I See Buhari Going The Jammeh, Mugabe, Zuma Way

By Reno Omokri

The news that the South African President, Jacob Zuma was resigning with immediate effect came as a bolt of lightning on Wednesday the 14th of February. It was a Valentines Day special for all of Africa.

*Ex-President Zuma and President Buhari

Apparently, to stave off a vote of no confidence on him by his own party, the African National Congress (ANC), Zuma, quit the stage while the ovation was lowest. In the space of just s little over a year, Africa got rid of some of its worst performing leaders (if you can call them that). First Jammeh, then Mugabe, and now Zuma. 

Why Are Dictators Not Able To See Facts

By Alexander Opicho

I have been following political decisions of Gambia’s Yahaya Jammeh for the past five years, it has been an interesting venture which have led and could still lead any other observer to the question that, why are dictators not able to see facts the way they are, or what goes on inside the mind of a dictator. For example, Jammeh has been using the political office to serve himself sensuously, without being touched by economic and social problems of his fellow countrymen in Gambai. 

*Jammeh and Buhari in Banjul

Poverty and despair in Gambia has never been a source of contrite to him, instead he feels good to be the only strongman among the desperate weaklings. Jammeh could not accept the fact that he has been voted out, he still clung on power, neither could he see the dignity of accepting defeat to hand over power until he is humiliated through a forceful ejection by the ECOWAS military.

This behaviour is not unique to Yahaya Jammeh as an individual, but it is the shared character of all social and political dictators. Failure to see the reality is their main behaviour, and then deriving pleasure from problems of others is their second behaviour. In fact closer examination of dictators like Jammeh leads to a premise that may be dictatorship is more of a medical problem that a political problem. This premise easily gets support from the sub-normal behaviour of Yahaya Jammeh during his last days as President of the Gambia.

The corporate world is not an exception, managers and corporate leaders that are tyrannical will never accept that they are failing the organization. They will never be sensitive to the fact that they are ones making customers to withdrawal and employees to resign. Instead they will cling to their positions until the organization is closed down. Some observers attribute this behaviour of the tyrannical managers to fear, anxiety, love of power and paranoia, but this is not enough.

Why President Buhari Ran(n) to Gambia and Away From Rann

By Reno Omokri

Till date, the only person who has died in The Gambia is President elect Barrow's son, Habibu Barrow, who was bitten by a dog. But in Southern Kaduna, hundreds of people have bitten the dust. 

If in truth President Buhari really wants to prevent a humanitarian crisis, the place he should be visiting and intervening in is Southern Kaduna before The Gambia.

*Buhari

And the penchant of the President to delegate pressing domestic problems to his subordinates while personally addressing foreign challenges of lower priority is on the increase.

I have chosen to empathize with the Buhari administration over the deaths of Internally Displaced Persons and international aid workers at the Rann IDP camp in Borno state by a bomb mistakenly dropped on the camp by a Nigerian Air Force Jet, but for the life of me I cannot understand why the President, who heavily criticized former President Jonathan's handling of the Boko Haram crisis, elected to delegate his Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, and some ministers to visit the victims and survivors of the Rann disaster to offer condolences and supposed support.

And to the Borno state governor who cheekily said there was progress because in his words there was no "blame game" as would have happened in the previous administration of Jonathan, I would just say, wake up and smell the coffee. I can see no excuse for this faux pas except the Borno state Governor is sarcastically trying to call out the Buhari government for its over indulgence in blaming previous administrations.

If it was possible, the Buhari administration would have taken out a registered trade mark on the phrase 'blame game'. Never in the history of Nigeria, and perhaps contemporary Africa, has an administration invested so much of its focus and time on blame gaming as the Buhari government. So Governor Shettima would have to pull more fallacious words out of his mischievous magical hat of illusions to be able to pin such a false accusation on the Jonathan Government.

It may be necessary to remind Governor Shettima that the Jonathan he so likes to blame visited Borno more than once as President during the height of the Boko Haram insurgency. Has President Buhari even bothered to drop by? That is how much the President thinks of him!

But in all this, we still must give God the glory that the mistake by the air force did not occur while Oby Ezekwesili and Lai Mohammed were combing Sambisa forest in search of the missing Chibok girls. 

And let me speak directly to the President. President Muhammadu Buhari, as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, don't you think you owe it as a duty to be in Rann at this very moment to personally comfort victims and survivors of the unfortunate mistaken bombing by our Armed Forces?