Amongst other concocted lies told in the social media is the one involving ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo and it runs thus: “I prefer that Buhari becomes president and sends me to jail than for Jonathan to be re-elected and then destroys Nigeria.” This is said to have been written by the former president in his book, ‘My Watch’ — which the originator of the rumour has probably not even read. Whatever is the motive behind this lie, it defies commonsense that Obasanjo would want to go to prison again just to ensure that Jonathan does not emerge president.
Another social media rumour has it that Buhari does not collect his full pension. This too is a bare-faced lie. Some social media broadcasts had it that while all former heads of state collect N27 million per month as pension, Buhari rejected the “bogus amount” and asked to be paid only 10 percent of it. The person who originated the rumour said he personally went to the Ministry of Finance to confirm the figure. While in fact and in truth the total pension package is N2,909,122.75 per quarter! The breakdown: pension, N878,676.20; upkeep, N1,050,000; salaries of personal staff, N845,446.50; telephone, N75,000; and postal services, N60,000. Buhari never rejected any part of this money. While I concede that there is nothing wrong in his collecting his full money, it is morally wrong for him to keep feeding fat from our treasury and in another breath employ some proxy propagandists to paint a different picture of the actual situation.
Another hogwash is the widely-held view that Gen. Buhari is the only ex-president that doesn’t own a house in Abuja. At least, this writer knows Buhari’s house in Asokoro area of Abuja and the writer is equally in the know that the mansion belongs to him.
While I am not averse to the idea of a certain “Love Buhari, Love Nigeria Valentine’s Dinner” organized for General Muhammadu Buhari in Lagos on Valentine’s Day, one fact that is not in dispute is that such package is antithetical to his avowed beliefs and anyone who thinks Nigerians bought the dummy should come up with something else. While I am equally not against the engagement of a certain AKPD Media and Messages to re-create Buhari, the truth is that their recruitment came too late and it appears they can only achieve little in trying to re-write the stereotyping of their client.
The most recent and probably the lie that exemplifies the APC’s well-orchestrated lying machine is the one told by Gen. Buhari himself in a statement released through his official Facebook campaign page, which claimed that Gen. Buhari visited Chibok on 16th February, 2015 when he went to Maiduguri to campaign. The statement went further to state that the Joint Task Force was reluctant to provide security cover for Buhari ahead of the trip, but he went all the same.
The statement ran thus: “After a successful and large turnout of Borno State people at our rally, I decided to visit the Chibok community, show my sincere support to the people of Chibok and the parents of our daughters kidnapped by Boko Haram. Though the JTF commanders were reluctant in providing us security until they received clearance from Abuja, we left for Chibok. Good must triumph over evil. I was personally moved when I came out and saw thousands of civilian JTF members who had volunteered to provide security for me, the Borno State governor and our entourage to and from Chibok town. The people and parents of Chibok were filled with hope and joy upon sighting me and my entourage, and escorted us into Chibok with singing and dancing. After I addressed the people and parents of the girls, a pastor offered prayers for the election of Buhari and victory at the polls for APC. The villagers got emotional and some of them started weeping when we were getting set to depart for Maiduguri. I wish to thank the people of Borno State for coming out in their thousands to support us and once again, I am assuring the Chibok community that we are standing with them and if elected to power, we will do all possible to eradicate insurgency in the country and facilitate the return of our daughters safely to us.”
A closer study of the above statement reveals that they were carefully crafted even before Buhari set out for his Maiduguri trip. This is so as the chief image maker of his campaign, Garba Shehu, later denied that the trip was made. Even as he blamed the failure of the trip on non-provision of security cover by the JTF, the issuance of such graphic description of the event that never took place speaks volumes of barrage of lies emanating from the APC camp.
It is saddening that some hawks in APC have bungled a debate that would have offered Nigerians the opportunity of having a conversation with the man who is angling to rule them through the ballot. While the nation is being regaled and treated to some heroics of Gen. Buhari, it is pertinent that the issue of the debate (which has been swept under the carpet) is re-opened so as to afford the electorate the opportunity of having objective assessment (devoid of propaganda) of their presidential candidates.
In conclusion, while I subscribe and fully endorse the practice of having a virile opposition in Nigeria, I must be quick to point out that APC is yet to convince me that they are offering Nigerians any better alternative to PDP’s rule. In the words of Gov. Sule Lamido, APC is simply an “amalgamation of pain, anger and desperation and this country is too big for them”. I will end by reminding the electorate that all that glitters is, indeed, not gold. Let the buyer beware!
