By ‘Remi Oyeyemi
President Muhammadu Buhari: There is
a cabal of corruption at work ‘under his nose’, says IPMAN
During my days at the Great
University of Ife (Great Ife), the Obafemi Awolowo Hall (popularly called Awo
Hall) was always an interesting place to be. It was the melting pot of campus
politics. It was an effervescent environment for lively idealism. It was a
pedestal where intelligence, smartness and brilliance were in perpetual
contest. It was a potpourri where fragrant idealism constantly wrestled with
inconvenient and stubborn reality. Self confidence was nurtured and sustained
in that environment in those days. Awo Hall provided a context to test the
theory of whether the University is going through you or you are just merely
passing through the University.
Awo Hall was the shelter for the
most radical campus newspapers. The career of many student union politicians
was often made or marred in Awo Hall. The debate about campus politics was
always as hot as that of the national politics or international politics. The
debate about religion, its relevance or irrelevance to the advancement of man
could not have been more contentious. When it came to sports, even the Sports
Hall of the Great University could not compete with the vibrancy and fervor
that were characteristic of, unique
to and always very special to Awo Hall.
Many students of Great Ife share the
belief that if you spent six months on that great campus and your life was not
radically impacted; or your intellect was not radically impacted; or the way
you think, see and view the world was not radically impacted, then something
must be seriously the matter with you. Something must be seriously amiss in
your psychology. The endless bubble on that campus, the liveliness, the
enervating entertainment, the intellectual challenges in an admixture of
rigorous academic tutoring were fantastic.
“The University of Ife is the
melting pot of political radicalism in Nigeria. And we are going to break it.”
– Jubril Aminu, Minister of Education under General Ibrahim Babangida
The Awo Hall Buttery had a special
role in this never ending tutoring in socialization skills, sharpening of
minds, building of confidence and preparation for the outside world. In Awo
Hall Buttery, one of the areas of showing off your “brain power” was playing
games with your peers. It could be Scrabble, Monopoly or the Yoruba traditional
Ayo. But the most popular one was the draught. That interesting game invented
by Napoleon Bonaparte the Great, the French Emperor in the early 19th Century.
He had invented the draught as a means of planning military strategies to
defeat his foes.
It was at this Awo Hall Buttery that
these two guys were engaged in a game of wits playing draught. Both of them
have been boasting about being the better player and have been challenging each
other to a faceoff. This particular day was the D-Day. The two were engaged in
this game and a lot of guys were watching with total attention. Both of them
have been proving their mettle. Each of them was displaying wizardry and dexterity
interchangeably, leaving the spectators in no doubt as to how prepared they
were. At this point, each person had won one game apiece. It got to two apiece.
On the fifth game, because usually
it was always the first to win three that would determine the champion, the
contest was in a critical stage. Both players were being very careful and
cautious not to make a mistake. There was silence in the entire proximity
because everyone wanted to see who the winner and the one with a better “brain
power” would be. Reputations were at stake. Boasting rights were at stake.
Pride, regardless of how tenuous in this respect, was at stake. It was a test
of wills. It was a contest of wits. It was an encounter of guts.
Then all of a sudden, one of the
players took a very calamitous step as the spectators groaned very loudly in
reaction. They could not believe he would make such a move. That move did not
look smart. It did not speak well to his claimed “brain power.” It disappointed
those who were his fans among the spectators. It was a consequential step. Many
believed that it was a step that would make him lose the game. Some of his fans
believed he could still redeem the game.
His opponent was very elated in a
very sarcastic manner. He expressed surprise that the spectators were groaning
about the move of his competitor. He wondered why they were expecting him to
play beyond his “brain capacity. He can’t play beyond his brain. Don’t blame
him. We are talking of brain power here. It is not his fault. His brain can
only carry him so far!” Everyone busted into laughter including his opponent
who was the subject of the barb.
The above scenario is analogous to
what happened in London with President Muhammadu Buhari. The interview with The
Telegraph in London was not the first revelation of the tragedy he represents
to and for Nigeria, the consequences of which all would have to deal with in
the coming years. Despite all the propaganda of the All Progressives Congress
(APC), it is becoming more than evident that Nigeria is saddled with a
President who has limited “brain power.” No matter how much they package
Buhari; no matter how much propaganda was deployed in his aid and support, he
would never be able to function beyond his brain power!
