Nigeria Times

By Philip Agbese

It is obvious the Financial Times of London has been conscripted into the gang of fake news merchants. In its editorial titled “ Nigeria at risk of becoming a failed state and published on the 22nd of December 2020 is at best a pernicious propaganda aimed at the heart of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. It was apparent that FT was acting the script of a greater interest and not necessarily based on facts or any verifiable indices that lends credence to their editorial position.
It is remarkable to know that the level of insecurity in Nigeria has drastically reduced over time. The alarming Boko Haram insurgents have been dealt with in a pragmatic approach taken by President Muhammadu Buhari. Many successes have been recorded under his leadership. He has been steadfast in the discharge of his duty and providing aid to civil authority. I can bet FT relied on folklores in its analysis on Nigeria to miss some of the key happenings in Nigeria.

I firmly admit that any government that cannot discharge this fundamental obligation of protecting lives and property loses any iota of legitimacy. President Muhammadu Buhari has been fervent in his handling of security issues in Nigeria. This is a statement of the fact and the promoters of Financial Times must do well to admit.
It was sightlessly stated that Nigeria was at risk of becoming a failed state. A failed state was described as “one where the government is no longer in control”. This is a blatant lie as the Nigerian government under President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership has maintained stable control and good governance of the country.
In contrast to what was stated, the country is going backwards economically, and security issues have worsened. In truth, Nigeria’s economy has steadily advanced under the current President’s leadership. A blind man can also tell how much Nigeria’s insecurity situation had reduced compared to over six years ago before the current President assumed office.
Regrettably, many notorious detractors remained blinded to every progressive effort being taken but have resorted to launching slander campaigns and giving poor reports about the President’s achievements because of their selfish aggrandizement.
The Financial Times also stated that Nigeria has more people than any other country in the world without providing any real facts or evidence to support their bashful claim. It is crystal clear that the Financial Times is working ‘behind the scenes’ with unscrupulous individuals who are ardent critics of President Muhammadu Buhari led administration. This is against the ethics and principle of fair journalism, which requires non-partisan news and information distribution.
Most of the baseless points outlined in the editorial were the results of the past administration’s failures and poor governance. The present administration has been cumbered with a load of struggling to correct these failures. The newspaper failed to mention that most of the current challenges the country is facing are due to the shortcomings of the past administration, which the current administration is tirelessly working hard to correct.

I am not surprised as FT is a UK-based news agency and will lack accurate knowledge and facts of what is happening in Nigeria. It will be much more liable to produce faltered information and point of views. The Financial Times should strictly steer clear off matters concerning the Nigerian government if all they can do is produce ‘Fake News’ regarding the current stage of Nigeria’s economy, development and security challenges. The whole board of the Financial Times should ‘restrategize’ and comply with journalism’s ethics if they plan to continue to produce any more pieces regarding the Nigerian government to prevent breeding animosity towards the government and internal division.
It is unfortunate that Financial Time has lost its credibility, and has become a peddler of political engineered news gotten from a politically paid journalist that does not have the country’s interests at heart, but only about their monetary gains. These actions, therefore, put all their citations and writings under questionable test.
I believed it is misleading and unfair for Financial Times to infer that the recent success in the subsequent rescue of over 300 schoolboys in Kankara, Katsina State can be termed a “Scam”.
Same was said of the success in rescuing the Dapchi girls that were abducted. I’m not surprised that the opposition party felt defeated by these recorded successes because the last PDP administration never recorded such fast feat in tackling security matters. The traumatized parents of the Daptchi girls and Kankara boys explained what their wards went through in the hands of their abductors, and they can’t imagine what would have happened if they had stayed longer in their hands.
We are not oblivious of the fact that journalism has continued to lose its virtues in the hands of Newspapers like Financial Times and unpatriotic citizens. The light of truth will always shine through every darkness of false claims. President Muhammadu Buhari is unperturbed and very focused in discharging his duty as he has pledged to the Nation. Financial Times has failed, and not Nigeria. Nigerians remain unmoved

Agbese is a law graduate of Middlesex University, London.

By Ochimana Abutu

The governor of Borno State, Babagana Zulum, has been in the news for various reasons. Some positive while some negative. It becomes challenging to place which side of the divide the governor is with his media tirade against the Nigerian Military’s operations in Borno state.

