#Change And Its Different Meanings To Different People:
Posted by Charles Ogbu | 8 years ago | 3,016 times
Let's tell ourselves some home truths here.
When APC came up with the #Change mantra with Muhammadu Buhari as the chief driver of the Changetrain prior to the general elections last year, approximately 90% of those who embraced the idea did so for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with altruism. All the people who introduced this biggest organised fraud called #Change and most of those who welcomed it and keyed in, most of them did so for one selfish reason or the other.
For Mr Muhammadu Buhari, #Change to him means bringing back Hausa/Fulani domination and getting back at his perceived enemies. It was an opportunity for him to get back to power and get back at the rest of Nigerians for having the audacity to take power away from the North. For Buhari, all that matters is Hausa/Fulani Muslims. The rest of the country can go to hell. That Buhari hold southerners and Christians in contempt is no secret. The amount of hate he has for southern Christians is enough to supply electricity to at least 20 states in the country if converted to megawatt. Is this even debatable?
Now, before you doubt me, please take a moment and look at all his appointments so far especially the security heads who are all Hausa/Fulani Muslims except two (Navy and CDS). Look at his support for the Fulani herdsmen killing and maiming Nigerians. He donned a military fatigue for the very first time in 3 decades to launch a 1000 man military task force to protect the Fulani criminals 24 hours after they killed over 81 people in Benue. He BV budgeted one billion naira for them in the 2016 Budget. Look at his amnesty to thousands of Boko Haram fighters despite all their atrocities etc. Consider all these, then, come back and argue with Charles .
For an average Northerner, #Change means removing a southern Christian president (Jonathan) who he considers an infidel, unfit to rule over him and his fellow Muslims. For most Northerners, their opposition to Jonathan had nothing to do with performance because the truth is, Jonathan did more for the North than he did for the south.
Now, before you tell me that Jonathan became unpopular in the north because of Boko Haram and the Chibokgirls saga, you will do well to remember that Boko Haram are still killing, maiming and sacking villages even as Buhari is giving them a juicy amnesty package and the Chibokgirls are still missing. These two issues form the campaign base of Buhari and his team. 16months after, they are yet to defeat Boko Haram and bringbackthegirls as they promised, yet, the same people who almost hanged Jonathan for the aforementioned reasons are today eating and wining with Buhari. Even the supposed parents of the Chibokgirls have asked Oby Ezekwesili of the BBOG group to stop using the issue to make the Buhari govt look bad or hands off the Chibokgirls matter.
Think about this. Do your own maths and tell me what you think.
For Northern elites, Jonathan's removal was all about the 2014 Confab report which they knew would put the North in disadvantaged position if implemented seeing as they bring almost nothing to the dining table but take the lion share from the same dining table in term of revenue. Their greatest fear was that Jonathan was going to implement it if he won. They knew that no Northern president would implement the Confab report.
Just for emphasis, those of you expecting Buhari to implement the Confab report should please stop being naive. President Buhari WILL NEVER implement that report. The North desperately need Southern oil to survive. If we go back to allowing all regions control their resources and pay a certain percent to the centre which is what restructuring or true fiscal federalism as captured in the Confab report is basically about, the North will not survive it. That is why no Northern politician is in support of restructuring the country. The former Vice president, Atiku Abubakar was only calling for restructuring just to endear himself to the heart of many southerners preparatory to his 2019 ambition. If he was sincere, all through the 8 years he was in charge as the VeePee and was even more influential than his boss, Olusegun Obasanjo, why did he not call for restructuring??
Another reason the Northern elites desperately wanted Jonathan out was because of the population census which was supposed to hold this year. They wanted a Northern president that would help them maintain the lies with regards to the outrageous population figure they churn out every ten years as their population. Population figure is one of the bases for determining the amount of money that should go to each region. It is a major yardstick for revenue sharing. The North knows this and that is why they are always willing to go to any length to inflate their population figures and force the rest of the country to accept it.
They told you that Kano state is more populated than Lagos state, remember?
For some Nigeria business elites and oil block owners, the #Change nonsense was just about the oil blocks.
For some intellectually fraudulent human-right-activists wanna-bes like Festus Keyamo, Emeka Ngige, Femi Falana, etc, it was just about their stomach as they felt the Jonathan govt was not giving them due attention. If any of them tells you he supported Buhari for patriotic reasons, gift him with some thunderous brain-resetting slaps and send his lying tongue out of his lying mouth.
If they are patriots, how come they are now defending Buhari's atrocities rather than challenging them in Court?? How many Nigerians have fallen victims of extra judicial killings in the hands of security agencies under Buhari?? How many of such cases have these intellectually fraudulent individuals challenged in Court?
