Nigerians are intensely political people, full of fire and outrage in their support or ability to undermine any figure of authority.

Nigerians are intensely political people, full of fire and outrage in their support or ability to undermine any figure of authority. Ours should have been the greatest of democracies, given our profound interest in public affairs. Unlike many Western countries where belief in any ideology is waning and voter turn-out is lacklustre, Nigeria is a country where fortunately and unfortunately dogma endures: we believe in many things (many unsubstantiated, antiquated convictions with destructive powers) but we differ from our Western counterparts in our unwillingness to critically assess and scrutinise said beliefs, hiding behind ethnicity and religion to justify those mysteries which enrich a few at the expense of the many. Our rigid support system, based on how we worship, or what part of the country we come from, shows our mistaken understanding of political participation which is more a conspiracy to commit, support and justify theft than anything else. Politics rarely goes beyond, in the immortal words of Patience Jonathan: “na we time” (to do what? I’ll leave that to the readers’ imagination).Now a crucial question poses itself: in the battle between the old, corrupt ways and the new, can the President rid himself of those undesired elements, even if they may be his nearest and dearest, who could ultimately cost him his re-election? MUHAMMADU BUHARI MUHAMMADU BUHARI Our society is not educated (or mature) enough to turn partisan debates into civic engagement: country first, rather than party first, is a concept which continuously eludes us. However, APC must be wary of Nigerian disillusionment. Nigerians have slowly begun to realise their power: if they no longer believe in the APC because its narrative is unconvincing (a far cry from its fervent pre-election sense of national urgency), because, it seems, many in APC look all too comfortable with the old ways they campaigned against, then this would spell the end for the party. Nigerians won’t accept to be fed the romanticised notions of ethnic or primordial loyalty which dictate support based on everything other than rational considerations of performance: it’s already happening. A party that consistently gets votes in the modern world isn’t one that puts food on the table by sporadically donating relief items, it is, instead, one that empowers and prepares people for self-reliance. What Nigerians really need, right now, is for the real Muhammadu Buhari to please stand up. I’m following the aftermath of the political conventions in America. There are so many lessons to be learned about what involvement in politics truly means, about the part every individual citizen has to play in mending a country and telling a new story. Ours (both our tragic story and heart-breaking country) needs Buhari, if he can let go of some of his friends before it is too late. Perhaps his experience of being removed from power by striking at the heart of the cabal which enjoys and profits from Nigeria’s dysfunction, made him more of a realist. Perhaps it turned the soldier into a politician who is more ready to compromise by keeping some of those undesirable elements close, despite the scandals and unanswered questions, because of the greater damage they could do behind his back. Perhaps the strategist in Buhari can still surprise us. But we need the man who doesn’t pander to the interests or fear-mongering of corrupt individuals who either use militants or separatism as blackmail. He doesn’t have to have all the answers (those who voted for Buhari were no fools, no one mistook him for a policy wonk) but he must surround himself with more qualified, talented people who can provide said answers. Enough of the recommendations and placements based on rumoured or alleged familial connections, etc. His communications team never tapped into his strengths and never sold a post-election plan or vision. The cynics might say there wasn’t one. But Buhari’s personal narrative, his knowledge of the civil war and all it wrought upon us in ethnic politics, could serve to unify this country, if he had the right people to articulate and sell his personal thoughts and memories to the masses. Obama once said: “There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.” I doubt many around our President fully understand the power of words. Many of the criticisms currently directed at the President, including the perceived lack of economic direction, would be far less if only there was someone regularly speaking to Nigerians, explaining the reasons for the hardships and detailing a way out, as opposed to ignoring the problems in the “Jonathanesque” way previously criticised. The President does occasionally mention our values but not enough in connection to economic realities. Everything about the collapse of our economy, our reliance on FX dependent imported goods, etc, is a direct consequence of our shallow mind-set, never mind the elite schools many in our society will tell you they attended. We think and behave like paupers, semi-illiterates, awed by meaningless things. We’re paying the price for it now. A communications team should have used the President’s personal story, his humble beginnings, to inspire us to think differently about money and its uses. Very few people remember policy in detail but they remember the stories told about said policies: the intellectual passion, the storytelling prowess shown in the US when discussing the American idea is totally absent in Nigeria. Those few would-be intellectuals Nigerian Presidents have around them are often relics of an unfortunate past. Few are creative enough to craft the new policies we need to catapult ourselves into modernity and by extension, prosperity. The Muhammadu Buhari we need at this point must find a way to synthesize the old and the new. Not by providing jobs and opportunities for his friends’ children as is often the case in Nigeria but by allowing real talent to thrive. If the best man can get the job in Nigeria, half of our problems would be solved. Dogara In Nigeria, offensiveness seems to be a legitimate form of engagement or even defence. The idea that padding the budget isn’t illegal isn’t just a dangerous one, it’s a testimony to the mind-set of politicians who think Nigeria is a country to be ruled rather than governed. Is decriminalising an accusation not a form of self-indictment? It amounts to saying “even if I did do it, it isn’t a crime”. Either way, one now sees the legislature has little grasp of its true functions. Only the executive is allowed to re-write the budget and replace projects, etc. Lawmakers are only empowered to trim sums, not allocate money themselves! Then of course there’s:”You mean I can’t come and see my President? Do I need any reason to come and see my President? It was a private visit.” Therein lies the problem. Without a doubt, Obama receives private visits—many in private locations. The White House or in this case, State House, belongs to every citizen and it is their right to scrutinise what goes on within it. But to a Nigerian politician, the state is often a private rather than a public affair. How this all ends will undoubtedly reveal who the real Buhari is and either bode ill or well for APC’s future. CBN Either not everyone in government is on the same page or the “real” Buhari is someone else entirely. After being told that subsidised rates would be reserved for more essential and productive functions of the economy, and that parents who send their children abroad can “afford” to source for FX in the parallel market, subsidised rates are given to pilgrims (both Muslims and Christians). Prayers can’t on their own boost Nigeria’s revenue, never mind what some fanatics, hiding under the cover of religion to help themselves to Nigeria’s resources, will tell you. Prayers are immaterial in a country of hypocrisy and generalised stealing. Sai Baba who so hated waste, where are you?