It is evident that Nigeria is
saddled with a president who is intellectually challenged. President Buhari’s
across the board reference to and description of Nigerians in Diaspora as
“criminals” is a manifestation of a challenged thought process. It is obvious
that Nigeria is saddled with a president that is near autistic. It is clear
that Nigeria is saddled with a president that was never prepared for the office
he is occupying. Up till now, our president could not locate his West African
School Certificate. May be by the time he leaves office, Nigeria would be
presented with one.
“Some Nigerians claim that life is
too difficult back home, but they have also made it difficult for Europeans and
Americans to accept them because of the number of Nigerians in prisons all over
the world accused of drug trafficking or human trafficking.”
– President Mohammadu Buhari in an
interview with The Telegraph (London)
President Buhari has never lived a
challenged life. He has no idea what it means to live in want in the midst of
plenty. He has no idea what frustration means. He does not know what it means
for a parent to labour in poverty to send a child to the University and that
child graduated without any form of employment. He does not know what it means
to have the system rigged against you and your people. He has had it easy all
his life. He was in his twenties when he was made a Governor because of his
tribal pedigree.
His easy accessibility to power and
influence, very comfortable living style through his life explains why he is
mean, heartless and unfeeling several times in the way and manner he has dealt
with Nigerians. It explains his odious arrogance and often deleterious
condescension. It explains why he always felt he is above the law. Nigeria has
been good to him all through and through. He did not need to leave Nigeria
because everything was in place for him. This is unlike millions of Nigerians
who had to bail out to countries across the planet to seek greener pastures.
His famed ascetic living is nothing
but a tall tale. There is no iota of truth in it. There is no scintilla of
evidence for it. This man rode in a convoy of eight to ten Sport Utility
Vehicles (SUVs). We were told he did not buy the vehicles with his money. We
were told that they were gifts to him. But assuming that was the truth, if he was
truly ascetic in his ways, he could easily have rejected such obscenely
expensive gifts and asked them to be sold and the proceeds donated to his
favorite schools, if he had any.
Nigerians were lied to that he did
not have any property outside Kastina. Nigerians were lied to that he had no
house in Abuja. Nigerians were deceived that he has not stolen any money.
Nigerians were sold the falsehood that he did not believe in accumulative
mentality. And then came the public declaration of property and it became known
that he had houses in Abuja, Kaduna and some landed properties in Port
Harcourt!
Buhari’s asceticism was and is still
a fake. It was not real. It was all part of packaging to remake him in the
consciousness of Nigerians. It was one of the tall tales told by his
propagandists who tried to modify the image of an undesirable element who ran
for the country’s highest office three times and was rejected at the polls,
before Nigerians were manipulated and deceived to accept him the fourth time as
their president.
The election of Muhammadu Buhari was
made possible by one of the most effective propaganda in world history. Joseph
Goebbels would be extremely jealous in his grave. But the lies would only last
for so long. Very soon, the whole shady package would begin to unravel. Its
implications and ramifications for the future of Nigeria is yet to be fathomed.
“Nigeria’s president has warned his
fellow citizens to stop trying to make asylum claims in Britain, saying that
their reputation for criminality has made it hard for them to be ‘accepted’
abroad.” – The Telegraph (London)
Now, in his daftness, President
Buhari has besmirched the integrity, dignity and the reputation of all
Nigerians in Diaspora, labeling them as “criminals.” It is as if we have not had
enough assault on our psyche as Nigerians. It is “our” president that is now
leading the vanguard of blackmailing his own citizens, spreading falsehood
against them across the planet. I must say, if only for the purposes of
emphasis, I AM NOT A CRIMINAL. And all the Nigerians that I know and mix with
where I live in God’s own country ARE NOT CRIMINALS.
It was a sad day when Muhammadu
Buhari became the president of Nigeria. No thanks to Goodluck Ebele Jonathan
and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
“In the long history of the world,
only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its
hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome
it.” – John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address January 20, 1961.
Please follow me on Twitter:
@OyeyemiRemi
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