₦airaland Forum

D guy as killed any chance he has to be seen as simpathetic to d common man and wat he did abt d osun salary stuff will now b seen as a public stunt

Mogidi:
Check my screenshot earlier today, she's now begging God to bring the girls back. Her usual rant ceased when APC won the election.

Oby is the new definition of "hypocrisy"

Atleast she stood up for something, wat course av u ever fought for even if it is out of hipocrisy?

MrPresident1:
Ogbonnaya Onu is a good choice too, but I think Buhari will prefer someone he trusts and knows will watch his back for him, someone who is already nationally visible with a lot of goodwill, a person whose loyalty he can count on to represent his interests when he is not there.

Except political exigencies come in the way, I think Fashola will be our new SGF.

who do u tink is closer to d president btw d SGF and d chief of staff?

ice25:
the fish (north) and the bird (west) falling in love is not a problem. the problem is, where would they live?

haven't u see trees on rivers b4? d birds stays on d tree n d bird in d river n dat is enough for close conversation.

HenryThegreat1:
So everybody should b worshiping him as God

He is definiteli not God but he is a professional politician and not like some people fighting him who are just professionals in politics and he has made sure he has d party structure which is his strongest force so any attempt to go personal against him will definiteli ruin d party n it will also snowball into PMB's government n den Nigeria will b d loser cos dis seem to b d last hope b4 revolution.

Make PMB just appoint his chief of staff and SGF dis week atleast so dat people can have something new to discuss and den mayb on Friday he can just send d confab report to d senate by Friday den dey too will have sometin on their hands n Saraki will now have to prove he wannted d senate presidency to truly serve d people. I think dat will b a good startup.

Vanellope:
Another awesome analysis! Thanks so much.

I hope it met ur expectation a little

dayo23:
For once we have to put our house in order, APC can't afford to damaged what it has suffered so much to put together, I believe their are people among the party I mean high ranking leader who are not happy about the relationship between Tinubu and Buhari, they are ready to do the undue just to destroy that relationship, I really pray Tinubu and President Buhari don't fall to their traps! The both of them worked hard to be were they are today, many of us never believed in the emergence of the merger but as God may have it, we have the last laugh.
Inside of me I know Mr President is a man of his word, and I expect him to keep to the bargain with his close pal Tinubu, am not saying he should be loyal to Tinubu, Both of them should put Nigeria first in everything they do, I believe Tinubu meant well for Nigeria but it just the way he goes about it by getting it at all cost that the problem. Tinubu is highly intelligent and he is a good reader of the game, he must have known about some element within the party that are working to bring him down, right from the very first day he influence President Buhari candidature.
I also hope President Buhari knows their are many of his collegues who are praying for his downfall and will b working Underground to do that at all cost.
He should work more with those who stood by him during the struggle and not those who just joined his bandwagon after he was elected by the people.






Nigeria will be great again.

I agree with ur point cos wen I saw d first proceedings of the house on d news and I saw how gbajabiamila help his fellow member who raised d nysc issue on hw he should move such motion and d applaud he got den I realised d party was truly after competence

otil1:
Arrant nonsense!

When SW decided to always betray the South which it is part of, always running to align with the North just to spite Igbos, what treatment does it expect.

This is just d beginning. The Arewas never cease to tell you to your faces that they conquered you, that you are conquered people. The Buhari presidency will clearly show the place of SW in Nigeria politics. More loading...

I don't like joining issues with people abt d region things but I won't like to see people mislead others based on their hatred for other part of d country and thereby distortin wats in d history book.
From wat I learnt n saw in documentries, d south-west was always in d opposition and every attempt to unite with any other region was always thwarted until 1999 wen d northern cabal chose Obasanjo and it wasn't even a colaboration because d southwest has a party den. So from my sense of history, I think dis is d first time d southwest is reali in a real collaboration wit d north.

I hope the president can now help his party by bringing d worrying factions together so dat he can settle down on time cos there are lot of issues to deal wit

Vanellope:
I like your analysis. Please I need help with the following.

I understand Buhari called for a meeting. He didn't show up. Tinubu was there and the APC senators-elect. My question: Was Buhari behind the political maneuvering that produced Saraki as President of Senate? Thanks in advance.