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/will-the-real-muhammadu-buhari-please-stand-up/

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it has been vindicated by the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers’ allegation that former President Goodluck Jonathan is a grand patron of new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it has been vindicated by the Reformed Niger Delta Avengers’ allegation that former President Goodluck Jonathan is a grand patron of new militant group, the Niger Delta Avengers.

MEND claimed in a statement on Tuesday that Jonathan was sponsoring the NDA to destabilise the government of his successor, President Muhammadu Buhari.

The statement signed by one Jomo Gbomo was MEND’s response to Jonathan’s denial of the allegation by the RNDA, linking the ex-President with the new militant group.

The full text of the statement was made available to online news platform, SaharaReporters by MEND.

MEND said it was highly infuriated by Jonathan’s rebuttal of the RNDA earlier claim, particularly his declaration that Henry Okah was after his life rather than clear the air on the allegation.

The statement said, “MEND cannot hold brief for the RNDA, which pointedly accused Mr. Jonathan of complicity in fueling the ongoing Niger Delta crisis and patronising the NDA, apparently for political reasons.

“We are, however, quick to point out the fact that the RNDA has merely vindicated MEND’s belief and conviction that the former President and his cronies, who lost the 2015 presidential election, were using the illegal and treasonable NDA platform to destabilise President Buhari’s government.”

The group accused Jonathan of wasting the opportunity of the South-South to rule the country, accusing him of failing to develop the region when he was in the saddle as President.

The statement added, “Indeed, the problem in the Niger Delta today has nothing to do with the current administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Far from it! The problem is simply the failure of Mr. Jonathan to address the root issues confronting the region when he was at the helms of affairs.

