLS) need to have access to full information on this matter. In a press interview granted when this news first broke, SLS stated that the NNPC had not been audited since 2005. Is this best practice for a sole proprietor, not to talk of a state owned enterprise with billion dollar budgets?

You devoted the bulk of your post to rebuking the former CBN governor for the constantly changing figures in this saga. Noted. What Nigerians need now is full access to the PwC report. Mr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi's work as a whistleblower is done. It is up to Nigerians to take up the matter from here. GEJ, release the PwC report. Now!

theoctopus:
$1.4b is not missing. Please get proper education and stop talking nonsense. The report never said $1.4b is missing. Please correct yourself before you become like Sanusi

iyobs7:
Nigerians are fools especially your type, did you ask Sanusi to show you evidence or maybe the proof to buttress his allegations?
Yes you are a big fool

iyobs7:
Did you shout like this for Sanusi to release evidentary report to support his claims? When you all heard of the $20 billion, it became your song, GEJ where is our $20billion now the incompetent, wayward and irresponsible Sanusi has been found lacking in professional practices and competency, now you need the report before you can shove your pride and shame down your throat. In a sane society, after making such unfounded allegations, he'll bow out in shame, but even when he was sacked, he had the guts to say he was removed because he was trying to uncover the truth about NNPC when in earnest, he was just propagating lies and hatred. Jonathan really impressed me by sacking him because it strips him of benefits of a retired civil servant and to a great deal, civil servant of such an office...

Lubbish...

iyobs7:
Did you shout like this for Sanusi to release evidentary report to support his claims? When you all heard of the $20 billion, it became your song, GEJ where is our $20billion now the incompetent, wayward and irresponsible Sanusi has been found lacking in professional practices and competency, now you need the report before you can shove your pride and shame down your throat. In a sane society, after making such unfounded allegations, he'll bow out in shame, but even when he was sacked, he had the guts to say he was removed because he was trying to uncover the truth about NNPC when in earnest, he was just propagating lies and hatred. Jonathan really impressed me by sacking him because it strips him of benefits of a retired civil servant and to a great deal, civil servant of such an office...

Lubbish...

Eluwilussit:
My stand on Sanusi is from a very intellectual point of view.

Eluwilussit:
If you check SLS entry into the banking system, his qualifications, his rise to the position of CBN gov, you will wonder why and how he got there. You mentioned the consolidation job he did in the banking industry: he did a good job. Kudos to him. But if you look deeper into it, who were the beneficiaries of his actions and who were the victims? Are you saying we should accept his unverifiable allegations based on his reputation alone, instead of facts? If we were to go by the totality of his past reputation, he wouldn't even get to a GM of any bank, not to talk of CBN gov.

Eluwilussit:
We have been told and it has been proven that as CBN gov, he donated tens of billions of naira at numerous times to institutions and projects in the north, while spending less that 1billion in the entire south. What does that tell you?

Eluwilussit:
My main issue is not any of the aforementioned. My problem with SLS, is that I can't understand how the number 1 figure in our national financial life, could come out with unverified figures, hastily to discredit the FG and NNPC. It appears to me that SLS, was involved in some type of smear campaign. If he was genuine, he should have brought it to the notice of his pay master. That would have been the honourable thing to do. Then if his boss didn't wanna do anything about it, he would take the path of honour and resign.

Why didn't this paragon of virtue and intellect resign his position in protest? Why did this financial sage decide to wait to be fired? Why did he run to the courts? Why is he hiding under the emirate to accuse the FG, instead of apologizing to the nigerian people?

Sanusi is the emir of Kano: this position is highly respectable. I hope he can understand that he's no longer and ordinary nigerian, and should be careful of what he says or does. I hope his actions will not bring disrepute to this highly esteemed seat. God bless all of us.

babestella:
Sanusi is a royal palace clown. He should come up with paper verifiable evidence of how the money left the banks and it's destination. At his level he should know that there are still very sensible Nigerians who will not believe his trashy stories just to blackmail the executive. In conclusion, he planted this story to grant a leeway for their candidate whose educational qualification is also in dispute as we speak.

tuborme:
And you keep abusing our president?

agabaI23:
The way you have been respecting the president? I guess the Emir is higher than the president now

VolvoS60:
^^^^
No comment.