Firstli tanx 4 aprec8n my post bt den my reply to ur question will b my personal opinion so it may be short of wat u expect bt notwitstandin, it wil also give u another perspective 4rm wat u may av in mind b4.
I actuali tink PMB didn't call for d meeting on his own, I tink d party urged him to cos dey tink d senators would atleast respect his office which I tink he agreed to, bt wen it was time to go 4 d meetin, I tink he got informed dat Saraki won't show up cos u could see dat he was so determined to go against anybody who would tell him to shelve his ambition n if PMB had attended d meeting and Saraki went ahead n became d senate president d way he did, den u can imagine wat d paper headlines would av been, mayb sometin like (SARAKI DEFIED BUHARI, TINUBU AND APC TO BECOME S.P) and dat would be d biggest blow to PMB n his government.
But one thing I tink PMB did is dat he used dat nass issue to prove to his new allies (I.e USA, UK N D REST OF EUROPE), dat he his truli a repentant democrat but I tink he needs to understand dat politics in nigeria is not one which he can totali play mr clean, he sometimes needs to play it d way d politicians understand else he will av too much distractions to deal with and a lot of those dat d people voted him to tackle will keep getting a leverage wit which to negotiate their way out.
As for Saraki, I tink watever ambition he has for 2019, he as just killed it cos if u go out to listen to wat d real voters are sayin ( by real voters I mean, d ordinary people nt d few people on social media) u will see dat dey feel betrayed n dey feel d reason they voted PMB would b defeated, cos wat a lot of dis people were expectin is dat d likes of David Mark would b irrevelant n b held accountable 4 wat dey av done but all dat seem to av been defeated now.
I hope dis helps in answerin ur question to some extent but they are just my opinion

Vanellope:
I like your analysis. Please I need help with the following.

I understand Buhari called for a meeting. He didn't show up. Tinubu was there and the APC senators-elect. My question: Was Buhari behind the political maneuvering that produced Saraki as President of Senate? Thanks in advance.

sorry for replying u late and tanx for appreciatin my opinion, well my comment on ur question is my personal opinion so it may not b wat u want to hear but I hope it will make u see things in another perspective.
Well I actually think Pmb wanted to meet wit dem but he got information dat saraki won't b there so he decided to stay back since he as promised not to interfere. But d major reason he decided not to interfere is because d saraki's faction already saw lawan as his candidate because lawan is a very loyal to Pmb n is also of d (anpp n cpc caucus), so Pmb was tryin to avoid being rubbished since his loyalist is d top contender n with saraki's ambition which seems unstoppable.
Then another perspective is dat the party and d president may have actuali kept d senators at d icc to avoid a loose loose situation cos if they av allowed them to go in to contest d election 2 factions, dey may av divided votes while d PDP may nominate david who will av 48 behind him which he would av won which would av been a loose loose for dem but you will see dat dey allowed d reps to go in becos dey knw d PDP stood no chance cos APC has 209 members while d rebels were just abt 31 n PDP n d mushroom parties are 151, so dey knw no matter hw dere member decide to vote dere dey will av an APC speaker.
But knw dat Pmb being a former military man knows a lot about wat loyalty means n who never av been invovled in wat saraki did cos dat as given leverage to dos Pmb would like to probe n even some he would love to punish for electoral fraud but saraki should really b careful now cos dos he as chose to battle wit got defeated because dey have never been on d defensive but dey av always been on d offensive so he needs not relax cos wen dis people attack dey do so to win and they have always been winning. Thanks looking forward to discusin other issues bt am nt always writin comments cos of insults but see u here later

A lot of people have been writin different opinion but I think people failed to understand dat tinubu isn't d only party leader although he may have a favourite, but wat saraki and dogora did yesterday is something anybody who is ambitious can do, it didn't require any serious game plan, all dey add to do is damn d consequences and go to d PDP who is looking fir something to give dem hope for 2019. One thing I just realised yesterday is dat both saraki and dogora were d choice of most of their colleagues judging by d votes yesterday, it showed saraki only had 7 followers plus himself makin 8 and dogara only had 31, which means they realy went against d wish of not just the party leaders but their colleagues who will be in d house with dem and dat is where they differ to tambuwal, cos tambuwal only went against d wish of d party leaders and not his fellow members, and he also didn't deprive dem of other positions being the majority

I just hope he didn't say dat cos if he did den he as shot himself in d foot n if he is not careful he may be use as a sacred lamb if found guilty of corruption charges later

one aspect president goodluck jonathan's administration didn't utilise well is d media amd dat is APC's major tool and I beliv shara reporters and d likea will now b dere tool to propagate nigeria in a new light to d world

Etumgbe:
This taraba election rugged o.