”Even though he was from the impoverished region and had, by his own admission in numerous electioneering campaigns, experienced the utter poverty and abject neglect of the region foisted by successive Nigerian governments and the international oil companies since the discovery of oil in 1958 at Oloibiri (a few metres away from his native Otuoke) in Bayelsa State, Mr. Jonathan disappointingly frittered away the opportunity to rescue his people when the Nigerian Presidency fortuitously landed on his laps, virtually on a platter of gold.

“For six whole years, Mr. Jonathan was busy drinking, making merry and generally chasing shadows at the State House. Such a fellow deserves to be ostracised from the assembly of reasonable men; because the Nigerian Presidency might never come back to the Niger Delta region as cheap as it came to Mr. Jonathan; perhaps, in the next 100 years.

“Lest we forget, MEND was at the forefront of the armed struggle back in 2006/2007 which forced the then Government of President Olusegun Obasanjo to consider the option of drafting an Ijaw into the mainstream of Nigerian politics. That was how the perpetually timid and naïve Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan became Vice-President and later, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. When he assumed the reins as President, he did the unthinkable; he tracked down perceived MEND leaders and promptly got them imprisoned on a trumped-up charge of attempt to assassinate him.

“Up until today, Mr. Jonathan is still suffering from an assassination paranoia complex.

The group added that a substantial portion of Jonathan’s statement, “unfortunately, dwelt on judicial matters which are pending in various courts in Nigeria and South Africa.”

KANO— THE factional chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kano State, Hussaini Mairiga, yesterdaty came down hard on President Muhammadu Buhari, describing him as a total failure.

KANO— THE factional chairman of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kano State, Hussaini Mairiga, yesterdaty came down hard on President Muhammadu Buhari, describing him as a total failure. President Buhari commissions Road Projects in Wanke Zamfara State President Buhari commissions Road Projects in Wanke Zamfara State Mairiga, who spoke with journalists in Kano, said “from the looks of things, President Buhari has betrayed the confidence of the Nigerian masses who voted for him massively into power.” The factional chairman said it was not an exaggeration that members of many families in the country go to bed without at least one square meal, while others had fled their homes because they could no longer provide the basic needs of life for their loved ones. Mairiga, who is known for his bluntness, expressed worry that after one year of the Buhari administration in power, there was nothing to show while poverty in the country had reached an unprecedented level. He lamented that while a bag of rice now sold for N16, 000, prices of other essentials commodities had tripled. Mairiga noted with dismay that prices of goods were rising at a time the ordinary man did not have money to make a living. Another disturbing scenario, according to the factional APC chairman, was that those around the president, including his ministers, had refused to tell him the truth and advice on the reality on ground. He reminded Buhari of his campaign promises, stating that he did not like the way the masses were allowed to wallow in destitution and penury. He said Nigerians were in the worst condition that needed urgent attention. The APC chairman advised the President to stop deceiving Nigerians that the nation had no money whereas on monthly basis, the federal and states governments continued to enjoy a boost in their allocations.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/youre-total-failure-kano-apc-chieftain-tells-buhari/

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, on Monday, relaunched the War Against Indiscipline, WAI Brigade, in Abuja, saying in this era of insecurity, violence, kidnapping, and other forms of social vices, the role of the Brigade in civil intelligence gathering cannot be over emphasized

