BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

[Kennedy Emetulu]

…

BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm58FyEEDXc

I enjoyed the outing at Chatham House. Though the Chatham House people had obviously organised this as a hush-hush affair to sell General Muhammadu Buhari, the tyrant who ran the most unfriendly Nigerian government to the UK as a convert to democracy who now champions its values in Africa nay Nigeria, the whole thing fell flat on its face. 

First, they ensured that only Buhari supporters and a few members of the APC’s foreign captive audience were there in the room to give it a dash of foreign colour and listen to a drab speech for about twenty-five minutes. Typically, Buhari was made only to deliver a speech with no room for genuine questions and participation from a genuine audience, except the fits of clapping by claques well-schooled in celebrating poop flakes carried by hot air. When the  APC bigwigs appeared outside after the sham Buhari talk inside, they met a wall of Nigerians chanting “Buhari-Ole (thief)! Tinubu-Ole! Atiku-Barawo! Amaechi-Ony’oshi! El Rufai-Ole!” I loved the chant and even did a little jig to it on the street of St James’s Square! Of course, the APC posse attempted a copycat version of this, but again, it didn’t resonate. Their frustration got the better of them as they began accusing every Goodluck Jonathan supporter in sight of collecting money to support the president. Meanwhile they were the lot caught sharing money in the Square.

In the meantime, having witnessed what they considered intense hostility from the outside, the bigwigs who only got as far as the doorway retreated inside and for over two hours, they scratched their heads and wringed their fingers, wondering how to take Buhari out of the building without facing the wrath of Nigerians outside. A group of us had got wind that they were going to smuggle him out through a side door, so we went and acted sentinels there. It was tough as the PDP and APC and the Goodluck Jonathan supporters like myself fought turf wars around the premises. Though outside, it was mostly good-natured political bantering by the supporters of both parties and both leading candidates; inside, they knew the mood was not right for Buhari to step out. In the end, Buhari had to be smuggled out of the place furtively in a police van with Rotimi Amaechi in tow as Nigerians booed loudly at what was considered a cowardly show. 

My own main takeaway from the situation is that Buhari has again lost an opportunity to market himself better to Nigerians, even as everything was laid out for him. Chatham House had to shoehorn him into their programme when he was not scheduled to be there. I mean, spotting a boil on the left side of his jaw, Buhari is evidently in London primarily for some other reason and not for a talk (and that is okay, because of his age and the toll the campaign must have taken on his frail body), but they presented it as a “working visit”. Yet, every programme organised as part of that working visit in London, he couldn’t attend! To save face, Chatham House was conscripted into a conspiracy to keep its door open for Buhari, his followers and his foreign supporters while this same door was shut firmly against other Nigerians as they ran the charade of Buhari of all people talking the prospects of democracy in Nigeria! Expectedly, there was nothing inspiring or memorable in the speech. It was just a show to indicate Buhari is alive and well and not in an hospital bed. But it fooled no one!

Buhari should have seized the opportunity to come, stand on the porch of Chatham House and address Nigerians who were outside, sell himself and his programme and show them that he’s serious about leading Nigeria to better days. Instead, he was smuggled out in a police van and booed by the same people he wants their votes. Not a statesmanlike exit that!

Now, having done with the light drama, let’s attend to the tragedy. It happened on several fronts in the speech. He started by apologising for having to take his beloved country to the cleaners on a foreign soil where ordinarily he had happily played its “public relations and marketing officer, extolling her virtues and hoping to attract investments and tourists” in the past. He urged the foreign eyes ogling this new phantom Nigeria of today to keep looking. “So let me say upfront that the global interest in Nigeria’s landmark election is not misplaced at all and indeed should be commended; for this is an election that has serious import for the world. I urge the international community to continue to focus on Nigeria at this very critical moment. Given increasing global linkages, it is in our collective interests that the postponed elections should hold on the rescheduled dates; that they should be free and fair; that their outcomes should be respected by all parties; and that any form of extension, under whichever guise, is unconstitutional and will not be tolerated”. 

Yes, Buhari, the new darling of the West is calling on his friends and sponsors to play the vultures and pick up the carrion that is Nigeria once any form of extension is proposed “under whatever guise”, because this would be “unconstitutional”. Is it not a surprise that with so many SANs jostling for a seat at Buhari’s table (and one of them his running mate), none could tell him that there is still room for the postponement of the election by INEC lawfully and constitutionally if need be? He has to create the impression that the postponement was the handiwork of Goodluck Jonathan and his people and not by INEC as a result of its clear state of unpreparedness. Buhari must blame Jonathan and the PDP, because that is his default position.

It’s such hypocrisy that took Buhari’s speech to the next level of farce as he began talking as though he was not the democracy-killing tyrant of late 1983 who made the nation one huge prison as he tortured his fellow citizens mercilessly in the name of fighting indiscipline and corruption. He reeled out statistics of the democratic heartbeat of the continent throughout the eighties, the nineties and after and then concluded: “It is much more important that the promise of democracy goes beyond just allowing people to freely choose their leaders. It is much more important that democracy should deliver on the promise of choice, of freedoms, of security of lives and property, of transparency and accountability, of rule of law, of good governance and of shared prosperity. It is very important that the promise embedded in the concept of democracy, the promise of a better life for the generality of the people, is not delivered in the breach”. The clapping claques at this point were going joyously bonkers! A Lincoln has come to judgment, they farted out loudly! When he turned to prosecute Nigeria, his self-serving proclamation was that peaceful alternation of power through competitive elections have happened in Ghana, Senegal, Malawi and Mauritius in recent times and that the prospects of democratic consolidation in Africa will be further brightened when that eventually happens in Nigeria. Hmm….

Buhari is particularly invested in the world focusing on Nigeria, because “the elections are holding in the shadow of huge security, economic and social uncertainties in Africa’s most populous country and largest economy”. Buhari, who with his military chums massacred Nigerians in the name of fighting a civil war took the opportunity of addressing an audience in a London that was horrified by the images of kwashiokor children to say that apart from the civil war era, no other time has Nigeria been this insecure.

“Boko Haram has sadly put Nigeria on the terrorism map, killing more than 13,000 of our nationals, displacing millions internally and externally, and at a time holding on to portions of our territory the size of Belgium. What has been consistently lacking is the required leadership in our battle against insurgency. I, as a retired general and a former head of state, have always known about our soldiers: they are capable, well trained, patriotic, brave and always ready to do their duty in the service of our country.

“You all can bear witness to the gallant role of our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur and in many other peacekeeping operations in several parts of the world. But in the matter of this insurgency, our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem. The government has also failed in any effort towards a multi-dimensional response to this problem leading to a situation in which we have now become dependent on our neighbours to come to our rescue.

“Let me assure you that if I am elected president, the world will have no cause to worry about Nigeria as it has had to recently; that Nigeria will return to its stabilising role in West Africa; and that no inch of Nigerian territory will ever be lost to the enemy because we will pay special attention to the welfare of our soldiers in and out of service, we will give them adequate and modern arms and ammunitions to work with, we will improve intelligence gathering and border controls to choke Boko Haram’s financial and equipment channels, we will be tough on terrorism and tough on its root causes by initiating a comprehensive economic development plan promoting infrastructural development, job creation, agriculture and industry in the affected areas. We will always act on time and not allow problems to irresponsibly fester, and I, Muhammadu Buhari, will always lead from the front and return Nigeria to its leadership role in regional and international efforts to combat terrorism”.

Well, well, well, now that is a powerful sales pitch by a hound auditioning for the post of Protector-General of the hares! I mean, since when is an attack on Boko Haram no longer an attack on the North? Since when did Muhammadu Buhari, the Commandant-General of Boko Haram and who is their biggest political defender and supporter convert to their shooter? Or is this not the same man that attacked the Nigerian Army for killing Boko Haram? Is this not the man whose supporters celebrate every Boko Haram attack as a victory against Jonathan? Is this not the same Buhari that was chosen by Boko Haram as their representative in a proposed negotiation in Saudi Arabia? Is this not the same Buhari that told the world that the Boko Haram boys should be treated like the Niger-Delta militants by being rewarded with money and positions? Is he now going to start killing them instead of commissioning them into the Nigerian Army? Where was Buhari’s voice when more than twice the number so far lost to Boko Haram lost their lives to assassinations, government sponsored genocide, communal, ethnic and Sharia-induced violence under the rulership of his friend, Olusegun Obasanjo and that only in his first term as president? Who is zooming who? 

Buhari accused the government of not applying a multidimensional response to the problem. This is so dreadfully untrue that it could only have come from a fellow who in his highfalutin speech didn’t consider education as a weapon against a group committed to killing education. His continued undermining of the necessity of the help we are getting from our neighbours as part of the multinational force against the insurgency is as vacuous and self-serving as the boasts of a clay-footed giant. There is no shame in having a multinational force against an internationalised Islamist militancy. Boko Haram is not only a Nigeria problem; it is a regional and world problem and the fact that the world and sub-region are waking up to this reality late is not an indictment of Nigeria or her leadership. Better late than never! There is more to fighting an internationalised insurgency than just deploying men and arms. There is diplomacy of the subtlest kind and the delicate navigation of regional sensibilities and historical fears. Enough of this ignorant rhetoric from this relic of a general!

One thing is for sure, Buhari is aiming to win for Boko Haram through the ballot what they are fighting for with bullets. Both he and Boko Haram think they’re holding Nigeria hostage to a total Sharia future. Or what else has Boko Haram and Buhari asked for jointly that if granted will put a stop to all the killings? Yes, you guessed it - total Sharia in Nigeria! Please, those who want to dumbly argue that this is not possible in a democracy should please not waste their time here, because I myself have no time to waste holding them by the hands through the pages of Nigeria’s modern history. I’ve never been a fan of mental and civic laziness and wouldn’t start now.

The Buhari speech’s treatment of the economy was a slapdash jumble of questionable but still irrelevant statistics and what he said some unnamed development economist said. “A development economist once said three questions should be asked about a country’s development: one, what is happening to poverty? Two, what is happening to unemployment? And three, what is happening to inequality?” Suffice it to say Buhari discussing poverty, unemployment and inequality is like a fox commiserating with the sheep for lack of grass to eat.

But while Buhari’s views on all the above issues are interesting and not in a good way, I found his views expressed in the concluding part of the speech hilarious and not in a good way  too. Here is my transcription from watching and listening to the video:

“On corruption, there will be no confusion as to where I stand. Corruption will have no place and the corrupt will not be appointed into my administration. First and foremost, we plug the hole in the budgetary processes. Revenue producing entities such as NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) and Custom and Exercise (sic) will have one set of books only. Their revenues will be publicly disclosed and regularly audited. The institutions of state dedicated to fighting corruption will be given independence and prosecutorial authority without political interference. But I must emphasise that any war waged on corruption must not be misconstrued as settling all the scores or a witch-hunt. I’m running for President to lead Nigeria to prosperity, not adversity. 

“In reforming the economy, we will use savings that arise from blocking these leakages and the proceeds recovered from corruption to fund our party’s social investment programmes in education, health, safety nets such as free school meals for children, emergency public works for unemployed youths and pensions from the elderly. As a progressive party, we must reform our political economy to unleash the pent-up ingenuity and productivity of the Nigerian people, thus freeing them from the curse of poverty. We will run a private sector-led economy, but maintain an active role for government through strong regulatory oversight and deliberate interventions and incentives to diversify the base of our economy, strengthen productive sectors, improve productive capacities of our people and create jobs for our teeming youth. In short, we will run a functional economy driven by our worldview that sees growth, not as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a society that works for all, rich and poor alike. On March 28, Nigerians have a decision to make, to vote for the continuity of failure or to elect progressive change. I believe the people will choose wisely.

“In sum, I think that given its strategic importance, Nigeria can trigger a wave of democratic consolidation in Africa. But as a starting point, we need to get this critical election right by ensuring that they go ahead and deprive those who want to scuttle it the benefit of draining our fledging democracy. That way, we all see democracy and democratic consolidation as tools of solving pressing problems in a sustainable way, not as end in themselves. 

“Permit me to close this discussion on a personal note. I have heard and read references to me as a former dictator in many respected British newspapers, including the well-regarded Economist. Let me say without sounding defensive that dictatorship goes with military rule, though some might be less dictatorial than others. I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch. I cannot change the past, but I can change the present and the future. So, before you is a former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms and is subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic election for the fourth time. You may ask why is he doing this? This is a question I ask myself all the time too. And there is my humble answer, because the work of making Nigeria great is not yet done, because I still believe that change is possible, this time through the ballot and most importantly, because I still have the capacity and the passion to dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations and that all Nigerians would be proud of. Thank you very much”.

Buhari says on corruption, there is no confusion as to where he stands, but from his speech at Chatham House, there is a lot of it. Not only is there confusion, there is an obvious lack of understanding of the breadth and depth of the problem. This could be contrived or real ignorance. But here it is: What he calls “the hole in the budgetary process” will always be there. These holes are not plugged by adding or deleting whatever is recorded and rerecorded on paper, but by astute and honest implementation. So, how would he achieve this? Oh, he would never appoint corrupt people in his administration! Now, isn’t he having a laugh here? Here is the man who came before the nation to declare with a straight face that Sani Abacha, his soulmate and fellow tyrant was not corrupt. Here is a man whose list or presumed list of sponsors include the following persons: Bola Tinubu, reputed to be one of the most corrupt public persons in Nigeria following eight years as Governor of Lagos State and his continued economic colonization of the APC-controlled states in the South-West; Rotimi Amaechi, who is the Governor of Rivers State and who in desperation has almost bankrupted that state in funding Buhari’s campaign; Abubakar Atiku, former Vice President and another byword for political corruption in Nigeria; Senator Bukola Saraki, another byword  for corruption; James Ibori, a former Governor of Delta State in prison in the United Kingdom for corruption and who has it in for Jonathan for supposedly causing his woes; Olusegun Obasanjo, a corrupt former president who stupidly thinks his hypocrisy is well hidden from everyone; all the other governors of APC-controlled states who showed their hands in fully supporting him during the APC presidential party primaries. I mean, the list of corrupt public officials or people in the public eye supporting him is endless. Is this man telling us that he would not appoint these persons to positions in his administration? A man who farmed out the choice of his vice presidential candidate to Bola Tinubu and got in return Tinubu’s Man Friday would not farm out the choices for his ministers and parastatal heads to these same people? Did we just hear this man who ran the PTF aground with a corrupt crew headed by his in-law Ahmad Salihijo without one single audit in four years just promise that under him our revenue producing entities would publicly disclose their revenues and be regularly audited? He must think he’s talking to garden gnomes!  

Again, talking about revenue generating agencies having one set of books only indicates the mind of an ancient bookkeeper totally clueless about the mechanics of modern financial management. How do organisations involved in multiple independent businesses keep one book? Who will create a financial dictatorship within a democracy in the name of fighting corruption? Does he not realise that such financial centralisation makes stealing easier for the simple reason that accountability is limited as many actors get lost inside the cracks in the name of fitting everything into that ‘Financial Book of Life’? Let’s face it, the problem is not with multiple accounts within one organisation, that is a necessity; the problem is with the implementation of the rules governing the operations of these accounts and third party interests.

