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Pendulum: How Buhari Can Avert This Looming War
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By Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, I know some fanatical supporters of President Muhammadu Buhari and his ruling party APC will likely dismiss this intervention as coming from an alarmist or Prophet of doom, but so be it. History has taught me a lot of lessons and so has Literature done as well. Anyone familiar with Literary appreciation would have encountered what is often referred to as “tragic heroes”, an oxymoron of sorts. Many leaders usually end up as tragic figures because of their proclivities for obstinacy and obduracy. They are haters of criticism and truth who see enemies in every critic.
When President Buhari won the election against an incumbent President in 2015, it was a miraculous achievement. The mandate handed to him was overwhelmingly national and there was palpable joy in the land that something new and remarkably progressive was going to happen. Change was the Mantra and Change was what everyone including some of those who did not vote for him believed would happen. Nevertheless, no one expected the President and his team to perform an instant magic. Things had gone from bad to worse under the various PDP administrations that we had somehow chosen to afflict us. It was obvious that the years of decay could not be susceptible to any quick fix. Many of us were already frustrated with the rascality and profligacy of PDP. That was why they were voted out. Despite not expecting immediate solutions from the Buhari government, we expected Buhari to stabilise the polity and the nation, not to make them overheated or worse, but alas.
Four years have passed since that landmark victory and the fifth one is already climbing on top of it. I will not bore you with the events of recent times gone past. The future has arrived and at least, for now, or till the Supreme Court decides, for or against, we are stuck with Buhari, a leader who has turned lethargy, laggardness and sluggishness into a veritable art form. Anyway.
I’m always willing to give everyone another chance because no one is perfect. At President Buhari’s age (he is nearer 80 than 70), no one expects him to change his stoic habits much. Indeed, some of those habits can be for the good of the nation if properly harnessed and channelled. If as they say, old habits die hard, we can at least help the President to hear and see what Nigerians and the rest of the world think of him and why he must have pity on millions of hapless Nigerians by doing the right things.
Walahi, I don’t believe Nigerians are difficult to govern. We are a breed of people who demand precious little from the leaders. Accordingly, the simple things make us happy and satisfied. Most governments have understood this aspect of the Nigerian psyche and exploited it. Labour union strikes have petered and fizzled out, in some cases, even being moribund at inception simply because the government has offered carrots and palliatives to weaken the resolve of the people and bring them to a situation where they are only puppets on a string. The people hardly demand innovation or creativity. In any event, those qualities are seemingly lacking in our present leaders.
It is the lack of creativity, and a bit of flexibility, that is destroying the ruling party APC and by implication the nation. APC was born in anger, deprivation and hostility. The Party is a product of division and strife. Little wonder that it appears to be plunging us towards the abyss that is called war. If APC is not careful the Party will leave a legacy of having been birthed in conflict and having lived forever in warmongering. That’s the biggest tragedy afflicting a party that once held out so much promise and opportunity but frittered it away. Of all the possible political afflictions in the world, the worst is the lack of security, particularly under the reign of a retired Army General, whose biggest qualification for his present job is the rank and status he attained in his previous military existence. It is interesting to observe that on that occasion the country was involved in a war of attrition from which it has not recovered to date. The suspicion, mistrust and distrust that the civil war engendered will take generations to heal. However, we must make great effort to heal those wounds and ensure that the kind of debilitating soul-destroying war that the country fought never repeats itself.
Today, as if we never learnt our lessons, Nigeria is in the throes of the beginning of another monumental conflict that will make the civil war pale into insignificance. Many of the people I know have resigned themselves to fate. They are expecting the worst to happen, any time from now. But I pray against all evil machinations against our dear beloved country. No calamity shall befall us.
