Rise Of Oligarch: Let’s Confront The Devils Before It Is Too Late

The great Greek Philosopher Plato once said and I quote:  ’’Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something’’. That is exactly what is transpiring in Nigeria at the moment, where some gangs of frustrated oligarch are trying hard to say something despite the fact that they don’t have something to say. These cliques of born to be corrupt, agents of looters do not even differentiate lies and truth anymore; their levels of frustration have caused them a blood pressure. It seems as the absolute blockage of public treasury in the last three years had turned them to a mendacious monsters.  

Therefore, as patriotic citizens, it is our collective responsibilities to correct the misinformation disseminated in our society by this greedy few. We can’t keep silent and allow them dominate the scene and set agenda for our people; just like Wladimir Lenin said though: ’’If a lie told often enough becomes the truth’’. Hence, we must halt the tide before it is too late. The more they fabricate stories the more they indoctrinate the society with deceitful information.

At this juncture, let me make it clear; this write up is a direct response to one hoax Oligarch and self-acclaimed public affairs analyst based in Abuja, in a write up published by Premium Times of 30^th August 2018, where he compared our dear president to German evil Genius (Adolf Hitler). I initially thought that I shouldn’t have responded but after thoughtful moment, I made up my mind that , ’’Enough is enough’’ remaining silent will not help us, the more we keep quite, the more they spread false information for the public to consume.

Those deceitful agents of looters, it seems as their desires for power and easy money, made them forget the atrocities their masters committed to the Nigerian state during their sixteen years of incompetent, corrupt and draconian leadership in which Corruption, impunity, nepotism, embezzlement, tyranny and anarchy became the order of the day. It was at that time that stealing is not corruption, the president became a demi-god, elected governors were removed without follow due process and Central bank of Nigeria was considered as a personal ATM of greedy few.

Just to refresh our memory, Ekiti state governor Ayo Fayose was impeached without due process, state of emergency was declared in Plateau and the governor, Joshua Dariye was removed and not forgetting the Bayelsa governor Diepreye  Alamieyeseigha . It was during those dark days in Nigeria democracy during Obasanjo’s regime that a whole town Zaki Biam in Benue state was leveled by the military and the Odi massacre , an attack carried out by the military against the Ijaw town of Odi in Bayelsa 0n 20^th November 1999.

Nevertheless, it is on record, before the 2015 general election, it was hard to turn to a Radio station, Television or browsing the pages of newspapers without seeing or hearing a story disparaging the personality of the then candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari. The ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), at that time applied all means within its power to tarnish the image of Muhammadu Buhari through  series of campaign and jingles which were based on falsehood . Although, despite all the doctored documentaries aired on some televisions and radio stations across the country, Nigerians were never deceived by the corrupt People’s Democratic Party and voted en masse, sending Jonathan packing. Therefore, this recent rubbish, doctored, devious campaign will also die a natural death just like its predecessors.

Perhaps, the writer had tried hard to trick the audience by creating an impression that Muhammadu Buhari is a tyrant, an extension of Adolf Hitler in one way or the other; but the true matter is that he is trying to protect the interest of Oligarch (self-acclaimed power massaged circle). But we can’t seat and allow then to truncate the efforts to sanitize Nigeria and liberate us from greedy vampires that survive at the expense of  innocent Nigerian citizens for almost two decades. To this end, unlike him; I will highlight some areas where our dear president resembles the great Singapore founding father (Lee Keun Yew) and not Hitler.

Unlike Hitler that invaded Poland in first September of 1939 and started the world war II, Buhari has never interfere in any foreign nation issues, rather as a commander, three division of the Nigerian army he drove the Chadian invaders and recaptured his nation territory from the Central African aggressors. The fit he repeated almost thirty years later when the ineffectual buffoon surrendered the sovereignty of our nation to Boko-Haram monsters.

