RE: Buhari And The Politics Of Probe
Not even at gun point will I hear nothing, see nothing and know nothing like the proverbial monkey of the tales. So, when Femi Odere stabbed truth on the head with his ‘Buhari and the politics of probe’, I knew I was going to give him a piece of my mind no matter how long it will take me. I have been busy like a bee in an active apiary and this stopped me from pulling my sword from her scabbard all this while.
Well, a time it is good to ignore the sleeping dog but, I , for one believe that silence is not golden in all situations especially now that all manners of political scoundrel and scavengers are projecting the old Daura sheriff as an Emperor that shares the grace of infallibility with Sovereign Pontiff. Pitiably, truth is a widow in Nigeria and the resultant effect is that all manners of misinformation and outright falsehood have become legal tender in the Nigerian political market of ‘stomach infrastructure’.
As someone who worships at the shrine of truth, I was pained that Femi Odere turned truth upside down and chose to prey on the personality of the distinguished Bishop Mathew Hassan kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto. Perhaps, he hoped to secure invitation to the dining table with his poisonous treatise. Hear him: ‘...Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah may have denied that his committee’s meeting with Buhari had nothing to do with giving Jonathan, or any corrupt Nigerian, any reprieve in the president’s war on corruption, but Nigerians are no fools.
With all his convoluted and illogical reasons why Buhari should “not waste his time” in prosecuting the Jonathan administration, that ill-fated ‘invasion’ of Aso Rock by the so-called National Peace Council (NPC), formerly known as the 2015 Elections Peace Committee (which might be renamed the National Corruption Protection Council (NCPC), of which the Bishop of the Sokoto Diocese is not only its spokesman but also its founder, who may have cunning co-opted some of its revered members to the committee, had everything to do with not only Jonathan but probably the Bishop himself'. The above reclex postulation of Femi Odere is nothing but a deliberate assault and insult on the towering personality of Bishop Kukah.
Femi’s misguided piece was an exercise in misinformation and perfect falsehood. He tried in vain to use half truth and half baked hiatus to thwart the message and meaning of Bishop Kukah’s salutary intervention and political thought on the ‘anti- corruption crusade’ of PMB. His attempt to rewrite ‘Things Fall Apart’ without Okonkwo was very pedestrian and dirty and no discerning mind will swallow the rubbish he presented to the public.
The truth remains that the eminent Bishop of Sokoto as an active citizen with cognate experience of political leadership and mis-leadership in Africa in general and Nigeria in particular was advocating for rule of law, due process and constitutionalism.
Bishop Kukah never suggested that PMB should not fight corruption. Hear him: “There is no such thing as probe in a democratic setting like ours. What obtains is investigation, and once people lead and things are not right, in¬vestigation becomes necessary.
Everybody knows that things are not the way they ought to be. We are just trying to encourage people that let’s get on with this business of fixing this country. Let’s get to the business of realizing the change that we dreamt of. And also most importantly, let’s get down with the business of co-operating with God so that Nigeria can move forward.
I think that is what ordinary Nigerians are expecting, this is what they voted for. The truth of the matter is that time is not on our side. Our responsibility is to en¬courage politicians to do what they were elected to do,” The Bishop only proposed a more productive and civilized approach of fighting corruption against the media prosecution the APC government was doing.
His Lordship was only calling on PMB to play the game according to the rules and focus more on the primary aims of leadership instead of chasing rat while the house is on fire. Perhaps, because of PMB’s notorious record as a former dictator with disdain for the tenets of democracy and fundamental human right.
Moreover, Bishop Kukah like every Nigerian citizen have the constitutional right to entertain and express his or her political thoughts and opinion without been subjected to blackmail by rabble-rousers and sycophants. Nigerians cannot be deceived by false media propaganda.
Like the Eminent Bishop predicted, ‘yawa don gas’ and Nigerians have seen the true colours of the anti-corruption crusade. Talk of the padding-gate. Let us do away with parochial, ethnic and political sentiments. Where has the so called probe led us to? We have heard of looters where are there loots?
Can Nigerians say that Buhari government has performed above average in the past two years? Or is Femi Odere telling us that all the rogues and looters that left PDP and are now dining and wining with PMB in the APC are now saints by the sacrament of cross-carpeting?
On what planet have Odere been dwelling not to have known that Bishop Kukah is immune to stomach Infrastructure. No patriotic Nigerian who have followed the antecedents of Bishop Kukah especially his brilliant and punch interviews in the last two years will wish to rub him with dust like Femi Odere tried in vain to do with his satanic verse.
His lordship is an embodiment of who a revered patriot should be. His various services to father land can prove my claims. All the minions and political marauders insulting the Bishop were not there when he and the likes of Prof. Pat Utomi, Prof. Wole Soyinka, late Pa Abraham Adesina, Bola Tinubu were fighting for the democracy we are enjoying today. Bishop Kukah has proven to have outstanding ideas and fine values. At least, we all know that Rome anoints only ‘philosopher kings’ as Bishops. With what is happening under the leadership of PMB for the past two years I can say that Bishop Kukah was wiser.
Please, Femi Odere can take this to the bank. It is worthy to note that Ghana also borrowed the idea National Peace council a brain child of Bishop Kukah in the just concluded presidential elections in Ghana. Only a fool will not appreciate the role the NPC played in averting the doom and dark cloud over Nigeria in 2015.
If not for the NPC millions of lives could have been wasted had Bishop Kukah and other patriots not intervened and prevailed on GEJ to accept defeat even before the result of the polls was officially announced. Kukah is a Northern Nigerian and those of us in the North saw the blood bath that followed the defeat of PMB in previous elections in most Northern states were Buhari enjoys a significant support.
The NPC did a great job and Bishop Kukah deserve kudos not insults from Efulefus It is unfortunate that Femi Odere refused to respect the ‘rules of engagement’ as a journalist he claimed to be. In his blind drive to satisfy his paymasters and dress Bishop Kukah in a borrowed toga, instead of addressing issues raised by the Bishop which were pertinent, he stooped to low and resorted to throwing tantrum and insults at his Lordship.
It is uncivilized to impute improper motives to the pronouncements of elder statesmen and patriots in other to impugn their integrity. I f Femi Odere has scores to settle with Bishop Kukah, he must not behave like a coward by hiding under the anti-corruption crusade to throw unholy punches.
He should come to the square and state his case instead of building lugubrious and hasty conclusion on the political thought and postulations of the Eminent Bishop of Sokoto. Anyway, I am not holding brief for Bishop Kukah. But, be that as it may be, it has become a categorical imperative that Nigerians should do away with their political, religious and ethnic lenses when dealing with national issues.
Put bluntly, we should act and react as Nigerians first before considering other primitive interests. I am not saying ‘thou shall not criticize Bishop Kukah”. Far from been my idea. But like in saner climes such criticism should be devoid of hate and ‘pull-him-down syndrome’. As a matter of truth, such criticism should truly reflect the truth unlike the falsehood riddled fairy tales of Femi Odere. I rest my case! Martin-Hassan Eze 07086770315 Kontagora-Niger State.