SOME HARD QUESTIONS FOR THE BUHARISTS .

This is indeed the time for us to answer some hard
questions and speak some home truths. It is a
season that shall separate the men from the boys.
It is a time that the holy and wholesome light of
truth shall overwhelm and expose the evil darkness
of doublespeak and deceit.
It is a season that the enunciation and exposure of
the ugly realities of the day must not be sacrificed
or compromised on the alter of political expediency
or on the table of fear.
Thankfully there are a few courageous and
discerning voices that have risen to the occasion,
made the relevant observations and asked the right
questions. Amongst them are Mr. Bayo Oladeji and
Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje. Permit me to begin with the
former.
Oladeji, a seasoned and experienced journalist who
writes for the Leadership Newspaper, wrote the
following on his Facebook page on 31st October
2014.
''When Chief Femi Fani-Kayode came out to
expose the plan of the APC chieftains to impose a
Muslim/Muslim ticket on the party, their attack
dogs were ordered to abuse him using words
picked from the gutter. They even told us he was
never part of them! Chief Tom Ikimi came out and
corroborated him and they said he was telling a
moon tale. They then recalled his participation in
the Abacha evil rule which murdered Ken Saro
Wiwa as if their hero, Muhammadu Buhari did not
play same role in the same government. When I
raised the issue here after confirming from those
who were involved in the plan some who can never
talk to their hero rose up ignorantly to fault me.
But since President Olusegun Obasanjo did the
same, their response remains a deafening silence!
When I was growing up I was told that SILENCE
MEANS CONSENT. Meaning those who have been
saying it are not wrong after all. The Church has
kept mum for so long and these people in the
opposition are cornering all for themselves. For
example, I have challenged the apologists of APC
to publish the list of names and the religions of all
their political appointees in the Southwest
especially the following- the governors, SSGs,
Speakers, Finance Commissioners in all the APC
controlled states in the southwest. Let us see how
fair they are to the two religions in the country. If
they could do this at the state level where they
have someone who claims to be a Christian as
deputy governor, we wonder what they would do
when they have the President and the Vice
President from them. In the whole of the North,
there is only one Christian in the National
Executive Commitee and the National Working
Commitee of the APC. His name Engineer Babachir
David Lawal from Adamawa State! And if you know
the extent he went to get that seat, you would
know what that party is up to. These are the
issues. It goes beyond President Jonathan. If the
party does not change, God spares our lives, come
2019, you will still find me doing the same. Until
the rotten tooth is pulled out of the mouth, the
mouth will continue eating with caution. It is a
tragic irony that those who have come out to
defend them are those who claim to be
Christians''.
Oladeji’s observations are indeed food for thought
even though in fairness to the APC their party
Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, did come out
and respond to Obasanjo by saying that his party
had no intention of fielding a Muslim/Muslim ticket.
Few believe him.
The question is this: in the light of General
Mohammadu Buhari's latest assertion that he
cannot rule out the possibility of the selection of a
muslim running mate if he manages to win the
nomination as the presidential flagbearer of his
party, can the belated assurances of the National
Chairman be taken seriously?
I doubt it very much but even if I do take John
Odigie-Oyegun seriously and even if he has the
best of intentions, the fact of the matter is that at
the end of the day it is the Presidential candidate
of the party alone that will make the choice as to
who his running mate will be and what religious
faith that running mate espouses and not the
party's National Chairman.
To that extent Buhari's celebrated and widely
reported comments about not seeing anything
wrong with a Muslim/Muslim ticket, in my view,
speaks volumes and outweighs Odigie-Oyegun's
denials and desperate attempts to calm the
waters.
To make matters worse it is quite possible that
John Odigie-Oyegun may end up not being
National Chairman for much longer simply because
he has dared to challenge the status quo and say
what no-one else in his party has dared to say.
To add to Oladeji's concerns permit me to point
out the fact that in the APC-controlled Lagos State
today 80 per cent of State House of Assembly
members are muslim, 80 per cent of Local
Government Area Chairmen are muslim, 80 per cent
of National Assembly members are muslim and 80
per cent of Commissioners and key government
functionaries are muslim.
All this in a state that has an overwhelming
christian majority and that has been governed by a
muslim governor for the last 15 years. I will not
even go into the affairs of the APC-controlled Osun
state which is slowly being turned into a Taliban
enclave and which is a place in which Christians
are fast becoming second class citizens.
