Folabi Ogunleye: The Muhammadu Buhari, The Al-Jazeera Interview Revealed

THEY SAID HE IS A VIRTUAL ILLITERATE, uneducated in the mores of civil leadership in democratic societies; they said he is an intolerant man, unable to handle the responsibilities of governing a large and complex society as the Nigeria; they said he is too old and too rigid; they said he is a wicked man; they said he a religious bigot and a fanatic who supports Boko Haram and who will ‘Islamize’ Nigeria, whatever the **** ‘Islamize’ means.

Well, behold in this interview with a well-recognized international media organization, we saw a man who exudes leadership gravitas and a sophistication of thought and expression to which many critics, some of who lay claim to doctoral degrees, cannot aspire even if their lives depended on same. Behold as the leading opposition candidate of Nigeria’s upcoming presidential election oozes confidence and class as he responds to hard-hitting questions in a well-conducted interview by the journalist from Al-Jazeera TV.

Now that is the stuff of which real leadership is made. Nigeria will be so privileged to have a man of Muhammadu Buhari’s mettle steer the ship of state through today’s perilous waters, after years of poor leadership made worse by the harrowingly mediocre and absolutely incompetent leadership of the incumbent administration. It would be ‘heavenly’ to have a Buhari leadership in place after the reign of embarrassment that the Jonathan Administration has bequeathed the long-suffering peoples of Nigeria in six years of the incumbent at the helms of Nigeria’s affairs.

No matter how hard you try, you simply cannot give what you don’t have. President Jonathan and his army of opportunists and gullible admirers can weave and bob and dodge the issues for as long as they can, it however will never detract those who see through they emotionalisms and self-deception from deciphering the truth that the man in the bowler hat has been nothing short of a costly mistake – that the man in bowler hat, Goodluck Jonathan, is the actual ‘educated illiterate’ in power whose lack of exposure and lack of refinement in the finer tenets and complexities of leadership now make his so-called leadership a threat to Nigeria’s national security.

The weak fabric that held the nation and the political organizations in the country together at the point of Jonathan’s ascension is now in tatters, and ethnic and religious sensitivities are at levels far higher than what existed prior to his arrival as president. Of course this is the fallout of a presidency that never took responsibility for any mishaps under its watch but doubled down on pandering to ethnic and religious sentiments, systematically fanning the embers of fear in people at the expense of national unity.

As Nigeria stands at another important crossroads along her torturous democratic journey, the forces of manipulation and opportunism are perfecting their strategies to cheat again. This time, the cheats aren’t your so-called ‘northern oligarchs’ but yet another gathering of treacherous buffoons who have nothing to offer but platitudinous sermons about their so-called feats in power, which only a gullible section of the tortured masses continue to lap-up, like grateful puppies handed bowls of warm milk. Nigerians need to be on the alert and actively resist these opportunists, for these people will see Nigerian burn than give up their continued pillaging of the commonwealth.

It was a mistake to treat the rumors of postponement with kids’ gloves. The rumors alone should have ignited popular protests across the nation such that the entrenched powers will dare not toy with the highly anticipated polls. If these crooks have their way, there’ll be no elections – and that is probably their plan yet: to heat-up the polity such that the man with the gathering momentum, Muhammadu Buhari, will “never govern Nigeria!” That is the sentiment heard from the mouth of one of the loudmouth aides of the president a couple days ago. These people are desperate, will Nigerians meet their desperation with unyielding quest for better governance under a man with integrity, honor and courage?

Only time will tell.

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Article written by Folabi Ogunleye

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