Someone, somewhere in the Nigerian Senate has a great sense of humor. They are playing a joke on Buhari and 170 million people whom, having patiently endured their inefficiencies and ineffectiveness these past 16 years went out to the polls with hope and optimism to vote for change.
The Nigerian people, clearly were tired of the impunity which had come to pervade the political space with the attendant unemployment in the land, not helped in any measure by a National Assembly unable at the very least to come up with any real grand legislation to change our lives. One thing however is clear with the people whom we claim to elect to ‘rule’ us.
They do not owe us. They paid in full already.
The Nigerian electorate is impoverished at every level. His impoverishment is a mind blinder. Everyday the Nigerian steps out of his house, survival is his name; hope is his plan; prophecy is his guide. He is buffeted everyday by moral decisions; To be or not to be.
When a man who is running for office pays his way all the way to the polling booth and possibly through the court system if there is a challenge, he does not believe he owes you anything when he is finally elected. I agree with him. Your soul has been bargained for, signed, sealed and delivered for at least four years. This is why they do not feel they owe you. First therefore, you must remove the log from your own eye before you begin to see the speck in the eyes of our Senators. They are all angry that you got them to pay you all that money while they were seeking your mandate and then you turn around to accuse them falsely of ‘corrupt acts.’ My friend, the Senator is right and you are wrong. You lost your right to accuse him or write anything negative about him after selling your vote. Hence, he is justified to propose a bill to shut you up and shut you down and put you in jail.
The obnoxious bill that aims to stifle free speech and censor online media otherwise known as----Act to Prohibit Frivolous Petitions --will be passed by the Senate. The House will concur. The question is---Will Buhari sign it?
A young Buhari, passed Decree 4 of 1984 with which he jailed Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson for writing an article that ‘embarrassed a public officer.’ Echoes of this sordid past and blatant assault to basic freedoms could have derailed his fourth attempt to run for President. This was the one thing everyone was scared of. Christiane Amanpour had asked him in his first CNN interview---
Hear Buhari in his own words----
Amanpour: Can I now ask you about yourself because headlines around the world are portraying this election as a choice between a failed president and a former dictator — and you’re the former dictator according to these headlines.
You know, people say — and they remember — that you expelled 700,000 migrants years ago thinking that would create jobs, that you’ve banned political meetings and free speech, that you’ve detained thousands of people, secret tribunals, executing people for crimes that were not capital offences. Have you changed or is this what the Nigerian people have to look forward to?
Buhari: Well all those things you mentioned, with a degree of accuracy of actually what happened, was then under a military administration, and when that military administration came under my leadership, we — the military — suspended the part of the constitution that we felt would be difficult for us to operate under those circumstances. So I think I’m being judged harshly as an individual that what happened during the military administration can be extended under a multiparty democracy system.
Buhari was elected to office by a tired, weary but expectant people of Nigeria. I was at the Teslim Balogun Stadium the day he came to Lagos for the APC grand rally. I witnessed first hand from the state box, the euphoria in the air and the yearning of the people for change. Speaker after speaker came out to speak to ‘change’ but when the Jagaban came on stage, the stadium erupted. It was then I muttered the words from the movie—Gladiator---‘the people love him’ (Tinubu). That day, Tinubu earned my respect so much so that I devoted a paragraph to his prowess in political brinksmanship in my book: If I Were Buhari---launched on November 30th , 2015 at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos.
I was on the bus that conveyed then candidate Buhari, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Governor Fashola (you cannot help but love him). He was working on that bus making sure everyone that came originally on that bus got back on it. He made sure the bus waited for a woman who was late to get on it. I was seated right in front of the trio of Governor Fashola, Buhari and Osinbajo. As we drove out of the stadium, some street urchins started to bang on the window of the bus where Buhari was seated. It was both frightening and exciting. It was then I heard Buhari say,
‘They say they love me and they want to break my window’ We all laughed at the time.
It is 3.47am. The date is December 6th 2015. I am cranking out this article because I cannot sleep any longer after reading that the Nigerian Senate is remotely thinking of proposing a bill to hamper free speech. Where is the Judiciary in all of these. Where are the courts? What happened to the rights of any aggrieved citizen to seek redress through our court system? Is the Nigerian senate saying by this Act (Decree) that they have lost faith in our judicial system? I am asking questions and I need answers because I sense a sinister plot here to ‘break Buhari’s window’ by the Senate.
Democracy be damned if this bill is passed by the National Assembly and signed by the President. I will write badly enough to be their first victim.
In February of 2015, when the elections were postponed, I wrote an article titled: Buhari, Conscience of the Nation. The Vanguard Newspaper headlined it ----Buhari in the Public Eye. In the concluding paragraph of the article, I wrote ----
At 73, Buhari is the least likely candidate that Nigerians need in 2015 but a nation in search of a moral compass it would appear, can look no further. Will Goodluck Jonathan use the next six weeks to build up his emotional bank account or will the APC blow the momentum? It is on this pinhead that the 2015 elections will turn.
The article was mainly about how Jonathan blew the emotional bank account that the people entrusted him with.
It is Deja vu all over again. The APC is working very hard to make the people hate them by blowing a crater- sized hole in Buhari’s emotional bank account.
I do not like what the Senate is proposing. It is a bad law. Buhari must send a signal to them that the law will not see the light of day. A group of Senators running amok must be stopped. They do not own Nigeria. We, the people are the owners of Nigeria and we must let them know this. Meanwhile, I appeal to the President. Please sir, do not allow these senators ‘break your window.’
Mr President, do not sign that bill!!