Yes, the drums of war are beating loudly. The ill-assortment of hopeless drummers appear rugged and determined to achieve the worst. The rest of us seem helpless, hopeless and hapless. The hawks are flying in their legions, the doves have crumbled and crumpled and have retreated into their nests. Only one man can stop the imminent explosion and that is the father of the nation, President Muhammadu Buhari. No father ever watches his children perish in fire without making every effort to rescue them. President Buhari must wake up from his petulance and act like a true father of all. He must not be peeved or angered by the insults and abuses that have been hurled at him. When he chose to once more be the helmsman of this foundering ship, he committed himself to become a rallying point, a unifying role model. He did not sign up to be the person who would not only superintend and supervise the break-up of the country but be the undertaker for the numerous millions of bloodied bodies that such a ruinous venture will unearth. President Buhari knows more about the recriminations, repercussions and heavy price of war as a veteran combatant himself. Nigeria cannot afford another bloodletting.
I’m surprised that our government can’t feel the pulse of the nation and see how close we are to the precipice. This could have been easily avoided if President Buhari was willing and ready to listen to the voices of reason and wisdom. It is not too late. We are merely at the brink. We have not yet slipped over. We are close to being engulfed in the cauldron of irreversible war. We can halt this push by those who do not mean well for our country, but the President must lead. He must be the example that others will have no choice but to follow. There is no benefit, advantage or profit in fighting wars of egotism, nepotism and jingoism. There are plenty of gains and increases in unity, peace and stability. And this is no rocket science to achieve.
How can this be done? The President should make that conscious effort to see every single Nigerian citizen as his own kinsman. He should stop the seeming discrimination against certain parts of the country. He should stop the preferential treatment of some people above the others. He should not only say that he ‘belongs to no one but belongs to everyone’, he should show that he not only believes in it but that he acts and demonstrates it in everything that he does. This will go a long way to healing the wounds and divisions that presently ravages the land. Indeed, this is the crux of the matter. Too many Nigerians today feel extremely frustrated. They feel, misused, disused and abused. Apart from mass unemployment, they feel like slaves in their own country. They feel unwanted. They feel unloved. And they are undoubtedly unprotected. President Buhari must show them that Nigerians and the nation are safe and secure under his charge, that the warmongers and warlords will never have their way and that he is in charge and not just a mere ceremonial figurehead with bark but no teeth.
Furthermore, President Buhari must restore a sense of pride and belonging to every Nigerian. The narrative and discourse that we are all a bunch of useless, lazy, fraudulent, frivolous and inept people must now stop. Continued persistent use of such diatribe and tirade can only belittle and impugn the Buhari administration itself. Any government that has been in power for four years must have gone to great lengths to fix this perception of its citizens, by both nationals and foreigners alike. That is not the case in Nigeria of today and it is one of the reasons that there seems to be a gulf between our diverse peoples.
It is just unfortunate that we have to find ourselves at this unnecessary juncture. Nigeria has seriously retrogressed in every sense and indices since this government came to power. Before the coming of this government, Nigeria prided itself as the number one and the fastest growing economy in Africa. That is no longer the case today. There were pockets of terrorist attacks by Boko Haram restricted to the North East of Nigeria. There were militant attacks in the Niger Delta but these were being contained by various programmes aimed at quelling the restiveness that had given rise to such militancy. At first, it seems these became degraded when Buhari came to power, but no one can say with any degree of confidence that the war against insurgency or militancy has been won. As a matter of fact, the terrorists have continued to launch ferocious attacks. The militants that appear to have gone underground are beginning to resurface with a vengeance. More worrisome is the new trend of separationist movements who appear to get more emboldened by the day as a result of the rapidly unravelling denouement that is playing out before our very eyes. However, what is worse is another dimension to the imbroglio added by some bandits and brigands labelled Fulani herdsman from God knows where. They are now the bane of our collective existence and unity as a nation. This group crept upon us like thieves in the night. At first their existence was like a silent whisper that children would mouth in the recesses of the dark for fear of being discovered. Soon the rumours took upon a life of their own and now their existence is no longer a rumour but cold fact. Indeed, a legend is building around the destruction that they are leaving in their wake. Nigerians have suddenly woken from their slumber to discover that marauders are taking over their land in the name of grazing cattle and the palpable fear is lending voice and fillip to irridentists and divisionists. It is true that politicians want to take advantage of this sorry state of affairs, but this is only because President Buhari’s preferred solution of molly-cuddling the bad eggs is untenable and cannot work. It can only encourage those who have nothing to do but play politics with serious issues to continue at a game at which they are past masters. If one could not blame Buhari directly for Boko Haram, it is tempting to throw heaps of blame at him for his tacit support and pampering of the herdsmen who are undoubtedly members of his clan.
