THEN and NOW.

By Remi Oyeyemi

"Make the collective lose its memory, you can conceal anything." - Charles Stross.

It is important to help out those who are reminding Nigerians of what transpired during the People's Democratic Party (PDP) years, and advising us to ponder if we want the PDP back in power.

Granted that this is a campaign season when people deliberately get inflicted with selective amnesia, it is imperative that things are kept in proper perspective. History never dies. President Barack Obama once observed, as follows:

"Too much of politics today seems to reject the very concept of objective truth. ...We see the utter loss of shame among political leaders where they are caught in a lie, and they just double down and they lie some more."

Pondering over all the issues brought up as advised by the dwindling supporters of this tragic administration of All Progressives Congress (APC), one is settled in one's view that the era of APC has been a monumental tragedy for and or to Nigeria and Nigerians. It has been a season of banditry. It has been a season of the locusts. It has been a worse season than that of anomie.

It is self evident that during the years preceding the Mohammadu Buhari and APC's rapaciousness, things were not that good, but no one envisaged that it could be this bad, except some of us who knew Buhari before then. The subsisting avarice, greed, incompetence, coldbloodedness, cruelty and wickedness under Mohammadu Buhari, or is it Jubril Aminu Al Sudani, have no equal in the History of this land.

During one's ponderance, one had to do a comparative analysis of "THEN" and "NOW" in a jiffy. The difference between then and now is crystal clear.

Then, under the PDP there was corruption, but now, under the APC, there is hydra -headed super monstrous corruption.

Then, President Goodluck Jonathan, we remember, sacked corrupt Ministers and officials, but now, President Mohammadu Buhari has been writing to the NASS to defend corrupt officials, bringing them back into Government and promoting them.

Then, there were killings only by Boko Haram, we saw their efforts, which Mohammadu Buhari called "an attack on the North," but now, Boko Haram operate without let or hindrance. The heartless organization hunt and kill our soldiers like bushmeat.

Then, when they kidnapped the Chibok girls, it was done surreptitiously under the cover of darkness, but now, under APC and Buhari, those Dapchi girls were kidnapped and some of them returned openly, during daylight without any challenge.

Then, rice, beans, gaari, elubo, ororo and bread were affordable, but now, they are beyond the reach of millions of Nigerians.

Then, Kerosene was cheaper and petrol was 87 naira per litre, but now, Nigerians groan to buy kerosene at exhorbitant price(s) and petrol is 145 naira per litre.

Then, the Fulani herdsmen did not carry AK 47 openly, but now, they do and no one could stop them.

Then, there were no murdering of pregnant women and disemboweled thereafter, so the foetus could be videotaped while being specially murdered in its own right, but now, it is happening as a matter of course, across the land, without let or hindrance.

Then, there were threats to our safety, but now, there is no safety to be threatened. What we have is anarchy.

Then there was discomfiture and discomfort in the land, but now, there are miseries and tragedies all over the nooks and crannies of the land.

Then, there was religious tolerance and there was no mass killings of people of different Faiths, but now, over 500 Shiites were murdered in Kaduna in one single day, Christians are murdered in churches and on the streets without any consequences.

Then, we could vouch for the identity of who was in charge, but now, we can't, because we don't know if it is Mohammadu Buhari or Jubril Aminu Al Sudani.

Yes, one has pondered, and this is the result of that exercise, in a jiffy.

Thus, for the above reasons, it only makes sense to chase Mohammadu Buhari and his APC, out of the Aso Rock. Nigeria and Nigerians need a new lease of life.

Moreso, Nigerians are not even sure if Mohammadu Buhari is the candidate of APC or Jubril Aminu Al Sudani. Nobody knows the true identity of the man parading himself as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

But we know that the official First Lady, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, has advised Nigerians to fight those in Aso Rock and wrest control from them. She has told Nigerians that her husband is not in control of Aso Rock and Nigeria. One only has to read between the lines to understand the gravity and the urgency of that message.

Aisha should know better than others. She is an insider. And "because she is 'involved,'" (apology to Late Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu), she could not, should not and must not be dismissed with a wave of a hand.

Between "THEN," when the PDP was in charge and "NOW," that the APC is in charge, the streets know the difference. Their choices should not be difficult to make. While the PDP might not be the best, it is the better of the two. Returning the country to the control of the PDP, is a task that seem to be imperatively inevitable.

©Remi Oyeyemi