DEAR PASTOR SUNDAY ADELAJA

Dear Pastor Sunday,

 

 

How do you do? Happy New Year! May you and your entire family FLOURISH this 2015. May you be like the palm tree which is planted by the river and knows not when heat comes in Jesus’ Name. Amen!

 

Having had the privilege of knowing you and calling you a friend and Ministry Mentor since 2004, I decided to write this rejoinder to your six-part article endorsing the Buhari/Osinbajo Ticket for the upcoming Presidential Election (which is now a little over three weeks away) being certain that it would not in any way jeopardize or undermine our relationship. Our relationship was further strengthened when I participated in the week-long Leadership Retreat which you organised under the auspices of the Apostles in the Market Place (AIMP) in February, 2007. Spending time in close fellowship with you in an exclusive resort in a suburb of Ukraine was an unforgettable experience. I recall you gave our team the unique opportunity of reading the manuscript of your book, Church Shift, months before its publication.

 

Unlike many “celebrity” Pastors, I have always been impressed by your openness, accessibility, frankness, simplicity, and genuine love for God and people. The authenticity of the language of your reply to my mails made me know that you actually respond to my mails personally and you have always be excited when I call you to speak with you by telephone. Our last conversation a few months ago was very heart-warming. You expressed joy that I had stepped out to serve in the political terrain and gave me some very practical counsel. You were even gracious enough to write a testimonial recommending me to my constituents in Edo Central Senatorial District (Esan Land) for insertion in my Campaign materials. Unfortunately, as you know, I could not go past the Primaries so I had no need to print the materials in which I had planned to use the testimonials which I had solicited from key friends, mentors and supporters. LOL!

 

Pastor Sunday, your article was rather lengthy; when I saved it on Microsoft Word format using size 12 font, it turned out to be 25 pages! Knowing how busy you are you must have been driven with much passion to do the research and take the time to write such a treatise.

 

I am impelled to write this rejoinder because I am similarly driven by my love for our beloved country and the belief that, as the LORD said in His Word, there is safety in a multitude of counsel. Discourses about our country and the kind of leadership which should superintend our affairs should be robust. A 360 Degrees Perspective is always helpful to give context to issues. Our people are the better for it when we promote ideas, ideals and ideology in our polity. I trust you will accord my article the same patience and tolerance that reading yours required.

 

I will address the issues you raised in the same order they were presented in your article.

Part 1: - “The Professor Yemi Osinbajo that I know”

 

You explained that you were not planning to make your position a public knowledge, but you decided to do so essentially because you were concerned seeing the reactions and the emotions that any form of support for Buhari/Osinbajo generates among Christians. You also said that you believe that you owe it to your friends and posterity to explain why you believe that the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket is “the life line to the Nigerian nation right now”. [sic]

 

While I was surprised that you chose to make your stance public unlike your close ministry friends in Nigeria who I happen to know quite well too, I remembered that you took a similar partisan stance during the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in which you and members of the Embassy of God Church were very visible during the marches which culminated in the change of the national government. I wondered if you have done the same if you were pastoring a Church here in Nigeria and had congregants with competing political views. Yes, you have a lot of Nigerian friends and admirers who follow you on social media, but you their relationship with you is not as intimate as that of members of your Church. So I understand why it was safe for to decide on taking the risk which you said you knew you were taking. The worst that could happen is that your Facebook “Friends” diminish if some are sufficiently offended to “unlike” your page. This is a vital point because you did take for granted the sensibilities of your target audience, the Church in Nigeria, as regard the political preference of each Christian. Most Nigeria-based Pastors prefer to encourage their Church members to perform their civic duty of voting as each is persuaded by conscience inspired by the Holy Spirit. They know how divisive that politics is especially during election season.

 

In your opinion, the choice of Prof. Yemi Osinbajo as General Buhari’s running was not“just a choice made by man” but you believe “it was God who handpicked him as Buhari’s running mate”. This is a rather weighty claim; more so since you said you came to this conviction because you “know the man!”. I guess since you have lived outside Nigeria for almost three decades now, it is understandable that you “personally do not know any other Christian leader in Nigeria with the kind of impeccable reputation, character and integrity as that of Professor Osinbajo”. But, with due respect, my brother, I am at a loss as to how your assessment of your friend’s integrity became the basis of your conviction that God “hand-picked” him. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would be pleased to know that his habit of selecting his loyalists for political office can be justified as the Hand of God at work. The members of his political party who have always resented his style and have recently been unusually vocal about the need to emplace internal democracy instead of godfatherism should now know not to fight God regarding Asiwaju’s choices which they had thought to be merely whimsical.

