By:Femi Fani-Kayode<\/p>\n
On August 3rd 1857, in what can only be described as one of the most
\nprofound, moving, passionate and inspiring speeches in human history,
\nFrederick Douglas, the former black slave and the great freedom fighter
\nand philosopher said, inter alia, the following:<\/p>\n
“Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of
\nthe progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her
\naugust claims have been born of earnest struggle.<\/p>\n
The conflict has been exciting, agitating, all-absorbing, and for the time
\nbeing, putting all other tumults to silence. It must do this or it does
\nnothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress.<\/p>\n
Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who
\nwant crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder
\nand lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many
\nwaters.<\/p>\n
This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may
\nbe both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle.<\/p>\n
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.
\nFind out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found
\nout the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon
\nthem, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or
\nblows, or with both.<\/p>\n
The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they
\noppress. In the light of these ideas, Negroes will be hunted at the North
\nand held and flogged at the South so long as they submit to those devilish
\noutrages and make no resistance, either moral or physical.<\/p>\n
Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly
\npay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs
\nheaped upon us, we must pay for their removal.<\/p>\n
We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by
\nour lives and the lives of others”.<\/p>\n
These powerful and insightful words are as true and as relevant today as
\nthey were 150 years ago when they were first spoken.<\/p>\n
They are words that have universal application to humanity and that have
\nbeen recited and repeatedly chanted like a haunting and inspiring mantra
\nby virtually every notable prisoner of conscience, freedom fighter and
\nagitator for equity, liberty and human rights over the last one hundred
\nand fifty years.<\/p>\n
They are particularly relevant in the Nigeria of today where tyranny and
\ninjustice runs deep, where any form of resistance or opposition is
\nregarded as subversion and is met with brutality and lethal force and
\nwhere any telling criticism of the ruling APC party, government officials
\nor the President is regarded as “hate speech” that must be supressed.<\/p>\n
Permit me to give just one example of the latter in this contribution
\nwhich, in my view, clearly reflects the nervous and obsessive disposition,
\nthe sheer madness and the sociopathic narcissism of the Buhari
\nadministration.
\n.<\/p>\n
A few days ago I had a revealing, probing and in-depth interview with a
\nleading television station about President Muhammedu Buhari, his record in
\noffice over the last two years, his health and his governent.<\/p>\n
Lai Mohammed, our notoriously excitable and\u00a0 mendatious Minister of
\nInformation, was so upset and disturbed by the contents of that discussion
\nthat he personally called the television station that recorded it and told
\nthem that the government would close them down if they dared to air it.<\/p>\n
His call was followed by an equally threatening one from the chief
\nexecutive of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation who issued the same
\nthreat.<\/p>\n
Yet it did not stop there. Femi Adesina, the President’s spokesman, almost
\ndefecated in his pants when he got a whisper of some of the things that I
\nhad revealed and he wondered out loud how I managed to get all the facts
\nand information that I shared during the interview.<\/p>\n
He begged the station not to air it as well and also threatened them with
\ndire consequences if they did so. Sadly the station in question got cold
\nfeet, succumbed to the threats and fell for the blackmail.<\/p>\n
I am not surprised by this and neither do I blame them for doing so. I say
\nthis because they, more than any other, have been subjected to all manner
\nof harrasment over the years yet despite that they remain one of the most
\nbalanced, professional, forthright and courageous media outfits in the
\ncountry till today.<\/p>\n
They are indeed the first amongst equals but they also know the monsters
\nthat they are dealing with when it comes to the Buhari administration and
\nthey appreciate the fact that they have to be extreemly careful even when
\nit comes to reporting what are essentially notorious facts.<\/p>\n
They have to be even more careful when it comes to allowing strong
\nopposition figures like yours truly and other non-conformists and
\nperceived enemies of the government to use their powerful platform to air
\ntheir personal opinions and strong dissenting views.<\/p>\n
The truth is that this government is vicious and dangerous and, in my
\nview, they are only one step away from “disappearing” (Argentinian style)
\nmedia practitioners, publishers, essayists, columnists and writers that
\nare not prepared to bow down to their unholy will and lick their filthy,
\nunclean and unwashed posterior.<\/p>\n
Simply put they are a chicken-hearted government that are terrified of
\ntheir own shadow.<\/p>\n
They are a government of uncircumcised Philistines who were put in power
\nby heathans and unbelievers and who attract and enjoy the support of every
\nlow-life and apostate from the south side of hell.<\/p>\n
Nothing terrifies them more than public scrutiny\u00a0 and the glorious light
\nof accountability and truth.<\/p>\n
From the top to the bottom they are all the same: gangsterish and paranoid
\ncharlatans who flourish in darkness and who thrive in division, conflict,
\nlies, deceit, suppression, threats, murder, violence and intimidation.<\/p>\n
Femi Adesina’s cowardice and perfidy particularly is nothing new. This is
\nthe same man that threatened the publisher of two leading national
\nnewspapers to close my weekly column and that has been begging and
\noffering inducements to virtually every online magazine that I write for
\nto stop publishing my essays.<\/p>\n
That is how fearful, feeble, powerless, shameless, cowardly and paranoid
\nthe Buhari government has become. That is the level of their depravity and
\nthat is the level that they have degenerated to.<\/p>\n
They cannot take criticism and they cannot bear any form of factual and
\nin-depth analysis of their abysmal and woeful performance.<\/p>\n
They do not have the stomach or intellectual stamina for a strong and
\nlively challenge, for what I would describe as “hardtalk” or indeed for
\nany form of virile debate and contentious public discourse.<\/p>\n
Simply put they behave like a congress of baboons and a colony of monkeys.
\nThey always run away from a real fight and a real debate and they are
\nterrified of those that are ready to take them on.<\/p>\n
Instead of attempting to defend themselves in the court of public opinion
\nthey seek to silence the opposition by the power of their might and they
\nseek to supress dissent, muscle the media and bury the truth.<\/p>\n
Despite their sheer desperation to hold on to power at any cost and to
\ncower the people and in spite of their despicable, tyrannical and
\ninglorious mindset I have the following to say to them: like satan, your
\ntime is short.<\/p>\n
You oppress the people and whip them into line, not by good works or
\ninspiring leadership, but through the usage of nothing but intimidation,
\nlies, threats, blackmail, disinformation, witchunts, fear, hate, division
\nand terror. Your tactics are as despicable as they are deplorable.<\/p>\n
Yet despite your subjugation and tyranny it will soon be over for you. The
\nearth and the heavens have rejected you, the elemental forces oppose you
\nand the Nigerian people secretly despise you. This is the doing of the
\nLord and it is marvelous in our sight.<\/p>\n
You cannot wash away the blood that you have shed. You cannot erase the
\nmemory of your failures and your atrocities and those that you have
\nhumiliated, destroyed, insulted, tortured, incarcerated and subjected to
\npersecution and the most vicious and callous media trials.<\/p>\n
You cannot silence the voice of the voiceless, you cannot intimidate the
\nservant of truth and you cannot supress the champion of the oppressed.<\/p>\n
The finger of the Lord has marked you down for shame, torment and
\ndestruction and the sword of the Lord has wounded you beyond redemption.
\nThe rats were just the beginning. More miracles and wonders will soon
\ncome.<\/p>\n
The truth is that no matter how hard you try to put out the raging fire
\nand the crisis of confidence that has afflicted you it will not stop.<\/p>\n
Your days are numbered and your end is nigh. The Ancient of Days has
\nspoken and He shall perfect it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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