The idea of giving institutions of state dedicated to fighting corruption independence and prosecutorial authority without political interference is reinventing the wheel and doing so contradictorily. Here is Buhari who has repeatedly stated that if he comes to office, he will draw a line on corruption cases by only continuing with those in the courts while not prosecuting anyone presumed corrupt before then, but only those committing fresh offences during his tenure. So, how does such a policy give the institutions fighting corruption independence and prosecutorial authority without interference when such a policy itself is actually taking away independence and prosecutorial authority ab initio? It’s like giving a man a horse to ride in freedom only after cutting off the horse’s legs! How does this help the fight against corruption? What moral right does Buhari have to attack the PDP government for corruption if the overall effect of his anti-corruption policy is to incubate corruption and only prosecute scapegoats? What message does he think he’s sending Nigerians who believe he’s the honest one (Mai Gaskiya) if he is only committed to fighting corruption selectively? Wouldn’t he have been better served with a policy that says there will be no sacred cows and that the state would prosecute anybody in or out of government it believes have corruptly enriched himself or herself as a way of sending the message to Nigerians that corruption does not pay and that no statute of limitation applies to such cases? Of course, telling us that his war on corruption must not be misconstrued as settling all the scores or a witch hunt is a death sentence on the much-vaunted anti-corruption fight, because what he is saying by other means is that people like Tinubu, Amaechi, Atiku, Saraki and all the corrupt carrot heads around him are not going to be prosecuted for corruption simply because doing so would mean settling all the scores or a witch hunt, because whatever they might have done before while in office is in the past. Of course, their continuing corruption, like Tinubu’s continuing draining of Lagos State coffers with the help of Yemi Osibajo, his fellow board member at Alpha Beta are just smart business transactions! Yeah, these are the people with whom he wants to work to bring prosperity and not adversity to Nigerians. President Jonathan might be on to something with that yam and goats analogy.

The worst part of that talk on corruption is his idea about what to do with its proceeds and the blocking of his mythical leakages. Looking at the long list of what he wants to achieve with the pie-in-the-sky money he is looking to save from his corruption dragnet, one sighs in disappointment. I mean, does Buhari understand how much would be involved in the school children feeding programme alone, even at one meal a day? How much is he hoping to get from proceeds recovered from corruption to put here? Not only that, this seemingly gargantuan fund recovered from criminals would further fund his party’s “social investment programmes in education, health, safety nets…emergency public works for unemployed youths and pensions for the elderly”. Has anyone amongst the potato heads his party touts as young, vibrant advisers ever sat to do any kind of rudimentary costing of the promises he makes or question the logic of some of his theories on public finance and deliverables? Of course, this is the case of an ant versed in building anthills thinking it can build a zillion skyscrapers! How much mound of debris can he throw up to achieve that? In taking hyperbole literally to the stratosphere, Buhari is not only assuming that the proceeds of corruption is sitting pretty cooly somewhere he’d go on day one of assuming office, pick it up and use it to address his massive laundry list, he actually knows how much it is and how much it will cover. The trouble is even if corruption swallows up the entire budget of the last twenty years and Buhari suddenly rips its belly open and recovers this whole money wholesale, it still won’t be enough to address this aspect of his programmes he’s mentioned here. We’ve heard of voodoo economics, here comes voodoo governance courtesy of General Buhari and the APC!

Buhari, the man who is the new darling of Western predatory economic interests and his APC want to run a private sector led economy functionally driven by their worldview “that sees growth, not as an end by itself, but as a tool to create a society that works for all, rich and poor alike”. Don’t ask how he’s going to do this, because he has never said, not in this Chatham speech nor in any other speech during this campaign. You also won’t find it in any party document. Yes, the man whose whole economic policy as military Head of State centred around counter-trade and the cultic control of import licenses and selective distribution of “essenco” wants to run our economy in the 21st century just after Jonathan has done the yeoman’s job of making Nigeria the biggest economy in Africa with the best Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) ever and with a better diversified base capable of withstanding the shock that followed the collapse of the oil price. Don’t we now get this sense that the changes we want is already here, while Buhari and his cohorts are itching to take us back to the cage? Yes, on March 28, Nigerians will indeed choose wisely.

Buhari’s funny semantics took a full tumble when he talked of Nigeria having the prospect of triggering a wave of democratic consolidation in Africa. First, he needs to understand that democratic consolidation never happens in a wave precisely because of its very nature. It is consolidation, so it’s built on stability nurtured and sustained over the years. Democratic consolidation does not come with threatening an incumbent administration with fire and brimstone nor does it come by accusing a party that’s been in government for sixteen years of democratic rule of wanting to scuttle our fledgling democracy. Buhari should quickly look at the mirror and tell us who, even as he was speaking at the Chatham House, was having his media people make releases threatening to undermine the Abuja Peace Accord for no reason beyond the fact that he is itching to show his true violent nature, something he has showed throughout the time he’s been contesting for the presidency. Buhari does not have the democratic temperament to run a democratic government and everyday he proves it, no matter how many speeches they choreograph for him. 

Again, we see this tendency clearly in the Chatham House speech and it was the part that almost had him chuckling to his own sick joke. Buhari objected to  “many respected British newspapers, including the well-regarded Economist” calling him “a former dictator”. The Economist is of course not a newspaper, but a magazine which has endorsed Buhari ahead of Jonathan. But even that sham and senseless endorsement is not enough for a vain Buhari, he had to correct the impression he was a former dictator. From now on, he wants them to know that “dictatorship goes with military rule”. So, “former military ruler” will do thank you very much he told them. Even his full tumble into the Babangidan domain of “I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch” was met with a clapping encore from the doe-eyed audience. The man has never apologised for the atrocities he visited on his fellow countrymen and women in his 20 months of mayhem as military dictator and he was not about to do so here. In fact, he was almost asking poor Nigerians to apologise for stigmatising him, to sympathise with him for “subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic election for the fourth time”, because he is ready, able and willing to change the present and the future for them! His only reason for wanting to put himself through such terrible suffering on our behalf is, according to him, because he still believes that change is possible, this time through the ballot and most importantly, because he still has the capacity and the passion to dream and work for a Nigeria that will be respected again in the comity of nations, a Nigeria that all Nigerians would be proud of. Yes, the same Buhari that made Nigeria a pariah nation with his attempted kidnap of Dr Umaru Dikko in the land of Chatham House on Thursday 5th of July, 1984 wants to make Nigeria great! Now, someone please pass me the bucket….

Below is an excerpt from my piece, Buharists And Their Stockholm Syndrome dealing with the implication of the Umaru Dikko kidnap affair after I had given a detailed narration of the plot:

“The reason I have detailed the affair here is for people to understand exactly what happened and to analyze the implications today when we look at Buhari and think he’s some democrat prepared to bring glory to Nigeria. This incident clearly questions his mental capacity to understand what leadership is about. I mean, if he had a great case against Umaru Dikko and against corruption in Nigeria, why did he not use international law to make that case? Why did he not ask for Umaru Dikko to be extradited instead of attempting to kidnap him and bring him in a crate? Why expend such huge resources hiring charlatans and pretending they are members of Mossad? Of course, if there were any Mossad collaboration and involvement, it wouldn’t have been that ineptly organized. Would a Mossad operative get a message right there in London indicating that the police are on the matter and still carry on with the plan? Would a Mossad operative talk like Barak? Who has ever heard of a Mossad field operative granting interviews to the press over a successful or botched operation or after serving jail time? Would a Mossad operation leave room for an operative to decide he would go in a crate when he’d clearly been told to vanish at a point before getting to the airport? Would a Mossad operation have taken the decision to crate Dikko directly to Nigeria, knowing he was a wanted man there and that international security attention would be on that route? No, it was not a Mossad operation. It was an operation conceived by Buhari and Rafindadi using Cohen whom they’ve known for sometime and who has deceived them with his tales of being part of Israeli intelligence. It was a silly way to carry out such a mission and no, the mission was unnecessary, because if Buhari and his cohorts had anything on Dikko, it was an opportunity to show it to the world and lawfully ask for his extradition back to Nigeria. Buhari did not take that route, because he knew they had nothing. Buhari himself had had deep hatred for Umaru Dikko when the civilians were in power and when he had to report Dikko directly to President Shagari, because he believed Dikko was monitoring him. Dikko returned to Nigeria during the Abacha era and Buhari, despite his powerful influence at the time, never raised a voice against him. At the Oputa Panel in 2001 Dikko appeared and challenged anyone with a case of corruption against him to prove it, Buhari did not appear. He shunned the Panel’s invite and couldn’t even come to defend charges leveled against him over his time as Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) Chairman.

 

“Another telling thing was what happened after the whole show, which led to a two-year suspension of diplomatic relations between Britain and Nigeria. It meant no extradition requests were ever granted and the so-called war on corruption became a damp squib, because we simply had no international credibility anymore. With the regime equally inept economically, we couldn’t even rely on Britain or any country in the West to help. In fact, when the Buhari government asked for our debt to be rescheduled, British Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher threatened to release the names of prominent Nigerians, civilians and military, whose account balances were enough to pay off all our national debt.  That shut up the Buhari government, because they knew that a release of such names would have exposed the sham that was anti-corruption fight on the side of the regime as many elements of the regime and their supporters had these accounts.

 

“In fact, nothing exemplifies the hypocrisy of the Buhari regime better than what happened with Lawal Rafindadi after the regime was overthrown. Contrary to the law that he himself had supposedly been enforcing against others, even without evidence, Rafindadi was exposed as having at least eight foreign accounts in five countries in various fictitious names with fake passports to match. The accounts discovered had a cumulative balance of £1,777,984.36 as at 1985. But because he was a bold establishment thief who knew what they were all involved in was a charade, he refused to go quietly when this was found to be diverted security funds that should be paid back to the state. Up until his death in November 2007, he was still fighting for the money to be returned to him, because he strongly felt he was not the only thief in the Buhari government!”

Yeah, that is Buhari, the man Chatham House is repackaging for unsuspecting westerners. After March 28, 2015, we look forward to Chatham House inviting him to discuss the topic: “The Prospects for Peace In Retirement In Daura After Defeat In a Free and Fair Election”. One thing I can guarantee them is that there will be no protest.

Kennedy Emetulu,

London

….

 

[Shola Adenekan]

Dear Kennedy,

You'll make a decent fiction writer!  Please stick to it as news reporting is definitely not your calling!

Ire o!

Shola

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[Kennedy Emetulu]

Shola Adenekan, thank you. But you would have done yourself justice by pointing out what is fiction in my account. Or was Buhari not spirited away in a police van along with Amaechi? I was there in person and the account I've given here is the truth. If you were there, state what you saw. Facts are sacred, opinions are free!

[nike...@hotmail.com]

What a shame. Renting a shameless crowd. Disgrace.

Sbaba

Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

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From: "'Kennedy Emetulu' via USA Africa Dialogue Series" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Sat, 28 Feb 2015 08:31:00 +0000

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Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Corrected:

Kennedy Emetlulu:

I guess it’s cultural. Gog and Magog. Dog (you) and underdog (Goodluck Jonathan) the incumbent, but when you so systematically vilify Muhammadu Buhari, he becomes the underdog (to an Englishman at least) and you remain the crude human being of the former colony, the only compensation for the Ministry of Overseas Development/ International Development being that like Robinson Crusoe’s Man Friday you too now know how to speak Her Majesty’s English and to be understood  or misunderstood by her.

That’s how you want to sell Muhammadu Buhari: as wholly unworthy?  A wholly unworthy Nigerian? Are you more worthy than he is? That’s what we always ask the guy with the Napoleonic complex or the guy who thinks he’s Jesus of Nazareth or the Messiah: Where are your disciples? And that brings him back to earth.

I guess it’s cultural, your many crude expressions, your distasteful distortions, your many blows below the belt and just in case you don’t know any better, let me tell you, that’s enough to alienate any impartial observers you may be addressing. One more thing and I know that you’re not a poet, but short of your discourse being couched in the form of an epic poem, you ought not to tax your readers’ patience or goodwill with such an extended boring political diatribe. Readers too have their rights you know, even illiterate readers.

So, who do you expect to be happy with you?

Let me take up some - just some - of your poorly written idiosyncrasies.  Be patient. I’ll deal with some of the others a little later.

Today, Nigeria is one country, one people, the same people : Nigerians.

Try to bear that in mind in your future discourse.

Nigeria: oil, the economy

As you well know, the task facing anyone who wants to be an effective leader of Nigerians is nothing less than Herculean. Don’t downplay this and in any of your future long, long write-ups, please try to avoid your old tendency of downplaying this and pretending that but for Boko Haram terrorism in the land, Nigerians are living in Heaven under the inspiring leadership of Azikiwe Ebele Goodluck Jonathan.

Apart from being so heavily one-sided and therefore out of balance even when standing on both legs or running around and playing the hooligan outside Chatham House, your other greater weakness is that you’re still stuck on - mesmerised it appears, by the 1984-85 Buhari even though you know that Mr. Buhari has moved on, so has the world, so have you, so have I, and I was there from 31^st December till late in August 1984  when I returned to Stockholm  and  was also quite a different person then, from what I am now, I assure you.

We will never know how things would have been if the INEC had decided that it was all OK and they had gone ahead with the elections.  For starters, you and the Goodluck Jonathan supporters would most probably not have been doing outside Chatham House, what you report, in your own words:  

“It was tough as the PDP and APC and the Goodluck Jonathan supporters like myself fought turf wars around the premises.”

I shut one eye and what do I see? I see the scuffles: Goodluck Jonathan supporters like yourself behaving like hooligans. I guess that someone else – a non-partisan person unlike yourself will probably soon be reporting about running street battles between your lot and the peaceful APC supporters who had only shown up to pay homage to their man, whereas your people had only turned up to make trouble, maybe make a scene and hope that it gets reported with some bloody footage on BBC world news, for everyone to acknowledge your displeasure at Mr. Buhari being invited to speak in the UK, in peace. I understand the hooliganistic tendencies. Frustration often precedes the propensity to violence...

Since we are talking about democratic fare lets emphasise this one point: of the 180 million Nigerians, Mr. Buhari is the APC choice of presidential candidate, sufficiently popular to make you worried – the reason why you betook yourself to outside the premises of Chatham House– and that’s the beauty of the democratic process you know - it’s the people and not just you, the geniocracy or the noocracy who decide. As an earlier Mr Buhari made clear ten years ago:

“I think education will unchain our people from all their prejudices, whether it is ethnic, religious or whatever. And here, unusually, I have to place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the elite. It is not the number of degrees each ethnic group holds that matter, although that matters; what does is continuous education in politics, the economy and security.”

And that includes the Boko Haram people too.

Let me correct a few misapprehensions that you are so keen to foster:

It was not “a hush-hush affair “nor was it meant to be – you and your crowd were there because it was well advertised, especially by the Nigerian media - albeit it was going to be just one meeting in the middle of many other important meetings taking place in London on any given day.

You have yet to qualify your statement that Nigeria briefly under Buhari more than thirty years ago was “the most unfriendly Nigerian government to the UK” - the Umaru Dikko debacle aside, what are your other reasons for saying so - and more importantly were you more deeply bruised than Her Majesty’s government - the ones who granted him a visa?

You can’t have it both ways. Was it a hush-hush affair or was it not? You say that, “First, they ensured that only Buhari supporters and a few members of the APC’s foreign captive audience were there in the room to give it a dash of foreign colour.” It would have been foolhardy of the organisers, don’t you think, if they had allowed the Chatham House auditorium where Mr. Buhari was making his pitch, to be filled by the PDP rabble, the noise-makers that were only there to cause trouble?

About corruption, Mr. Buhari’s words – of truth – are echoed here, earlier, by Sierra Leone’s APC leader, currently President, Ernest Bai Koroma on CNN – as a result of “a serious fight against corruption”, he said, “I'm sure the leakages that are responsible for the poor delivery services in the social sector, like education, health and employment situation will be turned around.”

About the aforementioned endemic corruption, we know that the old PDP brigade is fighting tooth and nail and its is feared may even try their best by hook and even by crook to ensure that they do not lose this election for fear that by (presidential decree?) President Buhari might arraign them all before the corruption courts for trial and refund of looted assets.

“Why doesn’t Buhari promises to let bygone be bygones and that he will only go after new cases of corruption?”  asked my Swedish politician brother. Apparently that is what Mr.Buhari is saying although it’s difficult for the old brigade to feel safe or to believe that he won’t go after them , after all corruption is corruption is corruption and the ill gotten goods, the fruits and kickbacks of old corruption are crimes that should be punished.

