By Jude Ndukwe
I read with derision the infantile missive of one
Churchill Okonkwo which he mischievously titled “FFK Stabbed Nnamdi
Kanu, Betrayed IPOB and Kissed Kwankwaso” which was published in Sahara
Reporters of August 3, 2018. It is unfortunate that in attempt to
score cheap points, use FFK’s famous name to climb to momentary limelight and
satisfy his paymasters, Churchill vitiated the seriousness of the struggle of
IPOB and reduced it to mere politics out of the need to satisfy his hirers.
I would have ignored him but then on a second thought,
what does it take to enlighten an ignoramus of Churchill’s status. Let me start
by making it clear from the outset that IPOB’s struggle is not hatred for the
Fulani, it will amount to reducing the noble struggle of IPOB for freedom and
justice to hatred for the Fulani or any other tribe for that matter just like
Churchill alluded to in that unfortunate essay of his.
The fact is that it does not matter who is president today even if the person is Igbo, IPOB would still insist on continuing with their struggle unless a better, more acceptable and workable option is presented before them. It is foolhardy if not outright insanity to allude that FFK defined the struggle for IPOB by instigating IPOB against the Fulani when it is very obvious even to the dumbest of all dullards like Churchill that Nnamdi Kanu’s struggle against the Nigerian set up was totally and absolutely independent of whatever opinion FFK holds against critical political actors and drivers of the nation irrespective of tribe.
*Nnamdi Kanu and Femi Fani-Kayode |
The fact is that it does not matter who is president today even if the person is Igbo, IPOB would still insist on continuing with their struggle unless a better, more acceptable and workable option is presented before them. It is foolhardy if not outright insanity to allude that FFK defined the struggle for IPOB by instigating IPOB against the Fulani when it is very obvious even to the dumbest of all dullards like Churchill that Nnamdi Kanu’s struggle against the Nigerian set up was totally and absolutely independent of whatever opinion FFK holds against critical political actors and drivers of the nation irrespective of tribe.
It is the same FFK who has stood solidly by the former
NSA, Col Sambo Dasuki, rtd, even though Dasuki is Fulani while he has subjected
the vice president, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, a Yoruba man, to relentless criticism
for the way the country is being run today. So, it is not about tribes, it is
about freedom; it is about justice; it is about fairness, and it is about
equity. Churchill and his well known sponsors should have known better that FFK
and Nnamdi Kanu only crossed paths in Kuje prisons as a matter of divine
arrangement and as a result of their common sufferings callously and wickedly
imposed upon both of them for their courage by the same set of Fulani actors at
the corridors of power today.
Unfortunately for those who wrote the script of sending the
two men to Kuje prison on different and questionable charges, they did not know
that they were inadvertently making themselves available to be used by the
Almighty God to arrange for the two lions south of the country to meet and
strike an unbreakable chord of friendship that no fury from hell can break.
This was just like the biblical Joseph son of Jacob who was thrown into prison
with the hope of seeing him rot there but those who threw him in prison did not
know that that it was actually God’s plan to enthrone Joseph, a stranger in
Egypt and one who, by all standards, was considered an outcast, unfit and
unqualified to hold any political office in Egypt not to talk of being their
Prime Minister.
The ways of God are indeed deep and mysterious. God has a way
of using the past to reinforce his supremacy in the present by repeating those
same events of the old in our time. Unfortunately for some of those who call
themselves Christians, they are so blinded with religious pride that they
cannot see what God is doing while the Fulani, just like the children of
Issachar in the Bible who understood the signs of the season, understand the
signs of the time and have seized the opportunity to “reconcile” with FFK, and
like FFK himself said, “we had a wonderful time and a fruitful and productive
discussion about national issues and the way forward”, after the visit of
Alhaji Musa Kwankwaso to his home. How the Churchills of this world don’t
understand that what is happening is God’s divine arrangement is bewildering.
Joseph was true to his faith and convictions, he was
imprisoned but God elevated him using the same strangers among whom he lived.
It was the same thing with Daniel, the same thing with the three young Hebrew
men thrown into the fire etc. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even
his enemies to be at peace with him” (Prov. 16:7). Churchhill should go and
understand signs of the time. One is also not surprised that Churchill Okonkwo
has allowed himself to be swayed by filthy lucre to needlessly and vainly
attack FFK in an attempt to stop a God-ordained destiny for him from coming to
fruition. After all even Herod embarked on such a mindless course of murdering
infants just in an attempt to stop Christ from manifesting. Even in Revelation
chapter 12, the dragon fought ruthlessly against the woman in an attempt to
stop her from giving birth to the son but she was given wings with which she
flew beyond attacks. Let those who have understanding ponder on these things!
Churchill in that article of his quoted a lot of verses from
the Bible and even alluded to his pastor at one point showing that he is a
Christian. Sadly, this is one Christian who lacks the spirit of discernment to
understand what God is doing in our time and clime. He forgets that even
Joseph, the son of Jacob still went ahead to reconcile with those who sold him
into slavery as long as that would make the purpose of God for Israel his home
country come to fruition. After all FFK’s disagreement with the Fulani was
nothing personal but based on national interest.