 

With regard to Pastor Prof. Yemi Osinbajo’s “integrity”, I will only refer you to my recent article which I had earlier emailed to you as I do with all my articles. In case you had not read it, it is available on my blog which you can access with this link:

 

http://eghes.blogspot.com/2015/01/pastor-prof-yemi-osinbajo-and-integrity.html

 

 

 

Part 2. “My main reason for endorsing Buhari/Osinbajo ticket is because of my personal encounter with President Goodluck Jonathan”.

 

 

Pastor Sunday, you said that you believe that “even though God must have given President Jonathan the chance to become Nigeria’s President” you believe “he is not capable”. You then cited as essential proof your allegation that the President “was always in a ‘sleep mode’”. And this happened on the two (2) occasions that you had met him. You omitted to disclose the time of the day you held the two (2) meetings. Your conclusion about the President “always looking lost” was reached when you observed him “through videos and photographs of his meetings” which confirmed to you that the “man is never in the ‘here and now’”. You also determined that the President was not decisive because he referred you and a team of foreign Christian philanthropists who wanted to execute humanitarian projects for the poor, disabled and elderly to meet with the State Governors. So the philanthropists changed their minds about implementing the projects!

 

Pastor Sunday, this is rather odd. You judged the President’s presence of mind from two (2) meetings you held with him at which you said he was sleepy and form watching videos of him at events. And because he referred you to State Governors for implementation of some philanthropic projects the Christian philanthropists were discouraged and decided that the needy Nigerians they came to help could do without their assistance? Hmm....

 

Sincerely, Pastor Sunday, if President Goodluck Jonathan were on trial in a court of law regarding his capacity to lead and his decision-making skills, no reasonable Judge would convict him based on the evidence you gave in your article. Your sub-title, created an expectation of some earth-shaking revelation regarding his “cluelessness” which Nigerian opposition politicians often allege out of mischief.

 

 

 

Part 3. Is Gen. Buhari an Islamic fundamentalist?

 

I must confess, Pastor Sunday, that this part of your article was the one I was looking forward to reading the most given the well-known evidence of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s Islamism. I assumed you must have some new disclosure about the man to change the perception which he himself created through the overflow of his mouth. Disappointingly, you just repeated the tired excuses which Buharists push on Facebook and other social media: “Buhari did not Islamise Nigeria as a military Head of State”; “Buhari’s cabinet comprised more Christians than Muslims”; “It was not Buhari that took Nigeria into OIC”........etc.

 

Pastor Sunday, is it that you are unaware of what Gen. Muhammadu Buhari used his own mouth to tell his audience at an Islamic seminar held in Kaduna in 2001? Gen. Buhari said: “I will continue to show openly and inside me the total commitment to the Sharia movement that is sweeping all over Nigeria. God willing, we will not stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the country.”

 

Till date, after 14 years, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari has not denied making the statement and he has not claimed he was misquoted. What is your understanding of this avowal, Pastor Sunday? In fact, no less a person than the former Chief Justice of the Federation and himself a committed Muslim, late Justice Mohammed Bello, declared that the brand of Sharia Law which was Buhari said was “sweeping all over the Nigeria” in 2001 is unconstitutional and so illegal. It is the Sharia Law regarding criminal cases whereas the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria only permits Sharia in matters of Personal and Family Law. The brand of Sharia Buhari promotes prescribes that the hands of thieves be cut off. Buhari made his famous statement about one year after Buba Jangebe became the first victim of this law in Zamfara State in 2000 for stealing a cow. And Lawal Isa later had his hands amputated for stealing a bicycle. Boko Haram recently resumed the amputation of the hands of victims of its jihadist terrorism.  (Please visithttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2587039.stm). Happily, Ms Amina Lawal, who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, was delivered because of the international outcry that followed her case when some activist lawyers escalated it in the media.

 

Pastor Sunday, has Gen. Buhari renounced his commitment not to stop the agitation for the total implementation of the Sharia in the entire nation of Nigeria? Has he also recanted his statement made in January, 2002, during the closing ceremony of the 16th National Qur’anic Recitation Competition held in Gusau, Zamfara State, urging Muslims across the country to vote only for the Presidential Candidate in the 2003 Election that would defend and uphold the tenets of Islam? He was also reported to have told Muslims at the event that they have every reason to thank Allah for restoring the Islamic Sharia which he said was destroyed by British colonialists during their crusade in 1903 against the Sokoto Caliphate. (Please see

http://allafrica.com/stories/200201210250.html)

 

Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is not only an Islamic fundamentalist he is also a sectionalist.