The governor’s recent posture indeed brings to fore some of the dynamics of the Boko Haram insurgency in the state and why Borno state has remained the only state in North East that still experiences pockets of Boko Haram activities.

In some of my previous writings, I recall that I had aligned with some civil society organizations that stated that the issue in Borno State is the refusal by the political authorities in the state to extend their support to the Nigerian military for extraordinary reasons. And the governor has indeed confirmed this position with the inconsistency in which it has praised and criticized the military’s operations in the state.

This minute he praises the Nigerian Army to high heavens. The next minute he lashes out with such carelessness that would make even the dumbest individual smell a rat somewhere. He gets erratic and composed at the state time. His body language indeed tells that he knows the truth about the prolongation of Boko Haram’s activities in the state. His conscience is probably fighting him, which is why he says contradictory stuff within minutes.

It is no longer a secret that indeed the governor of Borno State is under tremendous pressure to do the bidding of his political masters who do not want the Boko Haram crisis to end. From all indications, the governor is fighting a battle of extreme consequences from two fronts; one is from his benefactor and former governor Kashim Shettima. The other is from the warlords from his Kanuri ethnic stock.

We must agree that these two factors indeed place the governor in a very tight corner regarding the prosecution of the war against insurgency. He gets bashed whenever he speaks the truth about the happenings in the state from two ends. The most painful one is always from his benefactor and former governor who from all intent and purposes is still wanting that political relevance at the national level hence his often misguided tirade against the government’s efforts in the prosecution of the war against insurgency.

I am not convinced that Kashim Shettima has any moral right or authority to want to teleguide Babagana Zulum or to comment on national issues in this country because in the eight years he held sway as governor it was established that he was comfortable with the ferociousness of the Boko Haram group so much so that the group advanced and gained control of territories in the state.

This is indeed the situation of things in Borno State and why Babagana Zulum has been speaking from both sides of the mouth in recent times. This is the problem. He knows the truth. He is a man entangled in Godfatherism’s web at one end and his ethnic stocks who have refused to tackle the Boko haram problems.

In my candid opinion, Babagana Zulum’s actions are merely grandstanding in a bid to paint a picture of a workaholic governor who has the interest of the people at heart. And I beg to ask what good is such grandstanding when you elect to turn the truth on its head? In whose interest is it for the governor to continue to issues disparaging remarks about the Nigerian Military operations in the state?

All of the above-stated points to the direction of the political heavyweights in Borno State feeding fat from the Boko Haram crisis. As such, it must not come to an end because that would mean taking away butter from their bread. So it should not be surprising that of all states in northeast Nigeria, only Borno state is still experiencing pockets of Boko Haram attacks.

I am also of the considered opinion that the posture of Governor Babagana Zulum is nothing but the voice of Zulum and the leprous hand of Shettima who hates to see peace return to Borno State. I am also constrained to believe that part of Zulum’s problem is that he knows the issues, and he has dared to demonstrate a commitment toward addressing them, which remains his greatest undoing.

And for daring to be different, the warriors of Kanem Bornu Empire would have none of it. They have threatened to withdrawn political support for him should he credit the Military for its exploits in the state. Little wonder that today he says the Military has done well and the next day he says otherwise.

This is indeed sad and a reminder to all that the bulk of the challenges in Borno State are orchestrated and perpetuated by those that during the day pride themselves as concerned citizens while at night they are demons that feed fat on human blood. This is the starkness of the reality on the ground in Borno state.

Nigerians must consequently be aware that the criticism of the Nigerian Military in Borno State is well orchestrated to cause a distraction of the troops in its efforts at ridding the state of remnants of the Boko Haram insurgents. This was what Kashim Shettima entrenched while he held sway as governor for eight years. He expects Babagana Zulum to toe the same line.

How this would turn out remains to be seen as the truth is gradually coming out and Nigerians are beginning to see that indeed Borno State remains under that attack of Boko Haram not because the military are not doing their job, but essentially because of the internal conspiracy perpetrated by those in high and mighty places in the state. This is indeed a shame.

Abutu is a public affairs analyst writing from Yola.

By Nkechi Odoma

On December 18, 2020, an event which held in Abuja enticed Nigerians boundlessly. In leadership, there must be followers and opposers. Today’s Nigeria bows to ill-feelings of the few opposers who sneer or crucify Government. It’s not necessarily because they know the ingredients of the issues which have become points of criticisms.