^^^^
Your comments above are neither here nor there. What do you mean by 'beneficiaries and victims of his actions'? You need to explain further.
Your other comment about 'going by the totality of his past reputation, he wouldn't even get to a GM of any bank, not to talk of CBN gov' is rather strange. Correct me if I am wrong but Mr. Sanusi Lamido seems to have worked in senior management for a certain United Bank for Africa Plc and a certain First Bank of Nigeria Plc - you may or may not have heard of these banks. Rumour even has it that he was the Group MD/CEO at First Bank before his appointment as CBN governor.






^^^^
You need to provide proof. Provide the evidence to support your claims. Remember you are making the allegations here and the beautiful thing about it is that information about the CSR activities of the CBN is in the public domain. We are waiting.






^^^
The solution is simple. Let the FG release the report so that the matter can be laid to rest or reinvigorated. Whatever the case, we cannot proceed until the Report is made public.

Your aim is clear. You want to create a diversion. But this isn't about SLS, whether you like it or not. GEJ commissioned that Report and he is duty bound to release its findings. Anything less is shortchanging the Nigerian public.

Omooba77:
Please respect his position sir

Eluwilussit:
If you think any of the things I said is false, the onus is on you to prove me wrong. It is you who should provide the counter-evidence. If you want me to dig into SLS history, then you are mistaken. SLS isn't very important at the moment.

I merely stated my stand on the $20b saga. I am simply interested in that figure. All I am saying is that a man in sanusi's position as CBN gov should have been much more careful with the figures. You don't change from one figure to another, in the same allegation. How's this so difficult for you to grasp?

You don't accuse mr A of stealing a fish and after you claim that mr A stole meat and not fish. If you know anything about law, you will know that the evidence is the most important part in prosecution. If the same evidence changes, then you must acquit.

I hope you remember the OJ Simpson case: "if the gloves don't fit, then you must acquit". In that case, the glove was part of the evidence and didn't fit into OJ's hands.

In the $20b saga, the figures don't fit, so to speak. SLS claimed $49b, then down to $10b and back to $20b. In my world, that's simply unacceptable. As soon as that figure changed, everything else is garbage.

If SLS couldn't get the facts/figures right before going to the press, then he didn't know his job. He was not as diligent as he should have been. He failed on that count.

VolvoS60:
^^^^
No sir. I did not say anything about the truth or falsehood of any of your claims or statements. You are the one who made a statement about a regional imbalance in CBN CSR expenditure. I simply asked you to provide evidence to support your claims. You were the one who made an allegation and the burden of proof lies on you. Not me.

You claim SLS isn't very important at the moment and yet you have devoted the bulk of your posts and counterposts to him. You keep harping on the initial figure quoted by the former CBN governor, since according to you, "as soon as that figure changed, everything else is
garbage".

You have roped yourself in with your own comments and your pseudo-intellectual claims about the law and how it works. According to you, evidence is the most important part in prosecution and if the same evidence changes then you must acquit". So what is the evidence in this case? Is it allegations made by SLS or the documentation/records about remittances made by the NNPC?

This debate is pointless. You may persist with your fixation on SLS and the figures he quoted initially. I have long moved on from that.

We ca agree to disagree.

Omooba77:
Im a great supporter of President GEJ

Eluwilussit:
I like the fact that you said we can agree to disagree. Sweet. Back to SLS, we have been going back and forth on his claims and allegations. If the documentations/records about remittances made by NNPC, were what SLS based his allegations on, then those are the evidences. And as long as the figures in those documentations/records have been changing, then the whole claim by SLS is garbage.

If you search NL, u will find a lot of posts on sls's activities. It is of no use for me to start digging into that at the moment. There are more urgent posts and issues that need our attention. When it was SLS time, we talked about him, bucketful. Don't make him more relevant than he is at the moment.

