Reno Omokri, a former Special Adviser to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan has slammed President Muhammadu Buhari in this new article.
Reno Omokri
For
the better part of this week, Nigeria has been having much of a to do
about the royal snub from the Oba of Lagos to the Ooni of Ife. Such
outrage, such consternation against Oba Rilwan Akiolu. The venom vented on him on social media and in real life were as though he had committed some unpardonable sin.
We
are angry with an Oba who refused to shake an Ooni, but not at a
President who refused to shake his own female ministers on religious
grounds but did not remember religion when he shook hands with the Queen
of England, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Iara Oshiomhole.
You can see that hypocrisy,
rather than corruption is the main problem of Nigeria. A nation that
sympathizes with a star's husband for attempted suicide and charges a
destitute woman with attempted suicide. No wonder our Presidential Villa
had been turned to a retirement home!
Strewth!
As
a people, we are easily distracted, easily carried away. We are
excitable, with hyperactive nerves, quick to run away after fancies
while the issues that are at the heart of our survival as a people are
left untreated.
While we were tearing our our hair
over what might just have been an oversight on the part of the Oba of
Lagos, the minister of Information, the eponymously named Lai Mohammed, announced to a distracted nation that President Muhammadu Buhari, who had just missed his third Executive Council of the Federation meeting, would be working from home!
This is the same Lai Mohammed
who in December 21, 2009 called for his predecessor, the late Professor
Dora Akinyuli, to give daily updates on President Yar'adua's health.
Speaking as the Publicity Secretary for the now defunct Action Congress, Lai said: “It
is clear to discerning Nigerians that those pretending to speak
authoritatively on the President’s health are deceiving the public,
since they are neither well informed on the issue nor competent to speak
on it. Therefore, a daily briefing by the Minister of Information,
based on authentic details provided by the President’s doctors, should
start forthwith. As we have said many times, the health of the
President, as a public figure can no longer be of interest only to his
family and friends. Nigerians have a right to know."
This
is the same Lai who told us in January that the President was in
perfect good health. Now we know that his health is so good that he has
to work from home!
And to add insult to injury,
just two days before Lai told us that the President would now work from
home, Chief John Odigie Oyegun was hugging the headlines calling for a
second term for the stat at home President! Really!
We
only see the man every Friday, yet instead of praying for his recovery
Oyegun is scheming for his second term! That is how they deceived Abacha
and Yar'adua to cling onto power instead of tending to their health.
What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
soul?
This is a man that we only see on Friday at Mosque. The man has more or less become a ghost President!
A ghost President, with ghost achievements fighting ghost workers with an EFCC that goes after ghost monies in apartments owned by ghosts. This is what President Muhammadu Buhari and the ruling All Progressive Congress have reduced Nigeria to!
It is hypocritical for a government that fights ghost workers to have a ghost President. If the President is sick let him hand over to the more than able Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo!
If
you think it is harsh to ask the President to hand over to Osinbajo
then ask him if he did not give the same advice to Yar'adua in 2010!
Precisely on March 10, 2010, President Muhammadu Buhari called for the
impeachment of Yar'adua because his health condition prevented him from
performing his duties. For three weeks our President has not attended
council meeting. For three weeks the only time we see him is at Mosque.
Would he have tolerated this from Yar'adua?
From President Muhammadu Buhari's
residence in Aso Rock to his office takes a five minute walk. I have
walked that route myself. I know what I am taking about. I have been in
his official residence and I have been in his office.
His
office and his residence are connected by a corridor. If he cannot make
it to the office despite the close proximity between his office and his
residence, it suggests he may need something more than resting at home.
Remember what Obasanjo said on January 20, 2010 “If you take up an
assignment, a job-elected, appointed whatever it is, and then your
health starts to fail and you will not be able to deliver to satisfy
yourself and to satisfy the people you are supposed to serve, then there
is a path of honour and the path of morality. There is path of honour
and the path of morality."
A 93, President Robert Mugabe does not work from home. Even Pope Benedict XVI,
whose home was his office, resigned in 2013 when his health could not
handle the demands of the papacy. It is not about age. It is about
capacity. President Muhammadu Buhari said the same thing about Yar'adua. What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.
Again,
President Buhari, if you cant cope, temporarily hand over to Osinbajo!
It does not have to be permanent. Go and take care of yourself. Aso Rock
is a Presidential Villa not a retirement home!
What
moral justification does the Head of Service or any authority have to
query any civil servant for absenteeism going by this recent
development?
I urge any civil servant who is being queried or has been sacked for absenteeism to sue the Federal Government. If President Muhammadu Buhari
can work from home and still collect full salary, why can't other
federal workers? If the man with the most vital job can do his job from
home, why can't civil servants with less vital duties follow suit.
And
you can imagine that only this week, the State House correspondent of
the Punch Newspapers was banished from Aso Rock Presidential Villa by
President Muhammadu Buhari's Chief Security Officer because of a story on the President's health. Now we know what the fuss was all about!
