The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) can be such an unfair party to General Muhammadu Buhari (GMB); and Abubakar Atiku can be such a sore loser who cannot read the stormy and cloudy winds. Maybe from Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration, it will be obvious to Atiku where the Tinubu boys stand, even though Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was not at the launch.
The crème de la crème was at the Buhari launch at the Eagle Square, a potpourri of the high and the low, the mighty and the weak, the enlightened and the stark dogmatic, the jobbers and the rented were there. It was a huge crowd of the bourgeoisie and miscreants.
But Atiku, in his mad rush to have a head-start, used the sitting room of the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre for his launch. Now, he has to look for an occasion centered on him to prove he can also rent a crowd and talk his political friends to come over. If they won’t listen to him, he can also pay for their services, just to give him the number and clout.
However, Atiku is not a pushover. Ask Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, Aliyu Muhammed Gusau and Bukola Saraki, who chickened out when he felt the heat in the kitchen of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Forget his talk about wanting sanity in the party; he knew he would have lost woefully. As it stands, it will be a miracle if he can deliver Kwara to the APC.
And did anyone observe how Audu Ogbeh, in reeling out the bio-data of Buhari, craftily left out the aspect of how the man truncated the democratic experiment of which he was a poster boy in 1983? Ogbeh, the democrat, has shamelessly turned full circle to endorse the man who put us all where we now are. I didn’t know political vomit tasted so delicious. Many insist the PDP shouldn’t have lost this fine gentleman, but I think the man, like many others who are pretending to be democrats, had it coming and the kingdom of democracy has come upon him. He looked and sounded like what he and others truly are: political buccaneers.
Why is the PDP such an unfair party to Buhari? Shortly after the retired but obviously battle-weary and tired general re-launched his presidential bid for the fourth time, the party issued a statement welcoming him into the race, knowing he was easier to demolish than a politically wily Atiku, or even that clown from Kano. Publicity Secretary of the party, Olisa Metuh, had this to say about Buhari: “According to General Buhari, Nigeria was generating 4000 MWs of electricity in 1999 but has today fallen short of that capacity under the PDP. However, the fact remains that as at May 29th 1999 when PDP took office, Nigeria was generating 1600 MWs. We urge Nigerians to fact-check on this. Corroboration of this figure can also be sought from the World Bank, the IMF and multiple other authoritative sources.
“In contrast, it is common knowledge that under the transformative leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria now generates 4568 MWs of electricity; a triple of what was generated in 1999. Again, General Muhammadu Buhari stated that a growing economy which the PDP inherited in 1999 has been destroyed within 15 years in office. This also does not represent the reality on the ground. The fact which can be verified from the hand-over notes from the military as well as from the World Bank and IMF is that Nigeria was the third largest economy in Africa in 1999, behind South Africa and Egypt.
“The nation was also rated number 48 in the world, our Foreign Reserve at $3.6 Billion while our foreign debt stood at $36 billion. However, it is incontrovertible that in the last 15 years of PDP leadership, especially the last three years of dynamic and purposeful administration provided by President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria’s economy has become the largest in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. Similarly, our Foreign Reserve is now over $39 billion dollars, and our foreign debts reduced to less than $7 billion from $36 billion.
“Besides, General Buhari also told supporters that Nigeria’s agricultural sector has gone down under the PDP, a statement which also does not reflect the reality on the ground. Verily, the fact remains that in the last 15 years under the PDP, indeed, the last three years of vigorous application of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda, there has been an unparalleled government input in agriculture, thereby pushing production to an all time high. Moreover, Nigeria food import has reduced from N1.1 trillion in 2010 to N684 billion. While we understand that the APC is hell-bent on using every opportunity at its disposal to discredit the PDP in quest for political control, we urge their handlers to always cross-check their facts and stop making mockery of respected Nigerians in the mould of General Buhari.”
Who told the PDP spokesman that the plot to diminish Buhari by his APC handlers was not deliberate? Why Metuh would expect Buhari and his political ilk to appreciate what the PDP has done in the last 15 years beats my imagination. Does Metuh really think that Buhari understood what he was reading in that enormously faulty speech? Buhari is all about grabbing power by those in charge of the marionette, and using the power to deal with real and perceived enemies. The other groups who are trying to use Buhari to get to our pot of honey are just interested in perpetrating the financial and drug crimes they are notoriously known for in the United States of America and elsewhere.
Has Metuh forgotten so soon, or was he not wise enough then, to have known that just as it happened in 1983 when Shagari, Ekwueme, Audu Ogbeh, yes, the same Audu Ogbeh that is Buhari’s new Man Friday, were thrown out of power, Buhari’s so-called integrity was used by other persons to coast to power, and when, as he always does, developed a mind of his own, was kicked out? What is the moral of this historical perspective? Politicians, whether in or out of uniform, enjoy using a politically naive Buhari to get to where they are going. That is what he is just good for.
All those swarming around him know they cannot trust him when he gets to power, and are simply playing along for now. Or, why else will an intelligent but politically warped Nasir el-Rufai, who mercilessly lacerated Buhari with his tongue under Obasanjo, turn around to become the man’s shadow? I suspect that GMB knows a bit of the charade around him, but he has either become a prisoner to the forces around him, or he has his own sinister plan. Remember he is a “Miyetti Allah” strongman with dangerous foot soldiers. It is the time to watch, wait, and pray!
Mr Ojo sent this piece from Ketu, Lagos.