The President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, on Monday, relaunched the War Against Indiscipline, WAI Brigade, in Abuja, saying in this era of insecurity, violence, kidnapping, and other forms of social vices, the role of the Brigade in civil intelligence gathering cannot be over emphasized. President Muhammadu Buhari President Muhammadu Buhari Announcing the development on the occasion of the National and State Commanders meeting of the Community Support Brigade, CSB, also known as WAI, the Director-General, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Dr. Garba Abari said the President Buhari administration has declared the intention to relaunch the Brigade for better performance, as well as to bring its activities to the fore. Speaking at the meeting, Abari said: “It’s great pleasure that I have the opportunity to meet with the leadership of WAI, for the first time since my assumption of office about two months ago. This meeting is meant to discuss the repositioning of the WAI Brigade in the current dispensation of change. “I’m not only delighted with this gathering, but excited with you all for keeping faith and working tirelessly to contribute your quota to nation building as volunteers who are not being paid for over 3 decades. So, I salute your patriotic efforts, indeed, Nigeria salutes your patriotism.” The NOA DG, stated that, “in this era of insecurity, violence, kidnapping and other forms of social vices, the role of the WAI Brigade in civil intelligence gathering cannot be over emphasized. It is in this regard that I call on you to encourage your members across the country to redouble their vigilance in the local governments, wards and their various villages, so that we can contribute our quota towards building a secure society.” Abari recalled that the WAI Brigade was a brain-child of President Buhari, who as Military Head of State in 1983 established the Brigade, to instill discipline among Nigerians, as well as fight endemic corruption. “The ills and woes that bedeviled the nation at that time are still very much with us today. That is why, when the National Orientation Agency, NOA, was established in 1983, the War Against Indiscipline, WAI Brigade was automatically drafted to be part and parcel of the Agency to fight against indiscipline, disorderly behaviour in public and private places, disobedience to traffic rules and regulations, disrespect for constituted authorities, filthy environment, bribery, corruption and other social vices,” he said. The NOA boss disclosed that “The present administration has declared its intention to re-launch the Brigade for better performance and bring its activities to the fore. You as ambassadors of the Agency, must, in your respective communities, local government areas, and states contribute your quota to make the change mantra of this administration a reality. Whenever and whereever you see something, you must say something to save our nation from decline.”

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/08/buhari-relaunches-war-indicipline-brigade/

The Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State has accused the state’s All Progressives Congress of ignorance and mischief over its comment on the purported visit of the Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, to the United States of America.

The Peoples Democratic Party in Ekiti State has accused the state’s All Progressives Congress of ignorance and mischief over its comment on the purported visit of the Wife of the President, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, to the United States of America.

The party noted that even the Presidency had not told anyone that the wife of the President travelled to the USA.

The APC had in a statement on Sunday said the eventual travelling of Mrs. Buhari to the United States had exposed Governor Ayodele Fayose as a “shameless liar.”

However, in a statement issued on Monday by its state Publicity Secretary, Mr. Jackson Adebayo, the PDP, which said it would have ignored the APC and allowed those in the party to continue to wallow in their self-deceit, wondered why no television station reported her departure and arrival.

He said, “The question is, did she travel to USA or Qatar? If the Presidency has not been bold enough to tell Nigerians that Mrs. Aisha Buhari travelled to the USA on official visit, only a party of scammers like the APC will go on the rooftops to celebrate photoshoped pictures as evidence of visit to USA.

While casting doubt at the trip, the PDP said Mrs. Buhari purported trip to the US did not erase the fact that her name was mentioned in the judgment delivered by the US District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, USA, in criminal No 1: 07CR209, that indicted the USA Congressman, Williams Jefferson.

The statement added, “Most importantly, Nigerians have witnessed more heinous forgeries from the APC, one of them being pictorial claim that President Buhari (as the APC presidential candidate then) had an interview with Kemi Fadojutimi on ‘All Eyes on Africa’ TV show in London, whereas the interview was held in Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja.

“However, it is important to point out that from all evidences, the pictures circulated as arrival of President Buhari’s wife at Dulles International Airport, Washington DC could have been taken at the Doha International Airport, Qatar. Even on the official website of George Mason University and US Institute of Peace, USA where the President’s wife was said to have attended events, there is nothing to show that she attended any event in the two institutions.

“We have seen pictures of Wife of the Senate President, Toyin Saraki with President Barrack Obama’s wife, Michelle. We also saw pictures of Mrs. Patience Jonathan with Michelle Obama when she visited the USA. Where are Aisha Buhari’s pictures with the First Lady of USA and major government officials from the country? Or could she have arrived and departed from the USA like a spirit?

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has defended David Cameron's comments, caught on video this week, about Nigeria being "fantastically corrupt."

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has defended David Cameron's comments, caught on video this week, about Nigeria being "fantastically corrupt."

Buhari insisted that Cameron had nothing to apologize for, as he was merely talking about what he knows.