Most critiques or jibes thrown at Government sounds as hollow as the voice of the Yoruba traditional talking drum. It resonates acoustically; and very appeasing to the ears; but with very little meaning to the uninitiated. It’s a world of the critics and the minions.

Disappointingly, very few Nigerians have become the uninitiates of the Yoruba talking drum, on Government affairs as postulated by critics. Rightly, it is democracy, which embodies inalienable rights to freedom of expression. The unthoughtful ones are at the mercy of the few loud voices of pointless criticisms of Government. Both the critics and their followers end up disgracing themselves by the display of scant knowledge of the issues which qualify for their subject of criticisms.

Astoundingly, the few Nigerians with disfigured or partisan senses pukes vitriols to those willing to listen to their thrash that President Muhammadu Buhari has scored zero on security of Nigerians. After five years? Really, they can’t see it? Yesterday is forgotten easily and it’s a taboo to mention today’s realities of positive impact on insecurities. It’s peculiarly, a Nigeria trait!

So, the dimwitted believe the vituperations of President Buhari by the nasty opposers, without any attempt at verification. However, it’s unfair to push the blame to the initiators and the gullible acolytes now. It would be premature.

That’s why there was a lot of sense in the one-day seminar/conference organized by Global Amnesty Watch Foundation (GAWF) in conjunction with the Center for International and Strategic Studies (CISS) for targeted rights activists and campaigners purposely identified as CSOs, NGOs, conflict managers, social media influencers and the rest. The list was really long!

It focused on President Buhari’s counter-insurgency combats with Boko Haram insurgents and ISWAP terrorists in Nigeria, specifically, Northeast in 2020. It thrilled the globe infinitely. The theme was “Appraising the Buhari Administration and the War Against Insurgency: Year 2020 in Perspective.” The selected topics and the academic dons, all specialists on security researches/authored works who delivered the lectures did an incredible job in revealing the truth these Nigerian kobo-kobo critics hates to idolize in progressive engagements.

Each member of the audience of GAWF-organized function came out of the venue of the event shaking his head profusely or in hands of gesticulations, disapproving the deliberate persecutions of President Buhari. It was clear they also frowned at deliberate undermining of the leader of counter-insurgency operations, Nigeria’s COAS, Gen. TY Buratai and the Nigerian troops for the fake facts or misleading information reflected in falsified analysis and blatant disregard for sacrifices of soldiers in the frontlines.

Any election year is always a difficult year for democratic nations. It does not exclude even advanced democracies. The American case is still fresh. President Donald Trump is alleging all manner of irregularities against Sen. Joe Biden, who ab initio defeated him. America’s democracy is a bit more advanced than that of Nigeria. So, there was no incidence of physical violence recorded amongst the supporters of the two political swordfighters.

But Nigeria is a developing democracy. And oppositionists seeking to unseat an incumbent leader deploy all tactics, including the crudest means of violence and bloodletting. A catchy aspect of opposition’s campaigns at electioneering period as experienced in Nigeria is the deliberate rubbishing of the incumbent’s achievements in the sectors, they feel he has impacted on the people in grandeur manifestations.

In President Buhari’s case, the opposition focused on insecurities of the resurgent ilk. They gladly forgot about yesterday’s widespread insecurities in Nigeria and how Buhari doused the fire and tensions. But what can anybody else say or do? Everywhere in democracy globally, the citizens mouth anything, anytime and anywhere. But in most cases, with Nigeria in reference, and under President Buhari, the truth is cruelly hidden.

So, very irreligiously, the opposition keeps dwelling on resurgence of insecurities in Nigeria. No one needs a 419ner to put a veil on their eyes in order to fail to see the truth. The mindset is on political vendetta and zeal to grab power in 2023. Rational Nigerians are aware!

Nonetheless, while they delight in the political chess game of hate and spitefulness, it does not vitiate the truth. President Buhari and his team of Security Chiefs perfectly struggled out of an election year in 2019. And the organized breach of national security spilled into 2020. The political pests in Nigeria never stopped. Those defeated in popular ballots mounted sustained litigations against President Buhari to reclaim a mandate they never had anyway.

