Senator Ihenyen: The degeneration of Gen. Buhari I continue to emphasize in my posts that any such comparison is unreasonable and must be treated with suspicion. The Niger Delta struggle has largely been a justifiable agitation for resource control, infrastructural development and inclusion of the region in the Nigerian state. No man in his right senses would not see the activities of Boko Haram as acts of terrorism. If the stand of the Federal Government before the dramatic proscription of the fundamentalist sect had betrayed any sign of feet-dragging with a knee-begging amnesty that since failed, it is not because there is anything to justify it in the first place. The Jonathan administration had only been compromising national security largely because the Ijaw-born President cared more about saving his 2015 presidential ambition than the country. Even the politically naïve is not unaware of the north’s decisive vote in national elections owing to the huge population and usually mono-coloured voting patterns, unlike the less predictable Southern voters. Therefore, if President Jonathan had delayed his state of emergency action in the northern states of Bornu, Yobe and Adamawa, it should not be a surprise to Nigerians who understand the game of politics and power. Democracy after all is a game of numbers. At the wake of the eventual declaration of the state of emergency in the three northern states, Nigerians witnessed the hostile reactions from the north. Not a few northern leaders accused the President of failing to see through the efforts being made to dialogue with the fundamentalist sect, particularly after giving in to pressures to grant a controversial amnesty to the sect. Of course, a greater part of that political pressure had come from, again, northern elders and leaders. Typically, as reactions continue to trail Major Gen. Buhari’s comment, there have been defences from the northern part of the country, once again. The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) governorship candidate in Jigawa State at the 2011 election, Alhaji Faruk Adamu Aliyu, said in a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Hausa Service interview monitored in Kaduna on Wednesday, that the comment by the CPC’s presidential candidate in the 2011 election on the state of the country was “the truth.” He also added that there was truth in Buhari’s remark that those in the Niger Delta are “favoured and pampered.” Let’s call a spade a spade. Buhari is not just any Nigerian. He is someone who has once ruled this country as the Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He has got a great political status and definitely one of the biggest political heavyweights in the country. He was the presidential candidate of All Nigerian People’s Party (ANPP) in 2003, 2007, and on the platform of his own party, Congress for People’s Change (CPC) in 2011. Today, his name is still among the list of possible presidential candidates ready to do battlle with the ruling party, PDP, on the platform of the new opposition mega party, All Progressive Congress (APC). I am therefore usually perplexed whenever Major-Gen. Buhari makes self-degenerating statements that do not only constitute a serious threat to his political ambition, but also pull down the pillars of support his otherwise principled personality may have built for him over the years. Must we always remind Buhari that he is not the Chairman of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) nor his he going to rule the north only if he ever finds himself in the presidency. For a man who was in the highest political leadership position in the country at the time I was yet unborn, it is very worrisome witnessing such degeneration into absurdity. It is indeed disappointing, especially considering what personalities of Buhari’s status should represent in the nation today. Without any overstatement intended, Buhari’s remark portends great danger for the polity. For those who continue to politicize sensitive issues such as our national security, they are only gathering canons for their own self-destruction. It is only the people who blindly idolize such demi-gods of bigotry and sectionalism that I worry about. This is because when our elders and leaders make the wrong decisions and employ the wrong approach to national issues, it is usually the common man that suffers more from the boomerangs. This is because such statements most times end up inflaming the passion of their followers which usually results in ethno-religious violence. The violent aftermath of the declaration by INEC of Goodluck Jonathan as winner of the presidential elections in 2011 is still fresh in our minds.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Jun 2013 09:15:26 +0000
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