 

Please see below a Thisday newspaper’s report of 3^rd June, 2013, after the declaration of State of Emergency in the North East states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States (http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/buhari-military-offensive-against-boko-haram-anti-north/149256/): 

 

Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) National Leader, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, has criticised the declaration of state of emergency in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe States and the subsequent military offensive against the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
Buhari, who featured on the “Guest of the Week,” a Hausa programme of the Kaduna-based Liberty Radio, yesterday said the federal government’s action was a gross injustice against the north.

According to him, unlike the special treatment the federal government gave to the Niger Delta militants, the Boko Haram members were being killed and their houses demolished.
He said he was not in support of the declaration of state of emergency in the three north-eastern states because President Goodluck Jonathan had failed from the outset in addressing the security situation in the country.

“You see in the case of the Niger Delta militants, the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua sent an airplane to bring them, he sat down with them and discussed with them, they were cajoled, and they were given money and granted amnesty.
They were trained in some skills and were given employment, but the ones in the north are being killed and their houses demolished. They are different issues, what brought this? It is injustice.”

So, my dear Pastor Sunday, GEN. MUHAMMADU BUHARI IS NOT JUST AN ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST, HE IS AN AN ISLAMIST SHARIA-JIHADIST! 

 

 

 

Part 4. “Why I believe President Jonathan is far more a fundamentalist than Gen. Buhari”

 

Pastor Sunday, sadly, your attempt to robe President Goodluck Jonathan in a fundamentalist garb is the most tragic aspect of your write-up. Your evidence?
You wrote: The “President is always flanked by leaders of his religion in a country where we don’t just have only Christians. In a diverse country like ours where Christians and Muslims are mostly on an equal footing, a Muslim could easily think why should his President often be surrounded mainly by Christian leaders? Either he is with the respected leaders of the Christian association of Nigeria (CAN) or on the prayer ground of some of the highly regarded and respected Christian churches. Supposing you are a Muslim and you see your president in such situations, is it not understandable for a Muslim to call him a Christian fundamentalist? Now let’s imagine that it’s a Muslim president (for example Gen. Buhari) that is always going from one mosque to the other always surrounded by various Muslim groups. I can imagine what kind of accusations would have been coming from my Christian brothers and sisters, in which case Gen.Buhari would not only be accused of been a fundamentalist, he would also have been accused of Islamizing Nigeria”. [sic]

 

WHAT?! This is your proof that President Jonathan is a “fundamentalist” and so should not be given a second term?!

 

With due respect, man of God, this is so ludicrous it is amazing that you wrote about it! What about all the past Muslim Heads of State and Presidents who were always travelling for both the lesser Hajj and greater Hajj? You never saw them worshipping in Mosques?

 

If your concern is really that Muslim Nigerians may feel alienated because of the President’s attendance of Church Services, are you not aware that the Vice President, Arc. Namadi Sambo, is a Muslim and that he goes to the Mosque to worship too? How is this even an issue worth talking about, Pastor Sunday? Then you accused the President of bigotry. Oh no!

 

And you wrote: “Can someone tell me the last time you saw Gen. Buhari been flanked by popular leaders of his religion or kneeling down, praying with his Muslim clerics in a mosque? No, he makes his faith a personal affair.”

 

You appear to forget that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is a private citizen and holds no public office. Why would his attendance in a Mosque attract the media attention which Arc. Namadi Sambo, Gov. Raji Fashola, Gov. Rauf Aregbesola, Gov. Babangida Aliyu and other Muslim Governors get when the go to the Mosque?

 

My brother, with due respect, this is a non-issue please.

 

 

Part 5. ‘‘Pastor Sunday how dare you support a Muslim candidate’’?

 

Pastor Sunday, I will not say much on this part of your article because it is obvious you made the assumption, like most people who live in outside Africa and assume that the religious divide in Nigeria is so great that Christians and Muslims generally antagonise each other. But for the religious sentiments which the All Progressives Congress has raised in northern Nigeria by surreptitiously getting Muslim clerics in the North West and North East geopolitical zones of Nigeria to preach that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is the “Candidate of Allah” and the “only One who can advance the cause of Islam”, many Muslims voted for Christians and many Christians voted for Muslims in previous Presidential Elections.