Must CHANGE take place in all the states?

APC you people have won enough na

Don't u know this is the most important change, I want her to win so dat she will set a template for other women that prefer to sit at home and shout 35% affirmative, so they will know dat it is possible for a woman to win election

blackrules1:
So, does 'undo' mean FG will refund the money paid by the investors?

mayb dey didn't even pay anything into d government acct yet, don't forget dat cbn had to give dem some billions to assist dem

ghost1718:
for peace to rain let them put igbo man or south south as senate PRESIDENT, because if they (a.p.c)put yoruba or hausa man, they will bring problem to this country

U guys have not learn anything still, what nigeria needs now is competence not all dis rubish talk of this or that producing dis or dat, wen in the out going administration, d south-south had d president, north had d vice, senate president and speaker, did anyone cry wolf, abeg all we need is dos dat will rebuild nigeria afterall d igbos had a chance to support ngige or apga candidates to go to d senate.
..

The National Broadcasting Commission has
indicted the Af rican In dependent Television and
the National Television Authority for airing
controversial sponsored documentary on the
presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).
In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, the
Director of Public Affairs at the NBC, Mr. Awwalu
Salihu, also listed other television and radio
stations that were indicted for various offences
committed in the coverage of the 2015 general
elections.
Although Salihu simply mentioned the offence of
the NTA and AIT as contravening rules for airing
sponsored materials, the two stations had been
at the centre of controversy for airing
documentaries on Buhari and a national leader of
the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
NTA was also indicted for contravening rules on
sensibilities while AIT was also indicted for
contravening 24-hour advert prohibition rules.
Other stations that were indicted for varied
offences include Rima Radio, STV Lagos, NTA
Lagos, NTA2 Channel 5, TVC Lagos, NTV, PRTV
Jos, NTA Makurdi, Vision FM, Nigeria Info, OSBC
TV, Freedom TV, Ilesa, because TV, Liberty TV,
Liberty Radio, Karama (FRCN) FM, Alheri FM,
NTA Jos, Ombe Media Corp Radio FM, BSES Ekiti
and DSTV (Ebony Live TV Channel).
Salihu said, “The contraventions include
breaches of the rules on the broadcast of
sponsored electoral campaign materials, which
must conform to the standards of truth, decency
and good taste, and requiring the sponsor to be
clearly identified.
“Other breaches included the airing of campaign
materials or programmes that promoted political
parties or candidates within the 24-hour
prohibition period, as well as unauthorised
networking by a group of stations.”
The NBC spokesman said all the stations had
either been queried or sanctioned according to
the provisions of the Nigeria Broadcasting Code.
Also, the European Union Election Observation
Mission Chief Observer, Santiago Fisas, said
during the presentation of the mission’s
preliminary statement in a press conference in
Abuja that EU’s media monitoring team
discovered that government-controlled broadcast
media exhibited partisanship by giving advantage
to the incumbent at federal or state level.
Fisas added, “The European Union Election
Observation Mission commends the Nigerian
people for their commitment to the overall
peaceful and orderly elections this weekend-
despite frustration and challenges caused by
often late opening of polling sites, failing
biometric voter verification, some regrettable
violent incidents, and re-polling on Sunday.”
In a statement sent to one of our correspondents
by the mission’s Press and Public Outreach
Officer, Eberhard Laue, Fisas however said that
some private media organisations were balanced
and objective in their coverage of the elections.

cuteboy2:
Okonjo-Iweala and Allison Madueke can never be in Buhari's government. Haba, bros!! How is that one is even possible?