We know that you don’t wish Muhammadu Buhari with him as president, well - and that’s why this is your silliest statement of all:

 ”Buhari should have seized the opportunity to come, stand on the porch of Chatham House and address Nigerians who were outside, sell himself and his programme and show them that he’s serious about leading Nigeria to better days” –

i.e. that Mr. Buhari should have repeated what he said inside to the violent rabble foaming at the mouth, outside - who knows put himself in line – as a target for fire by some assassin’s bullet and blame it all on lack of adequate British Security.

 As promised, I’ll return to take up some of the other delinquencies but for now this is something that I wasn’t aware of before, but it’s now bothering me: Is James Ibori one of Mr. Buhari’s supporters?  How do you explain that?  Maybe he has repented, turned another leaf? The leopard doesn't change his spots?

You realise of course that some of Nigeria’s money that could lawfully be turned to the state treasury will have to go to refurbishing the military which is now in a state of dilapidation and decay.

I was expecting to see an very charismatic Muhammadu Buhari, smiling like his brother, Colin Powell, not reading so tenaciously from a script all the important things that he had to say (what he said could have been published as an article in the guardian) - but I was expecting a more extempore rendition from Mr. Buhari - and a slightly different speech – with more emphasis on how he intends to take the bull by its horns. It may delight you to know that the first glimpse that I got of Mr. Buhari on the Chatham House TV - I saw all the signs that Lord Anunoby has been talking about so much, I saw entitlement and long- shuffering stamped on Mr. Buhari’s face. He was not shmiling.

The saying is that the patient dog eats the fat, Juicy Bone and concerning the fat juicy bone, it should be good to hear more of “God Bless Nigeria!” from the presidential candidates.

From my winter corner,

Cornelius

We Sweden

...

[Shola Adenekan]

Dear Kennedy,

1. First here is a video of what happened outside of the venue and the subsequent interview inside Chatham House by the BBC.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153177155705229&pnref=story

2. You said Buhari is the person sponsoring Boko Haram but without giving any evidence to back this up.

But please tell us, didn't the Australian negotiator employed by the President said that it is those around the President who are sponsoring Boko Haram. The man actually accused former Governor Sheriff and former army chief, Azubuike Ihejirika of backing BH.

See - http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/168109-soyinka-attacks-jonathan-over-boko-haram-says-president-shielding-sects-sponsors-for-politics.html

3. Now, didn't the President tell Nigerians back in 2012 that Boko Haram's sponsors are in his government

See - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-16462891

and

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/3360-boko-haram-has-infiltrated-my-government-says-jonathan.html

4. Was Buhari ever part of Jonathan's administration?

5. You said Buhari put many in jail. Please tell us, are you saying people like Akinloye, Akinjide, Dikko, Nwobodo, Wayas are (were) saints and didn't not loot the treasury? I was in Nigerian at the time; the foundation for the current culture of impunity was laid by most of the people the Buhari-Idiagbon's regime sent to jail. Yes, it wasn't perfect but it's arguably what was needed at the time as most people I know at the time were yearning for a J.J Rawlings.

I've provided evidence now please provide some as well to back up your allegations. You are right; talk is cheap, fact is sacred.

Regards,

Shola

On 28 February 2015 at 22:45, Shola Adenekan <sholaa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Kennedy,

1. First here is a video of what happened outside of the event and the subsequent interviewed inside Chatham House by the BBC.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153177155705229&pnref=story

If you think Chatham House is partial towards Buhari, please listen to the BBC Africa's anchorman interviewing him. Tell us, was this interview also a charade?

2. You said Buhari is the person sponsoring Boko Haram but without giving any evidence to back this up.

But please tell us, didn't the Australian negotiator employed by the President said that it is those around the President who are sponsoring Boko Haram. The man actually accused former Governor Sheriff and former army chief, Azubuike Ihejirika, of backing BH.

See - http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/168109-soyinka-attacks-jonathan-over-boko-haram-says-president-shielding-sects-sponsors-for-politics.html

3. Now, didn't the President tell Nigerians back in 2012 that Boko Haram's sponsors are in his government

See - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-16462891

and

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/3360-boko-haram-has-infiltrated-my-government-says-jonathan.html

4. Was Buhari ever part of Jonathan's administration?

5. You said Buhari put many in jail. Please tell us, are you saying people like Akinloye, Akinjide, Dikko, Nwobodo, Wayas are (were) saints and didn't not loot the treasury? I was in Nigerian at the time; the foundation for the current culture of impunity was laid by most of the people the Buhari-Idiagbon's regime sent to jail. Yes, it wasn't perfect but it's arguably what was needed at the time as most people I know at the time were yearning for a J.J Rawlings.

I've provided evidence now please provide some as well to back up your allegations. You are right; talk is cheap, fact is sacred.

[Shola Adenekan]

Dear Kennedy,

1. First here is a video of what happened outside of the event and the subsequent interviewed inside Chatham House by the BBC.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153177155705229&pnref=story

If you think Chatham House is partial towards Buhari, please listen to the BBC Africa's anchorman interviewing him. Tell us, was this interview also a charade?

2. You said Buhari is the person sponsoring Boko Haram but without giving any evidence to back this up.

But please tell us, didn't the Australian negotiator employed by the President said that it is those around the President who are sponsoring Boko Haram. The man actually accused former Governor Sheriff and former army chief, Azubuike Ihejirika, of backing BH.

See - http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/168109-soyinka-attacks-jonathan-over-boko-haram-says-president-shielding-sects-sponsors-for-politics.html

3. Now, didn't the President tell Nigerians back in 2012 that Boko Haram's sponsors are in his government

See - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-16462891

and

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/3360-boko-haram-has-infiltrated-my-government-says-jonathan.html

4. Was Buhari ever part of Jonathan's administration?

5. You said Buhari put many in jail. Please tell us, are you saying people like Akinloye, Akinjide, Dikko, Nwobodo, Wayas are (were) saints and didn't not loot the treasury? I was in Nigerian at the time; the foundation for the current culture of impunity was laid by most of the people the Buhari-Idiagbon's regime sent to jail. Yes, it wasn't perfect but it's arguably what was needed at the time as most people I know at the time were yearning for a J.J Rawlings.

I've provided evidence now please provide some as well to back up your allegations. You are right; talk is cheap, fact is sacred.

On 28 February 2015 at 18:37, <nike...@hotmail.com> wrote:

[Ofure Aito]

Kenneth, you have obviously proven that your mental state is not above than any of pro-Jonathan crooners like Femi Fani-Kayode, Asari Dokubo, Doyin Okupe. Note that you are not in this country. You script has been well edited and commented by Cornelius and Shola, so I will not waste positive energy on such irrational assumptions. While your sounded one-sided and boring, inundated by your biases and lack of facts, Cornelius and Shola saved me the subjection to trauma of correcting your fictional narrative. Imagine you been part of that shameless charade of hired charlatans at the doorstep of Chatham House! Do me a favour, get your facts right on the Civil war and the '83/'84 Buhari regime and don't become another Chume, the fool waiting on Brother Jero because you will end like him, hoodwinked. Did he not make available what the Dikkos, Akinloyes etc declared essential commodities. Did Akinloye not spitefully state that Nigerians are not hungry until we scavenge the garbage? Are young Nigerians not surviving today by that means? How does that situation differ from Jonathan's statement that stealing is not corruption. I don't blame you because you are so cocooned in London, you don't know the struggle for survival in Nigerian so you can afford to break-dance outside Chatham House.

If there was really any wrongdoing in '83, like Cornelius said, Nigerians have moved on so you can locked yourself on the worl of '67 and '83.

Indeed, you are a fiction writer, but a biased and boring one.

[Ofure Aito]

Correction: so disappointed in your tales by moonlight that I changed your name from Kennedy to Kenneth. I apologize for that error. Please, learn not to infuriate people with your anti-Buhari self-righteous opinion about Jonathan. As I write, there is scarcity of fuel now. I bet, that is Buhari's fault too. After all, he caused Bokoharam?

[Ofure Aito]

[Ofure Aito]

Thanks for taming him.

[olaka...@aol.com]

Shola:

I couldn't agree with you more.

Kennedy Emetulu's account of Buhari's speech at Chathan House is

not only a mere form of fiction, it belongs to more complicated genre of written work.

It is a mumbo-jumbo of lies and innuendos that are superimposed upon real life scenarios for effect.

I'll like to submit that even if Buhari had not shown up in London to deliver a speech, Kennedy Emetulu's conclusions would not have been any different. Buhari's speech at Chatham House only served as the canvass

for his hateful propaganda.

He accuses Buhari as being the main sponsor of the Boko Haram yet he fails to explain why the same

Boko Haram has attempted to assassinate him, not only once but twice.

Integrity has truly taken flight from Nigeria and Nigerians.

Far too many Nigerians stake their positions on issues then proceed to manufacture lies to justify those positions however untenable the positions may be and how far fetched the lies are.

"Buhari should have seized the opportunity to come, stand on the porch of Chatham House and address Nigerians who were outside, sell himself and his programme and show them that he’s serious about leading Nigeria to better days. Instead, he was smuggled out in a police van and booed by the same people he wants their votes. Not a statesmanlike exit that!"---Kennedy Emetulu

Really? 

I almost puked when I read the above paragraph in which Kennedy Emetulu regretted that

Buhari did not step out of the door to address the marauding rented crowd of transplanted area boys who were there for no other reason but to protest against his candidacy in the Nigerian Presidential elections and to prevent him from delivering  his address at Chatham House. And how statesman-like would that interaction with a hostile audience possibly be? How more facetious can a human being get? And for what purpose?

Can you imagine Buhari appearing at the door steps of Chatham House to address the protesters? Were they there to listen to Buhari speak in the first instance?

Kennedy Emetulu even managed to notice that Buhari spotted a boil on his jaw (hope that is not cancer of the jaw) which he cited as another proof that Buhari is not healthy. I guess we can add the boil to the growing list of ailments that should disqualify Buhari from contesting for elections on March 28. 

It was okay for Dasuki (NSA)  to use the opportunity of his recent lecture at Chatham House to inform Nigerians

that the 2015 elections were about to be postponed but it was sacrilege for Buhari to speak ill of the GEJ government at the same venue.

Meanwhile Mr Emetulu neglected to tell his readers about the landmark achievements of the GEJ government

that should merit his being reelected to serve for another four years. Me thinks, this should be the main focus of the GEJ supporters. 

Reuben Abati, Femi Fani-Kayode Doyin Okupe, Kennedy Emetulu and their ilk are birds of the same feather. They write to posture themselves for personal gain; not necessarily to inform. 

They belong to the cadre Obj has aptly described as hungry young men looking for opportunities:

'Give him (them) some food and he (they) will sing for you.' -OBJ once wrote about one of his former young protege FFK. 

Bye,

Ola

Sent from my iPhone

[Samuel Zalanga]

Thank you. The video is very helpful.

Samuel

Samuel Zalanga
Department of Anthropology, Sociology & Reconciliation Studies
Bethel University, 3900 Bethel Drive #24
Saint Paul, MN 55112.
Office Phone: 651-638-6023

[Kennedy Emetulu]

..

 

 

Ola Kassim,

 

I did not give an account if Buhari’s speech at Chatham House, I quoted it extensively and EXPRESSED AN OPINION about it! The FACT of the speech is not in doubt, except if you think my transcription (account) is not the things he said as I said he said them. But having the fact of a speech is one thing and having an interpretation of it is another. Your interpretation is your view of the speech and that is allowed. I obviously don’t agree with Buhari and all I have done there is to show that disagreement with his talk and thoughts as expressed in that speech. What is too difficult to understand in that, Dr Kassim?

 

I don’t know where you got the proof that Boko Haram tried to assassinate Buhari. At least, Boko Haram never claimed responsibility for any attack on Buhari as they’re wont to do and there are people who believe Buhari and his cohorts stage-managed the Kaduna attack to give the impression he is a target of the insurgents. The truth as at today, we do not know. So, do not impose your version of what you think is truth, because there is no proof for your version. Nonetheless, Nigerians can read between the lines. His visit to Borno tells some of all we need to know about his relationship with Boko Haram. He and them will fail!

 

As for your comment about almost puking, I really wish you had actually puked, so as to get it all out of your system. Your pathetic brain probably would have spluttered to life with that act. But as it is, you are still as dead upstairs like a dodo! Or maybe you’re just too hungry to puke anything, but your nasty intestines. On second thought, I suppose we should be grateful to God that you did not actually spew out your empty guts. Mumu like you! Rubbish elenu run-run!

 

 

..

 

[Kennedy Emetulu]

…

 

Ola Kassim,

 

I did not give an account of Buhari’s speech at Chatham House, I quoted it extensively and EXPRESSED AN OPINION about it! The FACT of the speech is not in doubt, except if you think my transcription (account) is not the things he said as I said he said them. But having the fact of a speech is one thing and having an interpretation of it is another. Your interpretation is your view of the speech and that is allowed. I obviously don’t agree with Buhari and all I have done there is to show that disagreement with his talk and thoughts as expressed in that speech. What is too difficult to understand in that, Dr Kassim?

 

I don’t know where you got the proof that Boko Haram tried to assassinate Buhari. At least, Boko Haram never claimed responsibility for any attack on Buhari as they’re wont to do and there are people who believe Buhari and his cohorts stage-managed the Kaduna attack to give the impression he is a target of the insurgents. The truth as at today, we do not know. So, do not impose your version of what you think is truth, because there is no proof for your version. Nonetheless, Nigerians can read between the lines. His visit to Borno tells some of us all we need to know about his relationship with Boko Haram. He and them will fail!

 

As for your comment about almost puking, I really wish you had actually puked, so as to get it all out of your system. Your pathetic brain probably would have spluttered to life with that act. But as it is, you are still as dead upstairs like a dodo! Or maybe you’re just too hungry to puke anything, but your nasty intestines. On second thought, I suppose we should be grateful to God that you did not actually spew out your empty guts. Mumu like you! Rubbish elenu run-run!

 

 

..

---

From: olakassimmd via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Sunday, 1 March 2015, 1:34
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

[Kennedy Emetulu]

What do you know about anyone's mental state, Ofure? Your stupidity don wear pant O! E remain make e enter market! 

[Kennedy Emetulu]

…

 

Shola Adenekan,

 

 

“Dear Kennedy,

 

“1. First here is a video of what happened outside of the event and the subsequent interviewed inside Chatham House by the BBC.

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153177155705229&pnref=story

 

 

“If you think Chatham House is partial towards Buhari, please listen to the BBC Africa's anchorman interviewing him. Tell us, was this interview also a charade?”

 

 

Mr Adenekan, what rubbish logic are you spouting here? Did I talk bout the BBC interview? What has the interview done by the BBC on the sidelines of Buhari’s Chatham House appearance got to do with the issues I addressed in relation to his speech when the BBC interview is not even about what he said at the Chatham House event? The only thing mentioned in relation to the Chatham House event was not even his speech, but the protest outside. Helloooooo, okay, get it now: The Chatham House event is a sham, not the BBC interview, okay?

 

 

 

 

 

“2. You said Buhari is the person sponsoring Boko Haram but without giving any evidence to back this up”.

 

 

 

What other evidence do you need more than his conduct, comments ad body language about Boko Haram? Did he not say an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the North? Did he not attack the Nigerian Army for killing Boko Haram? Did he not say Boko Haram has to be given amnesty and money? Was he not chosen by Boko Haram to represent them at a proposed negotiation meeting in Saudi Arabia? Is he not the biggest political mouthpiece for Boko Haram? Jonathan went to Borno and bombs from Boko Haram were raining cats and dogs, Buhari appears and the whole Maiduguri was on lockdown with young men supporting him carrying guns and arms around. Buhari wants to establish total Sharia in Nigeria and Boko Haram says it won’t be laying down its arms until the whole Nigeria accepts Sharia. What other evidence do you need? Or you think serious-minded people are buying the falsehood that he’s going to attack Boko Haram militarily? He is more likely to commission them into the Nigerian army if he wins! Hehe!

