*Plus: Army’s reaction to Rivers Governor’s allegations against GOC
By BASHIR ADEFAKA
“Obasanjo’s failing in the PDP-laden divisive comments is in his lacking the smartness to say Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who his coalition seeks to install unconstitutionally despite losing elections, is not an acclaimed Hausa/Fulani by his indigineship and title of Wazirin Adamawa and that he is not a Muslim.”
The Nigerian Army recently described yet another allegations against its General Officer Commanding (GOC) Six Division, Major General Jamil Sarham, by controversial Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State as bizarre and spurious.
Aminu Iliyasu, a colonel and Deputy Director Army Public Relations in the Six Division, made this rebuttal in a statement already published in the general media.
What is still news, however, is the observers’ worry that many Nigerians buy into the hypocrisies of Governor Wike like they do into Atiku’s and Peoples Democratic Party’s, in order to discredit the only means by which Nigeria survived dangerous security challenges and has been able to stand as one entity and sovereign in existence.
Some of the observers who confided in The DEFENDER are saying that the ongoing anti-Nigerian project of the politicians in opposition in the country is nothing but just because the man in power is a Fulani and Muslim.
They are asking if any Nigerian wanting to contest election should henceforth renounce his or her religion (if Muslim) and ethnic identity (if Hausa/Fulani) before making his or her intention known. This, they said, is the scenario being painted lately by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, a PhD Theological Studies, National Christian Elders’ Forum (NCEF), Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and some ethnic groups like Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo.
One of them cited how election related wranglings had never been this bad as, according to him, ever since an unthought-of opposition party All Progressives Congress, and a man considered to be bent on transferring the ownership of Nigeria from the few owners as it had always been to the masses of the people, General Muhammadu Buhari won election as President of the country in 2015, the self acclaimed life ruling politicians, who ruled the country for 16 years, have unprecedentedly continue to wage war against the country they seek and fail to rule again thinking it is the way they can regain power and ownership of the national resources.
The source, who under strict condition of anonymity, said: “For me particularly, the Nigerians’ negative attitude towards the resoluteness of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration to rescue them from the selfish, wicked elites is worrisome. Or does it mean I am the only one who is able to think fast to detect that the challenges this governors had from all fronts are simply from one source: the #CorruptionFightBack elements?”
He continued: “Recall these elements have penetrated virtually all segments causing ethnic, communal, religious discomfort and disharmony across the country. Their latest, after having failed in all the fronts, is the ongoing ‘Fulanization and Islamization’ claim in the anti-Nigerian project, which former President Olusegun Obasanjo has always led.
“Of more worries is that you the Nigerian media practitioners have failed to draw a line between pro-Nigerian and anti-Nigerian struggles that we clearly see and I see this failure of you people because of the way you provide these unpatriotic elements the platform to thrive. What you don’t know is that you gain more by standing with Nigeria and its collective people-based interest than when you stand with the few elites who are still so reach that you get from them the financial patronage you don’t get from government that has decided to spend the money only for general interest than self or individual.
“Without going too far, an offshoot of these #CorruptionFightBack could only have made a Governor in Wike to want to lead the battle against the nation’s mainstay of protective powers which are police and the military particularly the Nigerian Army and it will be in the best interest of the Nigerian media, NGOs and other Nigerian public to choose the peace, harmony and development of Nigeria against the selfish interest of the few elites because, the consequences of doing otherwise will be adverse and terminal,” he warned.
In exposing the Rivers governor’s latest allegations, the Army said:
“Although Nigerian Army do not wish to join issues with the Governor, yet it is important to strongly state that the allegations are false and figment of the Governor Wike’s imagination. It is a deliberate effort to tarnish the towering image of the Chief of Army Staff and the General Officer Commanding 6 Division.
“Needless to say that in response to many accusations against the Division, already some responsible good individuals and groups in Nigeria have exposed the antics of Governor Wike against the leadership of the Division and the NA.”
It will be recalled how Wike worked hard using the Judiciary in Abuja to stop probes into killings of police officers and other notable Nigerians in Rivers State during the time of immediate past Inspector General of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Kpotun Idris.
Records have it that the governor had a telephone conversation which exposed the plots between him and Ayodele Fayose, then Ekiti State counterpart, to carry out the killings.
With Rivers being fire, Zamfara bandits on the rampage due to Hausa versus Fulani communal clashes extended to Katsina and parts of Sokoto and kidnappings and cultism going on largely in the South West, Obasanjo-led coalition thought Nigeria had enough “insecurity” to be whipped into the sentiment that Boko Haram is not what is thought but simply a ‘Fulanization and Islamization’ agenda of Muhammadu Buhari Administration.
Obasanjo’s failing in the PDP-laden divisive comments is in his lacking the smartness to say Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who his coalition seeks to install unconstitutionally despite losing elections, is not an acclaimed Hausa/Fulani by his indigineship and title of Wazirin Adamawa and that he is not a Muslim.
