GEN. BUHARI: MR. TEFLON.
Teflon is a kind of plastic often applied on pans to prevent food from sticking to them. Teflon ensures that food never gets burnt in any pan to which it has been applied. So, given that background, if anything can be said about present developments in Nigeria’s political arena these days, it is that Gen. Buhari, the APC presidential candidate is really“Mr. Teflon.”
In its panic, confused mode, the PDP campaign organization of President Goodluck Jonathan has thrown everything at its disposal at him. None, nil, nada, nothing has been able to stick!
First, political darts were thrown to no effect. At age 72, Buhari was declared to be too old to be Mr. President by some over-weight pot-bellied political hounds that cannot even outrace the General in a 50 meter race! Promptly their baseless and senseless contentions were laid bare when the honourable people of Tunisia elected an 88-year old gentleman as President of their country. That development hastened to quiet but not silence them.
Next, they went into their political kitchens and started throwing everything in the kitchen at him. General Buhari has cancer they screamed. No luck! His doctors promptly disabused their minds and brains and they have become befuddled imbeciles. The General does not have cancer they announced.
When all these failed, they picked up another refrain; Gen. Buhari has no secondary school leaving certificate. For a time, it looked like their allegation would gain traction. Then the General displayed what made him a General; strategy! In a concerted, well-orchestrated response, all of the institutions the General attended made public all of the information on the General that was in their possession. The facts revealed the tremendous training that made the General the principled man he is today.
As a matter of fact, it turned out, the US Army War College which he attended in the 80s has since the year 2000, awarded a masters degree to successful participants of the same course he attended. All of the information released by these institutions point to the fact that Gen. Buhari has satisfied the requirements of the appropriate section of the Nigerian Constitution which I present here for all to see:
131. A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if –
(a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth;
(b) he has attained the age of forty years;
(c) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that political party; and
(d) he has been educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.
My readers, the requirements point to “education,” not certificates. It does not require the presentation of certificates; just education “up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”
For anyone of sane mind and thought to conclude that a retired General in the Nigeria Army does not have an education that is up to School Certificate level is the ultimate insult, disrespect, and ingratitude that one can heap on this special group of gallant Nigerians. As a very grateful Nigerian, I join with others, who appreciated these efforts, in committing these hoodlums and ignoramuses to the deepest gorge of God’s fire of vengeance.
They have not stopped. Gen. Buhari wants to convert Nigerians to the Islamic faith, they avow, even though at all the times he has run for the office, his running mates have been Christians; in some cases Christian pastors! Another blatant lie. However, Gen. Buhari gets more popular by the day and the endorsement by the people that really matter, the voters, are coming in bunches.
The PDP and its cohorts, in my humble opinion, have two problems. First are the memories of the Nigerian people. They have gone through both administrations; Jonathan’s and General Buhari’s. They remember and prefer Gen. Buhari’s two years in office over Dr. Jonathan’s six years in office. The differences are just too glaring! Hence, they have picked up Gen. Buhari’s refrain of “change.”
The second problem is encapsulated in late Chief S. L. Akintola’s memorable assertion. “Iya ko je e, oni o gbon. Tani tisa re? {“You have not suffered in life and you say you are wise. Who is your teacher?”} This assertion is a major problem for the PDP. Nigerians have suffered tremendously. And they are still suffering. Finally, the die is cast, the last straw has broken the camel’s back and they do not want to suffer anymore. They have smartened up!
Nigerians want results now not promises. They want the electric power they pay for not the darkness that hovers over them for days, months even years. They want roads, hospitals, schools, and social services which they know the country can pay for but which have been denied them by peculator incumbents of public offices. They have realized that now is the time for good governance, not good luck! Nowhere in the world has good luck built a country. Instead, honesty, integrity, consistency, commitment, visionary leadership, cooperation and character build nations.
Like Barack Obama, who rode into office on the crest of a popular political movement that destroyed every political “monument” or obelisk in its path in 2008, Gen. Buhari’s train is riding through the thick and thin of the needless hurdles being put in its path by mediocre political midgets, political prostitutes and hirelings of no consequence to the country, with the ease of a knife going through butter. They stand demolished.
Honestly, it seems to me like this is Gen. Buhari’s divine assignment. There is nothing left in their arsenal of falsehoods and none of the dirt they have released, so far, has stuck. He has a date with destiny. Lord, please help us against self-destruction
Angelicus-M. B. Onasanya writes from Ijebu-Ode.
