We Must Support Buhari – Femi Fani-Kayode

Former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode has accused President Muhammadu Buhari of establishing a northern agenda in his governance of Nigeria.

Fani-Kayode made the allegations via an article titled “The Niger Delta Crusaders, The Muslim Pilgrims & the United States of Nigeria (Part 2).”

In part one of the article series, Fani-Kayode criticized some of Buhari’s ministers and described Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola as a shameless liar.

Read part two below:

Sadly many in the conservative core north remain unconvinced. For example the Arewa Consultative Forum issued a statement on the 7th August in which they stated their total opposition to restructuring and instead of offering an olive branch of peace and understanding to its advocates who are predominantly in the south they issued the usual warnings of dire consequences if the matter is pushed too far.

Worst still a few days ago the Emir of Katsina publicly admonished all northerners to support the government of President Buhari insisting that they had a duty to do so. His words.

“President Muhammadu Buhari is trying his best to rectify the situation and we must support and encourage him. During this trying period, we as northerners are expected to support President Buhari and his team instead of joining others to criticize them.”

There are no prizes for guessing who the “others” that he is referring to are because it is self-evident. What the Emir appears to have forgotten is that had it not been for a sizeable number of votes from the south west the President would not have had a hope in hell of being elected.

Simply put what he is saying is that Buhari is effecting a clear and simple northern agenda which must be supported by all true sons and daughters of the north. He is also suggesting that the feelings and sensibilities of those that oppose him from the south do not matter.

Meanwhile the tension that is being generated by the sectional nature of President Buhari’s policies and government continues to escalate and a face-off is imminent. Nothing reflects this fact better than the words and obvious concerns of the Ohanaeze Youth Wing who condemned the fact that whilst the Buhari administration continues to keep Mr. Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB in prison, they are releasing hundreds of murderous Boko Haram terrorists from detention.

Not to be left out, the Northern youths, under the auspices of the Northern Youths Leaders Assembly issued a statement on the 8th of August threatening to deal with anyone or any group of people who continue to criticise or try to “tarnish the image” of President Buhari.

Yet the most chilling warning of all came from yet another militant group in the Niger Delta Area known as the Adaka Boro Avengers. They went a step further than their brothers in arms, the Niger Delta Crusaders, by saying:

“On the threat by Boko Haram to kill Christians we are also sending this message to those Northerners who want to burn and kill Christians in North in the name of the Islamic religion to commence immediately but they must know that one Niger Delta soul will be exchanged for 100 Northern souls.”

These are dangerous words from dangerous people. We ignore them at our own peril. It is clear to the discerning that now, possibly more than at any other time in the beleaguered history of our country, we need prayers to ensure a peaceful resolution to what is essentially an extremely complicated problem that presents us with an existential threat.

Only a fool would disregard the fact that the ethnic and religious polarisation that we are faced with today is real and that the drums of war are beating in our country.

Clearly things are falling apart. Yet if the Buhari administration continues to ignore our concerns and admonitions and if they continue to insist on arresring and locking us up and attempting to intimidate us simply for our timely counsel and interventions perhaps they will listen to one of their own.

If they do not wish to hear the truth about the way forward from us perhaps they would be ready to hear it from someone who openly supported them and helped them to come to power last year.

That person is none other than the distinguished and highly respected General Alani Akinrinade, a war-hero, an elder-statesman, a revered and respected Yoruba elder and a leading supporter of President Buhari and the APC during the 2015 presidential elections. In July he said the following to the Sun Newspaper:

“First, the APC must be told, in no uncertain terms that it is fraudulent. They led us down the garden path, lying to us about what is in the end of the tunnel.”

It took courage for Akinrinade to speak up in this way and I commend him for it. His words and counsel are timely and I hope that those that are in power today are humble enough to accept them and retrace their steps.

Permit me to end this contribution with the words of Minister Louis Farrakhan the leader of the Nation of Islam in the United States of America. On August 7th he said:

“Anarchy may await America due to the daily injustices suffered by the people. There really can be no peace without justice. There can be no justice without truth. And there can be no truth unless someone rises up to tell you the truth”.