Femi-Fani
Kayode, a prominent thought leader in Nigeria, writes about the current
state of the Muhammadu Buhari regime which he terms as a corpsocracy and
comments on the recent announcement of the release of 82 Chibok
schoolgirls.
They say that nothing is hidden under
the sun. In God’s time and by the power of His word and glorious light,
all things that were hidden shall be made known and the sun of truth
shall shine forth brightly dismantling the web of mendacity and deceit
and displacing the cruel darkness.
The issue of President Buhari’s health,
the enthronement of corpsocracy and the deep conspiracy and growing
concerns about the issue of the Chibok girls and the circumstances of
their purported release is making waves and generating a high degree of
uncertainty, cynicism, skepticism, angst and tension in the country.
For example an anonymous contributor who
has deep reservations and grave concerns about the narrative that the
Federal Government is engendering wrote the following:
“We keep warning you
to KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BALL but you are all easily distracted by the
circus show they throw at you. Like his Friday-FRAUD circus appearances,
EFCC discoveries, arrests of critics, etc.
“But think
critically. If a captain was killed few days ago and other soldiers were
killed and wounded, how could the same group that killed them release
82 girls? They said Abubakar Shekau was fatally wounded and his deputy
killed in an airstrike. How will he, who is wounded, release his
captives?
“The Federal
Government told the world that they are afraid the girls are no longer
in Sambisa. That they have been either killed, sold or scattered. How
was it so easy to bring out 82 at once?
“Why are the girls
ONLY released in May or October, when there is a major event coming-like
the Democracy Day or Independence Day? THINK ABOUT IT: THEY KNOW HOW
YOU ALL THINK AND REACT. THEY KNOW THAT YOU ARE ALL GULLIBLE, SO THEY
TWIST YOUR MINDS.
“In truth, it’s all
part of the plan but the challenge was Buhari’s sickness. It took them
unawares. They didn’t plan for it or for the the loop holes that you see
showing in their propaganda. He is suffering for the lies, deceit and
the bloodletting that he supports.
“By the time God is done with him, his type will never spring up again.
“FOCUS ON THE BALL.
BUHARI IS THE BALL AND NIGERIA IS THE FIELD. THAT’S WHAT THEY WANT TO
TAKE: HER AND HER CHILDREN TO BE THEIRS.
“May 29 is around
the corner and since there will be no achievement to talk about in the
Democracy Day broadcast, they have decided to ask their co-conspirators
to release some of the girls to deceive gullible Nigerians that that is
their primary achievement.
“The whole thing is nonsense!”
Strong sentiments indeed. Yet the author reflects the thinking of many.
For example when asked about his views
on the purported return of the 82 Chibok girls, my friend and brother,
the discerning, irrepressable and courageous Governor Ayo Fayose of
Ekiti state, said the following:
“…the government is flying dubious kites and selling cheap dummies to distract the people.
“What is NOT missing cannot be found. Discerning Nigerians understand that the stories do not add up.
“Right now, a matter of urgent national importance arresting the attention of all and sundry is that of the President’s health.
“While I continue to
pray, in conjunction with other Nigerians, for the President’s quick
recovery, I condemn without equivocation this shameless playing on the
intelligence and psyche of Nigerians taking undue advantage of the vexed
issue of the so-called Chibok girls.
“It has become the style of this government to distract attention but the truth will be told some day.
“The questions are:
which Chibok girls are they talking about? Chibok girls who purportedly
were writing Physics WAEC examinations but cannot speak simple English?
Chibok girls who were shielded from the media? Till today the media have
not been allowed access to the so-called Chibok girls. When is the next
batch of Chibok girls coming? When is the next make-believe?
“When there is the
need for another cover-up, distraction and diversion of the people’s
attention and focus, they will fly their usual kite and sell the
self-same jaded dummy. It is very unfortunate that we brought ourselves
to this sorry pass”.
This is an insightful, concise and effective articulation and it can hardly be faulted.
The suspicion with which most people
view the Buhari administration and the unprecedented level of skepticism
and cynicism that exists about their assertions and claims is indeed
food for thought.
One cannot dismiss the concerns of the skeptics lightly because many questions still have to be answered.
For example it appears very strange to
me that every time the Buhari administration has major issues and they
need a distraction a new batch of Chibok girls are suddenly released.
Two days ago the leader of Boko Haram,
Mr. Abubakar Shekau, mocked and insulted Buhari and now he suddenly
releases 82 Chibok girls? It appears to me that this is most unlikely!
This begs the question: WHERE were these
girls kept and WHO kept them? WHY are they not being allowed to see
their parents? WHY have none of them been allowed to speak to the press?
WHAT were the specific conditions of their purported release? There are
so many questions that are yet to be answered.
Meanwhile a list of names of the 82
girls have been released to the public showing that most of them are
Christians yet curiously, as Aisha Yusuf, one of the convenors of the
Bring Back Our Girls Campaign (BBOG), told AIT News at 8.00pm on the
night of May 7th,
“No parent has been allowed to see the
released Chibok Girls and this is worrisome: no parent has identified
any because the Government would not grant them access”.
This seems stranger than fiction. Have
the girls become ‘government property’ now? If so what are the terms and
what is the purpose?
Equally strange is the fact that we have
been told that they were kept in frightful and barbarous captivity in
the hideous, barren and demon-infested Sambisa forest and other
playgrounds and jungles of the murderous vampires called Boko Haram for
the last three years and that they have been held captive in the cruel
clutches of sadistic and battle-hardened Islamist terrorists, barbaric
paedophiles, genocidal maniacs, sexual deviants, sociopathic perverts,
bloodthirsty psychopaths, serial rapists, and degenerate coprophiliacs
yet they all looked well-fed, well-oiled, well-kept and, in most cases,
plump and fat with shining smooth skins.