 

 

 

“But please tell us, didn't the Australian negotiator employed by the President said that it is those around the President who are sponsoring Boko Haram. The man actually accused former Governor Sheriff and former army chief, Azubuike Ihejirika, of backing BH.

 

See - http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/168109-soyinka-attacks-jonathan-over-boko-haram-says-president-shielding-sects-sponsors-for-politics.html ….”

 

 

Australian who? Now you have just showed you are not serious!

 

 

“3. Now, didn't the President tell Nigerians back in 2012 that Boko Haram's sponsors are in his government

 

See - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-16462891

 

and

 

http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/3360-boko-haram-has-infiltrated-my-government-says-jonathan.html….”

 

 

 

And you want me to debate this with you? Your own understanding of what the president was saying was that he knew these people in his government just because he suspects or thinks that there are saboteurs within? Well, Jonathan is not like your Buhari who can shoot and kill anyone on mere suspicion or gut feeling. There is what we call due process. The President’s mere suspicion is not enough.

 

 

 

 

“4. Was Buhari ever part of Jonathan's administration?”

 

Does he have to be part of Jonathan’s administration to contribute ideas to national security? Is he not a member of the Council of State? Do they as opposition have to celebrate every Boko Haram strike as though it’s a strike against Jonathan? What has Buhari done as a former Head of State to address the Boko Haram problem except attack Jonathan and the army? In other climes, the opposition joins government to combat terrorism; they do not stand aside and blame government till the cows come home.

 

 

 

“5. You said Buhari put many in jail. Please tell us, are you saying people like Akinloye, Akinjide, Dikko, Nwobodo, Wayas are (were) saints and didn't not loot the treasury? I was in Nigerian at the time; the foundation for the current culture of impunity was laid by most of the people the Buhari-Idiagbon's regime sent to jail. Yes, it wasn't perfect but it's arguably what was needed at the time as most people I know at the time were yearning for a J.J Rawlings”.

 

 

Nonsense! Was it rocket science to use available laws and processes to try people you think have breached the rules? Do you have to establish tribunals to wickedly jail people for hundreds of years and make a sham of justice just because you think those you are arresting and trying are guilty of the offences you are accusing them of? If the offences were so glaring, why not follow due process? Why did you think the NBA refused to be part of the sham? It’s arguments like yours that make me shake my head in pity. You with your education and exposure are talking like this? I sorry for you!

 

 

“I've provided evidence now please provide some as well to back up your allegations. You are right; talk is cheap, fact is sacred”.

 

 

You’ve provided nothing. I’m even more disappointed by your latter argument than with your original accusation. Please, go ahead and vote your Buhari. Nigerians are wiser.

 

 

 

..

 

[Kennedy Emetulu]

How many times have you suffered fuel scarcity in Jonathan's five years? How many times did you suffer this in Obasanjo and Yar'Adua's time? If you're honest, you will admit that this is one area that Jonathan has excelled. But you can keep deceiving yourself; Nigerians know.

On Sun, Mar 1, 2015 at 1:36 AM, Ofure Aito <ofur...@gmail.com> wrote:

Correction: so disappointed in your tales by moonlight that I changed your name from Kennedy to Kenneth. I apologize for that error. Please, learn not to infuriate people with your anti-Buhari self-righteous opinion about Jonathan. As I write, there is scarcity of fuel now. I bet, that is Buhari's fault too. After all, he caused Bokoharam?

[Ugo Nwokeji]

"I guess it’s cultural, your many crude expressions, your distasteful distortions, your many blows below the belt and just in case you don’t know any better, let me tell you, that’s enough to alienate any impartial observers you may be addressing." -- Cornelius Himelberg

Dear Cornelius Himelberg,

Would you please clarify what is "cultural" and the alleged "crude expressions ... distasteful distortions," etc?

Thank you in advance for your clarification.

Ugo

G. Ugo Nwokeji

Director, Center for African Studies

Associate Professor of African American Studies
University of California, Berkeley
686 Barrows Hall #2572
Berkeley, CA 94720
Tel. (510) 542-8140
Fax (510) 642-0318

Twitter: @UgoNwokeji

Facebook: facebook.com/ugo.nwokeji

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/profile/view?id=243610869

--

[olugbenga Ojo]

I think nobody should respond to Kenneth or Kennedy or what is his name. He should by now be regretting writing that fiction. He is one of those who does not want progress to be possible in Nigeria by perpetuating mediocrity in governance. If commit a jailable offence, jailing you would serve as deterrent to others who were nurturing such thought. Had it been that Buhari/Idiagbon regime was allowed to decisively deal with those who were stealing Nigeria dry that time and allowed to instill some senses of decorum and responsibilities in Nigerians (example is war against indiscipline) before it was overthrown by the regime that came after, am very sure NIGERIA would not have been at this stage.

Anyway, lets just leave Kennedy and his cohort rooting for continuation of lackluster governance in Nigeria as God is wiser than thm and He wont allow them to have their way. We all should be objective and seek for what can transform Nigeria for better

Regards

Olugbenga  

[Shola Adenekan]

Dear Kennedy,

You are just lashing out at everybody! Calm down and argue your points without anger. You made spurious claims within a forum populated by people who deal with facts and proofs, and you expect us to believe you. Yes, let's the people vote freely and fairly. March 28 will soon be here.

Gen [rtd.] Buhari - Chatham House, UK Speech - 02262015

[Ikhide]

Shola,

I do agree that Kennedy should ca down. He should perhaps stop wasting his e-bullets on this forum. Unlike what you have asserted, most on this forum have made up their minds, however, many, not on the basis of facts. Certainly not of verifiable data. It has been largely based on selfish self survival and tribal sentiments.

Kennedy Emetulu is more honest than most, but I do disagree with him; he is openly supporting a man many of us despise. Goodluck Jonathan should never have seen Aso Rock, we have Obasanjo to blame. But you will not hear that from most on this forum. Obasanjo and Tinubu have collectively looted more than even the dreaded Northern cabal has, but you will not hear that on this forum.

All politics is local; and to be honest no group has been more faithful to their own in this election than Yoruba intellectuals. With this election, many of them have stood truth and logic on their heads - proudly. One of them even called Tinubu a man of honor, imagine that. Goebbels would be proud. How many of you here have called out Tinubu for what he is? One character elsewhere wished death on me for my views on that contemptible man, Obasanjo. All because "na our turn again." Primordial, primitive tribalism has been on display here, and many of you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. As intellectuals, you have displayed an amazing failure of leadership as Nigeria hurtles to a dark place. 

I have met Kennedy Emetulu, I have interacted with him, he is a fine man. I simply disagree with his choice. Be well, Shola!

- Ikhide

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

dear director-general of africana studies, the caliphate of california,

 

 na wa oh !

 

not lakunle the village schoolteacher who so comically embraces his ill-digested values of western ways comes to mind, but his belle, sidi, in this short exchange:

 

SIDI: Is that the truth? Swear! Ask Ogun to

Strike you dead.

GIRL: Ogun strike me dead if I lie.

 

you ought not to be asking me such a question. such screaming, big, black, bold letters – oga i fear yu o! what is this - a query? messenger! bring me the file? what kind of answer do you want from himelberg?  - himmel – that’s heaven in german  and in swedish too and as you know i’m still a zillion light years away from that place in outer space and by the way, my name goes under this variety of spelling  - all the way to my great great grand father franz.

 

Well. Niggers don't own nothing,

got no flag, even out names 

are hand-me-downs

and you don't change that 

by calling yourself X:

sometimes that just makes it worse, 

like obliterating the path that leads back

to whence you came, and 

to where you can begin. (James Baldwin)

are you sure that you are not talking to the wrong nigger  of nigerian ancestry when yu make these demands of me?  maybe, you want me to break dance for you - to show-off dance, start with shaking my shoulders like my igbo brethren and the rump, all the way down to the heels and the toes?

 

Dear G. Ugo Nwokeji,

 

It’s 16. 13 p.m over here and I haven’t even had breakfast or brunch yet.  Of course it’s all cultural and I’ll be clarifying everything for you a little later on. Linguistically, I’m flexible. I haven’t finished with your man kennedy emetulu yet.

 

Cornelius Hamelberg

We Sweden

...

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

dear director-general of africana studies, the caliphate of california,

 

 na wa oh !

 

not lakunle the village schoolteacher who has so comically embraces his ill-digested values of western ways comes to mind, but his belle, sidi, in this short exchange:

 

SIDI: Is that the truth? Swear! Ask Ogun to

Strike you dead.

GIRL: Ogun strike me dead if I lie.

 

you ought not to be asking me such a question. such screaming, big, black, bold letters – oga i fear yu o! what is this - a query? messenger! bring me the file? what kind of answer do you want from himelberg?  - himmel – that’s heaven in german  and in swedish too and as you know i’m still a zillion light years away from that place in outer space and by the way, my name goes under this variety of spelling  - all the way to my great great grand father franz.

 

Well. Niggers don't own nothing,

got no flag, even out names 

are hand-me-downs

and you don't change that 

by calling yourself X:

sometimes that just makes it worse, 

like obliterating the path that leads back

to whence you came, and 

to where you can begin. (James Baldwin)

are you sure that you are not talking to the wrong nigger  of nigerian ancestry when yu make these demands of me?  maybe, you want me to break dance for you - to show-off dance, start with shaking my shoulders like my igbo brethren and the rump, all the way down to the heels and the toes?

 

Dear G. Ugo Nwokeji,

 

It’s 16. 13 p.m over here and I haven’t even had breakfast or brunch yet.  Of course it’s all cultural and I’ll be clarifying everything for you a little later on. Linguistically, I’m flexible. I haven’t finished with your man kennedy emetulu yet.

Cornelius Hamelberg

We Sweden

On Sunday, 1 March 2015 14:29:27 UTC+1, Ugo Nwokeji wrote:

...

[Ofure Aito]

Kennedy, I am back. Not done with you. Thanks Cornelius for taking the charlatan on.
As for Kennedy, Mr Jonathem, let us play dietyt by going to the past. After all the past may rationalize the present quagmire. You have been ranting about Buhari and Obasanjo's participation in '67 war. Tell me what Ojukwu did while his people were oppressed by Nigeria Army: 1. Built a bunker, 2. Deprived his people ammunition 3. Sell-out for protection.
Back to history class, how did the war start because everyone says it is the Hausas. Did they just start killing? One thing leads to another. What happened since you know so much. Have ever addressed Ojukwu agenda because I recalled the Nigerian side idealised one Nigeria. Talking about war, what about the Eros and Asabas caught in the middle?Many more. Give me a minute and take time to find answers.
Ofure

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

From the same one who asked,

“But who is to guard the guard themselves?”

the same one who said,

“Many suffer from the incurable disease of writing,

and it becomes chronic in their sick minds”

“...prima est haec ultio quod se

Judice nemo nocens absolvitur”

(This is the first punishments, that no

Guilty man is acquitted if judged by himself)

Juvenal :Satires no 13, 1.2

Guilt - Wikiquote

G. Ugo Nwokeji,

It's time for you to take yet another closer look at our diversity:

It may be true that

“Niggers don't own nothing,

got no flag, even our names 

are hand-me-downs”

but no J. Alfred Prufrock am I.

I've practised freedom of expression all my life. As far as iconoclastic reporting is concerned I've been a fan of Mark Steyn the past twelve years and I know that what may be deemed crude by me may mean the opposite to you, so we could leave it at that couldn't we?

The principle is simple: Respect be-gets respect (and I abhor flattery). I consistently addressed your friend as Hon. Kennedy Emetulu until he started thinking of me in terms of Mr. “fool”

This forum has been disenchanted with V. S: Naipaul because of his perceived lack of respect shown to Africa and Africans. Only recently, did I read Naipaul's eye-opener “The Masque of Africa” - the way that this unAfrican non-African sees Africa, providing more grist for the perceived lack of respect, for those who only see him that way.

Speaking as a Yoruba man – and I’m still learning from ETCHES on Fresh Waters (a wonderful resource) - I'll tell you this – and it's cultural too: there are many ways of showing respect and I did tell your land's man Kennedy E that, “Readers too have their rights you know, even illiterate readers.” I was thinking of cultural literacy and even dictionaries about this.

Here's exactly what I said in that paragraph:

“I guess it's cultural, your many crude expressions, your distasteful distortions, your many blows below the belt and just in case you don't know any better, let me tell you, that's enough to alienate any impartial observers you may be addressing. One more thing and I know that you're not a poet, but short of your discourse being couched in the form of an epic poem, you ought not to tax your readers' patience or goodwill with such an extended boring political diatribe. Readers too have their rights you know, even illiterate readers.”

Kennedy Emetulu's has an axe to grind with Chatham House and Mr. Buhari's guest appearance there. His lack of respect clarifies why Goodluck Jonathan's spokesman Doyin Okupe wants to criminalise certain kinds of bad-mouthing of his boss. Kennedy E does not accord Mr. Buhari the same kind of respect that's in place for our Elder, Mr. Buhari. His rebuttal may well be, should he respect those who are not deserving of his respect?

If it's a close textual anal-ysis you want, I'll oblige you with a few examples of the crudity rolled into one sweet ball - the crude expressions, the distasteful distortions, the blows below the belt that illustrate what you want clarified for you: this is the kind of language that you would probably not be willing to countenance in a reporting of your maiden speech or Presidential lecture and here I have in mind Kwame Anthony Appiah's “The Honor Code”

Cultural isn't it? Cultivated high prose that serves its purpose and I can imagine Pa Ikhide taking on Naipaul for slighting his Nigeria with such words:

“the fits of clapping by claques well-schooled in celebrating poop flakes carried by hot air”

“a wall of Nigerians chanting "Buhari-Ole (thief)! Tinubu-Ole! Atiku-Barawo! Amaechi-Ony'oshi! El Rufai-Ole!" I loved the chant and even did a little jig to it on the street of St James's Square!”

“The clapping claques at this point were going joyously bonkers! A Lincoln has come to judgment, they farted out loudly!”

As for the fallacies (though his was not a philosophical discourse, he was just letting out (as we say in Nigeria) “breeze”

“I mean, spotting a boil on the left side of his jaw, Buhari is evidently in London primarily for some other reason and not for a talk....” ( Emetulu, K.)  I suppose that if Mr. Buhari  had turned up with a stomach looking like nine-months pregnant then Mr. Emetulu would have come to the equally sound conclusion that Mr. Buhari was obviously in London (as we say in Nigeria) to “put to bed”

Another distortion of facts: that Mr. Buhari “made the nation one huge prison as he tortured his fellow citizens mercilessly in the name of fighting indiscipline and corruption.” (Emetulu)

Is that a fact?

You notice that I haven’t said a word about Emetulu’s sordidly accusing Mr. Buhari of being Boko Haram’s godfather. I’ll kick his sorry ass at another time.

About his understanding of the preparations and the actual holding of that Chatham House meeting, that “they ensured that only Buhari supporters and a few members of the APC's foreign captive audience were there in the room” later, “ To save face, Chatham House was conscripted into a conspiracy to keep its door open for Buhari, his followers and his foreign supporters while this same door was shut firmly against other Nigerians as they ran the charade of Buhari”

As far as I know, those who want to attend such closed door meetings have to register well in advance - - there should be some vetting of course – and it's usually first come first served - but vetting there must be and not only for security reasons (When Morgan Tsvangirai talked at SIDA in Stockholm, my good friend , the late Jean-Claude Njem called him out as an “uncle tom” - Jean-Claude also verbally assaulted Wole Soyinka ( for not including Paul Biya in the pantheon of demons) when  Mr  Soyinka dropped down in Stockholm during his world tour to mobilise support against Sani Abacha - in the case of Thabo Mbeki (at SIDA in Stockholm) – someone stood up to do some verbal damage but started trembling - and so lost the occasion) conclusion : at such meetings there has to be vetting, so that the purpose of the meeting is not defeated and the purpose would have been defeated if it was so arranged that Mr. Buhari should face a gang of PDP hooligans behind closed doors.