"I think he's being honest about it..." he told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. "I don't think you can fault him."

Speaking at an anti-corruption conference on Wednesday, Buhari said: "I am not demanding an apology from anybody, I am demanding a return of assets."

During a conversation with the Queen that was captured on camera on Tuesday, Cameron declared Nigeria and Afghanistan "possibly the two most corrupt countries in the world."

The comment came as world leaders gathered in London for an anti-corruption summit, which has been largely overshadowed by Cameron's gaffe.

The social media backlash was swift and Nigeria's presidential spokesman said they were "embarrassing to us."

A 2015 report by Transparency International, an independent anti-corruption group, scores Nigeria the world's 136th most corrupt country, out of 168. Afghanistan fares worse in the survey, coming in at number 166.

Nigeria President: Cameron 'being honest' about corruption 00:45

But President Buhari said he was more concerned with fighting corruption than talking about it. He said his administration was making inroads with clearing a backlog of "ghost workers" who are claiming salaries fraudulently and by arresting those who embezzled government funds during the previous administration.

At the opening of the anti-corruption summit today, Buhari said: "When it comes to tackling corruption, the international community has looked the other way for too long.

"Nigeria is calling on this summit to trace and facilitate the recovery of stolen funds and assets hidden in secret accounts," he added.

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani also called for a more concerted effort in bringing criminals to justice -- with a particular focus on drug trafficking.

"We are asking you -- and all of Europe -- to go after drug money. We need very credible action because as long as the criminal economy persists, the networks, the actions we do [will not work]," he said at today's summit.

"Billions have ended up in Europe and there has been no action for this."

Also speaking at the summit, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said corruption was a contributor to terrorism.

"Corruption writ large is as much of an enemy, because it destroys nation states, as the extremists we're fighting," he said.

"Corruption tears at the entire fabric of society."

Buhari had earlier told Amanpour that billions of dollars designated to fight the country's major terrorist group, Boko Haram, were shared among officials who gathered "as if they were going to have lunch and dinner and put the money into their accounts."

Oil money and blood diamonds

Nigerian President responds to reports of military abuse 02:42

Buhari said at the summit that his country had suffered from oil theft on an "industrial scale," with the proceeds being "laundered through world financial centers by transnational organized criminals."

He estimated around 150,000 barrels of oil were being stolen per day.

The Nigerian President called on the international community to designate oil theft as an international crime similar to the trade in "blood diamonds."

The theft "constitutes an imminent and credible threat to the economy and stability of oil-producing countries like Nigeria," he added.

Aisha, President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, on Saturday said she was on a week-long visit to the United States of America to hold discussions with aid organizations on how to help the women and children facing starvation in the north eastern part of Nigeria.

Aisha, President Muhammadu Buhari’s wife, on Saturday said she was on a week-long visit to the United States of America to hold discussions with aid organizations on how to help the women and children facing starvation in the north eastern part of Nigeria.

Mrs. Buhari spoke in an interview with the Hausa service of the Voice of America, VOA.
“Our children in the various camps are in dire situation and the government alone cannot do it, we have to get help,” she said.
Mrs. Buhari said already, she had met with organisations known for promoting peace and provision of aids to displaced children.
Mrs. Buhari said she met with officials of the United States Institute for peace on Friday and assured them that unlike what obtained in the past, any aid rendered to displaced persons would go to those who needed them.
She also said she told the officials that what was needed now was not even cash because statistics had shown that children between the ages of five months and seven years were dying in large number due to hunger-related diseases.
She said the United Nations International Children Fund (UNICEF) had been providing aid packages containing nut-related supplements, which, she said, are produced in large quantities by Nigerian farmers.
Mrs. Buhari said she told the officials that there was need to set up a plant in Nigeria that could produce the package.
“It often takes between 6-8 weeks for these things to be shipped to Nigeria, before they arrive, many children would have died, so I suggested to them to set up the manufacturing plant in the country if they really want to help is,” she said.
Mrs. Buhari said she started pay close attention to the issue after recent revelations indicated women and children were dying of hunger in some IDP camps in Borno State.
Why I sued Fayose
Mrs. Buhari also said she sued Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, because he attacked her for no reason, while also raising false allegations against her.
She said Mr. Fayose had been insulting her and the president since during the 2015 campaign.
“At the time, he was not the only one insulting us, but people felt that it was just campaign,” Mrs. Buhari said.
“After the election, which we won and they lost, everyone else moved on except him and he extended his insults to me.
“I did not run for president. I am a married woman and I have never called his name. I never knew him. But as governor and chief executive, he kept insulting and raising false allegations against me, I have to respond and I decided to go to court.
“He made allegations over what he said I did here in the US, even though I have never met the people he mentioned.”
Mr. Fayose had dared Mrs. Buhari to visit the United States after he falsely accused her of having been indicted in the famous William Jefferson bribery scandal.
The governor insisted the president’s wife was named in the scam even after this newspaper’s investigation showed clearly she was not the Aisha Buhari mentioned in the case.