His compared to Lee Keun Yew: LKY was criticized for curtailing civil liberties and bringing libel suits against political opponents and he argued that; ’’such disciplinary measures were necessary for political stability which together with rule of law, was essential for economic progress. He also said, ’’I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn’t be here today’’. Buhari is also accused of violating human rights, but he replied his critics; ’’we must uphold the supremacy of national security and interest over the allege rule of law’’. Though, some oligarch scholars, lawyers, journalists, and public affairs analysts for reasons best known to them diverted the attention of ordinary Nigerians about the actual message of Mr. President, despite the fact that they knew very well he is right. By the way, it is a known fact, no nation on earth, I repeat no nation on earth, not even the so called mothers, fathers, and great grandparents of liberal democracy such as: United States, United Kingdom or France ever sacrifice national interest and security to rule of law.

For instances, Edward Snowden is exiling in Russia, what was his offence? He sold some important secret documents of United States security to WikiLeaks. But in Nigeria somebody will divert billion of dollars earmarked for arms purchase to his personal use and if investigated one greedy agent of looters will tell you rule of law, but they will not say the same thing for ordinary thief who steal goat and he is awaiting trail for decade.

This born to be corrupt public affairs analyst also said, ’’combination of ethno-regional populism driven by religious fundamentalism in northern Nigeria, an entrenched dogma of party supremacy in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and a mob of supporters whose partisan loyalty has been elevated above patriotism to the Nigerian state, may be paving the way for the transformation of Muhammadu Buhari into a democratically elected dictator’’.  In his own understanding entrenching dogma of party supremacy and massive support from section of the country is a foundation for a leader to be a dictator.

But in Singapore, with overwhelming supremacy of party and massive parliamentary control, Lee Keun Yew saw Singapore’s transformation in less than three decades. In the process, he forged a system of meritocratic, highly effective and incorrupt government. He said, ’’anybody who decides to take me on needs to put on knuckle-dusters. If you think you can hurt me more than I can hurt you, try. There is no way you can govern a Chinese society. With this simple explanation, this writer should know that, party supremacy and strong support from citizen is not tantamount to dictatorship.

Another similarity: Lee Keun Yew sacrifices his happiness, defied agents of imperialists and transformed Singapore from the “third world to first world in single generation” through avoiding populist policies in favor of long-term social and economic planning. Buhari also eschewed populist policies by opening the gate of Nigeria to foreign investors and implement long term economic planning in the area of agriculture, oil and gas and transportation. He was quoted as saying: ’’I will not rest until every house hold afford more than three square meals a day and Nigerian farmers exports surplus of their produced goods overseas. In this effort, he made transportation a main priority; he inaugurated Abuja to Kaduna rail line and Abuja township Light rail in less than three years.

Also the most significant likeness of Buhari and Lee Keun Yew is love for their country. Lee Keun Yew said: ’’Singaporeans, if I can choose an analogy, we are the hard disk of a computer; the foreign talents are the megabytes you add to your storage capacity. So your computer never hangs because you got enormous storage capacity. For Buhari, it is a known fact, even Nigerian his enemy can attest to that, Buhari love Nigeria very much. That is why he said,  he will not go to sleep until all the households affords more than three square meals a day and our famers, able to exports the surplus of their farm produce overseas’’. In doing this, he brought foreign talents to our dear country. Lots of investment and expertise especially from China flooded throughout our country in the last three years.

Final similarity between Buhari and Lee Keun Yew, ’’I have been accused of many things in my life, but not even my worst enemy has ever accused me of being afraid to speak my mind’’-Lee Keun Yew. The same thing to my incorruptible’ President, he is a decent man, highly respected even among his contemporary military generals. Not even his worst enemy will ever accuse him of corruption. God forbid! The below quotation from Plato dried my Pen- ’’The measure of a man is what he does with power.

The writer Abdullahi Isah is a public commentator and Journalist based in Kano that can be reached on 08066048290 or iabdullahi723@gmail.com