But quite surprisingly, President Buhari battled the resisters to a standstill in 2020 and the year is searing to an end in few days with more positive results on conquering Nigeria’s insecurities. And in the Year 2020, as exposited by the GAWF guest lecturers, it exposed much of the downplayed facts on what President Buhari and Gen. Buratai, in league with other Service Chiefs have done in curbing Nigeria’s insecurities, especially the war against Boko Harm insurgency/ISWAP terrorism and armed banditry.

The Nigerian Army went into the Year 2020 with lots of loads on their necks across the country. By the ending of 2020 now, Nigerian soldiers are now in 34 states of Nigeria on Internal Operations (IS) concerning security. But they are not fatigued under the field command of Gen. Buratai, a tireless soldier and stickler for excellence for all assignments he supervises within or globally.

Before July 2015, and the Buhari Presidency, Nigeria had several Chief of Army Staff’s (COAS) who preferred the cozy offices of the Army’s Headquarters (AHQs) in Abuja than the sunny scotches of field battles with insurgents in the trenches of the Northeast. Gen. Buratai has made trenches of the Northeast and Northwest, where armed criminal gangs have been directed to viciously slaughter or kill Nigerians his permanent home.

The Army Chief’s frequent trips to the theatres of war is worrisome to most Nigerians, who think he should consider his personal safety. It is because any harm to him on the battlefront signifies and symbolizes the injury or defeat of Nigeria by terrorists. But Gen. Buratai doesn’t care. He prefers to die in the warfront with his troops; the proudest medal of every soldier than allow terrorists feast on his country, Nigeria.

So, again, Gen. Buratai relocated to the theatre of war in early April 2020 to lead the battle against terrorists from the front. None of his predecessors ever did it. It’s not a slate of them anyway. But truth must be told in all circumstances. Its only Gen. Buratai who has displayed this courage and commitment since 2009 when Boko Haram metamorphosed into a national security threat. Terrorists attempted death on him in the frontlines of the Northeast. But Buratai rather visited their camps with more casualties.

And very commendably, the two months Gen. Buratai remained in the trenches leading troops to fight insurgents or terrorists in the forests, caves and deserts or plains of the Lake Chad area in Borno’s Northern polar, there was a difference. The change berthed in other areas in the Northeast like Yobe, and over 2,000 insurgents/ terrorists were neutralized, surrendered or were expired through whatever means.

Buratai is terrorist’s nemesis. Terrorists dread him. Terrorists sponsors have tempted Gen. Buratai’s patriotism and loyalty, but all these years, the funders of terrorism in Nigeria have been unable to penetrate him with all incentives. The last time in the trenches of the Northeast, Gen. Buratai was a roving spark of fire everywhere against terrorists. It was same when he launched “Operation Sahel Sanity” to arrest the criminal activities of armed bandits and cattle rustlers in Nigeria’s Northwest. He is really superhuman!

In two weeks, troops deployed by Gen. Buratai to Zamfara, Katsina, Sokoto states among others neutralized armed bandits in tens of hundreds. It brought instant respite to afflicted communities, despite the infiltration of Boko Haram insurgents to beef up their strength. These are exploits only linked to Gen. Buratai. Any Nigerian, plus Gen. Buratai’s most caustic of critics should challenge him on these points.

The Kankara 344 abductees were released unhurt and in an unarmed military operation in Fugu forest, just within six days. Eight days later, the kidnappers attempt on Mahuta’s 84 Islamist teenagers was immediately resisted. And all the 84 schoolchildren were rescued, unhurt and reunited with their families. Boko Haram’s factional leader, Abubakar Shekau only speaks now through proxies. He is no longer the invincible leader of a terror sect as Nigerians were told years back.

A conscripted child terrorist, Mohammed Adam, a teenage fighter, currently in the custody of troops of 195 battalion of the Nigerian Army recently revealed a lot on Shekau. Adam was arrested by soldiers in the warfront and confessed that Shekau got injured during one of Nigerian forces strikes on an insurgents’ camp in Tumbuktu, Sambisa forest, a Boko Haram stronghold in Borno state.

How else could a leader of counter-insurgency in Nigeria be appreciated? But the opposition elements who plot these evils hate to hear this news. They persistently campaign for the sacking of Nigeria’s best military patriots and loyalists to have a pathway to complete devious plans to unseat President Buhari undemocratically. It’s no longer hidden anymore!

