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Tag: Garba Shehu

  • Ekiti: PDP is irreparably broken, dismantled – Presidency 

    *Ekiti: Fayose’s political career sealed – Presidency 

    *Says Ekiti people have rejected stomach infrastructure

    *Ekiti: Credit goes to Tinubu – Presidency

    With the victory of the Ekiti State Gov-Elect, Kayode Fayemi, in the governorship election in the state at the weekend, the Presidency on Sunday said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is irreparably broken and dismantled with the outcome.

    In an article entitled ‘Fayose: In The End, A High-Powered Nothing’, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said that Fayose’s political career is now sealed for good with the loss by his party.

    According to him, much credit for the victory of Fayemi goes to the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

    He said “The people of the politically significant State of Ekiti have spoken against their Governor, outgoing governor, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, who told them that the governorship election they just had was a referendum on President Muhammadu Buhari. He said candidates Kayode Fayemi and Olusola Eleka were pawns and that he and President Buhari were the actual contestants.

    “In what observers said was the most intense, and a most angry campaign, the people gave their verdict: Dr. Kayode Fayemi, the one-time governor, declared persona-non-grata is now persona-grata again. President Buhari has won this referendum. The people of the State have sent a clear message. The politics of brinksmanship, assaults, insults, abuses and Robin Hoodism disguised as stomach infrastructure has been rejected in favour of politics of inclusion, development, responsibility and good governance.

    “President Buhari’s war against corruption and insecurity; the message of agric revolution and infrastructure development and fidelity in resource allocation and management have struck a chord with Ekiti voters, who had been lied to and deceived by Governor Fayose. While the opposition continued to rant at him, President Buhari’s uprightness, coupled with incorruptibility and personal integrity, unmatched by any politician in the country has again stood the test of time.

    “The All Progressives Congress (APC) win in Ekiti means that the Party has control over 25 out of the 36 states of the Federation. The party thus becomes the only one in power in the six states of the South-West geopolitical zone.

    “Besides reinforcing the APC’s position as the only standing pole in the political landscape, it is a credit to the national leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, against whom all manner of ethnic and religious opposition is being mounted by former President Obasanjo and some of the Asiwaju’s sworn enemies in the sub-region.

    “With this, the political landscape of the South-West has been transformed. APC’s regional strength has been strengthened and the Asiwaju will be respected even better. Without losing patience and decorum, the Asiwaju has proved that rivals must reconcile and come to terms or lose everything.

    “This win is equally a huge boost to the APC and its new leadership under Chairman Adams Oshiomole, who got their first baptism of fire in Ekiti. It is, importantly, a big boost to the second term ambition of President Muhammadu Buhari.” he said

    Speaking on PDP, he said “For the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which came second in the election in a state that they held sway, it is a loss politically and psychologically. The result of the election has proved that PDP is irreparably broken and dismantled. They have nothing to offer to the country and its people. The message from Ekiti is that no state in Nigeria will vote PDP. Never again.

    Read also:  Blackmailing observer groups won’t save Fayose from defeat -Fayemi

    “As for Mr. Fayose and his morbid brand of politics, it is now his time to reconcile himself to the imminent political extinction he faces, his political career sealed for good. Newspapers have mistaken him for a gadfly who creates discomfort for the government at the centre to make it better, but Fayose is a street-type thug. He never fits the role of a gadfly because he thrives on bitter enmity. Opposition does not mean a negative view of everything. Neither does it translate into a licence to abuse your superiors.

    “The winner of the election, Governor Fayemi’s trajectory from a persona-non-grata to a persona-grata again has given a wave of cheer to APC members all over the country. It has given a fresh hope that fake news, lies and propaganda run only short distances, because they have short legs.

    “An old proverb says you can’t beat something with nothing. After all the noise, theatricals and drama, Fayose’s fall came with a thud, not a bang: a high-powered nothing.” he stated

  • Buhari seeks stronger partnership with banks to improve infrastructure

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja called for stronger partnership with lending banks to reduce the nation’s infrastructure deficit.