This week is about GMB/apc, GEJ/pdp and our elections. Thanks for not being overly abusive. I hope we can engage each other in other issues that concern our nation. Even when we are on the same page, we can always express our views from different angles.

Hope you are ready for the weekend? Waiting to watch some great football matches. Enjoy your weekend and feel free to buzz me whenever there's anything of interest on NL. Have a great day.

VolvoS60:
^^^
I must admit I had no intention of responding to your post but your tone has made me change my mind. The late Waziri Ibrahim of the defunct GNPP never tired of preaching the message of politics without bitterness - a lesson the current generation would do well to listen to. Even though you and I disagree very strongly on the direction this country is taking, our exchange has been largely civil. I respect you for that. It is my earnest hope and prayer that you see the light and understand that the current/previous PDP administrations (and the party that produced them) do not mean well and have never meant well for this country.

Regards.

Eluwilussit:
My brother, if you ever read my posts in the past, you will understand that I am not a pdp lover or APC hater. I don't like jonathan at all. My only issue has been Buhari. Why must we go back to the same set of military vagabonds that raped our democracy? First it was Obasanjo, now it is Buhari.

In other words, we are simply rewarding every past Coupist with the same democracy they swore to protect but turned around and destroyed through their coups. I never voted Obasanjo for the same reason.

I have never been a Jona advocate. I never believed in him. I still don't. The difference in my position on Jona today, is simply as a result of the choice of Buhari as the APC candidate. I can't understand why I should vote a non-democrat in a democracy.

Buhari can claim to be a changed man and a democrat, but that will simply be because he's alive and opportuned to make such a claim. The same offence he committed against our nation, was committed by the likes of Dimka, Orkah and others. They paid with their lives. Buhari succeeded where the others failed. That buhari's coup was a success, doesn't mean that it was not treason.

I don't like Jona but he's a democrat. And this is about democracy. I will rather put up with Jona's nonsense than cast my vote for a man like GMB. He's everything but a democrat. I don't trust his sudden change in antics, positions on issues and even his milder utterances.

Obasanjo was a humble and poor, dying farmer when they picked him up and made him the president in 1999. Today he sits in his Hilltop mansion and insult the people anytime and anyhow he likes. We should learn from history. We can't repeat the same mistake.

We need change. Buhari is not that change. The only sensible argument anyone has made so far was by Bakila and a few others. They claim that the need for change is just to show pdp that true power resides with the electorate. That's correct and I agree with that 100%. My only regret is that Buhari would be the true beneficiary of that change. I would rather have Atiku, Lamido, Fashola, Amaechi, Rochas, name them. Anybody but Buhari.

Don't even try to make me change my mind. I am a staunch democrat. No compromise. A dead democrat is better than a living despot. At least he won't mess things up.

VolvoS60:
^^^^
Again, against my better judgement, I am compelled to respond to you in order to point out some contradictions in your thesis.

Your post here shows the classic error that those who defend Jonathan (against all reason) fall into: the belief that Messrs Jonathan and Buhari are the only two mutually exclusive choices in this contest. Nothing could be further from the truth.

There are several other presidential candidates. At least 5 of them. Onovo. Sonaiya. etc. What stops you from casting a vote for one of them if by your own admission, Buhari and Jonathan are rubbish? What stops you?

According to you, Buhari is a coupist and you remain unconvinced about his latter day conversion to democracy. That's fine sir - you have the right to vote against the man if he does not meet your requirements. More interesting is the fact that by your own admission, you were never a Jonathan advocate. You never believed in the man and you still do not believe in him. And yet you are prepared to ignore at least 5 other presidential candidates to vote in a man whom you do not like or believe in. You see the contradiction?

I would like to believe sir, that you are not a sheep being led to the slaughter. You retain the ability to choose and you will have to live with the consequences of that choice. (As we all will)

As I said earlier: we can agree to disagree. March 28th is round the corner. We will see what she holds in store for us.