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By Godwin Etakibuebu
There is no exaggeration to conclude that Nigeria is going through terrible pain, torture and perilous times at the moment. Hope for tomorrow is vanishing faster from the land while despair and state of hopelessness now inherit the horizon. It is like great disaster is looming.
The strongest ones; men and women of great valour, in the land are becoming jittery as most see approach of darkness more than light. This description is not imagined. The signs are there and we don’t actually need services of astronomers to interpret events. 2019 general election, which commences in about two weeks’ time is not only interpretation but the reason for scare.
Let us look at the matter this way. The All Progressives Congress [APC]’s government that runs affairs of the country is looking towards capturing all the winning votes “within 3 hours of voting period”, according to Godswill Akpabio, the immediate past Governor of Akwa Ibom, who is now sitting comfortably as a Senator of the Federal Republic.
The Senator, who had the wisdom of crossing over from the People Democratic Party [PDP]; where he was minority leader in the Senate, to the All Progressives Congress to shield himself from the avoidable heat of Magu’s pursuit, even added, a few days ago, that he would deliver not less than Ten Million votes to President Buhari in the incoming election. He was talking in his capacity as the Chairman of the “President Support Committee” of the APC for the election.
There is nothing Senator Godswill Akpabio cannot do on this earth. Take my words for it unless we have forgotten so quickly the man’s most favourable slogan, which says “what money cannot do, more money will do it”.
As a governor, he carried out “uncommon transformation” in Akwa Ibom, including building a World Class Hospital; a hospital which he could not trust to check into when he had that minor accident in Abuja immediately after leaving office – instead he took the immediate next flight to UK for treatment. And who says that this over-generous man of the people cannot bring the election to a winning closure within 3 hours of commencement, and also deliver more than 10 Million votes to the President? It is all about what more money can do!
While the APC government is demonstrating what powers of incumbency can achieve, either by crook or hook, in the incoming election, the posture of a President that “does not know”, as the case we have in Muhammadu Buhari, is pathologically frightening. This is more worrisome when the action of the President; who has been presented too often as “not knowing” is juxtaposed against those things he is doing, then there must be cause for concerns and worries for the citizenry.
President Muhammadu Buhari; being led by whoever is the power behind the façade, is not helping matters in the stern tension in the land. He did confess sometimes of not knowing what is happening in the country. The Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, re-confirmed a few days ago the sad state of a president who does not know, when he [Osinbajo] said that the President did not know about the onslaught against the Chief Justice of Nigeria [CJN] until after the Code of Conduct Bureau had filed charges against the CJN in the Code of Conduct Tribunal.
Yet, a President that supposedly “did not know” would always be doing things that are never in line with his sworn oath of office. He goes comatose when he likes and goes aggressive against the interest of the Nation when he thinks it will best serve his political survival’s interest. We have a president who is neither cold nor warm in our hands. He will never talk to us about his line of actions. Yet, there are actions, albeit more of negativity, going on daily.
It is for this negative process of running this government that the good people of this country are worried. Where are we going becomes a question that hardly find an answer. And it is most unfortunate.
For example, look at the terrible mess created by the charging and attempted arraigning of the CJN, his suspension and swearing in of another CJN in an acting capacity, the speed with which the acting CJN purportedly picked the 250 judges for election petition tribunal assignments – is there any reasonable rational devoid of atmosphere of insanity that can be attributed to the whole episode? Yet, this is being done by a government that has not less than 12 lawyers in its cabinet, with 4 of those 12 as Senior Advocate of Nigeria.
Permit me to place it on record at this point what my stand on this matter is. I am hundred percent standing shoulder-to-shoulders in agreeing that no individual should be seen growing above the law of the land. As such, any erring Chief Justice that breached the law of the Federal Republic as set out by the Constitution must, and should be made to face the wrath of the law, albeit constitutionally. And the good news is that the process of prosecuting the law is adequately provided for by the Constitution. Why therefore is the APC-led government of Nigeria not willing to go through the due process in achieving its goal?
In midst of all these confusions that have engulfed us as a nation, is the suspicion of a Cabal that has snatched the running of the government from President Buhari – a suspicion that has been strengthened by various happenings and revelations. Recent appearances of the President in public places are indicators that the man is not in total control of all his potentials and faculties.
For example, it could have been only a man that is intellectually and mentally recessed that would “present this flag of honour to a Presidential . . . Senatorial . . . Governortarial” candidate, as the drama we saw President Buhari performing in Delta State a few days ago when he was to handover APC flag to Great Ogboru; the gubernatorial candidate of the Party in Delta State.
Let us not call to memory the performances of President Buhari when he appeared with his Vice; Professor Osinbajo, in the NTA show talk recently, where the moderator had to remind Professor Osinbajo to allow the President to “speak for himself”. This was when it became obvious that the President could not answer the questions posed to him meaningfully.
There is no doubt, our dear President Muhammadu Buhari is tired in all ramifications. He should not have been the person standing for reelection in a more decent clime. But this is Nigeria.
What all these lay on the table of the right thinking citizens of this great country is the fact that our President is not in charge. Yet, the difficulty of bringing the Cabal to justice is not going to be an easy one. What do we do therefore?
My candid proposal is to go back to Hajia Aisha Buhari, the wife of the President, for solution because for sure it is only that woman that has the solution to this naughty problem which is most likely to cast the nation into the abyss of destruction. The assignment of going back to Madam for solution is to be undertaken exclusively by the menfolk of the entire population. Why will it be so?
In the early days of December 2018, the wife of the President, Hajia Aisha Buhari, shocked the whole world by revealing that “two or three men” have hijacked the government from her husband. She spoke with statistics in that most shocking revelation. It was in a gathering of important personalities [of course, the wife of the President would not attend any function without gathering of societal stars]. It was a day she threw an accurate challenge to Nigerian men to rise up and rescue Nigeria from those “two or three men”.
She lamented that a government voted into power by “more than 15 Million Nigerians could be hijacked by only two or three men”, challenging the men [Nigerian men] to rise up and take the country back from those “two or three men”.
It therefore becomes a compulsory assignment for Nigerian men to really go after those “two or three men” and rescue Nigeria from them. How should the Nigerian men go about this rescue operation business?
Can’t the Nigerian men use their Permanent Voter Card [PVC] to accomplish this onerous assignment of delivering Nigeria from those “two or three” men?
I rest my case.
Godwin Etakibuebu, a veteran Journalist, wrote from Lagos.
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You can also listen to this author [Godwin Etakibuebu] every Monday; 9:30 – 11am on Lagos Talk 91.3 FM live, in a weekly review of topical issues, presented by The News Guru [TNG].