    He also assured of his administration’s full commitment to implement all agreements.

    The President spoke while receiving the Board of African Export and Import Bank, AFREXIM, led by Dr Benedict Okey, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, the President said the Federal Government will keep “knocking on the doors’’ of the banks to participate more in building infrastructure and developing the real sector.

    “We are grateful for the much you are doing for us, but we will continue to knock on your doors for more and more as we strive to overcome our infrastructure deficit.

    Read Also: NLNG: Buhari congratulates stakeholders

    “We realise that we do need money to fix the appalling state of infrastructure we met; to do roads, railways, power and communications – a sector now mostly in private hands which is doing very well.

    “Don’t be tired of us. We will be coming to you again and again.  Please accommodate us,’’ the President told the Board of AFREXIM.” he said

    President Buhari said the nation already faces a challenge of fixing and putting in place long delayed infrastructure and will need strong partnerships for quick and better results.

    The President said it was an honour for Nigeria to host AFREXIM’s Annual General Meeting and 25thAnniversary in Abuja.

    In his remarks, the President and Chairman of AFREXIM Board of Directors, Dr. Oramah expressed satisfaction with the support of the Nigerian government in the operations of the bank, noting that the bank’s confidence in Nigeria justifies the huge loans it had granted to the country.

    He said the 20,000 participants attending the Annual General Meeting had already expressed their satisfaction with the quality of arrangements for the event, which includes security.

  • Herdsmen: Presidency warns against fake news, inflammatory statements

    The Federal Government has appealed to all its citizens as well as members of the international community to refrain from spreading false stories and inflammatory statements concerning the recent herder-farmer clashes.

    Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, gave the warning in a statement issued in Abuja on Sunday.

    According to him, Nigerian Government is working closely with state governments and the security services as well as international partners to resolve this ongoing issue.

    He said: “The clashes between herders and farmers are historical. The causes of these confrontations are varied and complex.

    Read Also: Suspected herdsmen kill three in Benue

    “Climate change, specifically the drying up of the Chad Basin, has led to more pressure on the population in the North of Nigeria, which further compounded the problem.

    “As President Buhari indicated lately, there is evidence of involvement of some politicians using criminals to perpetuate the killings.

    “Climate change is an issue of global significance and the Nigerian Government is determined to continue working closely with its neighbours in order to ensure that a long-term solution can be implemented.’’

    According to the presidential aide, the Federal Government makes no distinction amongst the population and works tirelessly to protect all Nigerian people.

    “We are strongest as a nation when we are united and it is through unity that we will overcome this challenge,’’ he added

    NAN

  • Presidency blames insecurity, killings on politicians

    Malam Garba Shehu, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, has attributed insecurity and killings in the country to corrupt politicians.

    He said that the politicians involved were those who no longer had access loot public treasury.

    Shehu, who stated this on Monday in Abuja while speaking with newsmen, said that such politicians were bent on taking the shine out of the Buhari-led administration.

    “The competition for power has become fiercer because the stakes are very high,” he said.

    According to Shehu, Buhari is being attacked especially because he has unleashed on the country, a war against corruption.

    This, he said, had never been so in the country as access to public treasury for looting had been blocked to some persons.

    The aide, however, said that the president was lucky because he had a judiciary which was transforming itself and was on the same page with him in fighting corruption.

    “As I speak to you now, two former state governors are in jail; a lot of people thought that this war against corruption is a joke and that the back-and-forth that had characterized this over time, will continue.

    “One of the two cases was determined after 11 years of back-and-forth between lawyers and Judges, kicking the ball from this court to that court.

    Read Also: Buhari’s speech at the signing of 2018 budget into law

    “A lot of these harsh attacks against the president are coming from people who had become used to life style they cannot sustain.

    “On record, there were people in this country, because they are influential, they had permanent suite in major hotels in Abuja where they leave lavishly at public expense.

    “And, when they are leaving, they are accompanied with bags of Ghana-Must-Go,” he said.