No one should blame us for this allegation. It is all too obvious that had Buhari treated these miscreants the way he descended heavily on Nnamdi Kanu and others accused of treasonable offences, this herdsman nuisance would have been curbed in its infancy. Sadly, till this day, it has been treated with kid’s gloves. If the government is sincere in its classification of the rampaging herdsmen as rogue elements, then it should do the natural thing and crush them. We have had cattle rearers criss-crossing the length and breadth of this nation literally from time immemorial without any issue or hassle. Those who want to give the innocent cattle breeders a bad name should be promptly identified and dealt with in summary fashion. No amount of pandering to the wishes and demands of devilish and deadly evildoers will ever assuage their bloodthirstiness. Rather it will merely make them more demanding and fearsome.
The interest and unity of our nation is not negotiable and is certainly not subject to the whims and caprices of a small group of hoodlums masquerading in whatever guise. The Government needs to act decisively now, instead of pussy-footing around them. They are a cankerworm, a cancer, that must be excised with military precision and alacrity. President Buhari has no choice in this matter. History will be very unkind to him if he chooses clan over nation. It is not a hard choice to make, but the choice is his and his alone.
The African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has described the All Progressives Congress (APC) Northwest zonal flag-off rally in Kaduna as a monumental disappointment, accusing the ruling party of relying on rented crowds, empty seats and recycled promises.
Reacting to the rally held at the Kaduna Township Stadium, the Director of Media and Publicity of the ADC-PCC, Kola Ologbondiyan, said an event intended to demonstrate the APC’s political strength across the Northwest had instead exposed what he described as the party’s declining public acceptance.
Ologbondiyan alleged that the APC mobilised people from the seven states of the Northwest and beyond, with payments reportedly ranging from ₦50,000 to ₦100,000 per person, yet the stadium, which he put at a capacity of 5,000, remained sparsely occupied.
“For a rally billed as the Northwest zonal flag-off, what we witnessed was a shameful spectacle. Despite the alleged mobilisation of crowds from across the zone and beyond, the stadium remained scantily filled, with empty seats everywhere,” he said.
He added that the turnout, which he described as disappointing, was compounded by what he called the unenthusiastic reception given to the speeches and messages of APC leaders.
The ADC-PCC Director also criticised President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reported commissioning of road projects at the event, describing the exercise as troubling and questioning the administration’s claims of performance.
Ologbondiyan further alleged that some attendees expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling party after leaving the stadium, chanting the Hausa phrase “Ba mu yi,” which he interpreted as a rejection of the APC and its policies.
“You can rent a crowd, but you cannot rent acceptance. Even if people attend a rally, that does not mean they have surrendered their convictions. The real test of public support is what Nigerians will decide at the ballot box,” he said.
The ADC-PCC accused the APC of returning to Kaduna with promises similar to those made during the 2015, 2019 and 2023 election cycles, arguing that the ruling party had failed to adequately account for its years in power.
It also faulted President Tinubu for, according to the council, shifting responsibility for the hardship facing Nigerians to opposition leaders rather than addressing the economic consequences of his administration’s policies.
Ologbondiyan particularly criticised the President’s position on fuel subsidy removal, which the ADC-PCC maintains has intensified the economic burden on households already struggling with rising living costs.
The council urged the APC to stop what it described as wasteful political jamborees, apologise to Nigerians over the prevailing economic difficulties and begin to prepare for an orderly transfer of power in 2027.
It maintained that the ADC represents a credible alternative for Nigerians seeking a change in leadership, promising that the electorate would use the next general election to express its dissatisfaction with the ruling party.