This too is getting kinda long, it's not an epic poem or even an epic petition set to music as this big hit whilst I was in Nigeria: Lettre à Mr. le Directeur Général - Franco & Rochereau 1983

Three things

a) If this is true, “Buhari, the new darling of the West” as Kennedy Emetulu reads it, then why isn't Goodluck Jonathan much more a darling of the West? Or isn’t he?

b) “that apart from the civil war era, no other time has Nigeria been this insecure.” Is this true or false?

c) However, I quite agree with Mr. Emetulu about this one and I've thought about it hard and long even before the first postponement, that “there is still room for the postponement of the election by INEC lawfully and constitutionally if need be ”

I must now join our last guest

“He wandered in a treasure-house

Of inward prizes, strove to bring Fleeting messages of time

To tall expressions, to granite arches

Spanned across landslides of the past.” (Soyinka)

Wishing you safe journeying in your dreams

Respectfully,

Cornelius Hamelberg

We Sweden

 

On Sunday, 1 March 2015 14:29:27 UTC+1, Ugo Nwokeji wrote:

...

[Salimonu Kadiri]

The psychobabble of that doped canary, named Kennedy Emetulu, is actually not worthy of any response. However, his reply to Shola Adenekan about Boko Haram needs to be clarified objectively. Kennedy Emetulu is an employee of Jonathan's Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) and he is doing his worst to satisfy his employer. It was beyond my imagination to see Kennedy Emetulu dressed in Jeans showing his anatomical lining at Chatham House together with those ladies from red-light zone in London, whose profession is to hire out their apple to all kinds of one-eyed snakes to take some bites, just for the purpose of disrupting Buhari's lecture. The chicken-anus mouthed, Kennedy Emetulu, narrated the accomplishment of his group at Chatham House thus, "A group of us had got wind that they were going to smuggle him (Buhari) out through a side door, so we went and acted sentinels there. It was tough as the PDP....and the Goodluck Jonathan supporters like myself fought turf wars around the premises. In the end, Buhari had to be smuggled out of the place furtively in a police van with Rotimi Amechi in tow as Nigerians (PDPs and Kennedy Emetulu) booed loudly at what was considered a cowardly show." Buhari was very wise in refusing to dance to the drumming of lunatics and it was a victory for him that Emetulu and his gang considered that a cowardly act. 
 
Instead of producing evidence as requested by Shola Adenekan about how Buhari is associated with Boko Haram, Kennedy Emetulu went on vague generalizations and credited Buhari with his own invented stories. As a professional pettifogger, Kennedy Emetulu, addressed Mr Adenekan thus, "Your own understanding of what the President was saying was that he knew these people in his government just because he suspects or thinks that there are saboteurs within?..... THE PRESIDENT'S MERE SUSPICION IS NOT ENOUGH." But at no time did Jonathan said that he suspected or thought that there were saboteurs in his government as far as Boko Haram is concerned. At the Armed Forces Remembrance Day held at the National Christian Centre, Abuja, on Sunday, 8 January 2012, President Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan told the nation, "Boko Haram is everywhere, in the executive arm of the government, in the legislative arm of government and even in the judiciary. Some are also in the armed forces, the police and other security agencies. Some continue to dip their hands and eat with you and you won't even know the person who will point a gun at you or plant a bomb behind your house." It is only a mischievous propagandist like Kennedy Emetulu that will regard the above categorical statements of President Jonathan as mere suspicion or thought. Beside, no normal President will go public with information of what he suspects or thinks about a group threatening the security of his country. Nine days after the categorical statements of President Jonathan about Boko Haram's infiltration of his government, a close associate of vice-President Namadi Sambo, Nuhu Mohammed Marafa (alias Babawo), a known financier of Boko Haram was arrested on January 17, 2012 for illegal possession of arms and ammunitions. He was charged in a magistrate court but the case was subsequently dismissed for lack of diligent prosecution by Jonathan's government. On April 28, 2012, the then National Security Adviser (NSA) to President Jonathan, General Andrew Owoye Azazi, said at a security conference in Warri that Boko Haram insurgency ravaging the country was as a result of power struggle within the government party, PDP. Not only was General Azazi removed immediately and replaced with Colonel Sambo Dasuki, he died in a mysterious circumstance thereafter. On 26 May 2012, Senator Ali Ndume disposed to an affidavit through his lawyer, Ricky Tarfa, that the vice President, Namadi Sambo, gave Boko Haram the telephone number to call for peace process and that all his dealings with Boko Haram were with the approval of the President Jonathan's Deputy. It is noteworthy that Senator Ali Ndume was then a member of PDP and was being tried for supporting Boko Haram. He was later granted bail!! Kennedy Emetulu talked also about Islamization of Nigeria by Buhari in utter disregard for Jonathan's Vice President, Namadi Sambo, recent public campaign statement in the North when he asserted that PDP is more Islamic than APC, www.dailytrust.com.ng/daily/daily/top-stories/46121. For instance, Ali Modu Sheriff who appointed Alhaji Buju Foi, a well known member and financier of Boko Haram, as Borno State Commissioner for Religious Affairs in 2007, is now a PDP member; Attahiru Bafarawa, who enacted Sharia law in Sokoto is now in PDP and Ibrahim Shekarau, the administrator of Sharia law in Kano is not only in the PDP but also Jonathan's Minister of Education. The list can be made longer but I doubt if the Port Harcourt Drunkard (or is it PhD?), Kennedy Emetulu will ever be able to assimilate the truth.    

 

---

Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2015 15:01:56 +0100
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!
From: olugbe...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Kennedy Emetulu]

"Had it been that Buhari/Idiagbon regime was allowed to decisively deal with those who were stealing Nigeria dry that time and allowed to instill some senses of decorum and responsibilities in Nigerians (example is war against indiscipline) before it was overthrown by the regime that came after, am very sure NIGERIA would not have been at this stage". - Olugbenga Ojo

This is what waste is. When money is spent educating somebody and he comes up with this crap above, you only pray for him. Sad really. Sad that someone will happily brandish a caveman's theory of political development in a public forum and think he's making sense. You try.

..

[Kennedy Emetulu]

Shola, 

I don't make spurious claims. If you have something better to add to the debate, please do. I have responded to you with facts. If you can't deal with that, too bad.

[Kennedy Emetulu]

…

 

 

 

Ikhide,

 

Politics does not happen in a vacuum. Yes, Jonathan is today my choice, but he wouldn’t be my choice if Nigerian politics offered us real choices, rather than a Hobson’s choice. Or in rejecting my choice, have you now accepted the other choice, which is Buhari? Yes, let’s not be doe-eyed about our politics. On March 28, only two viable choices are available – Buhari and Jonathan. Choose your poison! Don’t dance on the fence, because Nigeria will wake up the next day to have one of them elected as President!

 

I might not like Jonathan, but where the other choice is Buhari, I will embrace Jonathan so tightly, you will think he’s my father! That is the point here. Two bad choices, one must be chosen! I’m not sitting aside and pretending I’m some kind of conscientious objector (as I was in the last election). This time, with Buhari in it this close the stakes are higher! Of course, I value what you say, because you are a decent and honest thinker, but I’ve never regarded you as a political thinker. You are just an iconoclast who disagrees with the system, but you are not offering any way out. What we have is what we have. I really do not care what Buharists say, because their choice is not better than mine. Yeah, you sit in judgment over me, not them!

 

 

 

….

[Kennedy Emetulu]

Salimonu, I have since exposed you as an incorrigible liar. It's obvious that you are another mad dog on the loose. By the way, did you read the link posted by Shola Adenekan before jumping here to exhibit your ignorance. Silly fowl!

[Shola Adenekan]

Chief Ikhide, let's not ethnicized this.

1. These Yoruba intellectuals are the same people who vigorously campaigned against Obasanjo's third-term project. Or don't you remember OBJ and his agenda?

2. It's the same intellectuals who fought on behalf on President Jonathan when the likes of  Gusau and Dasuki were against the President taking over as C-in-C - as stipulated by the constitution - after the death of the late President Yar'Adua. Yes, the very same Gusau and Dasuki who are ironically now Jonathan's best friends!  Or have you forgotten this terrible period as well and the role these Yoruba intellectuals played in ensuring Jonathan came to power? Do you want me to Google this?

3. Most of these Yoruba intellectuals sided with Jonathan, like most Yoruba people, four years ago. And yes, they overwhelmingly rejected Buhari. Or don't you remember 2011 anymore? Did you praise these Yoruba intellectuals then for not supporting Buhari or did you condemn them for supporting Jonathan?  Again, there is Google!

4. Didn't Tinubu - yes, he is a thief who deserves to rot in jail - supported Jonathan and threw Ribadu under the bus back in 2011? Did you attack Tinubu as vigorously as you are now doing? Again, there is Google!

5. If these Yoruba people are not supporting Jonathan in 2015 and instead throwing their support behind Buhari - a man who lost presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011, don't you think that this election is not about Tinubu or Buhari, but a referendum on Jonathan?

6. If President Obama had said in 2012  that terrorists - KKK and Al Quada - have infiltrated his government, do you think most of those who voted for him would have done so?  Do you think the media would have taken him seriously as a leader?

I respect your views on many thanks, but on this I totally disagree with you.

Ire o!

On 2 March 2015 at 12:45, Shola Adenekan <sholaa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Chief Ikhide, let's not ethnicized this.

1. These Yoruba intellectuals are the same people who vigorously campaigned against Obasanjo's third-term project. Or don't you remember OBJ and his agenda?

2. It's the same intellectuals who fought on behalf on President Jonathan when the likes of  Gusau and Dasuki were against the President taking over as C-in-C - as stipulated by the constitution - after the death of the late President Yar'Adua. Yes, the very same Gusau and Dasuki who are ironically now Jonathan's best friends!  Or have you forgotten this terrible period as well and the role these Yoruba intellectuals played in ensuring Jonathan came to power? Do you want me to Google this?

3. Most of these Yoruba intellectuals sided with Jonathan, like most Yoruba people, four years ago. And yes, they overwhelmingly rejected Buhari. Or don't you remember 2011 anymore? Did you praise these Yoruba intellectuals then for not supporting Buhari or did you condemn them for supporting Jonathan?  Again, there is Google!

4. Didn't Tinubu - yes, he is a thief who deserves to rot in jail - supported Jonathan and threw Ribadu under the bus back in 2011? Did you attack Tinubu as vigorously as you are now doing? Again, there is Google!

5. If these Yoruba people are not supporting Jonathan in 2015 and instead throwing their support behind Buhari - a man who lost presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011, don't you think that this election is not about Tinubu or Buhari, but a referendum on Jonathan?

6. If President Obama had said in 2012  that terrorists - KKK and Al Quada - have infiltrated his government, do you think most of those who voted for him would have done so?  Do you think the media would have taken him seriously as as a leader?

I respect you views on many thanks, but on this I totally disagree with you.

Ire o!

Shola

[Shola Adenekan]

Chief Ikhide, let's not ethnicized this.

1. These Yoruba intellectuals are the same people who vigorously campaigned against Obasanjo's third-term project. Or don't you remember OBJ and his agenda?

2. It's the same intellectuals who fought on behalf on President Jonathan when the likes of  Gusau and Dasuki were against the President taking over as C-in-C - as stipulated by the constitution - after the death of the late President Yar'Adua. Yes, the very same Gusau and Dasuki who are ironically now Jonathan's best friends!  Or have you forgotten this terrible period as well and the role these Yoruba intellectuals played in ensuring Jonathan came to power? Do you want me to Google this?

3. Most of these Yoruba intellectuals sided with Jonathan, like most Yoruba people, four years ago. And yes, they overwhelmingly rejected Buhari. Or don't you remember 2011 anymore? Did you praise these Yoruba intellectuals then for not supporting Buhari or did you condemn them for supporting Jonathan?  Again, there is Google!

4. Didn't Tinubu - yes, he is a thief who deserves to rot in jail - supported Jonathan and threw Ribadu under the bus back in 2011? Did you attack Tinubu as vigorously as you are now doing? Again, there is Google!

5. If these Yoruba people are not supporting Jonathan in 2015 and instead throwing their support behind Buhari - a man who lost presidential elections in 2003, 2007 and 2011, don't you think that this election is not about Tinubu or Buhari, but a referendum on Jonathan?

6. If President Obama had said in 2012  that terrorists - KKK and Al Quada - have infiltrated his government, do you think most of those who voted for him would have done so?  Do you think the media would have taken him seriously as as a leader?

I respect you views on many thanks, but on this I totally disagree with you.

Ire o!

Shola

On 2 March 2015 at 04:50, Kennedy Emetulu <keme...@googlemail.com> wrote:

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Kennedy Emetulu,

 

Once you are exposed and cornered, your default position are insults and abuse.

 

Buhari will win.  You will seek a new employer other than your sad SURE-P corrupt means of siphoning and looting state funds into the pockets of lazy youths.

 

Cheers. 

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com

[Shola Adenekan]

Darn! Ethnicize not 'ethnicized'! Aaargh, you get the gist anyway!

[Bayo Amos]

"Yes, he is a thief who deserves to rot in jail". 

How exactly is Tinubu a thief who deserves to rot in jail? What did he steal or loot?

[chum...@yahoo.com]

In another forum that I sometimes contribute to, Godwin Attah wrote: "I was discussing issues around the forthcoming Presidential elections with a close friend when the controversy over Gen. Buhari's health came up. My friend who is originally from Kano State but whose brother is one of the APC stalwarts in Kaduna state told me that the issue of Gen. Buhari's health is a small matter. He said he had been informed by his brother that the some key Northern elements in the APC spearheaded by an APC governorship candidate in one of the Northern states have been consulting on the matter for some days now and have outlined a number of options on how to deal with the problem that may arise if APC wins the March 2015 presidential elections and something untoward happens to Gen. Buhari while in office. This include the option of outright impeachment should his V.P., Prof. Osibajo refuse to step down for a Northerner to replace Buhari. As they will not give room for the Yar'ardua- Jonthan scenario again".
This brings me to the question: if we are serious about rotation of power in Nigeria, should we not enshrine it in the constitution and also provide for eventualities such as the one that may affect the zone whose turn it is to produce the President for the country?


CA
UNN

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld from Glo Mobile.

---

From: "'Ikhide' via USA Africa Dialogue Series" <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Sender: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Date: Sun, 1 Mar 2015 10:20:59 -0500

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com<usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

[dijiaina]

Dear Kennedy Emetulu,

You have probably lived too long in London to be in touch with realities at home. If genuine elections hold today in Nigeria many armed chair analysts will be on forced holidays on this forum. Nigerians may be contending with a "repentant" dictator out of utter failure of the one who they see as having squandered hope and golden opportunity. The details of the level of rot and corruption in our land will in no distant future come alive. I suggest we should not dissipate too much energy on who is a saint among the gladiators but ask that the better of two candidates as freely adjudged by Nigerians emerge as winner.

Regards.