    Shehu added that the president had blocked access to national resources for lazy people, politicians, especially those who were fighting back, because they were not happy.

    He said that the Buhari-led Federal Government was building infrastructure across the country.

    According to him, there is no state in the country where a minimum of two federal roads are not being newly constructed or reconstructed.

    “We have more electricity that cannot be consumed, 2,000 megawatts of electricity that nobody is taking.

    “By the year ending, we are going to hit 10,000 megawatts from the 2,600 that we inherited,” he said, adding that government’s problem was how to sale and distribute electricity to those who needed it.

    The president’s aide noted that those criticising Buhari and the All Progressives Congress (APC) would not give up as 2019 elections drew closer.

    “They will continue to fight the president, but the happiness we have is that ordinary low-level Nigerians understand the huge conspiracy.

    “Nigerians are with the president, the elite are going to places – America and the United Kingdom – and they are clicking in posh homes in Abuja, Lagos and some major cities in the country.

    “They are trying to thwart the goodwill of the president towards the people.

    “But, this economy is being re-built; more foreign investment is coming, more infrastructure is being given to Nigerians and even the security infrastructure which had suffered neglect over the years is being given priority,” he said.

    Shehu added that if those attacking the president had done what they ought to have done by equipping and training the military, things would have been different.

    He maintained that no government in the past was doing as much for the military and the police as the current administration.

    He said the Federal Government was putting in place infrastructure in the prisons and the EFCC that people may think that it was lavishing much money on the institutions.

    Shehu also said that the government was putting in place world-class infrastructure for Nigerians, and the government understood that its detractors wanted to take away attention from it.

    He reaffirmed that the government would continue to stay on the message and on course, no matter the distraction.

    He expressed optimism that the APC would not only win the presidency in 2019, but would win more states, especially in the South-East.

     

    NAN

  • Desperate politicians behind killings in Plateau – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday decried how desperate politicians have increasingly cheapened human life in their quest to establish a reign of instability and chaos in the country for political gains.

    President Buhari, who was reacting to recent clashes in Plateau, which left scores dead, said in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja, that those behind the killings hoped that it would give them an advantage in the coming elections.

    He said: “We know that a number of geographical and economic factors are contributing to the longstanding herdsmen/farmers clashes.

    “But we also know that politicians are taking advantage of the situation. This is incredibly unfortunate.

    “Nigerians affected by the herdsmen/ farmer clashes must always allow the due process of the law to take its course rather than taking matters into their own hands.’’

    Read Also: Buhari: Plateau killings regrettable, painful

    The presidency quoted security information which indicated that about one hundred cattle were rustled by a community in Plateau State, and some herdsmen were killed in the process.

    The report also revealed that the state governor, Simon Lalong, had invited the aggrieved groups and pleaded against further action while the law enforcement agents looked into the matter.

    Less than 24 hours later, violence broke out.

    It further stated that some local thugs then took advantage of the situation, turning it into an opportunity to extort the public, and to attack people from rival political parties.

    “There were reports of vehicles being stopped along the roads in the state, with people being dragged out of their cars and attacked if they stated that they supported certain politicians or political party.

    “On his way back to Jos after attending the All Progressives Congress (APC) Convention in Abuja, the state governor had to dismantle a number of illegal road blocks set up by these thugs. There were also a number of dead bodies thugs had killed, lying along the road,’’ the report added.

    The Police Command in Plateau had on Sunday confirmed the killing of 86 people in attacks on Razat, Ruku, Nyarr, Kura and Gana-Ropp villages of Gashish District in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area of the state.

    The command had earlier said that only 11 persons were killed.

    ASP Terna Tyopev, the command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO) confirmed the new figure on Sunday in Jos.

    The Plateau Government had since announced a dusk to dawn curfew in Riyom, Barkin Ladi and Jos South local government areas to check further breakdown of law and order in the state.