One wonders what type of food the
Haramites were feeding their young captives because whatever it was
ought to be shared with the unfortunate children that are suffering hell
in the federal government-funded Internally Displaced Persons (IDP)
camps of north-eastern Nigeria. It would certainly do them a world of
good.
The whole thing is all the more curious
when one considers the fact that the 21 Chibok girls that were
previously released have not, up until today, been returned to their
families or their community. Why is this so?
The question must be asked: what the
hell is going on? Clearly we are being played for fools. And we have now
been informed that these beautiful young mannequins and damsels were
swapped in return for huge sums of money and five hardened and
battle-tested Boko Haram commanders.
If this is the case the Nigerian people
have a right to know exactly the amounts of money involved and the
details and names of the commanders that have now been returned to lead
the happy gathering of the ever-faithful, all-powerful and stupendously
rich Islamist and Salafist Mujahadeen. Ambassador Babagana Kingibe and
Alhaji Mamman Daura: over to you!
Even though journalists were barred from
witnessing the event or entering the Presidential Villa on that day, I
am glad that pictures and footage of the president’s meeting with the
Chibok girls were released to the public.
And those pictures and that footage, taken from a safe distance by the president’s handlers and staff and not by enquiring and inquisitive journalists, tell quite a story.
The truth is that the whole thing stinks
to high heavens. There is a rotting fish and a dead rat, combined,
dispensing a compelling, overpowering, ungodly and unholy odour from
somewhere under the floorboards of Aso villa.
We are told that the President travelled
to London immediately after the event. Let us hope that he will come
back home hale and hearty though somehow I doubt he will. I doubt that
things will ever be the same again for him.
I suspect that Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo may be acting president for quite some time and within the year
he may well be sworn in as substantive President. Let us wait and see.
The truth is that if the objective of
the whole “return of the 82 Chibok girls” exercise was to distract
Nigerians from the numerous challenges of our government and our ailing
president it has not worked very well.
We are glad that Buhari was at the
mosque on Friday. We are also glad that he received the 82 Chibok girls
and travelled to the United Kingdom for more treatment albeit for an indefinite period of time on Sunday.
However we hereby reiterate our call for him to resign honorably and go and take care of his health permanently.
Hanging around and appearing on fridays
at the mosque for a photo-shoot and a short prayer with his friends and
staff was never going to be enough. If the plan is for him to go away
for a few weeks and then return to start that puerile rubbish all over
again it is not going to work.
He is not the chief imam of the Villa: he is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
And we the people say NO to corpsocracy! There is no place in our constitution for the rulership of the living by the dead.
Now if anyone has any doubts about the
seriousness of Buhari’s situation and ailment I urge them to zoom in on
the picture of him taken on friday whilst he was walking through the
Villa external corridor just before going to the mosque.
I am referring to the one in which he
was flanked by his national security advisor, Babagana Monguno and his
chief of Staff, my old Cambridge University colleague, Abba Kyari.
Take a close look at his hand and cheeks in that picture. They are swollen beyond the norm.
It appears that he was put on steroids just so that he could come out for the mosque.
Again it appears that he is suffering
from dementia. Worse still he can barely walk for long stretches without
being propped up and, according to my sources, he drawls and sometimes
dribbles when he speaks.
It is sad and pitiful.
No man should be forced to go through that and be displayed before the world in such a condition simply for political purposes.
All those that were around him on friday
as he was walking to pray to his god looked like hungry and desperate
wolves whilst he looked like the willing and gentle sacrificial lamb.
This is God’s judgement and it is
terrifying and humbling. We must not gloat and we must not ridicule him.
Rather we must all learn from it and fear the Lord of Hosts and the
Ancient of Days. The Bible says “it is a frightful thing to fall into
the hands of the Living God”. And so it is.
The President attracts nothing but
pathos. He looks like a fallen character from a Shakesperean tragedy. He
is a rejected and broken soul: a ghost and a shell of his former self.
He needs to be pitied and he should be allowed to resign and to go home and rest in peace.
Yet whatever Buhari chooses to do we
must always remember that rebellion against a tyrant is an act of
obedience to God. They may have today but tomorrow belongs to us.
Opposition to corpsocracy, subjugation,
internal colonialism, slavery, religious bigotry, persecution,
injustice, dehumanisation, the Apostles of hate and the evil cabal that
have birthed and nurtured these vices is a divine injunction because the
bible says we must “resist evil”.
Our struggle is not just political. It is ideological. It is fundamental. It is spiritual. It is deep and it is far-reaching.
We do not just want to change the
leadership of this country. We want to restructure and redefine the
whole nation. We want to pull down the entire system and rebuild a new
country. Corpsocracy or no corpsocracy, that is our mission and that is
the calling of our generation. That is the battle that we need to fight
and the war that we must win.
Permit me to conclude this contribution
with the words of Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje, a financial consultant, a writer
and a public commentator. He wrote,
“As we advocate compassion and prayers
for Buhari at this time, I would also like us to reflect on the fate of
the hundreds or thousands of people killed by Fulani herdsmen, the
hundreds of Shiites killed in Zaria and other places in the north, the
many biafran demonstrators murdered in the eastern towns and many other
recent victims of state sponsored and tolerated killings. They need
compassion too!”
These are precisely my sentiments. God be with us all.
Femi
Fani-Kayode is a lawyer, a Nigerian politician, an evangelical
christian, an essayist, a poet and he was the Special Assistant (Public
Affairs) to President Olusegun Obasanjo from July 2003 until June 2006.
He was the minister of culture and tourism of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria from June 22nd to Nov 7th 2006 and as the minister of Aviation
from Nov 7th 2006 to May 29th 2007. He tweets from@realFFK.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
0 comments:
Post a Comment