“The message from Kaduna is loud and clear: Nigerians are saying ‘Ba mu yi’ to the APC and Tinubu. Come 2027, they will speak even louder with their votes,” Ologbondiyan declared.
By Henry Ukazu
Dear Destiny Friends,
If you are asked, what’s your calling, what will be your response? If you are asked what your purpose on earth is, what will be your response? If you are asked who you are, what would be your response? These, no doubt, are interesting questions to decipher one’s calling.
Finding one’s calling is the best thing that can happen to anyone. According to one of my most cherished mentors, Dr. Yomi Garnett, the day you find your purpose is the day you become a millionaire. I couldn’t agree more with this saying because it is nothing but the gospel truth. This is because the best thing that can happen to anyone is knowing their calling.
According to Mark Twain, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why. This is a fact. It’s quite unfortunate that many people are just existing as opposed to living. We were not created to exist, we were created to fill a vacuum, and we can only make an impact if we are intentionally answering our call.
Let’s circle back to the question I asked at the beginning of this article, what’s your calling? To answer this question, I would like you to approach it from a spiritual perspective. At creation, God called us to be something in the world, that’s why he gave us gifts and talents and told us to be fruitful and multiply.
Just like we all have names that our parents, friends, children, mentors, etc. call us. These names are reflections of what we mean to them or how they perceive us. Names are symbolic and have deep meanings if we apply reasoning to them. So, if we can answer the names we are called to earth, how about answering the name God called us at birth. I believe that’s the most important call or name we need to answer as human beings. When we answer the name God gave to us, the world will begin to respond to what we say because we have answered the mother’s call.
Why do I say this? Your purpose was made in heaven, but your calling is meant to be fulfilled on earth. It’s sad to see people answering different names they are not called. When God created you, there’s something he had in mind for you to accomplish or solve on earth, but it’s unfortunate that, due to life’s vicissitudes, some of us derail from the path God destined for us, and hence that’s the reason many of struggle because we are not working in the direction and pathway God designed for us to tread.
It should be known that your calling was not a conference call; the call was personal. If God wanted anyone to know your calling or purpose, he would have revealed it to anyone he wants, but he chose to reveal it to you, so the onus is on you to focus on it, follow it religiously and ultimately fulfill it because that’s the only way you can get fulfillment.
I also asked, what’s your purpose? Your purpose is the reason why you do whatever you are doing. In this context, your purpose is your why. According to Dr. Myles Munroe, “When the purpose of a thing is not known, abuse is inevitable.” Your purpose is the reason why you applied for a job, married your partner, started an NGO, a business, relocated/travelled, started school, or even wrote a book. There’s always a reason why we do something. That reason is the inspiration and motivation we need to forge when everything else fails.
Again, I ask you what’s your purpose? If you can’t figure out your purpose, I will strongly advise you to go to your creator (God) and ask him, what’s your purpose because he’s the person that created you. When people desire different interests in different majors, skills, profession, vocation, etc., it’s simply because someone puts the desire and interest inside them.
To understand how purpose works, there’s no problem on earth without a solution. The only problem without a solution is the problem the person with the solution hasn’t arrived.
Let me share a practical example on purpose. There was a story of an old man whose car (Ford) broke down in the middle of the road, all efforts to fix the car proved abortive. An old man was passing by and saw this man struggling to fix the car, he asked him, “What’s the problem?” The old man said, well, my car has refused to start. The stranger told the man to give a minute. The man initially refused saying who is this old man to fix what I have been working on for hours.
On second thought, he said, what will I lose if I give him a chance. He decided to listen to the old man who told him to give me a minute to check out the car. This stranger didn’t do much, he just touched a particular side of the engine and told the old man to start the car, and immediately the car cranked back to her life. The man was surprised and asked him, who are you? ” The stranger said, “I am Henry Ford, the owner of Ford Motors.
The moral of this story is, Henry Ford, the founder of Ford motors, knows his car more than everyone. So, if a mere mortal can know much, how much about the creator who will not know about our purpose?
When you find your purpose, you find your why, but when you find your why you must find your purpose.