Whether the clan of selfish naysayers accept it or dispute it with their habituated bile, it does not annihilate the unirascible fact that despite the criminal gang-up against President Buhari on insecurities in the Year 2020, the Nigerian Army recorded great exploits. All thanks to the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen TY Buratai and gallant troops. They are determined to defeat the nation’s unrepentant enemies and bloodsuckers.

Odoma is a public affairs analyst writing from Abuja.

By Reuben Dodo

In the first week of December, when 43 rice farmers were killed in the little town of Zabarmari, Borno State; the state governor, Prof. Babagana Umara Zulum betrayed his rare side when he acknowledged that the attack  is only a setback that should not be used to asses the efforts of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s efforts on security.

Records of the security situation in Borno State according to Zulum, have shown that citizens are better off security-wise under the Buhari administration than the previous administration.

The Governor said this is because records taken from 2011 from the 27 local government areas of the state indicate clearly that Buhari has still performed better in the handling of Borno’s security challenges. 

He said, “We now have citizens led by our traditional rulers safely back to Bama, Gwoza, Askira-Uba, Dikwa, Ngala, Monguno, Kukawa, Damboa, Konduga, Mafa, all of which no one could visit not to talk of living there.
“Our emirs were all in exile. Today, Bama is coming back to life and so is Askira-Uba, Damboa, Gwoza and others. Life is even returning to normal in Baga. This was impossible before Buhari.”

But less than two weeks after Zulum made that sincere statement, his other side came to the fore. The Governor, this week, came hard on the military blaming the armed forces for the abduction of over 30 travellers on the Maiduguri- Damaturu road.

He said, “I am really disappointed that despite all support from both the federal government and from us in Borno State, our military is failing to secure an area of 20 kilometers, which is the distance between Auno and Jakana. “So, if the military cannot secure 20 kilometers, how can they keep us with the hope they will defeat the Boko Haram?” he said while berating the army for not being visible on the road.

The two contradictory statements depict how Zulum, through his verbal diarrhoea, has consistently been inconsistent and constantly flip flopping from one extreme to the other when it comes to acknowledging the efforts of the military in his state.

While the two statements appear contradictory, the fact is that it is a self-induced case of bipolarism for political gains. One cannot fail to notice that shortly after Zulum made the comment commending the Buhari administration and by extension the military and the current set of service chiefs for the good job they’ve been doing in the last five years, his godfather, the former governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, to whom he owes his political ascendancy, came out smoking hot the very next day to berate the military and to call for the sack of the  service chiefs.

And in the bid to put an icing on the cake, Shettima added the needless line, that President Buhari is no god.

As Shettima was roundly being condemned over the statement, Zulum who won the hearts of many by making the earlier comment adjugded to be fair on what the military had achieved under President Buhari did a volte-face. The governor used the opportunity of a recent attack on Damaturu- Maiduguri road to support his godfather by unwittingly relapsing into criticising the military by blaming the military for the attack.

Fact is, Zulum knows the truth, that the military is doing a good job of securing citizens in Borno and other parts of the country but he cannot sustain the point because his political godfather feel he must act otherwise.

Shettima and the rest of the political heavyweights in Borno are not happy that someone from the state is doing so well and has won the heart of the President and the people by leading the war against insurgency and terrorism successfully from the front.

In the queer mindset of people like Shettima, all top political positions in the state and from the state should be reserved for members of only a particular ethnic group and anything outside that is considered an aberration.

It is this perceived ‘aberration’ that Zulum, Shettima and co wish to ‘correct’ that theye are doing all they could to portray the military in bad light. The Boko Haram problem has become a bargaining chip for intimidating the presidency into toeing that line.

In this case, they also betrayed the ethnic card when they’ve never castigated or accuse the National Security Adviser whenever there’s a breach of security in Borno State though most of those incidences could have been avoided if there had been more of intelligence gathering.

As far as Shettima, Zulum and co are concerned, claims of ethnic superiority trumps over the bid to save lives and property which the military is doing. 

So it is not surprising that Zulum’s godfather, Shettima,  always calls him to order each time he tells the truth about Boko haram and you see the govenor running today a different thing the next day.

It has become an open secret that any time Zulum commends the military and fails to play the ethnic card,  he is quick to do a recant as Shettima would threaten him with withdrawal of his ticket for 2023.

Further to that,  Shettima has been a big beneficiary of the Boko Haram crisis that he is not keen on seeing an end to it. It was Boko Haram that shot the man that won the governorship ticket of the defunct ANPP before the ticket  was handed over to Shettima.