    NAN

  • Always remember lessons of Ramadan, Buhari urges Nigerians

    Buhari to Nigerians: Your sacrifices won’t be in vain 

     

    President Muhammadu Buhari has called on Nigerians to put the virtues of Islam into practice beyond the fasting season.

    This was contained in his Sallah message to mark the end of the Ramadan fasting period.

    While congratulating Muslims on completing “this spiritually significant month of sacrifice”, the President urged them to reflect on the importance of Ramadan in becoming good ambassadors of Islam at all times.

    The President, in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said   “religion should be the moral compass for all believers in their public and personal lives.

    “If people allow the teachings of their religions to influence their conducts, problems such as corruption, which diverts public funds to private pockets, would have been eliminated in the society.” he added

    He regretted, however, that “selfishness and greed have overcome people’s conscience so much that they don’t have moral inhibitions in the pursuit of their greed.”

    He said “it is impossible to separate morality from religion, and removing this connection encourages corrupt leaders and other exploiters to commit atrocities against the society.”

    Read Also: APC governors visit Buhari

    “I always wonder why any true believer, be they politicians, civil servants or businessmen, would seek to make profits from the misfortunes of others”, the President added.

    He also urged ordinary Nigerians to stop glorifying thieves by treating them with disdain for bringing hardships to others.

    President Buhari enjoined religious leaders to always pray for peace and unity in the country and avoid making inflammatory utterances that endanger peace or promote conflicts.

    The President also appealed to fellow citizens to forgive one another and embrace peace.

    In this respect, President Buhari lauded the families of recipients of national honours for showing good examples to Nigerians and urged our country men and women to copy their good examples.

    He thanked Nigerians for their patience and assured that their sacrifices will not be in vain, adding that reforming a country that was pushed into near decay on account of corruption comes with teething pains.

    “But these pains are temporary, the APC administration which I am privileged to lead, is beholden to the ordinary Nigerians and will leave no stone unturned to make their security, welfare and happiness our priority”, the President further reassured.

  • Annulment of Abiola’s mandate was a huge elite conspiracy, says Garba Shehu

    Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu on Sunday said that the annulment of the Presidential mandate given to Late Moshood Abiola in 1993 was a huge elite conspiracy.

    According to him, the June 12 annulment was inspired and supported in spirit, cash and in kind by high-level citizens who saw an opportunity for themselves and cashed in upon it.

    He made his views known in an article  entitled ‘June 12 Tsunami and the ones who won’t forgive Buhari’.

    It reads “An old Chinese proverb says: Do good, reap good; do evil, reap evil. This short proverb sums the intensity of attacks against President Muhammadu Buhari, not leaving the ratcheting up of violence in some the States after a period of relative calm, in the wake of the political tsunami honouring the heroes of June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was annulled thus preventing the widely-acclaimed winner, Chief M.K.O Abiola (of blessed memory) from taking office as the President of Nigeria.

    “Even at that time, it was pretty obvious that the unjust annulment was a huge elite conspiracy, well beyond the schemes and machinations, for  which the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida had established a formidable reputation.

    “June 12 annulment was inspired and supported in spirit, cash and in kind by high-level citizens who saw an opportunity for themselves and cashed in upon it.

    “Beyond the coterie of two dozen or so military officials whose names have been documented as literally having had a gun to the head of their Commander-in-Chief in trying to induce the annulment, there were tens, possibly hundreds of co-conspirators who either forced the annulment in one way or the other, or joined the sustenance of the injustice done to Abiola and Nigerian voters which, from then evolved into an industry of a kind, supplying incomes and conferring privileges of state upon those in the plot.

    “Many have forgotten by now that an interim government was contemplated at that time and a number of retired army generals were on queue, having been invited to get ready to head it. There was the foremost social scientist of the Yoruba stock who prophesied to the then rulers, on the day the announcement of election results was suspended that “the Yoruba will not be angry with the Head of State if he will go ahead to annul the election.” Then he did it.

    “In the media, there were many who conspired against the June 12, including the publisher who told their editors not to   “lose your heads over this June 12. After all, was it not Abiola who thwarted the ambitions of …?”