 

Personally, I have been advocating that Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, the Governor of Gombe State, be elected the President of Nigeria in 2019 because I believe he is eminently qualified and ha the right temperament, experience and the vision to lead the country. Of course, Gov. Dankwambo is a Muslim. So, Pastor Sunday, few Christians will wonder why you “dare support a Muslim candidate” as you have assumed.

 

You took time to write about what you consider to be Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s virtues and then you made the rather ambitious claim that “Above all, he is not associated with corruption of any form or sort”. I’m sorry, Pastor Sunday, but I could not help but laugh when I read that statement which is more or less your canonization of Gen. Buhari. LOL!

 

My brother, so you have never heard that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was “associated” with the $2.8Billion stolen from the NNPC on his watch? You have never heard that he was “associated” with appointing Afri Projects Consortium (another “APC”!) as the sole consultant on all projects executed by the Petroleum Trust Fund and that the company milked our nation of billions of Naira through over-invoicing and other scams? Are you also unaware that Gen. Buhari was “associated” with Gen. Sani Abacha, his benefactor, whom he publicly declared “not corrupt” despite the fact that his family returned billions of dollars which he stole?

 

Pastor Sunday, as a man of God, how you can virtually declare a man you obviously know little about a “saint” beats me.

 

 

Part 6. “Reasons why I cannot support Jonathan/Sambo ticket”.

 

Pastor Sunday you wrote: “I believe God chose President Jonathan for a reason and I also believe that his time span is over. Just like God choose Saul, he had his time, but God also chose David to take over from him. I personally think that President Jonathan has had his time to prove his worth in the last six years. What he could not do in six years I doubt that he will be able to do in the next four.” [sic]

 

 

Now, I must ask:

 

v Since you believe God chose President Goodluck Jonathan, when and how did the LORD tell you He had rejected him as He did Saul and as you have plainly suggested?

 

v When and how did God tell you that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari is now His Chosen (like King David) and as you have implied?

 

As a man of God, I am really surprised that you actually think a person cannot do well in the future simply because you have judged that the person did not do well in the past. As someone who is involved in rehabilitating destitute people, beggars, prostitutes, drug-addicts and others who are considered misfits in the Ukrainian society, it is sad that you suddenly have no faith in another man’s capacity to change and improve on his performance.

 

Yet, Pastor Sunday, you have so much confidence that Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who failed woefully to do anything memorable as Nigeria’s Head of State over 30 years ago when he had no legislature to submit his plans to and when he was in his prime years, would now bring “change” to a more complex Nigeria which is faced with many challenges even though he is in his twilight years as an infirmed septuagenarian and is yet to articulate any empirical agenda for his “Presdiency” despite having run unsuccessfully for the office thrice before.

 

You  really do have Great Faith, bro! LOL!

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

Pastor Sunday, you wrote: “I feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulder to destroy the mountain of ignorance and darkness that I see emanating from the Christian community. I’m amazed and alarmed that Christians who are supposed to be having the mind of Christ, the wisdom of God and the analytical faculty to digest any complex situation are out rightly refusing to use their minds or their intellect for that matter…….However, sadly from the Christian reactions that I have seen so far, excuse me for my use of words but it’s like we are hypnotized, brain washed or just out rightly biased. Too much of emotions and clichés but too little substance.” [sic]

 

My brother, it is ironic that you would so easily dismiss the Nigerian Christian community as ignorant and under darkness and assume you are in the position to destroy that “mountain of ignorance and darkness” when you no so little of the actual goings on in our country and barely disguised your own prejudice based on assumptions and fables about the “integrity” of Pastor Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. I wished you had shown a little more humility in your assessment of the Church in Nigeria and its leaders.

 

Pastor Sunday, you have the Holy Spirit of God; you are a wise and greatly anointed man of God; and you have very close friends who are Pastors of great congregations in Nigeria; I hope you will be open to their counsel (which I am in no doubt they must have already given you) and that you would somehow see how wrong you are about Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and President Goodluck Jonathan, Ph.D., GCFR.

 

Pastor Sunday, I am now even more certain than I have ever been that….

 

#BuhariWillNeverBePresident

 

 

…..And I also have the Spirit of God.

 

 

Please do give my very warm regards to Pastor Bose, Perez and Pearl.

 

God bless you.

 

God bless Nigeria.

 

NIGERIA DI FURE!

 

 

 

Best regards,

 

Egheomhanre Emmanuel Eyieyien, FCA.

NIGERIA: RESTRUCTURING FOR A POST-CRUDE OIL ECONOMY

I commend President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Ph.D., GCFR, for the reduction of the pump price of petrol from N97 to N87 per litre. It is yet another proof of his sensitivity to the expressed yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians with the fall in the international price of crude oil.

