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THE BUHARI CONTROVERSY II Seyi Oduyela
‘Since you are the one that saw the EFCC petition
against Daniel concerning murder give us the facts. Since when has EFCC added
murder prosecution to financial crime prosecution, Mr Oduyela?
‘It is heartening to see that Seyi Oduyela's article is being attended to on these pages. I'd read the full text of the article elsewhere, and wondered if the writer had a language/issues comprehension problem. This isn't a cheap shot.
The above and a few of some of the reactions I got from my previous article on the Buhari Controversy. Interestingly, it shows that we still have a long way to go as Nigerians.
I stated at the beginning of my article that I am not a Buhari fan and I stand by that but I think that the likes of Soyinka, Fawehinmi have reached a stage in Nigeria history that objectivity should guide their utterances. As some writers have pointed out what Soyinka said about Buhari is not something new, but what about what he did as Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) chairman and many others?
May be I should state in a very simple language that these people are individuals with personal interests known to them and hidden from us. I was wondering why Soyinka singled out Buhari for attack when just five years ago, he championed a campaign against the execution of a lady accused of adultery in Katsina state, where Yar’Adua is still the Chief Executive Officer. One of the most serious issues today is terrorism and Soyinka in 2002 made a case for some of the northern state governors that they were forced by the Mullahs to introduce Shariah. Incidentally, one of the governors forced or hand-twisted by the Mullahs is now running for presidency. How are we sure the same Mullahs will not prevail on him to turn Nigeria to a Muslim nation? How do we explain the issue of Vice President Atiku who has been in government since 1999 and now wants to continue as President? What has Obasanjo government in which he has been fully active until the last 2 years done?
Is it okay to talk about some people and close our eyes to others? Or pretend that we do not know much about them. I quoted Soyinka on what he said about Yar’Adua because I think his statement that “Nothing against the person of this – I am informed - personable governor, but let him understand that in addition to the direct source of his emergence, the PDP, on whose platform he stands, represents the most harrowing of this nation’s nightmares over and beyond even the horrors of the Abacha regime,” is not sincere. He claimed he was informed by whom? Has he quickly forgotten about August 2002 when he spoke on the BBC against the execution of the Katsina State lady? If we all agree that military governments are aberration how do we justify the participation of some individuals in one government and will not forgive others in another situation?
I had expected something much better from Soyinka rather than picking on an individual as if he is the only problem of Nigeria. None of the three main candidates, as far as I am concerned is what Nigeria needs now. There are still questions that have not been answered. The issue of Human Rights abuse under Buhari does not portend serious danger as much as the issue of saving Nigeria and Nigerians from the hands of the cabal that has enslaved it. The AFENIFERE was reported to have endorsed Buhari, when in actual fact, Bisi Obasanjo, a member of this group died as a result of his incarceration by Buhari government. They are supporting Buhari, not because they believe in him but they want something to get even with Obasanjo. This is disheartening and disappointing. I had expected that these Yoruba leaders will support an Ibo candidacy over a Hausa one and I will not be surprised to see them again fighting Buhari over marginalization. This is what I see as a serious problem. These so-called elders are allowing sentiment to becloud their sense of reasoning.
While I do not want to sound tribal, I think the issue of the Nigerian nation is important for discussion. I thought if the PRONACO had come up well as an alternative to Obasanjo’s National Conference, there would have been some sort of solution to this. But PRONACO was deviled with leadership tussle.
What are the national questions? From my view, the national questions are that where are the leaders? Since after Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello and Azikiwe, all we have had are rulers. Individuals without national vision but selfish interest and some of the people who have been parading themselves as champion of the people have been doing that at their own convenience. Who is a Nigerian? We do not have that; rather what we have is a Northerner, Yoruba and Igbo. We now have Ogonis, Ijaws, and other tribal groups. If you are Yoruba and live in Kaduna or Jos or Maiduguri, you are treated as a non-indigene, forget that you pay your tax in there and also Hausa man in Ibadan or Agege is regarded as a non-indigene.
Why do we have hostage situations in the Niger delta? It is because we have irresponsible people at the helm of affairs that care only in selling oil license and do not care about the environmental degradation of the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta representatives at the Obasanjo conference staged a walk out and nobody took their demands serious.
These issues and many more are more important, as I see them, than calling a press conference on Buhari presidency. No one cares to query why Egwu, Donald Duke, Peter Odili, and other governors from the South East and South South withdrew from the Presidential race. These guys are governors like Yar’Adua and why would they wait until few days to the primaries to now realise they are no match for Yar’Adua? Since 1960 South east and South South (Old East) ruled Nigeria for 6 months albeit military coup, Yoruba ruled for 11 years. Nigeria will be 47 years in October and we have had the North in power for 36 years and now we have 3 main candidates from the North all Hausa/Fulani. It calls for serious concern. It seems that Obasanjo was brought to power in 1998 as an assurance to return the power to the north? I have been trying to make sense of the so-called power rotation and I get disturbed that it has never made any sense to me. Who gets to decide where the next president of Nigeria comes from and who becomes the next president? In a country where we have great brains scattered all over the globe, blessed with natural resources it is still difficult to have someone at the top to make good use of these human and natural resources we have.
During the time of Awolowo, Zik and Sardauna, Nigerians were sent abroad for training and they come back home to utilize their education at home, now, most of those trained at home, leave to go to America, Europe and help those countries.
Soyinka, Achebe, Adebayo Williams, Emegwali and many others are helping other countries intellectual development at the peril of their own country. This is sad and unfortunate. For example, Dr Bisi Jagun heads the Nephrology and Hypertension Department of Howard University Hospital; she is also the Director of Emergency unit of the Greater Southern Washington Hospital. Dr. Jagun is a Fellow of the American Academy of Physicians, she has helped America. She is also needed back home but does her country appreciate her? This is just one out of many of great Nigerians in Diaspora.
It is a pity that Nigerians will go out again and elect rulers than leaders.
I expect (I am sure many Nigerians share this too) a call for national discourse from our great minds and not personal attacks of just a fragment of Nigeria’s problem. Let us do this now; this is the right time for us. We cannot afford to wait for another time. Let us answer these questions now.
At this time, I think we want to see more of statesmanship in the Soyinkas, and Fawehinmis than political activism.
God Bless Nigeria.
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