There must always be lots of certainties that tempt you to believe your audiences are bored, particularly, when the number of reactions to your write-ups decline with time. In view of this fact , permit me here to begin this one with an apology, should I bore you always. I guess this boredom would not be because I bother you always with the errors committed by one particular character or in having you read about the blunders of this same character in every write-up l pencil down but perhaps in telling you always what you already know would be. I think I should be pardoned for this. I am quite old and likely to tell the same story to the same listeners three times a day.
In life, there are three wants which can never be satisfied : that of an ignorant, who wants to sound educated ; that of the sick, who wants to be seen healthy; and that of a noise maker, who wants people to believe he is making common sense. Every clowns exhibit one or more of these wants and It would be impossible to guess the much, the clown's brain would be left desolate when all these wants manifest in him simultaneously. Any academic discourse geared towards analysing such misfortune would be full of hilarity.
Late last month, a comic relief was displayed to make ripples in our nation's polity. It played out as an 800-meter-distance-walk story. This short distance was presumably made to erase doubts on the fitness of Mr President. It will be recalled that earlier that month the President went to London on a medical expedition where he spent more than the ten days he asked for. So there should be a distraction to remove our minds from the extra days. The distraction in this fitness exercise was not Buhari's success claim in the exercise as a reason to run for the 2019 presidential election but the prop up of many undemocratic utterances that trailed his return . One of interest was a comment which threatened to jail more looters, another, which was made to give the first, authenticity: an unintelligent talk that submits that national interest was not subject to rule of law. These two statements by the president, which I see as mere bluffs, would put doubt on the minds of many who had earlier on described him as a reformed democrat when cognisance is taken to the many rights he abused during his reign as a military head of state . But does the leopard change its spots?
Last week , one of his admirers put up some weak defenses that tend to favour an unpopular claim that the party sold to him the promotion of impunity at the expense of the rule of law to enable him succeed in the purported war against corruption he is said to be fighting . The big dumb questions here are : is the party ignorant of the theory of the fruit of the poisonous tree in law? Is the party also not aware that such defenses would rightly portray the platform on which he stands anti democratic and affirm the impunity the opposition claims is rife with his style of governance. Why would a president say that national interest should overrule the rule of law ? Rule of law which is the fundamental principle on which every constitution, including the one he took an oath to defend is based upon. In the absence of law, is it not a social misconduct to ask one to take the faults of his youth with him into old age when old age comes with its own defects. No reason would ever justify the impunity in this government. You can tell us also that it was national interest to allow the appointment of Kemi Adeosun as minister for finance to stand when convincing evidences point to the illegality in the issuance of her NYSC discharge certificate . So the national interest in the choice of appointing her a minister of finance has now overruled what the law says about forgery, perjury and nonparticipation in the NYSC scheme. The President has just demonstrated by this that all the illegality identified in the appointments he has made so far could not be overruled by the rule of law governing such appointments as enshrined in the constitution he swore to protect because he saw them as national interest . Presumably also, it was national interest for the likes of Oji Uzoh kalu, Akpabio, Jim Nwobodo who have corruption cases pending in court to join the APC so that the national interest as determined by only the President would now overrule the constitutional penalty as enshrined in the law which he took an oath to protect. Nigerians are wise. We have identified where your intentions were, long before you carried out your threat to jail more looters. We understood you to mean you were bent on jailing more of the opposition members.
Few other admirers too see cues to romance with excuses that paint him as copy cat who merely recites scripts written by some mischievous and controversial SANs in his government of which he has little or no input to make. This excuse gives enough impetus to complement Trump's comment that left him "dead man sitting on Nigeria's Presidential Seat". While I may not in its entirety support the publicity Trump accorded to his personal observation, I would , however, not fail to blame Buhari for this comment. Someone says, it is beneficial in this world to live after the world's opinions; it is equally beneficial in solitude to live after your own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the people of the world keeps, with perfect sweetness , the independence of solitude.
Buhari has not kept, with perfect sweetness, the independence of solitude. He cheapened his exalted seat before Trump by his utterances and body languages. Perhaps the reason Trump called him lifeless. But how true is it that this Buhari is lifeless? To answer this question, perhaps the best approach would be to refer to historical records with a view to analyzing his behavioral patterns vis a vis Trump's observations on a portal that would tend to compare him with his past. This would suffice to deduce his present activity status.
Many would recall that, with full cognisance to, and with respect for the military strength of Great Britain; their nuclear capability and perhaps, their back-up power : the US, this Trump's lifeless being , who already knew much about the reason Idi Amin called off his bluff and horridly freed a British journalist he condemned to death on a false charge of espionage when British naval warships set sail towards Uganda, still found courage enough to infiltrated into Great Britain, through gaps in their security system, in a bid to freight Umaru Dikko , who was enjoying asylum in London back to Nigeria .violating Britain's territorial integrity. Although the success story of this feat was cut short by Dikko's secretary, a Nigerian, who informed the British authorities of the kidnap, the effort could not, in any ramification, be said to be lifeless. Peradventure, the same being who performed this feat then, now stands before Trump with a posture that replicates a frightened mouse , reciting written speeches in an uncoordinated manner, then Trump would be right in his use of the term lifeless.
Our greatest problem in Nigeria today emanates from the fact that APC presented a president who is not in charge of activities and surrounded him with liars who don't have good enough memory to make successful liars. The factuality of this has been demonstrated by the party on several occasions with Buhari's utterances and body languages doing much in acquainting us that he stands ignorant of many activities of political interest going on in the country. This notwithstanding, APC wants all to believe Buhari is the only worthy candidate . The party may have him as its best candidate. Other parties have their best candidates too. So the question of the right candidate; the only candidate;: the only Saint in a population of 180 million people does not exist but only brings to life the comment Cameron made about Nigeria as a fantastically corrupt country. His reasoning made sense since Buhari is said to be the only saint in a population of 180 million people. This is the kind of reasoning we face when people who are not educated enough to define democracy beyond, "government of the people by the people and for the people" are elected to lead in a democratic setup. They forget that the same man who gave that definition further stated, and I quote.: "As I would not be a slave , so I would not be a master . This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." Why have they made themselves masters and us slaves by the lies they tell in governance ? There is nothing more terrible to see ignorance in action. APC may call Buhari their best, I have no problem with that. But remember Abraham Lincoln once asked "how many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg ? Four, he answered himself that calling a tail a leg does not make it a leg. To make this one man credible, the APC has narrowed down the definition of corruption to exclude every other aspect leaving out embezzlement of fund.
I have deliberately left out being emphatic on my conclusion on the status of Trump's comment. Whether fallacy or reality? This is because I felt it was Trump's personal view that should have been borne in his mind. But ask yourself this question: would it be a fallacy when it has been confirmed that cabals run this government for him. The wife of the President has raised this alarm on several occasions to attest to the fact.
Ejiofor
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