In my contribution to a Facebook post which my elder friend and brother, Pastor Agu Imo, made on the subject of the reduction of the price of petrol about three weeks ago, I had stated that the price would likely be reduced in February or March, 2015, in view of the time lag between when the petroleum marketing companies place orders for products and when they arrive in the country. I said then that the product being sold in petrol stations at that time was imported at the price prior to the fall in crude oil prices so the dealers would make a huge loss should they immediately adjust the selling price.

I expect a further reduction in the price of petrol in subsequent weeks in line with developments in the international market for the product and a similar announcement regarding the price of kerosene soon.

In effect, the price of petrol has now been deregulated. Indeed, the Forum of the Commissioners of Finance of the 36 States had long called for the deregulation of all petroleum products and the removal of subsidy on them in their bid to boost the federally-collected revenues available for sharing by the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee. I wonder if the opposition Governors have thought through this. I hope they would not pretend that they are unaware of the implications when people begin to react negatively to the removal of fuel subsidy.

True to character, some Buharists are already agog claiming "victory" for the reduction in the price of petrol. LOL! They think this is another opportunity to make political capital of a simple matter of rational economic management. The gullible ones are already buying their hypocritical sophistry. SMH!

I stand by my position that Fuel Subsidy should only be removed WHEN Nigeria builds more refineries and we stop the importation of petroleum products. It makes no sense importing products which we could easily produce locally and waste resources enriching private individuals and foreign firms through "subsidies". It is virtually impossible to ensure that there are no fraudulent subsidy payments as have been the case since the temptation to cheat is irresistible for mere carnal men irrespective of the checks and balances put in place. Collusion will render them ineffective as has been our experience.

I advocate that Nigeria bans the export of crude oil. It makes no sense with crude oil selling at under $50 per barrel and likely to fall as low as $30 in the near term. At such low prices it is unprofitable for Nigeria to even produce crude oil.

Nigeria should invest massively in building refineries and begin the export of petroleum and petrochemical products. We will actually make more money doing that. Potentially, Nigeria could earn as much as $200Billion (Two hundred billion U.S. Dollars!) annually within the first three years of exports and the foreign exchange revenues can only grow higher in the long term.

This is our chance. Let us exit the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), restructure our oil and gas sector, and redefine ourselves as a Petroleum Products and Petrochemical Products Exporting Country.

We can. We should.

God bless Nigeria.

NIGERIA DI FURE!

PRESIDENT JONATHAN AND A "GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT"

MY STANCE ON PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN'S ALLEGED BREACH OF THE "GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT" TO DO ONLY ONE TERM AS NIGERIA'S PRESIDENT:

If President Goodluck Jonathan said in 2011 that he would only do one term as the President (for whatever reason), and in 2014 he decided that he would vie for a second term (for whatever reason), then the Islamist sponsors and instigators of Boko Haram inside and outside of the Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress are justified to continue their jihadist terrorism? Didn't Gen. Muhammadu Buhari cry in 2011 after his loss at the polls and declare that he would not run for the Presidency of Nigeria again? Why is no one making an issue out of his flip-flop on the matter?

We must tell ourselves the truth about our beloved country:

Nigeria belongs to us all. Those among the Fulani Muslims who feel it is their birth-right to govern Nigeria cannot hold the rest of the country to ransom merely because an Ijaw man is President. What gave them the temerity to even tell President Jonathan that he should do only one term?! Are they God?! If the President agreed for whatever reason (fear, intimidation, blackmail, threats etc.) to such a satanic, unjust, and iniquitous arrangement, then I am personally excited that God gave him the courage to recant. That is the most liberating thing that has happened to Nigeria since 1960 when we got our nation's Independence from the British colonialists.

As any First Year University student of Business Law knows, there are "agreements" and "contracts" which are actually illegal and, therefore, unenforceable since they are void ab initio. So even if one concedes that President Goodluck Jonathan did enter into a "gentleman's agreement" with some PDP Fulani Muslims and Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (who has publicly made that claim his main grouse against the President) that he would do only one term so that the Presidency reverts to the north in 2015, such an "agreement" is illegal since it is UNCONSTITUTIONAL. No Nigerian can willingly or unwillingly divest himself or herself of a Constitutionally-guaranteed right such as the right to vote and be voted for. It is really that simple.

