Ahead of the 2019 elections, various groups claiming to be supporters of President Muhammmadu Buhari have dusted up their public relations skills, tact and stratagems promising to maneuver the electorate in his favour.
For those familiar with the seat of power, such scheming and machinations are normal in times like these, when election is around the corner.
Every general election witnesses the emergence of new set of praise-singers and political hatchet jobbers, all in the name of mobilising support for the government in power.
In all of these cases, none had ever had the courage to tell the President the truth; neither do they present pictures of actual realities of situations on ground to the President
Rather, they end up massaging the President’s ego to make him happy because of the pecuniary benefits they are targeting at the end of the visits.
The regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, witnessed the emergence of Ifeanyi Uba’s Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN).
Before the 2015 general election, the group had claimed that it secured 18 million signatures across the six geo-political zones endorsing Jonathan’s re-election bid.
For them, Jonathan was “ God sent” and the 2015 election was a foregone conclusion as Jonathan was destined to win, but the same Uba was to later weep bitterly when Jonathan later lost the election.
It was not surprising that TAN’s efforts produced fruitless results as Nigerians were aware from the beginning that it was an escapists approach by Ifeanyi Uba, whose company was among those indicted by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede’s Presidential Panel on fuel subsidy.
Ahead of the 2019 presidential election, Nigerians are again witnessing the emergence of these “political strategists” masquerading as electioneering campaign boosters, hope restorers and image launderers, romancing with the seat of power.
These jobbers often see this as a perfect opportunity to extract their own share of the national cake, using well crafted ideas as a bait to capture their unsuspecting victims in the name of mobilising massive support and supporters for them
Elected leaders are usually the targets, whether as President, Governor, Senator, House of Representatives members, none is sparred and Presidency has had its fair share of these pretenders in various shades and forms,
Several groups are head on heels, ahead of the election, striving to outdo one another in an effort aimed at grabbing the “lion share” of the campaign funds, they believe, have been stashed somewhere.
The truth however, is that some strong insiders connivance between the President’s political appointees and “Event” managers, make some of these activities unstoppable.
These political appointees use such credible platforms as the Market Women and Traders Association, Nollywood Actors, Performing Musicians Association, as well as the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Youth Associations and farmers groups.
Religious bodies and other socio-cultural associations, including those of traditional institutions are not spared in their bid to convince their principal that the entire masses are indeed behind them.
Only recently, a group of pastors under the aegis of “Pastors of the 19 Northern States of Nigeria” were mobilised to pay “solidarity” visit on President Buhari.
Leader of the delegation, John Richard, said God answered their prayers and healed the President because they had prayed and fasted for him during his health challenges.
It was very suspicious however, that in their presentations, not a single mention was made about the fate of Leah Sharibu, the only Christian girl who is being held captive by the Boko Haram insurgents, on the account of her refusal to deny her Faith.
“We congratulated ourselves because during your health challenge, we, knowing you to be the God-sent timely leader to rescue and restore Nigeria back to her pride, fasted and prayed with over one thousand archbishops, bishops, pastors and evangelists for God to show you mercy and heal you.
“Your Excellency, we the 19 northern states pastors came together in unity to speak with one voice to crusade for peace, reconciliation and national unity of our great country Nigeria which you have already started,” they said.
Pastor Richard also curiously, requested that they serve as agents to “security agencies in our crusade for peace and fight against hate speeches and those dark walls that separate us as we will network with our counterparts from the east and west to hand over those of our colleagues being used by the enemies of our togetherness to inject confusion and false stories into the public space resulting in the destabilisation of peaceful co-existence we were enjoying in the country.
“Your Excellency, that we will co-operate in exposing any information that will be available to us as regard the perpetrators.”
Richard, who stated that his group was satisfied with the performance of the President, also urged members of the public to disregard the reports that the president has the plan to Islamise the country.
“We acknowledge the good leadership you are rendering to Nigerians in the area of restoring the economy, boom in the agricultural sector, tackling of insecurity, fighting corruption and we believe in your leadership and we are here to let you know that we are fully standing by you and your government to ensure that you succeed and peace is restored to every corner of the country,” he said.
“And to counter those deceiving and poisoning Nigerians with fake news to destroy your good intentions for the country especially those giving the impression that you are against Christians and some ethnic groups in Nigeria which is a big lie for instance: Some pastors using places of worship to preach hate. People using church to preach violence (If you preach war and war broke out who will go to church for worship). The Islamisation agenda. We believe that Mr. President has no lslamization agenda in Nigeria.
“This is just opposition propaganda, about the killings around the country, we observed that it is not only Christians that are the victims, both Muslims and Christians are affected, and the government is doing everything possible to solve the problem. What we need to do is to come together as a people to support our government in order to bring to an end to this circle of violence and we assure you of this.”
It was not surprising that few days after the April visit, Bishop Henry Sado, one of the pastors who accompanied the group on the visit, said he was deceived by his colleagues to embark on the journey to the Presidential Villa.
In a dramatic turnaround, he told journalists in Abuja that Bishop John Richard Abu had “abandoned the original purpose; the visit was to discuss burning national issues with the President” .
Again, Like TAN, the Good Governance Ambassadors of Nigeria (GOGAN), which many see as an offshoot of TAN on Thursday, launched what it described as the “BUHARI UNITY BAND BUB”
For GOGAN, “APC remains the preferred party in Nigeria with a higher membership base, thereby, retaining its rank as the most valuable political party in Nigeria.”
The group said the BUB is an acknowledgement of victory, unity, peace, power, service, humanity, freedom, justice, equity, and above all, love”
BusinessDay investigations revealed that the event was actually put together by the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF, acting as the unseen hand.
The President himself confirmed this while welcoming guests to the unveiling/launch of the Buhari Unity Band, which he said was done “ in collaboration with the Presidency by a group of patriotic and politically active Nigerians who believe in the unity of our country.”
The group, while describing the President as a “true symbol and builder of national unity”, said the “opposition” are the ones fanning and sowing the seed of disunity.
GOGAN went ahead and vowed to “humiliate and shut down the malicious plans of the opposition and every dissenting voice.”
Like TAN, the arrowhead of GOGAN, Felix Idiga, who was an active member in the TAN era, is the founder of Jafac Group of Companies, with vast interests in Aviation, Maritime, Construction and hospitality industry.
At the end of the event, the group launched the Buhari Unity Band, a wrist band to be won by the UNITY AMBASSADORS, as a symbol of commitment to “national unity and peace.”
Senator Kabiru Gaya, chairman, Senate Committee on Works, also praised President Buhari’s achievements in fixing Nigerian roads.
He noted that while in 2014, budgetary allocation for roads infrastructure was just a little above N14billion, it rose to N220billion in 2017 and now N240billion in 2018, adding that “no President has been so committed to fixing the challenges on Nigerian roads like you have done, Mr. President.”
Anthony Ailemen, Abuja