Fiery Enugu Catholic Priest, Ejike Mbaka, on Saturday again took a swipe on former President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of being responsible for the myriads of problems facing the country.

Fiery Enugu Catholic Priest, Ejike Mbaka, on Saturday again took a swipe on former President Goodluck Jonathan, accusing him of being responsible for the myriads of problems facing the country.

Mr. Mbaka’s comment is a reaction to recent media reports where he was quoted to have bashed President Muhammadu Buhari over the level of suffering in the country.
‎In a statement he issued through his spokesman, Maximus Ugwuoke, on Saturday, the cleric said he observed with concern reports in some sections of the media suggesting that he “attacked” President Muhammadu Buhari.
Mr. Mbaka denied attacking Mr. Buhari, saying he only told him the situation of things in the country and as well suggested solutions.
He said the reports were “not only sensational but also a censorious media colouration and hype of the message of the cleric titled ‘Bless and Be Blessed’ for whatever ends.”
While admitting lamenting the level of hunger and suffering in the country, the priest said that sermon it was followed by another ‎message where he explained that Buhari was not responsible for the situation but the previous administration.
He declared that the “Bless and Be Blessed” message that was misunderstood was followed by a message titled “Mega Change of Conditions.”
According to him, the second message, where he absolved the President of blames over the hunger situation in the country read, “There is sword that is moving about in the country. People are dying like flies. The sword of Hunger is eating the land. And as I have told you this is just the beginning.
“If anybody is telling you it is going to be well very soon that person is deceiving you. This is because many of us were among those that were alive during the years of the past government.
The past PDP government was a grasshopper and locus to Nigerian. The past government was a disaster to the land of Nigeria; the past government was cancer to this country. There is no need trying to cover their incalculable and iniquitous mess. If you don’t feel it now, you will feel it later.
“The impact of their horrific mess is yet to be felt. It was a regime where hooliganism became a political slogan; where looting became the order of the day; where the neglect of youths became a pattern of administration. The result is what we are passing through now.
Hunger is everywhere; the hunger was created before this new government came in. Buhari is not the maker of the hunger.
“The hunger was created during the Jonathan PDP administration but Buhari should abate the long procrastination, bureaucracy and slow methods in tackling it.
“Understand it very well. People will know the truth and the truth will set us free. Buhari is just an agent of change. The money in our treasury was nothing to write home about before this new regime came. The country was in an embarrassing mess.
“Apart from the petroleum that we sell and get money, what other means of foreign exchange do we have? The foundation of the Nigerian economy is oil which has now collapsed and the foundation once destroyed what will the just man do? Psalm 11:3. The past administration did not prepare this administration for this season. That is why the sword has risen. Many will die by this sword but there will be survivors.
“That is why I have been saying and I keep on saying that the past administration should publicly come to apologize to Nigerians. They should not be foolhardy. They should not continue to perpetrate this type of iniquitous attitude planning about 2019 election for them to continue from where they stopped. All these years of Jonathan, nothing happened in Niger-Delta specifically to be recorded in the annals of history. What a shame? What an embarrassment. The place where the oil has been coming from remained underdeveloped under a man from the same soil. If you go to Niger Delta today you will cry. But what worries me is that our people are good in shifting blames.
“Somebody entered your kitchen carried your pot of soup, entered your store and farm, raked everything in the store and farm and ran away. And another person entered the kitchen where there is no pot at all and you want the person to turn the kitchen into a magical kitchen that will produce a magical pot and a magical soup, which soup?