GOD BLESS PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN FOR BREAKING THE "GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT" THAT HE WOULD DO ONLY ONE TERM AS NIGERIA'S PRESIDENT!!

#TransformationReinvigoratedTill2019

God bless Nigeria.

Nigeria di fure!

THE DILEMMA OF NEO-BUHARISTS

There are two kinds of Buharists: the Classic Buharists and the Neo-Buharists. The Classic Buharists genuinely love Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. To them, he is the epitome of a true leader. They truly believe he is all they say he is. They think he is not corrupt and that he is even incorruptible. Their devotion to the man they like to call the "People's General" is total; bordering on worship. No contrary argument can burst their bubble. In fact, you dare to persuade them that Gen. Buhari is not the man they think him to be at your peril. Violence, verbal and/or physical, comes natural to them when they think you denigrate GMB.

The Neo-Buharists are recent converts to Buharism who fed too long on the well-orchestrated narrative that President Jonathan is "clue-less" and is incapable of leading Nigeria. They have been led to believe that our country's state is dire and that things are in their worst possible condition. They believe "$20Billion is missing"! To them, "nothing is working". It is futile pointing out to them the achievements of the Jonathan administration. They see none whatsoever. They want "change".
Ordinarily, the Neo-Buharists would never even have considered Gen. Buhari as Presidential material. They know him too well. They are not impressed about Buhari's antecedents. But they would rather not discuss it. Since they are convinced that President Jonathan has not performed well enough they believe they have no option but to settle for Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.

To reassure themselves about the rationality of supporting Buhari, they are quick to point out the difference between a military despot and a democratic President. They are forgiving of Buhari's inglorious past. They hope he has changed. They are not unaware of his many short-comings. They know he is a religious fundamentalist who is an avowed proponent of the implementation of Sharia across Nigeria. They point out the impossibility of instituting Sharia nationwide in a democracy and remind you that their man did not even do so when he could as a military Head of State. To them, it matters not that the brand of Sharia Law he advocates is a contravention of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria which he would be sworn to uphold should he be President. They equally ignore the fact that he once called on Muslim voters to vote only for Muslims even as he is now tranversing the country soliciting the votes of Nigerians of all religions.

Neo-Buharists are mindful of Gen. Buhari's lack of administrative acumen and management capacity. But they are ready to excuse his incompetence and make a virtue of his notoriety to transfer responsibility to his immediate subordinate. So they highlight the qualities of Prof. Pastor Yemi Osinbajo, his running mate. They see the Professor of Law as a would-be Proxy-President and even push the idea of an Outsourced Presidency as a great concept.

On the issue of combating corruption, the Neo-Buharists do not like to be reminded that the General's financiers and close political associates cannot explain how they became so wealthy as public officials. They pretend that they have not noticed the sudden change in the General's anti-corruption mantra. He will now only prosecute (and "send to Kirikiri") those who remain corrupt after he becomes President!

But Neo-Buharists have lingering doubts; serious doubts. Their own idealism will not allow their consciences rest. They have nagging questions about Gen. Buhari. Questions about his past; questions about his future. Does he have what it takes to lead Nigeria at this stage of his life? Is he the change they seek? What is his vision for Nigeria? Does he even have a vision? How will he accomplish all that those who speak for him say he will do? Is he in poor health as is being rumoured in some quarters?

And the Neo-Buharists' Doubts are fed the more as they hear him speak on the campaign trail. They know he is uninspiring; but, with the new trendy garb he adorns, they hoped for more. They do not expect soul-stirring speeches but, at the least, not the usual dull and incoherent drivel. Haba!

As the doubts grow, sadly, some Neo-Buharists would simply settle for apathy. Those of them who actually have the Permanent Voters Card may very well decide that they will not violate their consciences....and stay home on 14th February, 2015: the Fail Buhari Day.

This is why I know......

‪#‎BuhariWillNeverBePresident‬


NIGERIA DI FURE!

THE IMPERATIVE OF A JONATHAN SECOND TERM

Those who are familiar with my political discourses know that I am an unapologetic supporter of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Ph.D., GCFR. I have been a "GEJite" or, if you like, a "Jonathanian" (a term coined by Nasir El Rufai thinking it is derisive) since October, 2009, when it became clear that late President Umaru Yar'adua lwas unlikely to continue as Nigeria's President due to ill-health.