Fashola will definitely play a key role in Buhari's. For him, I will even hazard a guess that he will be the Secretary to Federal Government (SGF)

, more like d chief of staff who is going b a kitchen cabinet, u knw he is d one buhari reali wanted for vice but for religion

steppin:
He should tell his people to abstain from Violence when
he loses.
That's the most important message.
To rule Nigeria is not his birthright!

U just like displaying ur foolishness every time, have you had of any violence in the north so far?

theoctopus:
This is Iyana-Ipaja Bus Stop in Lagos in the year 2015 after 16 years of APC. Where is the change?

This is the state where Fashola is governor. So much lies and deceit. Doctors on strike. Roads in comatose. No portable water.

Just propaganda and more propaganda! This is where the change will really happen.

@op do u know dat bus-stop is on abule-egba oshodi road which is a federal road? if d federal government has been doing its own road in lagos den b sure u wouldn't have dat

teufelein:
...and there're igbos supporting this killer, buhari....is either these igbos like obiageli, berem..etc are fathered by awusa- Fulani or there's fundamentally something wrong to matter with their brains. igbos are really being killed like goats in the zoo nigeria?

so u also believe Buhari who is a 23year old officer could b involved in planning a coup then?

davidstones:
Truely lets take away Atiku, Tinubu and Amaechi away from APC, sincerely what will be left? I guess nothing which confirms that APC really is a party of 2-3 individuals.

ok try and take away d federal government from the PDP and let's see what remains of it

eyeview:
There is something I don't understand about the yoruba tribe. Its only in yoruba land that a man like tinubu will be robbing them all blind and they still sheepishly prostrate to him and follow him and his candidate blindly. Am saying this cos if it were in the east,a new set of 'big men' would have arisen and said enough is enough. Igbos believe no man was born to perpetually lord over them. Its shameful that tinubu has embezzled the resources of Lagos to himself and yet its the igbos that want a stop and change to this godfatherism,left for the average yoruba,they and their children will still continue to 'durbarle' to the man and his family forever

Tell me when u watch TVC, u are not happy its a nigerian station, tell me u are not hopin CONSAT could rise to compete with DSTV, tell me when u visit ikeja shoppin mall to get somethin from shoprite n d rest, u are not hoping such was in ur state, tell me when u pass by ORIENTAL HOTEL or RENAISSANCE HOTEL, u are not wishin someone could build such in ur state, tell me u n ur family do u read the NATION newspaper to see wat lies d government has told us again?... Tinubu is not a perfect human being neither are u but he as never being proven to have stolen public fund while in office or while out of office but his only crime is dat he has used his influence to corner government contracts and also get choice properties or land, and this is what comes with democracy which is what u see in d whole world, u can google to see hw people loyal to ladimir putin gets things easily from his government even Roman Abrahimovic is not exempted. The major reason why people support him in yoruba land is because he was the only yoruba man who could stand up to obasanjo and chase away his bad governors who brought the southwest down to its kneels and made us almost irrelivant in the national politics and help replace them with far better people who are now making people have hope in government and in democracy once more, I know if all politicians from ur place had re-invested what they have stolen back to ur state, you wouldn't have taken a night bus to lagos to serve ur Oga and ur girlfriend ekaete woludnt have come to lagos to do house girl at mrs Tinubu's house......

MzJackBaueress:
I am really ashamed of my president.

Tufiakwa!

“As we were talking few minutes ago, I
said Nigeria is the giant of Africa and Obasanjo
said, “I hope you will remove the k-leg.”
I said, “The elephantiasis would be
killed.” He said by what and I said by
the APC.” Asiwaju Bola Tinubu

KwoiZabo:
The funny thing is that it is people of the South-west that are carrying Buhari's campaign on their head both on ground and online. Tinubu's Slaves.

wat u don't seem to understand is dat, the southwest is supporting buhari so dat after his tenure the north will fully support the southwest, no region can b president witout d support of the north

The eagle has landed

diluminati:
i know fani "cocaine" kayode, fayorshit, doyin "bastard' okupe, jonaboy and co would have loved for GMB to die in london...
but now he is coming back and the pdp camp is already in a rat race mode

https://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Books/Pix/pictures/2008/07/03/bulls460.jpg

show them a little respect dear even if u don't agree with them, dem b person papa ooo

very thoughtful

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.