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Obasanjo May End in Utter Disaster and Shame: A Rejoinder By Abubakar Aliyu Funtua
Please permit me a space to react to an article with the above title reproduced in the LEADERSHIP of 22 January, 2006 originally published in the DAILY TRUST of 2 January, 2006 credited to Femi Fani-Kayode, the Senior Presidential Assistant on Public Affairs.
It is imperative to state from the onset tht I have no intention to defend President Olusegun Obasanjo on the many allegations and accusations levelled against him therein. Far from that. He has a retinue of Ministers, Special Advisers and Special Assistants to do that for him.
Ordinarily, one would not have bothered to react to the said article, but in view of the fact that the writer was set to confuse or rather deceive gullible Nigerians about his real intentions viz:- inciting one ethnic group against another; showing his desperation for undue consideration or to borrow the words of Prof. Wole Soyinka “to curry the favours of the President” and intimidating a particular section of the country with his illogical and garbled arguments under the guise of “Contributing to public debate and intellectual discourse.”
And, more importantly, there is a compelling need for all well-meaning Nigerians to condemn some of his views because, as he rightly said: “the bullet from a soldier’s gun can kill but only once, but a well printed shot from a powerful pen can wound and maim from generation to generation”. It is in order to avert the damage or at least to mitigate the negative effects the said article might have caused to our relationship as a people that I felt obliged to react. This reason, more than anything else, prompted me to write this rejoinder and analyse some questions posed by Fani-Kayode, which borders on the corporate existence of our dear country.
To begin with, he asked that: “Did the people of the South ever agree to become perpetual slaves of the Fulani ruling class and their military collaborators?” (sic) Although I am not a historian, but my elementary knowledge of the subject informed me that, there is nothing close to slavery in the history of Nigerian Politics. This clearly shows that he is either confused about the meaning of the word or is trying to mislead others in his desperate attempt to get undeserved consideration from the same President he wants us to believe he was criticising (or supporting?).
Secondly, Fani-Kayode asked that: “could the Yoruba ever seriously agree for a man like Obasanjo to adequately represent their interests at the centre?” (sic) One wonders what he is up to by asking this question. Was he speaking on behalf of the Yoruba? And if the answer is the affirmative, as an educated person and a Senior Presidential Assistant, who knows what representative democracy is all about, is he expecting a President from whichever ethnic group he may come from, “to adequately represent the interest of his people at the centre?” That will amount to sheer irresponsibility, because they have elected representatives at the National Assembly constitutionally empowered to represent their interests.
The President is supposed to represent and indeed protect the interests of all ethnic groups in the country, not just his own. It seems that Fani-Kayode is the one “living in another planet for the last 41 years” but not anyone else.
More worrisome is Kayode’s outburst that: “if you kill Ganiyu Adams today, one thousand will rise up in his place and whether anyone likes it or not the truth is that Nigeria is on the boil”. (sic) Is Ganiyu Adams or any Yoruba man for that matter, above the law simply because Obasanjo is the president of Nigeria or was Abubakar Aliyu or any Hausa/Fulani man above the Law when Shehu Shagari was the President of Nigeria? Does he even know anything about the Rule of Law? I suppose he knows. Perhaps better than yours sincerely. Certainly, this is a clear case of crude political extremism.
Obviously, this statement has far reaching social and security implications. Does this imply that Fani-Kayode is privy to a grand design (plan) to cause chaos and massacre of innocent people similar to the unfortunate incidents in Lagos, Shagamu and Ilorin? I think the security agencies should better act fast and apprehend him to clarify this statement before it is too late.
I have a lot of respects for the Yoruba race. It is unfortunate that Fani-Kayode did not seem to have a sense of decorum when he queried that: “who can deny the fact that Ganiyu Adams is gradually acquiring the status of Willam Wallace of Yoruba Politics?” (sic). Although I have not watched the film he referred us to, I believe that the circumstances which prevailed in England in the 15th century are quite different from what obtains in Nigeria today. At any rate, elevating a scoundrel like Ganiyu Adams to that status amounts to ridiculing the Yoruba race who are undeniably having the highest number of (Western) educated people in the country. He has guffed. And he should be called to order-in the traditional way
It is disgusting that a high ranking public officer like Fani-Kayode who is supposed to be assisting the President in ensuring peaceful co-existence has descended so low to the level of a tribal jingoist. This campaign against Nigeria is quite absurd. It is relevant here to reproduce a passage from a book titled: “The Misrepresentation of Nigeria co-authored by the late erudite scholar and historian, Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman and Alkasum Abba on these types of negative campaigns against the corporate existence of Nigeria thus: “All Nigerians, committed to Democracy and National Integration who do not want their country wrecked and themselves and their families fleeing as refugees have to clearly understand this campaign and consciously counter its misrepresentation of the country. They must stand up, every time and everywhere, to oppose this campaign and counter all attempts to divide and set Nigerians against each other”.
In the light of the above therefore, I wish to draw the attention of Fani-Kayode (because he seemed to have forgotten) the fact that the entire world is on the verge of integration, unification, alliances and, above all, ‘globalisation’ and not chaos, massacre or ‘restructuring’ whatever that may means (to him). So for him to say that “there are literally millions of closet Ganiyu Adams in the West today who are waiting for the right time to manifest their outrage and disgust about what is happening in this country” is out rightly condemnable. Is he a fifth columnist or has he suddenly turned to a terror Presidential Assistant? I believe that he would not wish his own children to join those “millions of closet Ganiyu Adams” when the right time comes.
After all, one should not even bother about the answers to the above questions since Feni-Kayode himself have confessed that he is “sick and tired”. Having confirmed the fact that he is sick and tired; the best option for him is to shut up, drop his weak and hollow pen, resign and retire back to his village or where ever he might come from. But he should not to be distracting our attention from reading educating, entertaining and informative articles unlike his own crap, under the illusion that he is “contributing to public debate and intellectual discourse”.
In the final analysis, his contradicting declaration that: “yes I have absolutely nothing personal against the President and I say all these things out of love simply because I do not want him to fail in his endeavours” is a different topic for discussion.
Abubakar Aliyu funtua 27, Modibbo Road, P.O. Box 85, Funtua , Katsina State.
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