The final question I asked: “Who are you? To answer these questions, I need you to focus on the inmate quality you are blessed with as opposed to what people think about you. What people think about you is your reputation, but who you are is your character. Some people associate titles to who they are. I think that’s the wrong interpretation. One might be a doctor, lawyer, Chief Operating Officer, professor, or even the governor or president, but that doesn’t make them good people with good traits, qualities, values and charismatic inmate abilities.
To lead one must have empathy, compassion, and heart of service. It is through these traits; one can see who a person really is and not the cloth of title they are showing the world.
So, to find one’s calling, here’s my sample suggestion: ask your creator (God), inquire what makes you happy, what you love to do, what do people compliment you on, what do you do with relative ease if you are woken from sleep? What is one thing you can do for free?
In conclusion, finding one’s calling is the best thing that can happen to anyone. The day you find your calling is the day you will begin to live your best life because you will begin to bless the world with your calling.
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the founder of Gloemi. He’s a Transformative Human Capacity and Mindset coach. He is also a public speaker, youth advocate, creative writer, and author of Design Your Destiny- Actualizing Your Birthright to Success, Unleash Your Destiny, and The Six Pillars of Success. He can be reached via info@gloemi.com
A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Chief Dele Momodu, has said no political permutation will save President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 presidential election, insisting that widespread hunger and hardship will determine the outcome.
Momodu stated this on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today, anchored by Seun Okinbaloye.
According to him, Nigerians across all regions and ethnic lines are united by economic hardship, which no amount of money or political calculation can overcome.
“The common factor now is the hunger in the land. No permutation can beat hunger. The Yorubas are suffering, the Hausas are suffering, the Igbos are suffering, everybody is suffering,” he said.
He argued that President Tinubu cannot buy the entire country, even if he was able to deploy money effectively in Lagos State politics in the past.
“Tinubu believes he can buy the whole of Nigeria, but my personal belief is that if he could buy the whole of Lagos, I doubt if he can use money to buy the whole of Nigeria,” Momodu stated.
The Ovation Publisher said Nigerians had become wiser and would collect any money offered to them during elections but still vote according to their conscience.
He cited the Osun State governorship election as a case study, noting that, despite the huge funds allegedly deployed, the people voted for Governor Ademola Adeleke.
“And a lot of people will take the money like they took it in Osun State. People’s eyes are wide open now. They brought a lot of money to Osun State, but they still lost the election to Ademola Adeleke,” he said.
Momodu also recalled that Tinubu lost Lagos State to Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, which he said proves that incumbency and financial muscle do not guarantee victory.
He maintained that President Tinubu would not win in 2027, claiming that many Nigerians could not imagine a second term for the administration.
“If you ask an average Nigerian today, do you trust Tinubu to conduct a free and fair election? 90 per cent will say no. Nobody trusts Tinubu, including his own supporters,” Momodu said.
On the detention of former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Momodu described him as a “prisoner of conscience” who is being persecuted because of his political influence.
“Nasir El-Rufai is a lion. They caged him because he is a lion. Even when a lion is caged, it is still a lion. They want him locked up until after 2027 because they fear his influence,” he said.
He disclosed that El-Rufai’s appointment as Deputy Chairman of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign Council was in honour of his sacrifice and resilience.
“It is a way of honouring his sacrifice because his travails are quite political in nature. That is why Nasir has become a prisoner of conscience. He is in the hands of a government that he helped to midwife,” Momodu added.
He said the 2027 election would be a referendum on hunger, hardship and governance, and not on political permutations.
Meanwhile, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Digital Communications, Engagement and New Media Strategy, O’tega Ogra, has faulted Momodu’s comments.
Reacting to the interview, Ogra accused the opposition of embracing “perpetual negativity” and opposing government policies without objective assessment.
He said Momodu’s assertion ignored ongoing reforms and improvements recorded in key economic indicators, including foreign reserves, power generation and inflation management.
Ogra urged opposition figures to offer constructive criticism rather than painting a picture of total failure, stressing that President Tinubu would ultimately be judged by his reforms and track record.
The Tribune
