The Fayose challenge
Last Wednesday, Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State continued with his one-man opposition posture in the current administration. Fayose addressed a press conference, calling on President Muhammadu Buhari to honorably throw in the towel. The governor, who expressed deep concern over the President’s health challenges, however, expressed the view that sentiment must not be elevated to a craft in Nigeria. He hinted that contrary to what the presidency had been saying, President Buhari is in a vegetable condition in a certain hospital in far away London and may not possibly be in a state of mind any longer to preside over the affairs of the country. The way Fayose, spoke it appears he knows a lot about the current status of the President’s health than most Nigerians. He was sure that Buhari is seriously challenged and mentioned exactly the hospital where he is being treated. The Ekiti State governor also claimed that Aisha Buhari was denied access to her husband and that the man has only been seen by a few members of his cabal.
“Like every other Nigerian, I do not wish the president death. I have therefore maintained dignified silence since we were told that the President embarked on his second medical trip abroad this year,” Fayose said.
“However, the recorded audio message which was released by the Presidency as the President’s Ramadan message to Nigerians necessitated my setting the records straight today. No doubt, the audio message was only a damage-control strategy aimed at further deceiving Nigerians.
“That the audio message does not represent the truth as our President does not only have voice impairment, he has been on life-support since June 6, 2017 at a West-End, London Hospital,” he further said.
According to the governor, “Of a fact, our First Lady, Her Excellency, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, was not allowed to see her husband during her last visit to the United Kingdom if only she will be courageous enough to admit.
“Only three Nigerians who are of the President’s cabal are allowed access to the President. I will keep their identities for now.
“Anyone with contrary claim should produce the President to Nigerians within the next 48 hours. It is obvious that Nigeria is drifting like the last days of the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s government.”
It is so, so sad that in Nigeria we play a lot of politics with serious matters; if not, how would the health status of a President of a country be shrouded in secrecy? Fayose’s exposé may have given fillip to the reasons behind all the shenanigans going on at the Presidency. Is it possible we are in for another Umaru Musa Yar’Adua episode? God have mercy.
‘Deodorant’ treatment of Fulani herdsmen’s excesses
Unfortunately, despite the killings, maiming and raping across the country by the Fulani herdsmen, the Federal Government has not deemed it fit to rein in the monsters. Their bestial activities, like wild fire, are spreading across the country. Recently, there was a crisis in part of Taraba State, Mambilla Plateau, where the Fulani settlers alleged that some politicians in the state were sponsoring violence against them. Benjamin Ahanotu, general officer commending (GOC) 3 Division, Nigeria Army, Jos, claimed that he got a brief from the Brigadier Commander of 23 Brigade, Yola, Bello Mohammed, that prominent politicians from the area played roles that escalated the violence. One wonders why it is now that the Fulani’s are at the receiving end that the Army should know it has a serious job in its hand. Many communities in Nigeria are today in mourning mood as a result of the activities of the Fulani herdsmen and just because some Fulanis in Taraba are now at the receiving end, so to speak, government is shouting itself hoarse. Why has the same government feigned ignorance of the killings across the country by the Fulanis? Where are these herdsmen from? It appears they have taken over the country. We never heard about this army of herdsmen; the whole thing went out of hand in the last two years. Haba!
The politicians so accused in Taraba may have been pushed to the wall and they may have forced by circumstances to encourage their people to simply defend themselves, as the last resort. Now, the owls are howling. It will serve the country well if the Federal Government realises the need to apply the same rule in dealing with crisis in the country irrespective of who is at the receiving end. The “insecticide and deodorant” treatment the government at the centre has been applying in the Fulani onslaught across the country will continue to worsen the security situation in the country.
What really went wrong at Umar’s CCT?
Recently, Bukola Saraki, Senate president, was discharged and acquitted by the Chairman of the CODE OF Conduct Tibunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, of all the charges brought against him over the alleged indiscretion of not declaring his assets as stipulated by the law. Umar dropped the case when many Nigerians had expected to see Saraki go to jail. From the way the trial started, the tough talks and Umar’s body language had portrayed Umar as acting out certain scripts written by some unseen hands. He behaved as if he received a brief from the presidency to nail Saraki at all cost and by all means.
Most people thought Aso Rock and indeed the juggernauts in the APC wanted to show Saraki pepper for overstepping his bounds by presenting himself and emerging the Senate president against the wishes of the cabal in the APC.
But since Umar dropped the case, Aso Rock has continued to kick; it has since gone on appeal. The Federal Government is now challenging the judgment of the CCT; what has remained surprising to many Nigerians, however, is at what point did Umar switch over to Saraki’s side and at what cost? Was it possible for the smoking Umar to just become friendly all of a sudden? Or is the Federal Government’s decision to appeal the case a way of pulling a wool over our eyes as it has always done? Someday, some time, we shall know the truth as there’s nothing hidden under the sun.
Agony of parents
The continued detention of the six abducted senior secondary school students of Lagos State Model College, Igbonla, Epe, is another sad episode that bears testimony of how deep Nigeria has descended into the abyss of criminality.
The trauma the parents are going through close to 40 days their children have been in kidnappers’ den is better imagined than experienced. It may not be unlikely that some of the parents have developed some health challenges as a result. These young ones are in the midst of total strangers who are ready to spill the blood in their quest to make money. It is also so sad that these children have been in their school uniform all this while. This is wickedness of the highest order. And to think that some of the kidnappers themselves are parents makes the whole matter very immoral and bestial.
After all the efforts so far to have their children released without success, the parents are today crestfallen. Their only hope at the moment is in God who is capable of doing all things. Their strong belief in the Omnipotence of God that rescued Daniel from the den of lions is still able to, not only deliver their children, but also bring them safely back. A distraught father of one of them was quoted as saying: “I am particularly confused on what next to do. When will this wait end? When shall we see our children again? This has dragged for too long. What is the crime of the innocent students?”
It appears that the kidnappers are playing chess with the lives of the abducted pupils. They expect government to dole out huge amount of money to them as ransom but government knows that such could worsen the security situation in the state, as the kidnappers would now make it a monthly affair to kidnap pupil, expecting government to pay big money, and there would be no end to it. That would then amount to blackmail. It is not as if government cannot or does not have the capacity to rescue the children by paying money, the consideration is the possible ugly consequences. We strongly believe, there will be a divine intervention.
CRK & IRK merger: What an incongruous experiment?
The education sector of Nigeria is really challenged. Over the years, handlers of the beat have failed to address the obvious ills in the system and the degeneration in the quality of education obtainable in the country. Calls have since gone out on the urgent need to declare an emergency in the nation’s education sector, but nobody is listening. For many years, there have been calls for the reintroduction of History in the school curriculum; these calls have not found the ears of policy makers. It was shocking therefore, when news broke that the Federal Government may have concluded arrangements to merge Christian Religious knowledge (CRK) with Islamic Religious knowledge (IRK). Has anybody told government that the pitiable economic situation in the country, lack of development and absence of quality governance were occasioned by the fact that CRK and IRK were being offered separately? How may the merger help the cause of Nigeria’s development? The alleged move has since attracted a welter of reactions as many Nigerians see some elements of insincerity in the plan. Like everything Nigerian, the brains behind the move may not have said all the truth about it. By the way, why must a Christian pupil be forced to study IRK or is it a subtle way of infusing Islamic religion into the consciousness of little children? Why do we always delight in pursing projects that are retrogressive? Our leaders must be reasonable enough to know that they do not need to stretch the limit of tolerance of Nigerians.
Agomuo Zebulon
