By Remi Oyeyemi
For those who have followed my writings, it is not news to
them that I have no iota of confidence in President Muhammadu Buhari either as
a candidate or as President of Nigeria. It is not news that it has been
difficult for me to believe that anything good could come out of Buhari’s Nazareth . My convictions
are based on his trajectory on the political landscape of Nigeria . A
trajectory of corruption, incompetence, deceit, nepotism and a genre of noxious
tribalism are the contaminating clouds characterizing his contoured career.
*Buhari |
But for someone like me, who is an avowed
unbeliever in Buhari, it is nothing personal. It is all about the future of my
children who despite having several opportunities for being Americans have
fallen in love first of all with Ijeshaland, the Yoruba Nation, the unfortunate
country called Nigeria and
the continent Africa . That is the order of
priority in which I have tried to educate them and they understand, or rather I
did everything to make them understand, why it has to be that way.
So, because this is about the future of my children, I have prayed ceaselessly and hoped untiringly that President Buhari would disappoint me in his second coming. This is despite the fact that I did not think he would be able to rescueNigeria . This is despite the fact that I
know his second coming is a tragic mistake. This is despite the fact that I know that Buhari is a born-again
corrupt military man turned politician dressed in the borrowed robe of integrity.
This is despite the fact that I know that he does not believe in Nigeria .
But somehow, you just hope that you are wrong. You hope that the man could have been softened by age and experience. You just hope that at his age he would realize the futility of vanity and would seek to ingrain his name in immortality by doing the right thing and disappoint doubting Thomases like me. You hope that some of your friends and colleagues who bought into him hook, line and sinker would come around to wipe it in your face “we told you so.”
It would have been beautiful and worth it if I found myself in that position. It would not have mattered if President Buhari had disappointed me and performed very well. I would have appreciated it. I would have praised him. I would have been converted to one of his hailers. I would have been shameless about making a u-turn. All would have been worth it for the sake of the future of my children.
But rather than disappoint me, President Buhari further confirmed why I have been against him in the first instance. He cemented his reputation that made Nigerian electorate reject him three times as a congenital failure and incorrigibly untruthful. He continues to prove that he is not worthy of even the fake integrity with which he has been invested by the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s propaganda machine that ensured his election as Nigeria’s president.
So, because this is about the future of my children, I have prayed ceaselessly and hoped untiringly that President Buhari would disappoint me in his second coming. This is despite the fact that I did not think he would be able to rescue
But somehow, you just hope that you are wrong. You hope that the man could have been softened by age and experience. You just hope that at his age he would realize the futility of vanity and would seek to ingrain his name in immortality by doing the right thing and disappoint doubting Thomases like me. You hope that some of your friends and colleagues who bought into him hook, line and sinker would come around to wipe it in your face “we told you so.”
It would have been beautiful and worth it if I found myself in that position. It would not have mattered if President Buhari had disappointed me and performed very well. I would have appreciated it. I would have praised him. I would have been converted to one of his hailers. I would have been shameless about making a u-turn. All would have been worth it for the sake of the future of my children.
But rather than disappoint me, President Buhari further confirmed why I have been against him in the first instance. He cemented his reputation that made Nigerian electorate reject him three times as a congenital failure and incorrigibly untruthful. He continues to prove that he is not worthy of even the fake integrity with which he has been invested by the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s propaganda machine that ensured his election as Nigeria’s president.