This is an article written by Reno Omokri. Please read on..
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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