“I am just telling President Buhari that people are hungry because he cannot not come to the street like me and notice people’s feelings. But Buhari is not the author of the hunger. The past government planted the tree of hunger and they want to come back to water it.
If it is in a developed country by now from the Senatorial to the reps to the governors, all who participated in the last administration should have resigned with apologies to our youths; otherwise the youths one day will begin to stone them.
“They will soon confuse you that present governments don’t want to feed you. Feed you with what? It will surprise the whole Nigerians to know that even after Buhari was a petroleum minister and a military president of the country, he had no oil bloc. Is it not a shock? Don’t you hear the quantum of money that is being recovered from one person? Buhari just came as a redeemer. I don’t know if the people of this country are hypnotized.
“How can we be fighting somebody who is fighting for us? Apart from this Buhari, how can somebody talk to these political juggernauts and tell them to bring back what they have stolen? It is only a Beniah personality like Buhari that can enter into the cave and catch a lion and kill a lion in a snow season and come out. The president needs support. He doesn’t know where to begin because there are many holes dug for him by the past administration, and they carried the sand away expecting him to cover the holes with what?”
“He therefore maintained that ‎contrary to the media report Fr. Mbaka “merely reinstated the obvious sufferings that Nigerian are facing (which even the president himself had at points acknowledged and sued for patience and perseverance) and advised the president on the ways to tackle it i.e. by engaging economic gurus and listening to good advisers.
“We wonder which portion of the message could be viewed as “an attack” or” bombing” of Mr President as twisted in the media. The acclaimed message of the cleric to Mr President to us is rather a further demonstration the cleric’s love to see that the president succeeds in his messianic rescue operation mission in Nigeria and that is why it is devoid of hypocrisy.
“It is obvious that those who are arm-twisting the said message of the cleric to Mr President as an attack on Mr President are those who want the president to fail or be blindfolded so as to use the obvious hardship Nigerians are facing as a weak point of his administration to ride onto power mindless of the fact that Mr President has done so well in fighting corruption and insurgency in the country, which are mega achievements that scores him above average in just few months of his administration.
“In the background of the message, Fr Mbaka encouraged the gallant warrior, President Buhari, to continue his battle against corruption and insurgency asserting that if not a man like President Buhari, by now people may have stopped going to church and mosques. Boko Haram might have wrecked this country. People might have equally stopped going to schools, markets etc. Kudos to Buhari .Fr Mbaka revealed that corruption, insurgency and poor governance by past governments gave birth to three horrible children (1) Hunger (2) Anger (3) Danger.
“He asserted that Buhari is not the cause of corruption and insurgency yet he is fighting them frontally and enjoined the president to extend same to hunger even though he is not the cause. He pleaded the President to begin a War against Hunger, as many are dying hopelessly. He stressed that if the hunger, anger and danger continue, Nigerians may not vote for him again, as they would mistake him for the cause of these maladies while in fact he is a solution.
“Fr Mbaka equally advised the President on being careful about how he appoints people to prominent positions, so that no region will appear marginalized- as happened in NNPC board and charged the President to make sure that those around him are not misguiding him. He advised the President on human empowerment and making sure that those who worked for him (Buhari) during the election ought to be empowered –as one good turn deserves another.
“For the purpose of clarity, granted that Fr Mbaka stated the obvious, that there is hunger in the land, he never attributed the cause of the hunger and economic hardship bedeviling the nation to Buhari rather he attributed it to the offshoot of the actions and inactions of the past administrations of this country.
“We recall that earlier this year, Fr Mbaka had during his New Year message predicted that hunger and hardship will come upon the country this year and so we wonder why this message should make a headline at this point of the year.”