Let us set the records straight. As Nigerians prepare to vote for progress and change in the upcoming Presidential elections, it is pertinent certain popular statements attributed to chief opposition candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari are set straight for God and man.
Firstly, did General Buhari ever say he or they will make Nigeria ungovernable?
The answer to this is a resounding, NO!
In an earlier write-up we carefully researched this inflammatory statement and discovered that it was made by a then PDP politician, Lawal Kaita from Kaduna. This is why the late NSA, Andrew Owoye Azazi said that it was internal PDP politics and their squabbles on zoning/rotation of the Presidency that led to the “sudden sophistication of Boko Haram.” It was within PDP that the discussion of rotation of the presidency came up, and Lawal Kaita was perturbed with Jonathan’s decision to continue late Umaru Yar’Adua’s term in violation of the parties zoning policy. This was when Jonathan promised to only contest/occupy the top spot one additional term (in addition to his completing Yar’Adua’s term) and also when some northern PDP stalwarts and party founders threatened to make Nigeria ungovernable. There was no such confusion in Buhari’s CPC and thus no need and reason for such inflammatory pronouncements from his quarters.
When Reuben Abati spun this statement upon the person of Buhari, the General took him to court for libel and the court judgment as awarded in Buhari’s favor. Buhari dragged Abati and The Guardian to court via suit no. ID/837/2011 and demanded N1billion damages. President Goodluck Jonathan then begged Buhari to settle out-of-court. See in DailyPost of January 13th, 2013: http://dailypost.ng/2013/01/13/presidency-begs-buhari-to-settle-slander-case-out-of-court/. The empathetic General agreed and Reuben Abati and the Guardian where the libelous article was published were made to publish an unreserved retraction of the slander against Buhari which they did in the Guardian of July 11, 2013. This is why Reuben Abati is called Nigeria’s evil genius. Our full article on this with all references can be read here on ENDS.ng: http://ends.ng/fact-it-was-pdp-that-promised-to-make-nigeria-ungovernable-in-2011-buhari-never-did/
Did General Buhari promise election riots in 2011?
The answer to this is again, NO!
General Buhari never prescribed riots or made any threat related to such in regards to the 2011 elections. He took the case of election rigging to court and never made a single statement containing threats in relation to it. The Lemu panel investigation of the post-election riots cleared the General of any guilt of complicity. The General released an exemplary press statement on the court’s ruling which can be read on SaharaReporters of December 28, 2011: http://saharareporters.com/2011/12/28/statement-general-muhammadu-buhari-regarding-verdict-supreme-court-jonathans-election
Buhari did however state that if 2015 was a repeat of the rigging on 2011, there will be a fierce fight He used the kare jini biri jinni Hausa proverb, which roughly cuts as ‘the dog and baboon will be soaked in the same blood,’ but is an idiom which means, there will be a real battle- could be legal; could be protests or any other battle, as this is a mere proverbial statement. Of course those who wished to paint this statement with the ‘blood’ contained in it did so eagerly as we see they have done in many other of his statements and statements attributed to him. Read more on the idiom here, by Dr. Aliyu Tilde on PremiumTimes: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/opinion/5195-buhari_vs_pdp_the_dog_and_the_baboon.html
The third hallmark statement attributed to the General: did Buhari ever say that a war on Boko Haram was a war against the north?
The answer to this statement as with the rest is a resounding, NO!
Why are all these false statements attributed to Buhari? Well, for one reason the General is rather not that outspoken and is a man of extreme patience and tolerance who evidently only used legal means to redress the libel and false accusations against him planed and sponsored by the Presidency.
So what did General Buhari say in 2013?
He said, the institution of a State of Emergency in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states was a declaration of war on the north of Nigeria.
He did not say that fighting Boko Haram was a declaration of war against the north; no, after all he fought and destroyed not only Maitatsine terrorists, but also the Habre fanatical forces of Chad. He clearly understands the need of a real war against terror; he however saw that Nigeria’s President and the then army Chief, General Azubuike Ihejirika who has been labeled a Boko Haram sponsor by my organization, ENDS and Boko Haram negotiator, Stephen Davis, were not fighting any real war against the terrorists but were silently facilitating the continued reign of terror and seeking all means to destroy the northeast as it is today.
When Buhari wiped out Maitatsine in Adamawa state, he did not need to declare any phony state of emergency. He did not declare one either when he expelled the Habre Chadian forces from the 19 Nigerian occupied Islands in the northeast.
Today the entire Nigeria saw the wisdom of elder statesman Buhari’s position against the declaration of the state of emergency and the senate thereby refused to extend the more harmful than good emergency rule that failed to yield meaningful results since it was instituted in May of 2013.
I as a proponent of the State of Emergency in 2013 and one of those who canvassed and pushed for it did not quite agree with the General at the time but now I understand his reservations and how this declaration and all others by the President including his recent cessation of fire have all been declarations of war against the Nigerian people, particularly those being decimated and displaced in the northeast by French foreign forces being organized and directed from Idris Deby’s Chad.
In conclusion, the Jonathan government who without any investigation exonerated MEND who had claimed responsibility for the October 1st 2010 Abuja bomb attack, since then decided to pick on General Muhammadu Buhari, his most formidable perceived opponent and in so doing allowed and as some say, actually supported Boko Haram’s continued existence and carnage while his evil genius press and media men and the Femi twins continued to spew slander upon slander and libel upon libel against the person of Buhari, spinning his every proverb out of context, publishing twisted versions of his every word and even reflecting other people’s statements upon him.
Proverbs 19:9 says… who breathes out lies will perish.
Indeed the liars shall perish. For “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” Romans 3:13 ESV.
– By Dr. Peregrino Brimah
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