Ayandiji Daniel AINA

Alternate emails   :diji...@yahoo.com

                              :diji...@icloud.com

                              :dijiai...@gmail.com

"One of the truest tests of integrity is its blunt refusal to be compromised". Chinua Achebe

On Feb 28, 2015, at 09:31, 'Kennedy Emetulu' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

…

BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm58FyEEDXc

[Ofure Aito]

Dear Kennedy,
Note how calmly I called you. You need to simmer. You are getting too hot headed that I begin to wonder if, what someone called your 'e-bullets' energy should not be aimed at Bokoharam. You have gone over the lid. My suggestion to the group is that we allow him to take a break from his 'psychobabble'. It is countdown to March 28. One last thing though, Kennedy tell Jonathan the story of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.... Beware of the month of march...
I am done with you. My next chit chat with you is March 28, when you will nervously scratch your head for want of what to say.
Ofure

[Ofure Aito]

Ikhide,
I take exception to the assumption that political views expressed in this forum are drawn from tribal/ethnic position. I am from South South, closer to Jonathan by locality than even Kennedy. I must, however, agree that most people have made up their minds but that decision is taken from their personal experiences and antecedents. The Bayelsans have made it clear by action and by words that they are not voting for Jonathan.
If you toed the ethnic line, I recall someone has inundated you with the involvement of the Yoruba in resolving political stalemates. How can this be tribal? For the record and your information, this movement for change is not Buharism but Change-ism!

[Kennedy Emetulu]

Mr Aina,

You don't know me, so I'll ignore your assumptions. But one thing you've said is sure. The better of the candidates will win and in my view, I can't see it being your "repentant" dictator who is not truly repentant.

...

[Segun Ogungbemi]

"Kennedy Emetulu is an employee ofJonathan's Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) andhe is doing his worst to satisfy his employer."

Kennedy,

Is the above statement true or false? This forum wants to know. 

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

[Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso]

This thread should be rated R21 as some of us are still18! The level of pure horse manure derogatory, abusive, and obscene language is beyond some of us. I am intimately acquainted with Nigerians' penchant for colourful language even in academic fora, but this thread, in my simple opinion, is excessive even in light of this. It no longer serves the purpose of information as the waters have become too polluted to drink from. I pray the thread be deleted.

[Kennedy Emetulu]

..

Segun Ogungbemi,

May the Lord bless you and your generation and generations! This is what we have to deal with now in the name of partisan politics. You criticise someone’s preferred candidate or you don’t agree with them on something and they fabricate stories wholly from their own dangerous, but fertile imagination and go to town with it. I don’t know this vermin called Salimonu Kadiri, I have never worked for any government agency in Nigeria in my life, I do not do contracts or any kind of work for government or any public agency, I have never met Jonathan nor anyone involved in running the SURE-P programme at any level in my life, yet the fool came here a couple of months ago or so to say I work for SURE-P and that he has evidence of more than hundred pages to expose me. I called him out here and asked him to show his evidence, he couldn’t. All he did was just continue to insult me, supported by Mr Cornelius Hamelberg, who could not tell him to support his silly claims. In fact, no one on the forum asked him to. Those who spoke were keener for me to keep quiet.

It’s clear now that anytime I write anything on the forum, his default response now is to make this claim. So, please, ask him yourself and maybe this time, he would clear the shame and present his evidence or at least give an explanation why he thinks I work for SURE-P. You can see that the old idiot, IBK is already repeating it, as some others here. It tells you how foolish some people who posture as intellectuals or thinkers can be when they think a totally false accusation against you in the midst of otherwise decent company will shut you up and stop you from expressing yourself. Anyway, whatever they say about me is a reflection on them, not me. It’s about values and I know none of them can lace up my boots. They are liars, cowards and creepy-crawlies who will always move around on their bellies and think with their arses till the end of time. 

Thank you, my brother.

….

--

[Segun Ogungbemi]

Our Colleague Kadiri,

Below is what Kennedy says. Do you have any concrete proof or evidence that he works for a federal agency called SURE-P?  If any member of this forum has any information that Kennedy is a federal government worker, please tell us. 

"Salimonu Kadiri, I have never worked for any government agency in Nigeria in my life, I do not do contracts or any kind of work for government or any public agency, I have never met Jonathan nor anyone involved in running the SURE-P programme at any level in my life, yet the fool came here a couple of months ago or so to say I work for SURE-P and that he has evidence of more than hundred pages to expose me. I called him out here and asked him to show his evidence, he couldn’t."

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Ogbeni Kennedy Emetulu,

You who who solicit support with some flattering preambles such as,”May the Lord bless all of your ancestors” etc...

OK, you have  ”never worked for any Govt. Agency in Nigeria”

What about out of Nigeria?

You think that your honour is more sacred than the honour of Muhammadu Buhari   who – without proof - accuse of having stolen 2.8 billion....!!!

The man himself has told you that he never touched a kobo

Falsely accusing innocent men.

So, where is your proof?

Cornelius of We Sweden

is kindly asking....

 

On Tuesday, 3 March 2015 13:02:53 UTC+1, keme...@googlemail.com wrote:

..

Segun Ogungbemi,

May the Lord bless you and your generation and generations! This is what we have to deal with now in the name of partisan politics. You criticise someone’s preferred candidate or you don’t agree with them on something and they fabricate stories wholly from their own dangerous, but fertile imagination and go to town with it. I don’t know this vermin called Salimonu Kadiri, I have never worked for any government agency in Nigeria in my life, I do not do contracts or any kind of work for government or any public agency, I have never met Jonathan nor anyone involved in running the SURE-P programme at any level in my life, yet the fool came here a couple of months ago or so to say I work for SURE-P and that he has evidence of more than hundred pages to expose me. I called him out here and asked him to show his evidence, he couldn’t. All he did was just continue to insult me, supported by Mr Cornelius Hamelberg, who could not tell him to support his silly claims. In fact, no one on the forum asked him to. Those who spoke were keener for me to keep quiet.

It’s clear now that anytime I write anything on the forum, his default response now is to make this claim. So, please, ask him yourself and maybe this time, he would clear the shame and present his evidence or at least give an explanation why he thinks I work for SURE-P. You can see that the old idiot, IBK is already repeating it, as some others here. It tells you how foolish some people who posture as intellectuals or thinkers can be when they think a totally false accusation against you in the midst of otherwise decent company will shut you up and stop you from expressing yourself. Anyway, whatever they say about me is a reflection on them, not me. It’s about values and I know none of them can lace up my boots. They are liars, cowards and creepy-crawlies who will always move around on their bellies and think with their arses till the end of time. 

Thank you, my brother.

….

On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 3:20 AM, Segun Ogungbemi <segun...@gmail.com> wrote:

"Kennedy Emetulu is an employee ofJonathan's Subsidy Reinvestment Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) andhe is doing his worst to satisfy his employer."

Kennedy,

Is the above statement true or false? This forum wants to know. 

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

On Mar 1, 2015, at 11:24 PM, Salimonu Kadiri <ogunl...@hotmail.com> wrote:

Kennedy Emetulu is an em

...

[Kennedy Emetulu]

..

Según Ogungbemi,

Don't waste your time waiting for a reasonable response from these intellectual midgets. Cornelius Hamelberg has given you an idea of what they'd come up with as justification for their silly accusation: I accused Buhari unjustly of stealing 2.8 billion without proof, so they must also accuse me of working for SURE-P without proof. Awon on'iranu!

...

--

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Dear Segun Ogungbemi,

 

What a resplendent response from an intellectual giant:

 

"Don't waste your time waiting for a reasonable response from these intellectual midgets. Cornelius Hamelberg has given you an idea of what they'd come up with as justification for their silly accusation: I accused Buhari unjustly of stealing 2.8 billion without proof, so they must also accuse me of working for SURE-P without proof. Awon on'iranu!"

 

Those who come to equity must come with clean hands!  This deluded intellectual giant's hands are indelibly soiled.

 

The proponents of a Jonathan extension claim that he is corrupt but APC is more corrupt, but how can one compare when APC or not other party in the last 16 years has ever been at the centre?

 

 The pen is the tongue of the hand,the silent utterer of words for the eyes...Henry Beecher

BY BUNMI AWOYEMI

BREAKING NEWS - I HEREBY DECAMP TO THE SIDE OF TRUTH - BLAME THE APC THAT HAS NEVER BEEN IN POWER AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL FOR ALL NIGERIA'S PROBLEMS

APC is to blame for fuel scarcity.
APC is to blame for the kidnap of the Chibok girls
APC is to blame for 30 minutes per week power supply
APC is to blame for the fall in the value of the naira
APC is to blame for the missing $20b
APC is to blame for the loss of 500k barrels of crude oil and $50m per day to oil theft for 4 years when crude oil sold above $100 per barel
APC is to blame for the comatose state of Nigeria's healthcare system
APC is to blame for the drastic fall in the price of crude oil
APC is to blame for the loss of over $54b to a so called power infrastructure development for the last 16 years
APC is to blame for the loss of N4.34 trillion out of N4.4 trillion of Nigeria's defense budget of the last 5 years to corruption
APC is to blame for the failure of the government to arm the armed forces with modern weapons and military hardware.
APC is to blame for the failure to diversify the Nigerian economy for 16 years.
APC is to blame for the loss of over 25k people to insurgency.
APC is to blame for the displacement of over 2m people from their homes because of insurgency.
APC is to blame for the death of over 30 people at the NIS recruitment exercise of 2014 after over 600k unemployed graduates were charged N1k for the filling of 5k vacancies
APC is to blame for all the bad federal roads in Nigeria.
APC is to blame for the raiding of the Excess Crude account that dipped from $20b to $1b.
APC is to blame for the rise in the rate of unemployment from 24% to 65%.
APC is to blame for massive failures recorded in NECO and WAEC exams in Nigeria
APC is to blame for disobedience of court orders.
APC is to blame for the reduction of our Foreign Reserve from over $60b in 2008 to $32b today.
APC is to blame for the high rate of crime in the country.
APC is to blame for the fall in the standard of education in Nigeria.
APC is to blame for a Ministry of Water Resources that produces zero water and fails to encourage private investment in water generation and distribution.
APC is to blame for the dwarfing of our stature and status in the comity of nations.
APC is to blame for a situation where poor nations like Chad, Niger, and Cameroon are helping us to maintain our territorial integrity.
APC is to blame for the failure of the President to present evidence of his Ph.D degree and dissertation.
APC is to blame for all the ASUU strikes of the last 16 years.
APC is to blame for all the ASUP strikes of the last 16 years.
APC is to blame for Nigeria declining from a nation that sent troops to countries like Chad, Sierrea Leone, Liberia, Congo, etc to help end civil wars in their countries to a country that is now begging for other countries to rescue its crippled army from rag tag, school-boy insurgents.
APC is to blame for dashing of 10% of Nigeria's territory to Boko Haram.
APC is to blame for the failure of the current administration to tackle insurgency for 6 years and for its magical ability to now crush the insurgency within 6 weeks.
APC is to blame for the continuous rise in the prices of essential commodities in the midst of the so called revolution in the agric. sector in the last 5 years.
APC is to blame for the failure of the President of Nigeria to address the international community on three different occasions overseas because he got himself drunk into stupor.
APC is to blame for the President's decision to maintain 11 Presidential Jets when the Prime Ministers of Britain and Australia travel by commercial flights.
APC is to blame for the Presidency budgeting N5m per day for food.
APC is to blame for the presidency budgeting N17b for power generators.
APC is to blame for the loss of N30 trillion to corruption at the federal level in just 5 years.
APC is to blame for the failure of the FG to pay the salary of civil servants.
APC is to blame for 16>19, 7>19 and 6>19 political calculation.
APC is to blame for the forced shift in the date of the Presidential poll from Feb. 14th to March 28.
APC is to blame for INEC's adoption of the idea of PVCs and card readers.
APC is to blame for the INEC Chairman's insistence on conducting free and fair elections.

Posted by Jumbo.

 

Cheers.

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Thank you, Professor Segun Ogungbemi, for your enquiry about Kennedy Emetulu's engagement in Jonathan's SURE-P. You may wish to know that my first encounter with Kennedy Emetulu was when this forum published his Buharists and their Stockholm Syndrome on the 2nd of November 2014 and to which I posted a rejoinder on the 6th of the same month. In my rejoinder, I stated categorically that Kennedy Emetulu is not a Jonathanist but a political mercenary employed by Jonathan's Subsidy Re-Investment Empowerment Program (SURE-P) and his assignment is to attack Jonathan's opponents and critics online. Silence means consent or agreement and since Kennedy Emetulu failed to respond to my rejoinder, I took for granted that he found nothing wrong in my post. However, on the 3rd of February 2015, this forum posted another diatribe from Kennedy Emetulu against Lola Shoneyin for supporting Buhari in which he repeated the allegation of N2.8 billion pilferage against Buhari, among others, when he was Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources. On reading Kennedy Emetulu's allegations against Buhari, Cornelius Hamelberg was incensed and reminded him that his repeated allegations against Buhari had effectively been dismissed in my post, of 6th November 2014, to this forum. It was at that stage that Kennedy Emetulu replied to my response on his Buharists and their Stockholm Syndrome which, of course, attracted further exchanges between us in this forum.

 
It is incontrovertible that Obasanjo appointed Buhari as Federal Commissioner for Petroleum and Natural Resources in February 1976, a position he held until April 21, 1977, when the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation was promulgated into law by Decree No. 33 of 1977. Buhari was made a non-Executive Chairman of the Board of the new NNPC comprising of a Managing Director, Permanent Secretaries from Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and three persons appointed by the Federal Executive Council. Obasanjo was responsible for granting crude oil lifting permissions to companies between 1977 and October 1979 when he handed over to Shehu Shagari. During that period, accrued oil revenues were paid by the oil lifting companies direct into the Central Bank account which, under the existing law then, was obliged to render account to the Federal Commissioner of Finance. May I add here that the price of crude oil per barrel between 1976 and 1978 was $14.33 and remained so until December 1979 when it rose to $29.27/barrel. Armed with the fact that Buhari was never Federal Commissioner of Finance or Governor of Central Bank and his chance of stealing or allowing N2.8 billion NNPC oil money to be stollen was zero, I sent 10 questions to Kennedy Emetulu, through my post to this forum on the 7th of February 2015, for answers.
 
The questions were : (i) How many barrels of crude oil were exported by Nigeria between 1976 and 1978 and what was the price per barrel? (ii) What was total annual revenue of Nigeria between 1976 and 1978? (iii) Did Buhari steal the N2.8 billion himself or was it stolen under his watch? (iv) What was the account number in London Midland Bank which you said belonged to Buhari and in which you said the missing NNPC crude oil sales money was discovered? (v) Who paid the N2.8 billion into the unspecified account number in London Midland Bank? (vi) Was the account in the Midland Bank held in pound sterling or dollar? (vii) When and how was it discovered that the N2.8 billion traced to London Midland Bank had disappeared? (viii) Beside the purported statement, in an NTA interview, credited to Senator Dr Olusola Saraki, was there any official written report by his Committee stating that N2.8 billion NNPC money was stolen under Buhari's watch? (ix) When did Saraki's Senate Committee complete its enquiry and to whom was the report submitted? (x) Was there any debate and resolution in the Senate over the alleged Saraki's report on the missing N2.8 billion? Concluding, I promised to reciprocate to Kennedy's request for proof of his engagement in SURE-P if he answered those questions. Earlier on, I made it known to Kennedy that I knew his brother contested the PDP gubernatorial primary in Delta State in December 2014 and scored only four votes.
 