Is Festus Keyamo not a card carrying member of the APC? Did he not contest for their primary in Delta state few months ago? Is Femi Falana and Emeka Ngige not among the SANs who defended Buhari in Court over his non possession of WAEC result? Should they not have been the ones prosecuting the case on behalf of the Nigerian people if they were real human right activists? What would chief Gani do if he was alive?
Falano wrote to the ICC asking the court to investigate Okonjo Iweala over the arms fund. Has Femi Falana written to the ICC over the complicity of Buhari in the mindless bloodletting by the Fulani criminals.
Did Falana write to ICC when Buhari's army murdered hundreds of Shiites and hundreds of pro-Biafra protesters??
Do the maths yourself.
For some efulefu Igbos, the #Change thing was an opportunity to prove they were no ethnic bigots. They knew Buhari was bad news. They knew Buhari hates their kind with passion. But they still supported Buhari just so they could be seen as de-tribalized Nigerians. Some of them even went as far as maligning, denigrating, shaming and disparaging their ancestry as they foolishly believe that was the best way they could be seen as patriotic Nigerians. #Ndinzuzu!!
For some Yoruba elites, it was about Osinbajo whom they believe could somehow become president if fate were to intervene as it did in the Yar'adua case. A betting man would bet that this was what Tinubu and co had in mind. And as it happens, I am a betting man. Tinubu saw this as an opportunity to get his hands on the national Treasury through his boy; Osinbajo the VeePee.
For ordinary Yorubas, they supported the #Change mantra because with Osinbajo as the vice president, they had and still have that sense of belonging. That feeling of being represented was and is till there. This is absolutely normal in politics.
For some Niger Deltans like Rotimi Amechi, this was just a fight for survival. He knew that he would go into political extinction should Jonathan win. Nyesom Wike would have personally made sure of that. So, he supported Buhari in his desperate bid to keep his political career alive. Even if it had meant sacrificing the entire River state, Amechi would have done that. Nigerian politicians are that selfish.
For self hating Igbo efulefus like Joe Igbokwe, it was just about his stomach. If you give him some naira notes and ask him to abuse his mum, he would abuse his mum and abuse his father plus his entire generation as bonus.
For people like Wole Soyinka, the #Change mantra was an opportunity to prove he is just an ordinary man with no superior intelligence whatsoever. He is just like the rest of us... confused, afraid and with his own prejudices and biases No difference, really. He is friends with Amechi who spend millions hosting him on his birthday. He was against Buhari and said all kinds of terrible stuff about him but suddenly, he started drumming support for the same Buhari. That sounds like the action of a confused man to me.
Despite all the atrocities that have happened under Buhari, Soyinka had the moral audacity to visit him and break bread with him few weeks ago.
"The man died in him who keep quite in the face of tyranny". This was Wole Soyinka's favorite quote.
Apparently, the man has died in the Kongi himself. #Shame!!
For most APC members, this was just an opportunity to get their own share of the national cake. They only wanted to have their own turn at the looting race.
In all of these, there are still those who desired genuine #change and were innocently naive to believe Buhari represented that. But make no mistake, the people in this group are few....so few....too few, even! They represent less than 10% of those who voted in the 2015 elections.
Whatever you do. Whatever you plan to do. Always remember, real #change begins without Buhari. Buhari's one point agenda is to #BringBackHausa/FulaniDomination and enslave the rest of the country. As far as he is concerned, Nigeria belongs to the North. All the resources of the South belongs to Northerners. To Buhari, a Northerner stealing from Nigerian Treasury is like a man taking what is rightfully his. That is why he believes Abacha never stole. That is why he would never prosecute Abba Kyari for taking N500m from MTN to help the communication giant reduce their fine as reported by Sahara Reporters yesterday. That is why Dambazzou can own millions of dollars worth of properties in Boston, U.S and even help the Nigerian Prison Service boss falsify his age with Buhari doing nothing. This is also the reason Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai can use proceed from equipment purchase scam when he headed the procurement unit at the DHQs to buy millions of dollars worth of landed properties in Dubai with the Buhari govt defending him rather than prosecuting him. Ironically, a Diezani Allison Madueke who headed Shell oil company for years and made a career in oil industry before joining the GEJ govt cannot own a house in Asokoro, Abuja, without being accused of corruption.
The #Change mantra is one of the biggest organised fraud in Nigerian history. How supposedly well lettered sane adult Nigerians could have missed this beats me!
-Charles Ogbu published via Facebook
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