But I am not a "hear-no-evil; see-no-evil; speak-no-evil GEJite". I have been critical of the President when occasion warranted it. He is human and it is inevitable that he would make mistakes. It is a disservice to him when his supporters applaud him even when he errs. That is a recipe for failure. Those who love leader must never shy from speaking truth to the leader. Indeed, wise leader cherishes those whom he knows are loyal to him yet are not afraid to tell him the truth. Yet, in our African context the Kabiyesi Complex makes it ever so hard for a leader to draw courageous counsellors to himself. Our monarchical heritage makes it all too easy to be surrounded mostly by Yes-men.

I have written several articles arguing for the return of President Goodluck Jonathan to Aso Rock Villa on 29th May, 2015. I have made a case for the President's superiority over Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, his only real rival in the upcoming Presidential Election, in terms of academic and democratic credentials. I have written about the President's humaneness, humility, patience, tolerance, kindness, empathy, calmness and sincerity. I have highlighted the remarkable progress we have made as a nation in the areas of agriculture, railways, power sector reforms, development and maintenance of our roads infrastructure, foreign direct investments and foreign portfolio investments, improvements in our airports, women and youth empowerment, and access to credit of our micro, small and medium enterprises.

Many Nigerians have a tendency to generalise negatively and dismiss any talk about what good government has done. You hear people say things like "Nothing is working"; "It is only in Nigeria that.....", then they go on to list the bad occurrences which they proclaim to be peculiar to Nigeria: kidnappings, rape, stampede leading to deaths, floods, power outages, corruption etc. Our kith and kin who are based abroad at often more guilty of this negativity. If you engage on social media like I do, you would be familiar with how much bile is spewed by these our countrymen in rants against the government. Their anger is understandable: they would like their fatherland to be like the countries they live in Europe and America. They want a quantum leap for Nigeria. I do too. But I know that it is from little acorns that oaks grow. And I know that it was little by little that the LORD gave the Israelites the land of Canaan which He had promised them. True progress comes in degrees. We have made remarkable progress as a country under the leadership of President Jonathan despite the many challenges and great obstacles in his way. Had Dr. Jonathan been Nigeria's President in a pre-Boko Haram era, I have no doubt that there would be no debate about his deserving a second term.

One area in which the President himself has acknowledged failure is in the fight against corruption. His decision to give it priority during his second term is proof that he knows he has done poorly in that regard. Unlike the Nuhu Ribadu Days, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) no longer strikes fear in anyone's heart, least those public officials feeding fat on our patrimony. Its Chairman, Ibrahim Lamorde, whose outstanding performance as the Head of Operations of the Commission under Ribadu recommended him to the high office has since gone to sleep. He has even put on weight.....obviously from idleness! If President Jonathan's renewed commitment to the Anti-Corruption War is to be taken seriously, a change of guard at the EFCC is urgent.

Despite the empirical factors which make the case for a Jonathan Second Term strong as I have argued, I believe the most compelling reason (and which will definitely prove the most controversial) is the mere fact of his being a President from the Niger Delta region. Yes, I am Esan from Edo State which is in the South South Geopolitical Zone. But this has nothing to do with where I am from. One if the great things I took away from my alma mater, King's College, Lagos, is the following truth which is part of our School Song: ".....Though of many nations, we all are brothers with a common debt; let us pay by giving, as we forge ahead, service to the living, honour to our dead".

As Nigerians, we all are really brothers even though our tongues and tribes differ. We are of One Blood. God made all humanity of One Blood. There is no Ijaw Blood, Fulani Blood, Igbo Blood, Yoruba Blood, Kanuri Blood, Jukun Blood, Igbirra Blood, Esan Blood.....etc. If you are in an emergency and need a Blood Transfusion, all the doctors need to know is your Blood Group not your tribe or even race. You could be Idoma with Type "O" Blood; your body will not reject similar Blood Type donated by a Tiv person despite your ethno-political differences. LOL!

If that be the case, then why is President Jonathan's Geo-political Zone of any relevance as we contemplate the 2015 Presidential Election? Have I not unwittingly just made a case for its insignificance?

Some day, I believe where a Nigerian comes from in Nigeria will not count in our choice of leaders. Some day, I believe all that would matter would be a person's qualifications, experience, competence and vision.

But that day has not yet come. Unfortunately, by reason of our chequered history, tribe and religion still play a significant role in our national politics. This is our reality. All our political parties have a zoning policy fir this reason. As can be seen from the press release of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) regarding the Presidential Candidates for the Election of 14th February, 2015, all political parties which are fielding candidates have one person from either the North or the South and the running-mate from the opposite end of the compass. And no party is fielding either a Christian-Christian or Muslim-Muslim Presidential Ticket. To deny the reality of tribal, geo-political regional and religious balancing in our politics is sheer playing the ostrich.