When Shettima governed Borno, he was able to corner the funds meant for local governments because Boko Haram had helped to make it impossible to conduct elections in the LGs hence are administered through appointed proxies with no accountability.  This he wants to continue under Zulum for obvious reasons. 

Prof. Zulum, unlike Shettima is yet to shake off the grip of his godfather predecessor who likes to pretend that he does not interfere in running the affairs of the state. In trying to keep up the Shettima pace, Zulum has within one year committed many blunders in his dealing with the military. 

In January, he accosted military men on check point duties and accused them of extorting money from travelers thereby embarrassing the military to dismantle checkpoints along the route which led to serious security problem that people began calling for the head of Zulum. 

A month after when there was an attack on Auno, near Maiduguri, Zulum accused soldiers of abandoning residents at the mercy of Boko Haram insurgents alleging further that soldiers meant to secure the community deserted the people.

Now he is saying that the military is not visible on the Maiduguri- Damaturu road as if he knows anything about security and counter-terrorism operations.

He seems not to realise that the days of mounting sentry are over as soldiers visibly placed on roads have constantly been attacked and killed.

The governor at a time even threatened to mobilise hunters and vigilantes to recapture Baga all in the bid to ridicule the military. 

But with the liquidation of over 2000 insurgents within three months no one can accuse the military of being sloppy.

That military operations in the Northeast have been succesful is contained in the fact that in more than 300 instances, the military has either repelled, killed, captured or destroyed the camps of the terrorists. 

Zulum has been a big beneficiary of military operations in Borno as he has on three occasions been saved from harm by the military. That such a man would open his mouth to badmouth the military is the height of ingratitude.

Dodo is a public affairs analyst and wrote this piece from Jalingo.

By Anthony Kolawole

Nigeria’s opposition elements have a very strong and bigoted mindset. They are unbending in designs of heartlessness; something more virile than mere evil. Nigeria’s opposition claim expertise in everything. They strive through the backdoor to administer Nigeria on behalf of President Muhammadu Buhari who has the popular mandate of the people to govern Nigeria.

Life is full of oddities and uncertainties. For genuine leaders, it is a tormenting disease, especially when he finds himself in the pool of thoughtless opposition politics. When discerning minds observe the mindset of the opposition elements in Nigeria, it prickles laughter.

The opposition in Nigeria held power in Nigeria for 16 years. These were years of abundance for Nigeria. They were years of the new millennium’s oil boom for Nigeria. Earnings from crude were surplus and superfluous. The nation appreciated astronomically in wealth.

But the opposition which ruled the country rather indulged in endless profligacy and looting of the nation’s commonwealth. They dragged Nigeria backwards for three decades. It hobnobbed and celebrated looters and thieves; but shunned every positive value. Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s infamous statement that PDP created millionaires and billionaires has remained a sour point in the country’s beleaguered history. But what else can anyone say?

Incredible as it sounded, yet some people fervently argued in favour of it or stoutly defended it with raised voices. But to sane minds, it is quite funny to understand that a political party would morph into an investment firm which generates billions and millions of naira in dividends for its shareholders. It is part of the prattles of opposition elements in Nigeria. These were the funny ideas the PDP which has slipped into an opposition party in Nigeria now harboured on leadership and governance.

Laughably, in ironic ululations today, the opposition disparages everything done by President Buhari, who exudes a vision, focus and competence in governance. In five years, President Buhari has accomplished what the then ruling party, which is now in opposition dreaded in 16 years. But the opposition elements desperately seek to transmute into unofficial advisers of Mr. President.

Unfortunately for them, President Buhari is not an imbecile. He is not weak-minded. He set out on a redemption voyage in Nigeria and knows the destination. He ploughs his graph and adheres to it. He knows how to puncture the gales of opposition elements who have sworn to destroy the legacies birthed by him in Nigeria.

Yesterday, the Kankara boys were rescued in six days. And precisely, eight days after the Kankara abductions; another set of 84 schoolchildren retuning to Mahuta village, after a religious ceremony in the same Katsina state were also abducted by unknown gunmen. Security agents and vigilante instantly rescued all the 84 schoolchildren after a fierce battle with the abductors. This is only happening in the days of Buhari Presidency. The severally embarrassing slaps on President Buhari’s face have refused to show eternal bruises and so, they are angry at the foibles of their tactics.

