{"id":34964,"date":"2015-01-16T00:51:55","date_gmt":"2015-01-15T23:51:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=34964"},"modified":"2015-01-16T00:51:55","modified_gmt":"2015-01-15T23:51:55","slug":"obasanjos-avowed-neutrality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/articles-opinions\/obasanjos-avowed-neutrality\/","title":{"rendered":"Obasanjo’s \u00a0Avowed \u00a0Neutrality."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cIf you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” – John F Kennedy, former president of the United States.<\/p>\n

Obasanjo avowed neutrality is none other than tacitly\u00a0 taking sides with leaders of\u00a0 Nigeria’s mainstream opposition who\u00a0 are hellbent on post-election violence if they\u00a0 by twist of fate\u00a0 lose the forthcoming presidential election\u00a0 because oftentimes we have heard the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman\u00a0 Chief John Odigie Oyegun say that they will form a parallel government should they spot\u00a0 irregularities such as\u00a0 armed\u00a0 military presence and the like\u00a0 at polling centres. Is this not the best antidote to rigging like notorious snatching and stuffing of ballot boxes in\u00a0 Nigeria during elections? It is a thousand pities that men like Oyegun reason or think anti-clockwise.<\/p>\n

This is a danger signal which is a pointer to the fact that they have in earnest started preparing their foot soldiers \u00a0ahead of February 14 presidential election and this must be resisted en masse. No one individual is larger than Nigeria all things considered. Our lives have been toyed with enough\u00a0 for so long and it is time these tribes of high-ups or grandees are read the Riot Act.<\/p>\n

I have discovered\u00a0 to my greatest chagrin that once you remain determined not to be bludgeoned into submission or refused\u00a0 to be lorded over by a certain grandee or highup in Nigeria, you are branded a rebel and underhand plans are swiftly framed and\u00a0 employed to pull you down. That if , I dare say,\u00a0 is the language Obasanjo’s averred neutrality speaks and we must join forces to\u00a0 rescue our country from the deadly grip\u00a0 of these men who are bent solely on personal aggrandizement.<\/p>\n

Here in advanced western societies where one has sojourned for a long time now , father and child reserve the right to identify with different political parties no matter whose ox is gored. The father does not tell the son what to do neither does the son sheepishly follow the father’s diabolic whims and caprices. The right to exercise one’s\u00a0 free will reigns supreme on this part of the globe without the devil to pay. We must take our cue from this if all is to augur well for our dear country.<\/p>\n

This is where godfatherism got its roots and from\u00a0 god fatherism emerged other social evils or maladies like corruption. To effectively combat corruption godfatherism must be cast overboard. This is one canker worm that has eaten very deep into the social fabric of the Nigerian society.<\/p>\n

Recently I stumbled into a group photograph of the APC delegation to Baba’s hill top house at Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. On taking a closer look , the calibre of\u00a0 men I saw and identified there could better imagined than real. In that photograph were men like Rotimi Amaechi, the garrulous River State Governor , Audu Ogbe, Rabiu\u00a0 Kwankwaso, Atiku Abubakar, Tambuwal and a host of others who have been part of the ruling party since Nigeria returned to civil democratic rule.<\/p>\n

If there is any problem plaguing Nigeria today which they are critical of I wonder what moral justification they have to extricate themselves when they have played wicked and unpardonable roles that brought Nigeria to its kneels. Atiku speaks from both sides of his mouth and made himself an enemy of the present administration soon after he\u00a0 he failed\u00a0\u00a0 to clinch\u00a0 the ticket for \u00a0 the 2011 presidential primaries.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
It is now very clear that those who parade themselves as\u00a0 Messiahs of which Nigeria urgently stand in need are none other than civilization’s worst enemies calling to mind what Nigerian\u00a0 have been through over the years. Virtually every one of them in this photograph has committed wicked acts for which they should be standing trial. General Muhammadu Buhari is number one having employed retroactive laws\u00a0 to commit murder while in office calling to mind\u00a0 the sensational killings of Ogedengbe and\u00a0 two others at Bar Beach firing range sometime ago in Lagos , Nigeria. As a protagonist of violence he incited his followers to violence when it became clear he had\u00a0 lost the 2011 presidential election and many lives were doubtless lost in the mayhem that ensued. We are all living witnesses to these several acts of illegality committed by a man who again aspires to be the most powerful man in Nigeria.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I have asked this question before and there is every reason to repeat\u00a0 the\u00a0 same question: Are Nigerians in deed\u00a0 mindless robots? Frankly, I do not think so which is the more reason \u00a0why the \u00a0antics of these \u00a0men \u00a0to again foist themselves \u00a0on us for another four years must be resisted..<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Iyoha John Darlington, aka Lington Donovan, a social activist, political analyst and public commentator on national and global issues writes from Turin, Italy.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Email: jamestmichael2003@yahoo.com<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIf you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor” – John F Kennedy, former president of the United States. 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