Right of Reply: Can This Man Be Trusted
While it is convenient to sit in the Diaspora and hurl stones at ones father's home, it will not deter us from responding to sacrilegious allegation made about General Buhari(rtd) It is unfortunate that the so called sponsors of this reckless and totally irresponsible allegations with the name of NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA do not mean well for Nigeria. Hoping that by now they would have seen the sorry show of shame put up by their sponsors yesterday to begin with.
General Buhari is not the issue at this point in Nigeria, rather he is the solution. Since these people who live off the sweat of the patriots of foreign lands have chosen to play the ostrich game we will take the pains to help them out of their dilemma:
1. Those foreign lands which we all take pride in as "NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA" WAS BUILT ON THE SWEAT OF PATRIOTS. Those who did not flee their homes due to bad governance and corruption. Those countries were built by those who were willing to make sacrifices and give their all to their mother land, those who walked the talk. Not those who turn a blind eye to corruption, not those who choose to pray and trust pastors who are as fraudulent as they come. Those countries were built on the sweat and character of those who are not ethnic bigots, not by those who are masochists. They made sacrifices, they rolled up their sleeves to toil and sweat for posterity and that is what these so called NIGERIANS IN DIASPORA ARE ENJOYING TODAY. These were people who did not bolt out of their countries to serve as security guards, jobless people, doctors, nurses, attorneys accountants, pimps, 419 guys, drug peddlers, nursing assistants etc. Their governors did not loot their treasury to acquire houses in foreign lands. They did not loot banks to become fugitive from justice. They did not go from 21,000 naira bank balance to billionaires for doing nothing. They were genuine patriots.
2.By now, the often rehashed claim of Islamic bigotry as per General Buhari is beginning to sound like the old worn out record of people with border line senility. First we have to establish some facts. We are not apologetic for being MOSLEMS, we will never ever apologize for our faith just as we appreciate Christianity and hold the practitioners in very high esteem. This indolent talk of Islamic credentials we have concluded; is an act of terrorism. We will not be terrorized into denying our faith. General Buhari like the rest of us have the right to propagate his faith. He has the right to worship God as he sees fit. There is no amount of blackmail that will make this man change his faith. Our suggestion is that these people who hide out in foreign lands should engage themselves in more worth while issues. Their reckless claim is no longer news.
Mismanaged these funds, they did everything seamy with our money including buying cars for mistresses! part of the money from the 3. It is strange that these so called Nigerians in Diaspora can doubt the moral credentials of General Buhari. If only they took time to research their claims before making it. No one can controvert the transparency credentials of this man. Their claim about his term as PTF chairman would have been funny were it not so tragic. PTF money was judiciously spent and accounted for by Buhari. He was investigated by General Olusegun Obabsanjo who would have jailed him if he found him wanting. In view of the vindictive nature of General Obasanjo, he would have wielded the big stick to finish off Buhari if there was any trace of corruption in his term in PTF. Once again, if the governors of those states who benefited from PTF money chose to claim projects that were already completed all in the bid to steal from their own people, then General Buhari will not be able to help you. Besides, the so called champions of Nigerians in Diaspora might want to take the pains to seek truthful information about the PTF. It is public record and it will serve them better. On a curious note, we wonder if these faceless group are aware of the seamy expose between General Obasanjo and his then deputy, Abubakar Atiku as per PTF funds. The then president, General Obasanjo spent PTF funds like personal money. Both he and Atiku used PTF money for personal aggrandizement as per Atiku's Congressional testimony. Some of the money they both claimed was used to bail out Glo and Mike Adenuga. Some of the money went to Bell group of schools. We wonder if you know the sole owner of Bell conglomerate. To ease your pain finding out, Bell is solely and totally owned by Olusegun Obasanjo. He even managed to buy cars for mistresses according to the Atiku testimony! How about that? it is therefore tragic that these faceless group chose to fret about " ring worm while they are afflicted with leprosy". Enough of your ostrich game.
No one is a saint. No one is saying Buhari is a perfect human being. However, one thing is certain, he means well for Nigeria. Nigeria is facing a cataclysm and we need strong hands to rescue us from collective suicide. It is not enough to sit or hide out in Diaspora while hurling stones at ones mother land. It will not solve the problems. It is also not enough to look the other way while our own people in the PDP steal us blind. It is better to reflect on the excesses of the PDP in the last 12 years, the debasement of Nigeria, the flight of our people into Diaspora as a result of bad governance. Never in the history of Nigeria have we witnessed this mass scale exodus secondary to bad leadership and total break down of law and order.
MEND, Governors caught with their hands in the cookie jar, exodus of our female children for prostitution in Europe, grand scale 419, roads akin to death traps, broken health and education system, 419 pastors, Turai Yardua, off shore president, a clueless an spineless presidency, total black out even after expending a reported USD 16 billion, terrorism, insecurity of life and limbs, Siemens scandal, cross dressing governors. Jos is a killing field, armed robbery is the norm and not the exception, unresolved assassinations, governors caught with our loot and detained in foreign lands like common criminals. Incidentally, these were all PDP governors. We can go on forever, yet people who should know were paid some few dollars to malign other people. They are paid blood money to act the Nike expression of JUST DO IT. We hope your conscience will prick you after this. No one is going to be confused by your pettiness; no one is going to shift ground for you. We will stand our ground to prevent Nigeria from plunging into that abyss of no return. We encourage you to join us.
Folake Lebi
Buhari/Bakare Team.