Should anyone be surprised or alarmed by all this?
I don't think so. It is a well-orchestrated, well-
thought out, well-designed and well-implemented
agenda.
That is the APC for you. With them you will never
see what you will get until it is too late. They are
very good at using religion to achieve their
objectives and at playing double games. And of
course propaganda and the manipulation of the
mass media is their forte.
They implement their hidden agenda by guile,
stealth, deceit and subtefuge and they prey on our
sense of fair play, generosity and magnaminity.
In short they have taken us all for granted and
they have mistaken our genuine sense of liberalism
and the desire to accomodate other schools of
thought and perspectives as weakness and
stupidity.
Yet it gets worse and it doesn't stop there. It is
also a fact that every single state that is under the
control of the APC in the south west today is
governed by a muslim whilst 90 per cent of APC
governors throughout the Federation are muslims.
If this does not paint a clear picture about what
the overall agenda of the APC really is and if it
does not give a clear indication about what their
intentions for our country really are then nothing
ever will.
Let us come to Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje who is a
banker, an economist and a lecturer at the Lagos
Business School. He made his own contribution to
the debate by asking the following insightful
questions on his Facebook page on 31st October,
2014 . He asked:
''How come the only debates we have in Nigeria
are over a "Muslim-Muslim" ticket? How come the
opposition partys instincts are always in that
direction-Nuhu Ribadu/Fola Adeola in 2011 and
now all sorts of Muslim-Muslim permutations and
possibilities? How come a discussion of a
Christian-Christian presidential ticket is completely
inconceivable and has not been countenanced by
anyone? How come Buhari, who even in a military
regime instituted a Muslim-Muslim/North-North
ruling clique along with Idiagbon and 8 or 9 out of
11 Supreme Military Council members, is now
testing the ground again with another possible
Muslim-Muslim pairing? Is it that we have a
shortage of capable Christians in NIgeria?''
I wonder if anyone can answer these questions. I
believe that the Nigerian people deserve to hear
the answers. The fact of the matter is that even
though many in our country are in deep denial and
have buried their heads in the sand like the
proverbial ostrich, religion has not only become a
factor in our politics today but it has actually
become THE factor.
This was never meant to be the case and it is a
sad and unwelcome development but, sadly, that is
the reality and we have no choice but to live with
it. Those that dispute it ought to be reminded of
the fact that these are the days of Abubakar
Shekau and Boko Haram.
They ought to be reminded of the fact that this is
an age that has witnessed the unprecedented and
meteoric rise of Islamic fundamentalism, religious
intolerance and ISIL-like barbarity in the affairs of
our nation.
They ought to be reminded of the fact that these
are the days that have witnessed the advent of an
opposition party that is hell bent on using religion
as a major political weapon in an attempt to grab
power at the center regardless of the dangers of
undertaking such a dangerous and unpredictable
course of action.
They ought to be reminded of the fact that this is
a time in which the leading Presidential candidate
of the opposition party is on record as saying that
an attack on Boko Haram ''is an attack on the
north''.
They ought to be reminded of the fact that the
same man told the Nigerian people in 2002 that he
wishes to spread sharia law ''all over the
Federation''.
They ought to be reminded of the fact that the
official spokesman of the opposition party only last
year said that the proscription of Boko Haram by
the Federal Government was ''unconstitutional and
unjust''. Given all this only a fool would suggest
that religion is not a major factor in the unfolding
events in Nigeria’s political arena today.
Yet I am not surprised and neither should anyone
else be. That is style and manner of Nigeria's
opposition party. That is the APC way: lies, deceit,
doublespeak, Byzantian manouverings,
subterranean plots and hidden agendas are their
stock in trade.
They are nothing but darkness and only the light of
God and the power of truth will expose them. May
God deliver our nation from their ilk.
There is no gainsaying that both Oladeji and
Agbaje have raised some very pertinent issues and
their deep concerns reflect the thinking of millions
of Nigerian who are very worried about the
unfolding agenda.
We await the response of anyone within the ranks
of the Buharists and the Haramite hordes for an
answer to these pertinent questions and
observations that these two courageous and deeply
patriotic Nigerians have raised.
Whichever way we choose to look at it one thing
remains clear: the reaction of the Nigerian people
will be decisive and swift if those that wish to turn
our nation into an ISIL-style state push their luck
too far.