And the excuse given by the Presidency that they were unaware of the CSO's action only raises more questions than it answers.
The
worst thing the Nigerian Presidency could do in the case of the The
Punch Newspapers reporter that was expelled from Aso Rock Villa by
President Muhammadu Buhari's Chief Security Officer is to admit that
they were not informed before the actions. If the Presidency was not
informed about this action done in the Presidency's name then it begs
the question, who is ruling Nigeria? Who is exercising the executive
powers of the President? Is the tail now wagging the dog? Is this a déjà
vu of the Yar'adua situation? No wonder Babachir asked 'who is the
Presidency'. We did not know what he meant!
From the way things now stand, I just have to ask that between Nnamdi Kanu and President Muhammadu Buhari, who is actually in prison and who is actually free?
At least we see Kanu in court. How often do we see Buhari? Nnamdi Kanu
speaks with authority, can we say the same of an unrepentant blamer who
blames everyone but himself for the misfortune of his administration? Nnamdi Kanu
has no NTA or a Liar Mohammed yet his words affect more headlines than
those who do, proving that leadership is not by position! Yet somebody
thinks Nnamdi Kanu is in prison and President Buhari is free! I laugh in Igbo and Fufulde!
And
to think that Joe Igbokwe, the Publicity Secretary of the Lagos State
chapter of the APC had the guts to say that the Igbo are not interested
in Nnamdi Kanu's cause!
If Joe Igbokwe really thinks the Igbo are 'not interested' in Nnamdi Kanu's
cause, let him go and say so in Onitsa Market and see if he survives.
It is easy to stay in Lagos and say such nonsense, but I have a word of
advise for Igbokwe: No matter how much a slave rejects his father's
name, his master will still not include his own name in his will.
Hypocrisy
has almost become a national pastime under this APC administration. It
is not surprising. What more can one expect from a government that was
conceived in propaganda and delivered in deceit?
Take the hypocrisy in the case of Mrs. Titilayo Momoh, the failed suicide who attempted the act on the Third Mainland Bridge. Now she has been charged to court.
I
do not understand the point of charging failed suicides to court for
attempted suicide. Do we want to drive them to succeed at suicide?
Failed suicide need counseling, support and understanding. Stress,
pressures of life and disappointments drove them to suicide. By charging
them to court we are only adding more stress, pressure and
disappointment to their life, further pushing them to suicide. This is
an archaic law that is against the principles of natural justice and
needs to be taken off our statute books.
A government that does not care if Fulani herdsmen kill us has the guts to charge a woman for attempted suicide! Are they angry she cheated Fulani herdsmen
off her life? This is a travesty of justice! They have not charged the
killers of pastor Eunice Elisha who was killed in Kubwa, fifteen minutes
from Aso Rock Villa. They have not charged the killers of pastor Eunice
Elisha who was beheaded in Kano in broad daylight. They have not
charged the killers of Southern Kaduna minorities. But it is Mrs. Titilayo Momoh who is overburdened by a debt she cannot pay that they can try for attempted suicide. What a hypocritical action!
When
Tiwa Savage's husband, Tunji "Tee Billz" Balogun, attempted suicide,
nobody charged him for attempted suicide and rightly so. So why charge
Mrs. Titilayo Momoh with attempted suicide? Does Nigeria have one law
for the rich and famous and another for the poor and unknown? This woman
attempted suicide because the economy collapsed and her business was in
ruins leaving her in debt. Let us not fight the symptoms and leave the
disease. If the government wants to deter suicide then they should fix
the economy instead of trying Mrs. Momoh.
I could go on and on, but I have limited space. You can email me at reno@renoomokri.org to continue the conversation.
Reno's Nuggets:
My
nuggets for this week centers on money so that people like Mrs. Momoh,
who are overburdened by debt can get some financial intelligence that
will see the escaping the debt cycle if they apply these wisdoms I
gleaned from the word of God.
The big difference
between the rich and the poor is that the rich only borrow money to
invest while the poor only borrow money to consume. The rich man gets a
loan to build a clothing factory, or a retail mall or a small boutique
because he knows that the poor man will go to the same bank to get a
loan or a credit card to splurge on new clothes to impress people. You
see, many people who look rich are not rich simply because they spend
too much money trying to look rich and have little left to be actually
rich. The term dressed to kill may mean dressing well but it may also
mean spending too much on clothes to kill yourself with poverty. The
more the poor continue buying clothes and other accessories they do not
need, the more the rich becomes richer and the poorer they become. So
break the cycle. Never borrow to consume only borrow to produce.
Those
who say money cannot buy happiness act as if being broke can buy
happiness. Get money even if it cant buy happiness. Money multiplies
your ability to do good. The world is evil today not because money is
evil but because evil people control money. Ask yourself how helpful the
Good Samaritan could have been if he had no money. Now ask yourself how
destructive satan can be if his people had no money. Jesus preached and
taught about money more than about ANY OTHER THING. So go out there and
make money, do not be afraid of it. #RenosNuggets
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Written by Reno Omokri
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