As if I have twisted the tail of a toothless and clawless lion, Kennedy Emetulu, roared in this forum on February 7, 2015 thus, "What has my brother contesting for the PDP gubernatorial ticket got to do with ANYTHING? Why are you talking here as though you've made some DAMAGING DISCOVERY ABOUT ME when I was the one that publicized my brother's campaign on my Facebook wall and elsewhere and used his picture, so WHAT HAS THAT GOT TO DO WITH ANYTHING? What was Kennedy hiding behind the use of the word ANYTHING? The simple answer is, Kennedy Emetulu's brother is = PDP which is= Jonathan who is= SURE-P which is= Kennedy Emetulu. The circle is closed and only a numskull will not understand that Emetulu has substituted SURE-P with ANYTHING in order to hide the truth. As the Yoruba adage goes, it is like sonorous proverb to beat Ògìdìgbó drum, it is only the wise who can dance to it and it is the learned who understands its language. Since I have no Facebook account I was not aware of Kennedy Emetulu's activities there and the information about his brother's gubernatorial adventure got to me through other source. However, Kennedy Emetulu roared further, "Yes, he (Emetulu's brother) was Commissioner of Energy in Delta States, chosen by my people to contest for the governorship in the course of which he and other contestants reached agreement to COLLAPSE THEIR STRUCTURES AND PRESENT ONE MAIN CANDIDATE FROM DELTA NORTH IN ORDER TO WIN THE TICKET." Contrary to the impression created here by Kennedy that his brother did not contest the PDP gubernatorial primary election in Delta State, Charles Emetulu actually, was one of the 17 candidates that contested and he polled only 4 votes against the winner, Ifeanyi Okowa, who polled 406 votes. Delta State contains, Nka Igbo, Isoko, Itsjekiri, Ijaw and Urhobo people and it is in the context of ethnic mixture that one can understand what Kennedy Emetulu meant with DELTA NORTH WINNING THE TICKET. Simplified, Delta North is the Igbo speaking part of Delta State from where Kennedy Emetulu originated and no matter how good candidates from other ethnic groups in Delta State are, Emetulu would not approve them as gubernatorial candidates as long as they do not come from his Igbo part of Delta State. About his brother, Kennedy wrote, "He was the first public official cleared by the Security Services to contest that election and THE ONLY ONE, WITHOUT A BLOT IN HIS FILE. I donated to his campaign and helped him as much as I could because I believe in him. Charles Emetulu who did not have a blot in his file lost primary election to Ifeanyi Okowa who had a blot in his file but this is acceptable to Kennedy Emetulu because of his tribal affinity with Okowa.
 
A direct evidence of Kennedy Emetulu's dishonesty is his deliberate distortion of what I wrote about him. Referring to me, Kennedy wrote, "OH YES, YOU SAID I'M A CHRISTIAN AND YOU ARE RIGHT." However, what I wrote in my post to this forum on February 7, 2015 was, "Kennedy Emetulu CLAIMS to be a Christian but his behaviour is inversely proportional to Godliness and diametrically opposed to the teachings in the Holy Bible. Otherwise, he would have followed the admonition in Leviticus: Chapter 19 verse 15 that says, *Do not pervert justice, do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly..*" I did not say Kennedy was a Christian, rather I said that he claimed to be a Christian. Is that not self-explanatory?

 
I see this forum as a place where we, Africans, can cross-fertilize good ideas that can elevate the natural resources rich Africa from abject poverty to modern industrial Continent. It is disgusting and irritating when people, in the 21st century, come to this forum to propagate ethno-religious politics for Nigeria which is my main point of disagreement with Kennedy Emetulu. His service in Jonathan's SURE-P, covert or overt, is not criminal and to point it out is not defamatory. Therefore, if I should reduce myself to Kennedy Emetulu's self-inflated perception when he was replying to Abolaji Adekeye about his assertion on Buhari in this forum, on 7 February 2015, I would have asked him to sue me to court if he feels that I have defamed him by exposing him as a SURE-P employee. In his written account, Kennedy Emetulu has admitted that he and some unpatriotic Nigerians had gathered round Chatham's House in London to shout *THIEF* at Buhari and his Nigerian political associates, as well as blocking his passage out of the hall, thus necessitating London Police intervention to protect Buhari from the Nigerian Savages led by an intellectual bandit. What an irony of history that the white London Police should be protecting a Nigerian Presidential candidate from hostile Nigerian lycanthropes! Despite the fact that Kennedy Emetulu was never inside the hall where Buhari spoke, as he was not there to listen to what he had to say, Kennedy later reported that he caught a brief glimpse of an elephant. Kennedy must either be a blatant liar or an ignoramus who does not know how an elephant looks like. When the truth catches up with Satan from Delta North, God takes away his ability to lie. Kennedy Emetulu can continue with his disoriented fables about Buhari, but when next he visits Asaba to dance Antillogu under the rusty Niger Bridge, he will certainly be awarded the traditional title of ONYE OZUZU (imbecile).
I rest my case!1
S. Kadiri

 
 

 

---

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

From: segun...@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2015 21:27:33 +0100
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Kennedy Emetulu,

Please read this carefully.

I do not know or care to know who owns the various Nigerian newspaper.

I don't know of the existence or non-existence of SURE-P and at no time have I ever accused you of in any way being connected with SURE-P, nor have I ever supported anyone making such a claim.

So, in that regard,  please leave me out of any altercations you may be having with other people.

That's all I have to say.

Signed

Cornelius Hamelberg

We Sweden

On Wednesday, 4 March 2015 12:01:06 UTC+1, keme...@googlemail.com wrote:

..

Según Ogungbemi,

Don't waste your time waiting for a reasonable response from these intellectual midgets. Cornelius Hamelberg has given you an idea of what they'd come up with as justification for their silly accusation: I accused Buhari unjustly of stealing 2.8 billion without proof, so they must also accuse me of working for SURE-P without proof. Awon on'iranu!

...

On Tue, Mar 3, 2015 at 9:27 PM, Segun Ogungbemi <segun...@gmail.com> wrote:

Our Colleague Kadiri,

Below is what Kennedy says. Do you have any concrete proof or evidence that he works for a federal agency called SURE-P?  If any member of this forum has any information that Kennedy is a federal government worker, please tell us. 

"Salimonu Kadiri, I have never worked for any government agency in Nigeria in my life, I do not do contracts or any kind of work for government or any public agency, I have never met Jonathan nor anyone involved in running the SURE-P programme at any level in my life, yet the fool came here a couple of months ago or so to say I work for SURE-P and that he has evidence of more than hundred pages to expose me. I called him out here and asked him to show his evidence, he couldn’t."

Prof. Segun Ogungbemi

On Mar 3, 2015, at 11:53 AM, Kennedy Emetulu <keme...@googlemail.com> wrote:

Salimonu Kadiri, I have never worked for any government agency in Nigeria in my life, I do not do contracts or any kind of work for government or any public agency, I have never met Jonathan nor anyone involved in running the SURE-P programme at any level in my life, yet the fool came here a couple of months ago or so to say I work for SURE-P and that he has evidence of more than hundred pages to expose me. I called him out here and asked him to show his evidence, he couldn’t. All he did was just continue

--

Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfric...@googlegroups.com

...

[Emeka Oguejiofor]

I can’t believe some of the things that I read from folks on this forum.

 

One makes an accusation against another and the accused chooses to ignore it. And the logical conclusion from such is that “Silence means consent or agreement…”. Really? If you call me an idiot and I refrain from abusing you back, then I must indeed be an idiot. Thank God for the delete button on keyboards!

 

Emeka Oguejiofor

[Kennedy Emetulu]

Hahahahahahaha! Mr Oguejifor, please humour him. Let him continue believing that everyone here is a dunderhead like him...

[Ikhide]

Shola,

I thought of not responding. We are beginning to repeat ourselves. I have said everything I need to say, if in doubt, read this interview of me again. The intellectuals of the South-west axis have up until now built a stellar reputation for advocacy - for justice and equity. It is not by the ethnicity, it is by the (selective) actions and utterances that we must judge people. The facts and the data are there, folks are being selective in their outrage and notions of "change" and I am calling us on it. Please google my utterances and actions all you want, I have been consistent since 1999 in questioning whether this democracy is sustainable, and bemoaning the obvious fact that our leaders are taking advantage of a lack of accountability and looting the place dry. I should be forgiven if I refuse to believe that meaningful change is substituting Jonathan for Tinubu.

Shola, Tinubu is the national leader of the APC, so you and others must forgive us for making him and his poor judgments an issue. There are several videos that have gone viral on social media about how he and Fashola have looted Lagos State. You have no doubt viewed them. If in the unlikely event you have not, click on any one of these links.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=Cb2hKXy38i0

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10200330801590549

https://www.facebook.com/kennedy.emetulu/posts/10203891416461127

 

If one-tenth of these allegations are correct, then the youths of social media have every right to be outraged. Do you believe that this is not a legitimate subject for the campaign, do you?

Am I hard on the APC? You bet. It pretends to be holier than the PDP, it is not. It is a very criminal organization and this needs to be said. The APC has been bumbling and irresponsible. Her leaders and followers rudely sweep aside questions, they have no interest in transparency, witness the lies that they have continued to ply on Buhari's whereabouts and health. By the way, without Buhari around, APC seems to lose its focus and direction. That is all the APC has, Buhari, a tired old man trapped in the past and in the thieving clutches of criminals.

I don't want to pretend that I am having dialogue with anyone. I am in my little corner just talking my own. Our country is going down a slope to a place we all fear but we are looking the other way. We need to police ourselves as intellectuals. We are the problem.  And I am not happy about that.

Be well, Shola!

- Ikhide

 

Stalk my blog at www.xokigbo.com

Follow me on Twitter: @ikhide

Join me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ikhide

---

From: Shola Adenekan <sholaa...@gmail.com>
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Monday, March 2, 2015 6:45 AM

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Kennedy Emetulu,
 
Your hands are caught inside the PDP cash-box and your defence is that you are only checking the colour of the money there. Charles Emetulu was a Delta State gubernatorial aspirant in PDP which is equal to Jonathan who is equal to SURE-P and which is equal to Kennedy Emetulu. Simple logic and simple deduction, do you get it?
 

---

Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2015 05:46:42 +0100

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

From: keme...@googlemail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Kennedy Emetulu]

Beautiful that, Mr Ikhide. Beautiful. Thank you.

[Salimonu Kadiri]

My brother Emeka Oguejiofor!! Belief is never objective but subjective. You should not believe everything you read from folks in this forum without deep analysis and sound understanding of whatever you read. Failure to do that may lead you into hating your friends and loving your enemies.
 
One makes an accusation against another and the accused chooses to ignore it. And the logical conclusion from such is that *Silence means consent or agreement..* Really? You questioned. Facts, according to Aldous Huxley, do not cease to exist because they are disregarded. Similarly, an accusation does not disappear because the accused chooses to ignore it. An accusation, whether serious or light should be responded to by the accused otherwise silence from the accused might be taken as admission of guilt. Only dictators and autocrats can depend on their personal power to ignore any accusation against them. They do whatever they want and nobody can challenge them. In this forum, nobody is accusing anyone of anything, rather the veracity of an individual assertion on any subject can be challenged vigorously.
 
If you call me an idiot and I refrain from abusing you back, then I must indeed be an idiot, you wrote. Your analogy seems to be wrongly applied. The word *IDIOT* originated in Greece where it was first used to describe those who refused to participate in public debates and democratic process. Nowadays the word *IDIOT* is frequently used in psychiatry and psychology to describe a person with severe mental retardation. The word *IDIOT* as implied by you is not an abuse but a medical condition observed in the mental and physical traits of a person. Since the word *IDIOT* is not an abusive but medical, if anybody should call you my brother, Emeka Oguejiofor. an *IDIOT* you should sue the person for libel, defamation of character and unlawful usurpation of the power of a psychiatric doctor.
Yours Fraternally
S. Kadiri

 

---

From: eogu...@stfx.ca
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2015 10:04:31 -0400

[Adeshina Afolayan]

My Sister,  What if Buhari loses the election come March 30 or April 1when the results must all have come in, who get to scratch the head? I don't think anyone, not you and certainly not Kennedy, should come out on a limb on this issue. It is certain that the election will be very interesting. My own political adrenalin is already fired. But the most we can epistemically say is: at least someone will win (and even that isn't sacrosanct because anything--ANYTHING--can still happen). So? Adeshina Afolayan Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android From:"Ofure Aito" <ofur...@gmail.com> Date:Tue, 3 Mar, 2015 at 3:23 am Subject:USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!

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[Ofure Aito]

Adding my thin voice to this loud drumming on Buhari/Jonathan candidature initiated by Kennedy, I suggest that Kennedy does his atilogu dance alone without any audience participation. I do appreciate Salimonu's position and his detailed explanation. Kennedy has been harping about Buhari for a while and I have consciously ignore a lot of his fallacious statements. Now, when his irrationality became unbearable and people responded, his option is to throw insults at every contributor. The idea of this forum is to share ideas that will promote Africans and Africa. Unfortunately, I haven't met Kennedy but his body nuances and language show he is not a debater but a tribalist, and this is another setback for Nigeria outside corruption. Obviously, if you do not agree with him, then you are an enemy. Done.

Thanks a lot brother Salimonu Kadiri for your insight.

Ofure

Ofure O. M. Aito (PhD) (University of Lagos)
Department of English and Communications
College of Humanities
Redeemer's University, Mowe
Ogun State, Nigeria

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[Moses Ebe Ochonu]

"The simple answer is, Kennedy Emetulu's brother is = PDP which is= Jonathan who is= SURE-P which is= Kennedy Emetulu."

So this is the basis of the recycled and unproven allegation that Kennedy Emetulu is a paid SURE-P commentator? I know the exchanges in this forum can sometimes degenerate into cyber fisticuffs but I've never seen such a deliberate and unfounded character assassination of a fellow forum member. Is it okay now on this forum to recklessly throw out innuendoes and allegations that impugn the honor and character of another forum member? If Kennedy had not come out forcefully to debunk this extremely malicious and wild allegation, his honor and name would have been associated with a fake SURE-P patronage constructed solely on the basis of his blood relation to a PDP candidate. 

Even without any proof being offered and in spite of Kennedy's denial, another forum member has gone ahead to repeat the allegation as though there was something to it, in a deliberate effort to keep the insinuation going and in order to discredit Kennedy. I don't agree with most of Kennedy's positions on the imminent election and he knows it since he and I have basically agreed to disagree on another forum, but why can't those who similarly disagree with him outline their objections and counter-arguments as Shola and a few others have done without trying to intimidate him with attacks on his integrity? When did guilt by association or kinship and a far-fetched logical fallacy of connections become the basis for attacking the character of an interlocutor? This is why a lot of people have chosen to remain in ROM (Read Only Mode) and contribute only sporadically.

It is not only Kennedy that has been a target of this strange tactic of character assassination. Both Ikhide and Toyin Adepoju have, at different times, had their integrity questioned and have been accused without a shred of evidence of being paid by Jonathan to attack Buhari's supporters or to sell their alleged paymaster--just because they are expressing contrarian, controversial views considered unpopular by their accusers.

People have been called "tribalists" and their positions ascribed to "tribal" political calculations as though the accusers can read minds and discern motives.

For goodness sake, why can't we disagree with people without questioning their motive or their honor, without suspecting that their views have been bought for money or other pecuniary patronage? If we all thought alike, would it not be boring? I've come to the conclusion that many of our people cannot deal with difference, especially when that difference is loud, robust, and brash.

I taya for my country and its people.

Anyway, back to ROM.

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There is enough in the world for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed.


---Mohandas Gandhi

[Ofure Aito]

My brother,
Your point is well articulated and taken. In fact, I am done with political conversations because my adrenalin is also high. Good question 'what if the other wins, what happens?' It is all a Dance in the Forest.  As it is the election has created such political consciousness in Nigerians and that  itself is an achievement and some satisfaction.  Done!

Thanks for the gifts of your master piece - Figurine- sent to me through my graduate student. More grease... !

Ofure O. M. Aito (PhD) (University of Lagos)
Department of English and Communications
College of Humanities
Redeemer's University, Mowe
Ogun State, Nigeria

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[Kennedy Emetulu]

I'm sure you genuinely believe the tripe you have spewed here. Well done. Please, keep it up!