His criticisms are based on the grave injustices meted out to
Nigerians by a government whose most powerful cabal is peopled by the Fulani.
FFK is sometimes also riled that despite the evil perpetrated in the land by a
government led by the Fulani and the notorious Fulani herdsmen terrorists,
hardly does any Fulani elite condemn such dastardly acts by the murderous group
nor the tyranny our nation has become.
So, if after all his criticisms, some leading Fulani actors
have eventually seen the light and gone to FFK to consult with him, telling him
that all he had been saying about the happenings in the country are true and
have eventually sank into them and that they were ready to join forces with him
and his party to oust this current government that has allowed so much tears,
sorrow and blood to flow in the country ceaselessly, it is Nigerians that gains
at last and it shows that even the same elites of Fulani stock which FFK has
been criticizing for the sorry state the ruling cabal has turned our country into
understand that FFK’s interest was nothing personal but for the good of all. In
the end, we all including the Churchills of this world benefit from a nation
run according to the will of the people and the rule of law rather than the
brute of force.
The allusion that FFK was welcoming the Kwankwasos, to
his Abuja home for
his selfish political reasons is balderdash. FFK does not need to welcome the
new defectors to PDP to his home to show that his stance on national issues are
pristine and noble. After all, even in the PDP there are staunch Fulani members
including the legal luminary and former minister of Special Duties under
President Goodluck Jonathan, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki SAN, and other notable
Fulani PDP leaders across board. It rather shows class when you open your doors
to those people considered for you as sworn enemies by enemies of friendship
and progress. FFK has earned for himself the right for his home to be turned to
a political Mecca of some
sort. Any presidential aspirant worth his salt knows that FFK has become a
factor in moulding opinions and influencing national discourse to his side.
That Buhari has indeed become so unpopular today that his
hitherto diehard allies like the Sarakis, the Atikus, the Kwankwasos, the
Tambuwals, the Hunkuyis, etc have abandoned him in quick succession is largely
due to the courageous works, words and writings of FFK who has refused to
buckle under grievous threat to life unlike certain people who quickly jump
ship to Buhari’s party, the APC, just upon being shown papers of investigations
against them. World over, noble men who have proved their fidelity and
consistency to a cause even if it amounts to dying for that cause attract to
themselves great men because at certain levels, these great men want to
associate with only those they can trust, and FFK has proved beyond every
reasonable doubt that he can remain friends with the Igbo and every other tribe
without betraying one for another but uses that opportunity to ensure justice
and freedom for all. Fidelity is a virtue of the tested and trusted!
Contrary to the gibberish spewed by Churchill, FFK has not
and cannot abandon his bosom friend Nnamdi Kanu no matter the circumstance.
Just barely two weeks ago, precisely on July 21, 2018, FFK was in Umuahia the
Abia State capital to bury his mother-in-law who passed onto glory, and the
occasion and venue were abuzz as IPOB high command and members did not only
storm the venue of the burial ceremony in their numbers, they came from
different parts of the southeast, chanting solidarity songs and hailing FFK to
high heavens for his resilience and support to them and to Nnamdi Kanu even
when they thought they had been abandoned by all. If the meeting at the burial
ceremony was agog, the one at the residence of Nnamdi Kanu where FFK proceeded
to go and see a multitude of IPOB members waiting for him was boisterous and
vociferous. Nnamdi Kanu’s residence that had been scantily active since the
unfortunate “Operation Python Dance 2” incident
suddenly came back to life once again.
The news of FFK’s presence there spread like wild fire and
before you could say Jack Robinson, people had trooped from all corners of the
region to come catch a glimpse of their “Nwanne Di Namba”, with many
acknowledging the fact that it takes uncommon men with great value and valour
to stick to their friends in the face of grievous adversity like that suffered
by Kanu and IPOB. The people were mesmerized that FFK thought it worthy to
encourage them not by phone or through his numerous intellectual essays laden
with incontrovertible historical and prophetic facts, but to personally come
all the way to see them and restore their hope in the struggle even if he had
the easier option of returning to Abuja immediately after the burial of his
mother-in-law as some in his position would have done.
While encouraging the IPOB crowd to be law abiding, FFK was
unmistaken in reminding them that theirs was a just struggle and that that
which they are struggling for is recognized in the UN Charter on human rights.
He admonished them that while they keep the struggle alive, they must not
forget to also be orderly and continue to maintain their stance of a
non-violent struggle until such a time when their wishes would come to fruition
one way or the other. The crowd went into wild jubilation when FFK reminded
them to count on him as a true friend who will never abandon them even if it
means him standing alone with them.
Videos of the event are on youtube. The people including IPOB
members know their true friends, and no matter the bitter calumny spewed by a
demented heart like that of Churchill Okonkwo, FFK shall not only remain the
people’s voice but their champion and a toast, both of the high and the mighty
and the common man. That is his destiny, and no one can abort it.
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