When in power, the opposition elements had no nerve or strength to rescue any Nigerian trapped by armed criminal gangs. They were natural devoid of senses or any wisdom to rescue an entangled fowl, much more a human being. But they spew expertise on security matters today in an egoistic manner. But who has the President offended? He has only offended the power brokers in the country by seeking to revive and regenerate the nation.

He is assailed with near outright or indecorous insults by those who have tethered Nigeria to serfdom in perpetuity. The opposition is disgusted that Buhari is breaking the chain of bondage; he is giving hope to the hopeless; he is wiping the tears on the cheeks of the poor of the poorest of Nigerians.

Therefore, the opposition elements have become adversarial advisers to Mr. President. They want to think for Buhari and perform his official leadership functions. They are out to usurp the brain of Mr. President and think for him. They display a “brilliance” which only drapes with damaging ambience. Nigeria’s opposition elements are the only fortunetellers who are themselves ignorant of their own fortunes; languish in penury, misery and internally disconnected with selves.

The common dictum at their beck and call is “sack.” They are disenchanted with everything and everybody and so, unintelligibly goad Mr. President to sack everyone. These opposition elements fail to market any worthwhile idea to assist Mr. President in the areas they consider defective or dysfunctional. The language is “sack.” Of course, it’s a truism that no one can offer what he doesn’t possess. So, it is understandable that the opposition’s choruses of “sack” resonates everywhere and all the times. It’s the only knowledge in their kitty.

In the next couple of days, and by the divine grace of God Almighty, Nigerians would wake up into another brand-new year; that is, 2021. And it is another auspicious period for opposition campaigns for “sack” or goading of Mr. President to reshuffle his cabinet or change his team in malicious exhibition of indignation. For people with such mindset, it is foolhardy to advise them to wait for their time to be enthroned leaders again.

So, as 2021 approaches, Nigerians should not be shocked to hear the renewed trumpets for the sack of Mr. President. Yes, they will first target his person and office. They will sermonize about how President Buhari has dragged Nigeria’s economy into recession twice in just five years. The opposition will refuse to remember that they foisted a recessed economy on Nigeria thorough reckless spending or looting; and obtaining foreign loans to fund recurrent expenditures, as against investments.

The opposition will hate to tell Nigerians that President Buhari only inherited a recessed economy from them in 2015 and pulled it out through prudent management of scarce resources and the application of rewarding monetary policies. The opposition would wish it a secret that the 2020 economic recession is a global pandemic caused by Covid-19 epidemic. Even the world’s strongest of economies have not been isolated from it. But they will preach to gullible minds that Buhari caused it and should be sacked.

Nigeria’s opposition would evangelize on resurgent insecurities in the country and how President Buhari has demonstrated incompetence in protecting the lives and property of Nigerians. They will shamelessly call for his “sack” or “resignation;” meanwhile, these are the same people who could not rescue even chick caught by a hawk throughout their years in Aso Rock.

In 2021, Nigerians should not be stunned with the vociferousness of the wailers in calling for the sack of the Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha; they should expect the haters to call for sack of the Chief of Staff to Mr. President, Prof. Gambari and the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Monguno (rtd). They will mouth loudly for the sack of all Ministers of the Government or FEC members.

Nothing belittles the esteem and conscience of the opposition gangs. The wailers can even call for the sack of wife of Mr. President, Hajia Aisha Buhari. Honed on the path of self-destruct and mindless abuses of democratic liberty of expression, they can also call on President Buhari to sack of Mamman Daura’s family as the President’s relations. So, the expectations from the opposition in Year 2021 will see an endless sack list from the wailers centered on the aforementioned personalities.

That’s not the end anyway! Those who would escape the list of “sacks” in January 2021 should tarry a while. They should not count themselves lucky yet. More names will surely crop up by February 2021. But President Buhari cannot be bowed by such opposition antics.

He is a master of the gimmicks of the antagonists. But like the theme of class struggles in post-independence Kenya as reflected in Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Ngugi wa Mirii’s play, “I Will Marry When I Want;” President Buhari will only sack whoever he wishes to sack when he wants as empowered by laws of the Federation. He will certainly not pander to the demonic or bigoted opinions or adversarial counsels of opposition elements and wailers.

Kolawole PhD wrote this piece from Keffi, Nasarawa State.