By Usama Dandare
In it last ditch effort to come back at the eminent defeat in the February 14 general election, the PDP presidential campaign has resorted to a campaign of blackmail through documentaries of falsehood to mislead the uninformed Nigerians by discrediting the credible image of General Muhammadu Buhari, the APC presidential flag bearer who is globally acknowledged as an honest man of integrity and good moral authority.
In light of the above, i wish to set records straight for the emphasis of history by countering all their sponsored lies on electronic and printable media against the credibility of the people’s general. The following are some of the lies sponsored by PDP and President Jonathan campaign council to blackmail Gen. Buhari in the eyes of Nigerian voters:
They said, “Gen Buhari introduced religious fundamentalism to Nigeria when the Maitatsine sect unleashed violence on Yola during his regime.”…… The truth is that Buhari actually and promptly stamped the Maitatsine sect during his regime, he used the armed forces to totally crush the sect and stopped their activities, unlike President Jonathan that allowed Boko Haram to gather unimaginable strength and destroyed the whole northeast and it environs.
They again doctored another blunder that “General Buhari was a beneficiary of the missing N2.8bn oil funds when he was the minister of petroleum.”……… The alleged missing N2.8bn oil money was investigated by Justice Ayo Irikefe panel in 1980 and no one made mention of general Buhari in the whole saga and the panel also concluded that no such money was lost. This baseless lie is just to distract the attention of Nigerians from the missing $20bn oil funds, $1bn excess crude oil money and several other funds all missing under Jonathan regime. General Buhari remains the only Nigerian who was onetime a minister, a state governor and a head of state without a single factory, a foreign bank account, a mansion in Abuja or any country abroad.
They later fabricated another baseless story that “Gen Buhari as head of state protected Governor Auwal Ibrahim of Niger state from prosecution when he was arrested with £14m and several millions of Naira in a suitcase at Heathrow Airport in London, United Kingdom.”……….. There was never a time where anything like this ever happened, it was only in the corrupt imaginations of the Jonathan campaigners that made it is possible to imagine some can carry £14m and several millions of Naira in a single suitcase. What an unprofessional lie!
They birthed a new deceit that “Gen Buhari during his regime imprisoned only southerners and Christians while northerners and Muslims were left untouched.”……….. The truth of the matter is that the people’s general never convicted anyone, a fully constituted tribunals did irrespective of tribe, religion, region or gender provided you are brought before the tribunals, the law will act on you. The courts during Buhari’s regime imprisoned the former of Kano state, Late Abubakar Rimi, Alh. Sabo Bakin Zuwo, Alh. Bello Maitama Yusuf, late Alh. Adamu Attah, Alh. Ibrahim Gusau, Dr. Bukola Saraki, Dr. Jibrin Tahir, Alh. Bamanga Tukur, Alh. Lawal Kaita among others, can someone tell me that all these influential people above are southerners and Christians?
They concocted that “Gloria Okon, the celebrated drug courier disappeared in detention under the government of General Buhari.”………… The truth is that Gloria Okon was legally arrested and detained for drug trafficking under Buhari’s regime but her “disappearance or death” became an issue in the next regime after overthrowing Buhari’s government.
They again fabricated that “the Kalakuta Republic of musician Fela Kuti was razed down and his mother was killed by the regime of Gen. Buhari.”…………. It’s a lie, Kalakuta republic was bunt in 1978, about six years before Gen. Buhari became the head of state on December 31, 1983. So Gen. Buhari’s regime has nothing to do with the burning of Kalakuta republic nor the death of Fela’s mother.
They also alleged that “Chief Sam Mbakwe, former governor of Imo state ‘died prematurely’ shortly after his release from detention by the government of General Buhari.”……….. The truth is Chief Sam Mbakwe died at the age of 75 in 2004, 19yrs after the regime of Gen. Buhari. Dying at the age of 75 isn’t a premature death and 19yrs can never be a short period.
They said “Chief Bisi Onabanjo, a former governor of Ogun died shortly after his release from prison under Buhari’s administration.”………. Chief Bisi Onabanjo died due to an illness in 1990, 5yrs after the regime of General Buhari and 5yrs is not “shortly after” release.
They cooked another deceit that “there was massive corruption in PTF under the watch of Gen. Buhari as PTF Chairman.”………. Shortly after President Obasanjo took over, he set a panel to investigate corruption allegations against Buhari in the PTF, and Obasanjo himself recently pronounced that nothing was found against Buhari in the outcome of the board of inquiry he set. See the SUN and PUNCH newspapers of January 14, 2015 for more.