In our 54 year history as a sovereign state, the following were Nigeria's Executive Presidents/Prime Minister and Heads of State:

* Alhaji Sir Tafawa Balewa, KBE.....Bageri Muslim; North East Zone: 1st October, 1960 - 15th January, 1966 (5 years, 3 months+);

* Gen. Johnson Aguiyi Ironsi......Igbo Christian; South East: 16th January, 1966 - 19th July, 1966 (6 months);

* Gen. Yakubu Gowon....Ngas Christian; North Central: 1st August, 1966 - 29th July, 1975 (9 years);

* Gen. Murtala Mohammed.....Controversy about his true tribe (Berom or Hausa?), Muslim; North Central or North West?: 30th July, 1975 - 13th February, 1976 (6 months+);

* Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo....Yoruba Christian; South West: 13th February, 1976 - 1st October, 1979 (3 years, 7 months+);

* Alhaji Shehu Shagari.....Fulani Muslim; North West: 1st October, 1979 - 31st December, 1983(4 years 3 months);

* Major Gen. Muhammadu Buhari.....Fulani Muslim; North West: 31st December, 1983 - 27th August, 1985 (1 year, 8 months);

* Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.....Gwari Muslim; North Central: 27th August, 1985 - 27th August, 1993 (8 years);

* Chief Ernest Shonekan......Yoruba Christian; South West: 27th August, 1993 - 17th November, 1993 (2 months+);

* Gen. Sani Abacha......Kanuri Muslim; North East: 17th November, 1993 - 8th June, 1998 (4 years, 6 months+);

* Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar......Gwari Muslim; North Central: 9th June, 1998 - 29th May, 1999(11 months+);

* Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.....Yoruba Christian; South West: 29th May, 1999 - 29th May, 2007(8 years);

* Alhaji Umaru Yar'adua....Fulani Muslim; North West: 29th May, 2007 - 5th May, 2010 (2 years, 11 months+);

* Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.....Ijaw Christian; South South: 5th May, 2010 - Date (4 years, 7 months+).


Obviously, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan is the first person from the South South geo-political zone to lead Nigeria; and he has effectively been in office for only one term. Since Providence has made it possible for him to vie for a second term, without prejudice to the right of other Nigerians to seek the office and without discounting the good performance of the President as I have already highlighted which really suffices to earn him another tenure, it is my well-considered opinion that a Jonathan Second Term would go a long way to strengthen our nation's unity and engender the much needed sense of belonging of Southern "Minority Tribes", especially those of the Niger Delta who have been oppressed and violated by the Nigerian state for decades.

While a Jonathan Presidency alone cannot resolve the Niger Delta Question, it is evident that the mere presence of an Ijaw man in Aso Rock as Head of the Nigerian Government has had very salutary effect in stopping militancy in the region. Some may argue that it was the Amnesty granted to the Niger Delta Militants by late President Yar'adua that has brought about the peace now prevalent in the area. But that is not the entire story. President Jonathan has been the Stabiliser. While we must not blackmailed and intimidated by the threats emanating from some ex-militants that they would resume their insurgency should Dr. Jonathan not be elected as Nigeria's President, it would be a grave mistake not to be mindful of the sensibilities of the people of the region. The sentiment that a Niger Deltan is not good enough to lead Nigeria and be given a two-term tenure as Obasanjo had and as Yar'adua would no doubt have had but for the cold hands of death must not be allowed to take root. Nigeria can ill-afford a return to Niger Delta militancy while we yet grapple with Boko Haram.

A Jonathan Second Term will not cure Nigerians of tribalism, ethnicity and religious bigotry, but it will help give our country a New Lease of Life as we continue to work at building a truly united nation where peace, equity and justice reign.

If President Goodluck Jonathan does return to Aso Rock Villa in May, 2015, he must be conscious of the enormous burden which Destiny has placed on him. He must decide that the season of appeasement of foes and patronage of friends at the expense of the Nigerian in Otueke, Biliri, Zungeru, Iyin-Ekiti, Gbongan, Ilado, Abak, Oba, Arondizuogu, Kachia, Mubi, Bida, Uromi..... . He must ask God for Grace to be a New Sharp Threshing Instrument with Teeth which can thresh down mountains and blow them away as chaff before the wind. He owes this not just to Nigerians but to himself and GOD. Otherwise......

God bless Nigeria.

NIGERIA DI FURE!



Egheomhanre Emmanuel Eyieyien, FCA.