Comparing Buhari with Jonathan: Iroko versus rotten wood –1 on November 02, 2014 / in Frankly Speaking 12:39 am By Dele Sobowale “Every attempt to heal a sick country is an affront to those who benefit from its sickness.” Bernard Malamud, in THE FIXER. President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) Generally, you can assess the quality of a man, especially a politician by observing those who rise up against him. General Buhari (rtd) is a shinning example of such a person. Expectedly, his declaration for the Presidency, more than that of any other possible opponent of President Jonathan, had thrown a lot of people into a manic frenzy. Some of them are my co-columnists in the Lagos/Ibadan axis – as papers like PUNCH, THISDAY, GUARDIAN and VANGUARD are called. For the purpose of this series of articles, I want to single out the Professors writing for PUNCH and VANGUARD, who, are usually erudite, futuristic, well-informed and reasonably objective; but who have joined the illogical, and the ill-informed in the pack attack on Buhari. When an Area Boy finds himself confronting several adversaries, at once, he steels himself for battle by announcing to his opponents, “Ee ti po to [you are too few for me]”. So, to Professors Abidde, Adelakun, Akinnaso, Olukotun, of the PUNCH, and our own Femi Aribisala, I declare “you are too few” for this battle. Comparing Buhari with Jonathan is like comparing solid “Iroko” with rotten wood. For starters, every carver knows that nobody can make a masterpiece out of rotten wood. And Jonathan’s government is rotten from the head down. So anybody canvassing for a continuation of this government should be regarded as an accessory to the grand larceny going on now in the name of governance. For the readers, I said they are too few because, when reading their articles, one can notice that they are virtually writing out of the same set of notes – packed full with their opinions, half truths, some falsehood and some venom. The bile belongs to Femi Aribisala, the VANGUARD columnist, who, like Doyin Okupe, must be operating with a dictionary compiled by the devil – when writing about Buhari, Tinubu and APC. Let me assure Femi that we also have a dictionary at UniJankara, full of hotter words. So nobody should be under the impression that he owns a monopoly of such words. First, the readers of this defence of Buhari might want to observe that all those mentioned above, pretending to reflect “the views of Nigerians” are Southerners, Christians, mostly Yoruba, employed and well-paid, well- or over-educated, and they probably have not stepped into Kano, Sokoto, Bauchi, Nassarawa or Kogi States in the last five years – if at all. Buhari who they all love to “hate” or “hate to love”, however is a Muslim, Northerner, Fulani, and has spent most of his time in the north since retirement. The ethnic and religious prejudices, obvious to me, might be a mere coincidence to them but, there is no denying the fact that none of that group can sustain the illusion that they speak for the average Northerner, ill-educated, unemployed, lacking all the basic amenities and clinging to life made more tenuous by Boko Haram insurgency which had escalated during Jonathan’s tenure of office. None can because none knows where the shoe pinches; they write in the comfort of their offices and homes, proclaiming how millions, who they have not met will vote in the North especially. This is rotten scholarship. In fact, nobody among them knows how most Northerners will vote. Among their often-repeated fallacies, based on prejudice, is the charge that Nigerians will not vote for Buhari because he is a “religious fanatic”. Even if true, two observations will dispel this rumour peddled as truth. One, no Muslim in the entire country had ever mentioned to me that he considers Buhari a fanatic and none will vote against him for that reason. The hang-up about Buhari’s perceived fanaticism belongs to some Christians. Second, one person’s fanatic is another person’s staunch believer in his faith. So, “fanaticism” might actually work in his favour. Speaking strictly for myself, a Muslim fanatic is preferable to a wishy-washy Christian. Everybody knows where the first stands on issues affecting morality; nobody can trust the second. At any rate, my own reading of the two Holy Books – Bible and Quran – has convinced me that there is very little the Bible abhors which the Quran supports; and vice versa. Our “Christian” columnists are only raising false alarm. Having disposed of that, at least for now, let me turn, briefly, to the issues of Jonathan’s performance and corruption. Kindly let me quote verbatim what Adelakun and Aribisala wrote in defence of Jonathan and to run down Buhari’s bid for the Presidency. First Adelakun, in PUNCH, October 23, 2014. “Even though many Nigerians are probably weary of Jonathan’s government by now, they are still practical enough to understand that another four years of Jonathan’s government will not kill them. It might bring Nigeria to her knees but at the same time, it is a pain that can be endured.” [italics mine]. Despite the use of “probably”, when the word to use is “certainly”, nobody reading that sentence can fail to shed tears for Nigeria. When the brightest and the best expect us to re-elect a President who will not alleviate their suffering, but deepen them till 2019, then all is lost. Let me close this first part by drawing attention to Aribisala’s statement, undoubtedly made proudly about “his country”, not mine. “In Nigeria, nobody gets elected as President on the platform that he is going to be an anti-corruption crusader when he gets into office.” Apparently, Femi approves of that situation and will like it to continue – as long as Jonathan gets re-elected. This