Their lies continue that “General Buhari seized the passport of MKO Abiola, the winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election.”………. The truth is that the government of Gen. Buhari didn’t seized the passport of MKO Abiola because his passport was seized by the then present government after June 12, 1993 elections, eight years after Gen. Buhari had left office.
They came up with another grand deceit that “General Buhari sentenced the first woman to firing squad in Nigeria.”………. The truth here is that General Buhari never convicted anyone during his regime, all criminal and civil cases were handled by the court of law with legally constituted tribunals headed by high court judges. What Buhari did was he didn’t interfere or try to shield criminals from facing the wrath of the law, he believes in the rule of law and fully allowed the judiciary to independently discharge it lawful duties as provided by our constitution.
They came up with a picture of Segun Okonwo as the leader of National Union of Nigerian Students (NANS), saying the picture was taken “when General Buhari as the head of state waged war on Nigerian Students Union.”………. The truth is Segun Okonwo was the leader of NANS in 1978 almost five years before Buhari came into power, Buhari didn’t met Segun as NANS president. The picture shown in that baseless PDP documentary was captured during the “Ali must go” riot when Nigerian students demanded the removal of Col. Ahmadu Ali (now the DG of President Jonathan campaign) as minister of education for the withdrawal of food subsidy in tertiary institutions.
They said, “Buhari promised to make Nigeria ungovernable if Jonathan wins in the 2011 presidential.”………. The actual truth is Buhari never made such a statement, it was Reuben Abati (president Jonathan’s spokesman) who fabricated this blackmail against the people’s general. Gen. Buhari took Abati to court and the presidency begged Buhari to withdraw the case for an out of court settlement, Buhari agreed and Reuben Abati tendered an unreserved apology to Gen. Buhari and to the general public for misleading them. (See Guardian newspaper of 11th July, 2013 for the apology letter.)
Having failed to blackmail the people’s general as violent, they alleged that “Gen. Buhari promised that ‘the dog and the baboon will all be soaked in blood’ if Jonathan wins the 2011 election.”……….. Gen. Buhari never mentioned anything like this. The General was addressing supporters from Niger state that paid him a visit at his residence in Kaduna, he spoke in Hausa and in the course of his statement, he quoted a popular Hausa proverb “Kare jini biri jini” and all of a sudden, the reporters who covered that event were not Hausa and doesn’t understands Hausa, they just went ahead to translate the proverb as “the dog and the baboon will be soaked in blood” without knowing the full context of the proverb, when in the actual definition it means “the fight will be fierce”.
They again came up with another fabrication that “Buhari asked Nigerian Muslims not to vote for Christian candidates.”…………. Gen. Buhari never said something like that in his whole life. The people’s general gave a speech in Hausa language in 2001 at a launching in Sokoto state, he said “people of Sokoto know themselves and when it’s time for elections, they should vote credible leaders that will protect them and their interest respectively.” A Yoruba journalist named Ahmed Oyerunde who doesn’t speaks or understand Hausa twisted the statement that Buhari said “Muslims should only vote for Muslims” in the next election, the reporter later confessed that he wasn’t at the venue where the event took place and that he doesn’t even understand Hausa language, he equally apologized to Buhari and the general public. Keep in mind that the reporter, Ahmed Oyerunde have several records of collecting money and coming up with fabricated stories, he was onetime sanctioned by the Nigerian press watchdog for doctoring fake stories as early as 1990.
They said, “former governor of Sokoto state, Alh. Shehu Kangiwa was among those killed by Gen. Buhari’s regime.”…….. This is nothing but a blind and deaf lie. Alh. Shehu Kangiwa died in a horse accident during a polo tournament in 1982 at Kaduna, almost two years before General Buhari became head of state.
It is pertinent to note that very typical of President Jonathan’s administration, the sponsored documentary of falsehood is aimed to cause disaffection among Nigerians along religious, ethnic and regional lines. It is also a deliberate attempt to mislead the younger generation by rewriting our nation’s history for the selfish reason of re-electing President Jonathan.
My dear Nigerians, do not be deceived, the presidential election is about Insecurity, unemployment, Corruption, collapsing infrastructure and our nation’s fast collapsing economy among others. It is all about our lives, about our present and about our future and that of our generations to come. Don’t vote based on religion or ethnicity nor based on sympathy but rather, we should vote based on integrity, honesty, credibility, justice and track record of accountability and good governance.
Note: some part of this article are transcripts extracted from a video footage put together by the Media and publicity committee of the APC presidential council, Abuja.
—
RELATED
