By Ikechukwu Amaechi<\/p>\n
Wole Soyinka once described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a \u201cnest
\nof killers\u201d. That was at the height of PDP\u2019s power when former President
\nOlusegun Obasanjo held sway and prominent political personalities were
\ngruesomely murdered in their bedrooms, on the streets and other
\nunimaginable places.<\/p>\n
Many, including the Nobel laureate, construed those killings, rightly or
\nwrongly, as politically motivated. He was particularly incensed after the
\nbrutal murder of his childhood friend, Bola Ige, who, as the attorney
\ngeneral of the federation and minister of justice, was the country\u2019s chief
\nlaw officer. The lethargy that characterised the investigation of Ige\u2019s
\nmurder didn\u2019t help matters.<\/p>\n
Soyinka is yet to put a sticky tag on the ruling All Progressives Congress
\n(APC), which he helped elect in 2015 by unreservedly endorsing its then
\npresidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, a man he had had issues with
\nsince his first coming as military head of state on December 31, 1983. I
\ndoubt if Soyinka will do so very soon, considering that he will be hard
\nput explaining to Nigerians what has changed.<\/p>\n
If the PDP was a nest of killers, the APC is a nest of liars. The party,
\nlike the swashbuckling United States President, Donald Trump, came to
\npower by serving the people cocktails of lies, and it has sustained itself
\nin office for 21 months by upping the ante, feeding the people more
\negregious lies.<\/p>\n
That is expected. Unlike truth that stands on the parapet of facts,
\nrealities and evidence, and therefore needs no further propping, lies
\nstand on nothing. And because lies stand on nothing, for sustainability,
\nthey must be hoisted on an effigy of more invidious lies.
\nThat is the story of the APC. Truth is anathema to it. Its officials take
\npride in worshipping at the altar of mendacity.<\/p>\n
Nothing illustrates this more than the stories the party and its
\ngovernment officials have been dishing out since Buhari proceeded on an
\nimpromptu 10-day winter vacation in London, his third in one year.<\/p>\n
The vacation, which began on January 19 and was to end on February 6, was
\nso sudden that Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, the man Buhari temporarily
\nhanded power to, had to abruptly end his participation at the World
\nEconomic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, to rush back home. Yet,
\nwhatever was the matter with the president was so serious that he could
\nnot wait for the arrival of Osinbajo before leaving. It was that bad.<\/p>\n
Nigerians were told he was going to rest after working so hard. For
\nsomeone the Financial Times of London described last week as \u201cthe man
\nsupposedly in charge of the country\u201d who has \u201cbeen literally sleeping on
\nthe job,\u201d hard work must have a new meaning.<\/p>\n
Buhari was hardly airborne when the stories started making the rounds that
\nthere was more to the trip than ordinary vacation. And the lies started
\npouring in.<\/p>\n
First was the picture of the president, with his leg on the table watching
\nChannels Television (his favourite television network, we are told) and
\nmaking a call. Yet, many Nigerians were still prepared to give the APC the
\nbenefit of the doubt, believing that the president was, indeed, resting.<\/p>\n
But Buhari failed to come back. Instead, he wrote another letter to the
\nNational Assembly (NASS) on Sunday, February 5 seeking an indefinite
\nextension of his leave. And the lies continued to pour in.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me first say the president is hale and hearty,\u201d Osinbajo told
\nreporters in the State House on Tuesday, February 7. \u201cI spoke to him just
\nthis afternoon and we had a fairly long conversation, he is in good shape
\nand very chatty.\u201d<\/p>\n
House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, took his own turn at the
\naltar on Thursday, February 9 when he claimed to have had a telephone
\ndiscussion with Buhari the previous day. \u201cBuhari called me yesterday
\nevening. He talked about what the executive\/legislature must do to ensure
\nfood security for all Nigerians,\u201d Dogara disclosed.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Information Minister (and Dean of the APC School of Lies),
\nLai Mohammed, upped the ante after the weekly Federal Executive Council