is a Professor? I thought professors are supposed to be engaged in advancing positive original ideas, not in telling us to continue to go to hell, as we are doing now… - See more at: vanguardngr/2014/11/comparing-buhari-jonathan-iroko-versus-rotten-wood-1/#sthash.R8krW8S9.dpuf Comparing Buhari with Jonathan – 2 on November 09, 2014 / in Frankly Speaking By Dele Shobowale “Under Buhari’s watch as Petroleum Minister in the late 1970s, $2.8 billion (worth billions of naira today) was missing from the NNPC ACCOUNT. President Goodluck Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) The matter was subject to Senate investigation under the Chairmanship of Olusola Saraki in 1983. But, before the report could be dealt with, Buhari conveniently overthrew the Shagari government in a military coup.” Femi Aribisala, VANGUARD, Tuesday, October 21, 2014. “Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny.” Shakespeare, 1564-1616. (VANGUARD BOOK p 25). N.B. The title had been slightly amended from Part 1. I never experienced so many tears shed over a few words; so many crying more than the bereaved. And, the fun is just starting. Aribisala, in an astonishing demonstration of arrogance of ignorance piled more falsehoods into one paragraph than any respectable columnist and public opinion molder should be allowed to get away with in two years. I don’t know how old Femi is, but let me present FACTS which can be verified, not wooly statements like “in the late 1970s”. Buhari became the Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources in 1976 and held that position until April, 21, 1977 when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, was promulgated into law by Decree 33 of 1977. Buhari was made the non-Executive Chairman of the Board which included, the Managing Director, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Economic Development, the Managing Director, and three persons to be appointed by the Federal Executive Council. Contrary to what Femi, in his absolute ignorance wrote, the Commissioner’s power under the decree were so proscribed he could not have single-handedly removed a kobo, not to talk of $2.8 billion, which the NNPC, in 1977-79, never had. (See my book PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED Chapter 10. In addition, I challenge Femi Aribisala to provide the Annual Reports and Accounts of the NNPC from 1977 to 1979 to prove that the Corporation, in its entirety, was worth $2.8 billion. If the entire organization was not worth that much, how on earth could $2.8 be missing? At any rate what were the MD, the Permanent Secretaries and the other Board members doing while Buhari alone made $2.8 billion to disappear? Furthermore, at the time, the President granted the crude lifting permissions; and the revenue was paid directly into the Central Bank account. How did Buhari collect $2.8 billion from the CBN? And where is Femi’s proof? I can bet my life he can provide none. NONE!!! For Femi’s education, because he badly needs it, the only $2.8 billion which made the headlines in 1978-1979, and later became the stuff of hostile columns by people like late Dr Tai Solarin and the butt of jokes by Fela Anikulapo, Abami Eda, was the $2.8 billion loan which Obasanjo secured for Nigeria and which several people claimed was mostly embezzled. I have no proof of theft. But, I know that $2.8 billion had featured in our history only once in 1978-1979 and it was the loan. Now, let me quickly turn to the coup of 1983 and Buhari’s involvement in it, which Femi, deliberately inferred was staged to prevent a report by Saraki from being presented. Here again, Femi’s grasp on Nigeria’s history is so poor that I hope this is not representative of the stuff he teaches; if it is, the students have my sympathy. To start with, Buhari was the Head of the Third Armored Division in Jos when the coup plotters, led by Babangida and Abacha struck. They invited Buhari to come and take charge and removed him at their conveniece. So, the statement “Buhari conveniently overthrew Shagari” is a blatant lie. The lie is made more heinous by the fact that there was no Saraki report to “be dealt with”. Let me quickly explain why. Shagari was re-elected for the second term and sworn in October 1, 1983. From October to December of that year, just three months, both the Executive and the legislative branches of government were still taking shape. The Senate President had just finished the composition of the numerous committees of the Senate and none had resumed work before they went on Christmas break in mid-December – and from there into retirement. When exactly did the Saraki “investigation” start? Who were the people called? And when was the report prepared? Even the village idiot knows that the Nigerian Senate does not work so fast as to dispose of alleged theft of $2.8 billion in two and a half months. Was Buhari called or are we to believe that the Committee would investigate a matter and write a report without calling the one accused? The whole damned thing is simply a figment of Aribisala’s over-fertile imagination thrown up to satisfy his anti-North, anti-Islam bigotry… OIL PRICE DECLINES TO $82. “The only thing necessary in life as in art is to tell the truth” Leo Tolstoy, (VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, P 255). We warned our Fellow Nigerians about inevitable decline of crude prices to under $90, when it was selling for $112. Tuesday, November 4, 2014, it went down to $82. What was the Finance Minister telling Nigerians? What was Jonathan being told? - See more at: vanguardngr/2014/11/comparing-buhari-jonathan-2/#sthash.ySnDN4aA.dpuf
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 21:19:39 +0000
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