[Chidi Anthony Opara]

Moses, you, Kennedy and some of your friends did what you now condemn to me some time ago. I however agree with your current position. I am also going back to ROM.

CAO.

Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet and Publisher of PublicInformationProjects

[Moses Ochonu]

CAO,

I have no idea what you are referring to and cannot recollect any situation in which I or any other forum member accused you of being paid to say what you are saying or of being on the payroll of someone or some agency. I do however recollect very heated exchanges between you and some forum members, which may even have included insults and mutual put downs, but these are frequent on this forum. That's different from making unproven allegations that someone is in the pay of some agency, an allegation bordering on someone's integrity. That's character assassination and defamation. I can take insults and put downs. I can also give them in return when I choose. What I cannot stand is character assassination. Some of us have a name and integrity we treasure and worked so hard to build and preserve. Having that integrity questioned without a shred of evidence is not a fair price to pay for participating in the forum. All the same, thanks for backing my position and welcome to ROM.

Sent from my iPad

[Abolaji Adekeye]

Kennedy is not to be taken seriously but if need be he should be seriously taken down with a pinch of salt and lots of water. He has pretended and persuaded himself to be an activist and intellectual (of mean repute and just like the idiot savant, he does not possess a single original thought in him but he is entitled to play with the sand of his delusions. Please let him have his time on the beach.

[Pablo]

I agree both in principle and in fact  for this need for people to resist attacking others on the basis of nothing other than opinion (I am not earmarking you here, Chidi). I can imagine far more litigious people than many on this list (or perhaps not) calling upon their or others' lawyers to have ceasing and desisting from often what amounts to calumny and/or seeking recompense for some of the attributions  that have been made about people here and beyond. Some people on  this  list sometimes willfully, or by oversight,  engage in so many ad hominems that are based upon attack rather than evidence, with burdens of proof that are often thin to circumstantial. I think that many, including Kennedy,  have made charges that are, upon any legal or academic, or even good journalistic grounds, hardly accurate, and in some cases just not true.

If people have responded with name calling and claiming her this and he is that,  it is a form of reciprocal bad social capital (if I may use such a turn of phrase I once used in an article I co-wrote), about the people who do the things they do, drawing upon the, often bad, networked information that they have, and which only compounds half truths and speculations that cannot be the basis of dialogue.  People often argue cogently but without evidence. As I have said before, if this started as a quasi-academic forum, we cannot always be expected to provide chapter and verse, footnote and bibliography or the  deliberation that we would when we teach or write; but we should also not start the name calling.

Some of us are dispostional about our political beliefs.  However,  we are pragmatic in our choices in the face those who are before us,  even if we may not like either in our ideal worlds. It seems to me that with the Nigerian elections,  for some people it is not a matter of seeing things a glass half or two thirds full or empty, but seeing  dirty or  translucent glass, one where it is sometimes difficult to see in beyond  all the sediment that filters political opinion  and interests  (which, for some, clearly  do have connections to material pay offs), and ones  that can nether be be factual nor allow for clear lenses to see what others can see.  In these pre-disposed and preconceived worlds  about what to see and what to expect,  what happened, and the evidence for what did take place,  only reinforces the toxic politicized environments of these elections.

Putting aside even the ratcheting up that takes place in the Nigerian blogosphere and the "legitimate" media which one had assumed this forum was not meant to  replicate; and even if we take with a pinch of pepper  the colorful language that adds perhaps more heat to the soupy exchanges that sometimes go on,  people have to step back and and think before an accusation is made against someone, and where the evidence is less than what you would ask your children to provide as to why they put their tooth under the pillow.  I don't go on Nigerian blogs, and especially the "ethnic" ones,  precisely for this reason. It's like being naked in the village  square; where empathy let alone cautious deliberation are in play;  where anyone  with a voice, a  stick and some dirt (the  equivalence of a keyboard and the internet), irrespective of literacy in anything but accusation,  can call you mad and your mother a whore, especially if you have a name tag around you that is not of the village. I can recall a recent post by Ayo (Obe),  who made the point that if you disagree  with your choice (or non-choice) about a political candidate, you are named-called out, and all manner of aspersions are cast upon you, someone them implicitly ethnic.

 If I did to my colleagues what others have done on this list, it would be grounds for tenure revocation and/or  a letter of admonition in my file.  It is not a matter of casting the first or last stone; it is about not wanting someone to make a false claim about you that is unfalsifiable,  so that you don't make a claim about someone else that is unfalsifiable.

Pablo

[Salimonu Kadiri]

Now that I am in the court of Lord Justice Moses Ebe Ochonu I plead not guilty to the accusation of character assassination by maliciously associating your Lordship's pal with SURE-P patronage because of his blood relation to a PDP candidate. As part of my defence, I hereby reproduce part of your Lordship pal's submission to this forum on February 7, 2015. "What has my brother contesting for the PDP gubernatorial ticket got to do with anything? Why are you talking here as though you've made some damaging discovery about me when I was the one that publicized my brother's campaign on my Facebook wall and elsewhere and used his picture, so what has that got to do with anything?"
"Yes, he (your Lordship pal's brother) was Commissioner of Energy in Delta State, chosen by my people to contest for the governorship in the course of which he and other contestants reached an agreement to collapse their structures and present one main candidate from Delta North in order to win the ticket."
"He was the first public official cleared by the Security Services to contest that election and the only one, without a blot in his file. I DONATED TO HIS CAMPAIGN AND HELPED AS MUCH AS I COULD."
 
If your Lordship's pal publicized his brother's campaign on his Facebook and elsewhere using his picture; and if your Lordship's pal donated to his brother's campaign and helped him as much as he could to win the governorship ticket of the PDP in Delta State, how could your Lordship reduce and attribute the activities of your Lordship's pal to that of ordinary blood relation to a PDP candidate? Can that not explain to your Lordship why your pal is all over cyber space castigating and defaming politicians opposed to his brothers party? I have not accused your pal of stealing as he has done without evidence against the political opponents of his brother's party, but asserted that he is being rewarded for his untrue and unfair attacks against members of the opposition. Your Lordship has come out to say that your pal has forcefully debunked and denied being a political mercenary for the power that be as if to say mere denial and debunk confer innocence in law. I draw your Lordship's attention to paragraph two above, where you will discover that your pal forcefully denied and debunked the news that his brother contested in the PDP Delta State gubernatorial primary election last December. Yet your pal's brother was among the seventeen candidates that contested the said gubernatorial primary, even though he scored only four votes. Thus, your pal's denial and debunk of any issue cannot be used as a measure of his truthfulness and trustworthiness. Does your Lordship believe that your pal's brother would buy a non refundable PDP application form of interest to contest a gubernatorial primary election for N10 million and work away from it, especially when your pal donated to it?

 
Your Lordship is asking me to produce evidence of political mercenary against your pal, yet in all the years you've sat on the bench, hundreds of people have been sentenced by you on what you called CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE as I have produced against your pal. I have always believed that in spite of your position that we have the same mother/fatherland and that we share the same fate and destiny. On reading the your message below I made a sad reflection to Lord Lugard's observation in 1922, "THE EUROPEANISED AFRICAN IS INDEED SEPARATED FROM THE REST OF THE PEOPLE BY A GULF WHICH NO RACIAL AFINITY CAN BRIDGE. HE MUST BE TREATED - AND SEEMS DESIRED BE TREATED - AS THOUGH HE WERE OF DIFFERENT RACE." Nevertheless, I'm not naïve to believe that your pal led some red-light ladies to Chatham House to shout *THIEF* at Buhari for nothing. In a time of universal deceit, George Orwell wrote, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. Those who do not like the truth can continue to Read Only Mode!!

 

---

Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2015 15:12:16 -0600
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!
From: meoc...@gmail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Kennedy Emetulu]

...

Professor Ochonu,

Thank you for your intelligent and reasoned intervention. At this point, there's no need responding further to Salimonu Kadiri. You know what a man is suffering from when he makes sense to only himself and the bedbugs torturing him in his bed. Leave him to his conscience. Of course, I'm quite aware that he may not have a conscience left, but whatever is there in place of one will do. He has made his bed, let him lie on it peacefully if he can.

...

[Kennedy Emetulu]

Mr Okpara, what exactly did I do to you where and when?

[Salimonu Kadiri]

The chicken, in protest, bends its neck in the pot, when its real enemy is not the pot in which it is cooked nor even the fire that cooks it, but the knife. Conscience, I do have, that is why I could tell a stubborn political Shylock and usurer like you that if you want to cut a pound of flesh near the heart of Buhari, the weight of the flesh, subsequently, cut should not be less than, or above a pound, in addition to the fact that there should be no single drop of blood since that was not contained in the political agreement between your beloved party, PDP and APC. Consequently, you have been shouting injustice until now when you find consolation in your brother, Ananias, of the famous Acts of Apostles Chapter 5!  
 

---

Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2015 04:51:43 +0100
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - BUHARI’S CHATHAM HOUSE CHARADE: NOT A STATESMANLIKE PRESENTATION AND NOT A STATESMANLIKE EXIT!
From: keme...@googlemail.com
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

[Olatunji Oladejo]

SK,
Please keep up the good work.

Regards.

Olatunji Oladejo

[Ibukunolu A Babajide]

Kennedy Emetulu,

 

What do you say to this?

 

"

By Our Reporter on March 6, 2015 Back Page / Columns, Columns, Femi Adesina

The great American poet, Maya Angelou says hate “has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” Some people, however, do not know that. Or rather, they have closed their minds to it. So, what did they do on Thursday last week, when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was to speak at Chatham House, in London? They also carried their bags of hate, and hired protesters who were to heckle, harass and pester the former military leader.

A leaked memo from official circles showed that the Nigerian government was behind the despicable action. The Assistant Director, Civil Society and Support Group (Diaspora) had asked for the sum of $20,000 (over N4 million at current exchange rate), noting: “Nigerians in the Diaspora will converge at Chatham House, United Kingdom on Thursday, 26^th of February, 2015 to show solidarity and support for President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and his transformation agenda in Nigeria as a surprise to the august visitor, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress.”

The memo was copied to Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali, Special Adviser on Political Affairs to President Jonathan.

Apparently, the money was released, as what the memo said would happen at Chatham House played out to the letter. Some Nigerian youths in Diaspora were on hand to attempt a verbal lynching of Gen. Buhari as he arrived at the event. But they made such a poor showing of it, obviously because there was no conviction behind their actions. They were mere hirelings who did not even have a grasp of why they were there, nor an understanding of the person they were supposed to protest against. Of course, most of them were either not born, or were too young to know Gen. Buhari as military head of state 32 years ago.

It was a comedy of errors, as a journalist tried to interview the emergency protesters. Hear the journalist:

“They are Nigerians who are struggling here. Some of them, actually (I’m talking about the ladies), are from the red light districts here. Some of the youths are unkempt… and they are obviously struggling.”

And truly, the youths struggled to defend what they were out there to do. One was asked why he was part of the protest, and he responded: “Because we don’t want dictatorship in Nigeria anymore.” Asked further what he knew about Gen. Buhari, he retorted: “I just heard about him from people I saw earlier on.”

Have you done your homework, the reporter wanted to know.

“Not at all.”

So, how did you come about this protest?

“I don’t know what to say. I’m not prepared for this interview,” the young man said.

A female protester was asked why she was on the march, and she said: “I don’t really know much about politics,” adding that she was there to support President Goodluck Jonathan.

But what do you really have against Buhari, she was asked.

“I’m not against anyone,” she responded.

That was the trend that ran through the interviews with the hirelings. Hapless Nigerian youths, possibly forced out of their motherland by poor and uninspiring governance, and who were ready to be recruited for crumbs falling from the tables of their oppressors. What I felt for those young people was actually pity, and a bit of compassion. Are these not supposed to be future leaders? Cry, the beloved country!

But the chatterboxes at Chatham House were not done. The queen of them all was a female caught by an undercover reporter in what you can call a sting operation. She was the one who organised the protest, and her leaking mouth gave out so much information.

She first identified herself as Abi, and later as Adijatu. She boasted that she mobilised the young Nigerians by bus from Manchester to London, and that most of them were graduates, while some others were about to get higher degrees.

The reporter, who obviously used a secret camera, asked if she could set up a similar protest for him possibly in New York. The basket mouth said it could be done in Maryland, Dublin, anywhere.

When asked how much it would cost, she promised to give her phone number and other details to the reporter. And on why she was on the side of Goodluck Jonathan, she said he was a heavy spender, while Buhari was a low spender. Of course, no romance without finance! So, she went with the deep pocket.

Privileged information later revealed that the protesting youths were paid about 80 pounds each. Eighty pounds! That is the worth of the Nigerian youth. For that amount, he could be ferried by bus from Manchester to London, to take part in a protest he does not even understand. Those youths, who should be getting ready to assume leadership positions, were selling their birthrights for a mess of porridge. And in future they would want that birthright back, just like the biblical Esau, and it would be too late. They would weep and wail, but it would amount to nothing. Unscrupulous leaders have bought their birthright for thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Youths are the glory of any country. But the glory of Nigeria is slain at Chatham House. How are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in London, publish it not in the streets of Manchester.

Hatred is at full steam in Nigeria. Hate campaigns. Hate documentaries. Hate advertisements. Boko Haram is hate. Threat of war from former Niger Delta militants is hate. Hate at Chatham House, in Okrika where campaign rallies are bombed, in Bauchi and Katsina, where the convoy of the president is pelted with stones. Hate everywhere. Saying a presidential candidate is brain-dead is hate. When you say a man has no academic qualification, and his illustrious classmates come out to vouch for him, and his old school also releases his result, yet you refuse to still believe, it is hate. The onus then is on you to prove what you claim. Finish! Hate almost killed Rwanda. It turned Kigali to killing fields, where hundreds of thousands of people were slain in fits of fury. Is Nigeria on the road to Kigali? It is hate that is the fuel of that journey. There’s no petrol in filling stations in some parts of the country now. But Nigerians have plenty hate in their tanks. And it is enough to take them to Kigali. One religion against the other, ethnic groups against one another. Deep seated animosities, narrow mindedness, politics of vendetta. All these will kill Nigeria, unless a stop can be put to the bile, the hatred, and the spleen. Nigeria is dying, and we don’t seem to know it. Must campaigns be so churlish and ill tempered? Must there be downright lies, concocted stories, ill will and evil machinations as we see around us? “I will permit no man to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.” (Booker T. Washington). But our leaders and politicians have spawned so much hate, and those who bought it have had their souls narrowed and degraded. They can maim, kill and destroy at the drop of a hat. Nigeria is dying, and we don’t seem to take it to heart.

“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated.” (George Bernard Shaw). Some people are so intimidated, terrified about how the elections may go, so they are sowing hate and bile in the people. Must a country die because it held elections? Think, Nigeria, think.

Let’s look at the brighter side of Chatham, apart from the chatterboxes. Didn’t you like Buhari’s poise and calm? Wasn’t the speech he read so well put together? Didn’t you see sincerity oozing out of his ever pore?

“I have heard and read references to me as a former dictator in many respected British newspapers including the well regarded Economist. Let me say without sounding defensive that dictatorship goes with military rule, though some might be less dictatorial than others. I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch.

“I cannot change the past. But I can change the present and the future. So, before you is a former military ruler and a converted democrat who is ready to operate under democratic norms and is subjecting himself to the rigours of democratic elections for the fourth time.”

Beautiful! Splendid. O pari. Shikena. Okwu agwu. Finito. Buhari’s metamorphosis is complete, except for those who are in the grip of relentless hatred, consumed by paroxysms of bitterness, grudge and acidity. To such, I will recommend the words of William Shakespeare in Richard III, when he wrote about hatred, and declared: “Out of my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes!”

………………………………………………………………………"

_________________________

Ibukunolu Alao Babajide (IBK)

(+2348061276622)
ibk...@gmail.com