\n(FEC) meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can say without any hesitation that Mr. president is well, is hale and
\nhearty. No question about that,\u201d Mohammed reiterated.<\/p>\n
He said the fact that all ministers were working optimally was proof of
\nhis assertion. \u201cDo you think we will be conducting our business like this
\nif Mr. president is ill?\u201d he asked rhetorically.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe (pointing at Minister of Power, Babatunde Fashola) was in Anambra last
\nweek, I was in Kwara yesterday, all our ministers are busy doing their
\nwork. Mr. president is well and is absolutely not in danger.\u201d
\nLies. Lies. And more lies.<\/p>\n
If Buhari is hale and hearty, then what is he doing in London after his
\nvacation? Has he absconded? If he is hale and hearty and yet refuses to
\nspeak to Nigerians or return to work, is that not truancy? Is he now
\ngoverning Nigeria from London?<\/p>\n
The goings-on in the country in the last three weeks are sobering. They
\nremind us of the last days of President Umaru Yar\u2019Adua. They make an
\nunequivocal statement on the negative tendencies that have stultified
\nNigeria\u2019s development.<\/p>\n
The happenings bring to the fore our predicament as a people and why it is
\nalmost impossible to realise the dream of a Nigerian nation.<\/p>\n
For a septuagenarian who, despite all protestations to the contrary, does
\nnot seem to enjoy the best of health, it is not difficult to fathom the
\nreasons for the death rumour swirling around him.<\/p>\n
Some people have asked why Nigerians are overtly interested in Buhari\u2019s
\nhealth. The simple answer is that he is not an ordinary Nigerian. He is
\nthe president.<\/p>\n
I am saddened that some people seem to be bubbly about his health crisis.
\nThe way the death rumour swirls seems to suggest that some people actually
\nthink that they will be better off if the man is dead.
\nMaybe!<\/p>\n
But Buhari is first a human being before being president. He has a wife,
\nchildren, relations and friends who care for and love him and naturally
\nwant him to live. We should join them in prayers that God, the Ultimate
\nPhysician, should heal him and restore him to good health. We all lose our
\nhumanity whenever we wish others dead, because the death of one diminishes
\nall.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the president\u2019s health crisis has seriously incapacitated him
\nand diminished his ability to govern although some believe, as the
\nFinancial Times poignantly put it, that dead or alive, Buhari makes no
\ndifference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tragedy for Nigeria is that policy making has been so ponderous
\nduring the 20 months since Mr. Buhari took office that, dead or alive, it
\nis not always easy to tell the difference,\u201d the newspaper wrote.<\/p>\n
I totally agree that the biggest tragedy to befall Nigeria in recent times
\nis the election of a man who has neither the mental\/intellectual nor
\nphysical capacity to govern.<\/p>\n
The result of our collective folly almost two years ago is that we have on
\nour hands an administration gravely hobbled. At the best of times, Buhari
\nis the archetypal definition of cluelessness. More so now because of his
\nhealth challenges.<\/p>\n
The government deludes itself that it can solve Nigeria’s problems by
\nbelieving its own lies.<\/p>\n
And by telling new lies to cover up old lies, it pretends, annoyingly, to
\nbe working very hard at tackling the myriad problems facing the country
\nwhen it is now obvious that even if Buhari is hale and hearty, as the APC
\nwould want us believe, politically, \u201crigor mortis set in quite some time
\nago,\u201d as the Financial Times put it.<\/p>\n
But because this is Nigeria where lying is seen as an art of political
\nsagacity, the same process that brought us to this sorry pass may be
\nrepeated in 2019.<\/p>\n
Shame!<\/p>\n
*Ikechukwu Amaechi, former Editor of Daily Independent, is the Managing
\nDirector\/Editor-in-Chief of TheNiche, a weekly newspaper published in
\nLagos every Sunday. (ikechukwuamaechi@yahoo.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Ikechukwu Amaechi Wole Soyinka once described the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as a \u201cnest of killers\u201d. That was at the height of PDP\u2019s power when former President Olusegun Obasanjo…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n