    “In the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE where I was one of the three Vice Presidents at that time, rising to become the full occupant of the office a few years later, we had our own battles. For example, when Vanguard newspaper correctly quoted me as asking that Abiola be freed or, in the least be tried in court because detention without trial, even under the military was wrong, newspapers, both of them now out of print circulation, the New Nigerian (which still maintains an online presence)and Today, lambasted me for expressing that view. Their editors, themselves members of the executive committee of the NGE said in a counter statement that those views were not of the Guild since, as they said, the organization hadn’t met to take a position on the matter.

    “If you are counting the large number of Nigerians united by that annulment, and who must now be very, very angry with President Buhari for righting that wrong which nourished them, one must not leave out the men and women in the temple of justice who used one subterfuge or the other to keep June 12 buried and its biggest symbol, MKO Abiola in detention until his end came (or was induced). Naturally, there is also the fear of the unknown. What will come after this?

    “Remember that since the incident took place, no past administration in 25 years has asked the question, why was the election annulled? Who annulled it? What were the consequences? Beyond Abiola and his late wife Kudirat, how many people did the nation lose? In terms of the economy, how much was lost? How much of a dislocation was it, socially, politically and internationally? Overall, how much damage did it cause the nation?

    “Now would there be an inquisition into all of the things that happened? I have not been briefed if there is going to be any. Neither have I heard of any discussions on this. I cannot, therefore, speculate.

    “Should anyone be afraid? Our very erudite and sharp minister, Lai Mohammed said no Nigerian should fear for their rights under President Buhari, unless they are guilty of wrongdoing. I haven’t still mastered the art of predicting army Generals, not even this one. On this question, only the President can say “yes” or “no” if there will be a probe as many have begun clamouring for.

    “Understandably, anger against the new Democracy Day and honour to Abiola in a few quarters, the intensity of attack on President’s person would mount as the momentum he gains becomes manifest, even as we recognize that the opposition had been gearing up for offensive towards 2019 elections.

    “In normal times, even before the shocking master stroke honouring Abiola, President Buhari is a leader who had not been in the good reckoning of a powerful, very vocal section of the country’s elite. The reason is basically that they would lose when you put in place corruption-free governance, institute economic growth with special focus on farmers, and a strong drive for inclusiveness particularly regarding women and marginalised sections.

    “The Buhari Administration has annoyed these groups by putting in place long neglected infrastructure, establishing a social welfare scheme, the Social Investment Programme targeted at the basic needs of the common citizens and has given the country a major jump in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings.

    “Railways and federal roads are being rehabilitated and new ones, including a standard gauge rail are being put in place to bring better and more efficient transportation services. Power generation and distribution have more than doubled with many consumers reporting 16-17 hours and in some parts of the country, actually enjoying up to 22-23 hours of power supply a day.

    “Foreign relations have improved and the awesome investments in defence and security sectors are paying off through peaceful economic activity in the Niger Delta and the on-going restoration of normalcy in the northeast and north central states.

    “President Buhari’s journey to the Presidential Villa had been long and tortuous– having contested three times and ended with appeals at the Supreme Court before he was fourth time lucky. A candidate many had taken as the unlikely one considering that he had been a man who is separate from the political establishment. That he emerged at the contest as winner was itself enough to rattle the political elite.

    “In trying to explain the gush of criticism and increasing resort to blackmail by those who have lost out under this honest man of humble origins, and frank dispositions, who has succeeded so far in running a clean government, it is important to note that these are qualities that only a few Nigerian politicians possess.

    “To borrow the words of another writer, “bitterness is inevitable for those who have been pampered and coddled and suddenly the suckling tit is removed from them and they become ordinary citizens without anything “special” or appropriating disproportionate political clouts.’’

    “If you read the history of our country, hardly do we have the top elite joining hands for the good of the nation. While Buhari’s tsunami on June 12 has stoked the anger and the fear of this group, the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day and the conferment of National Honours on MKO, his running mate Ambassador Kingibe and the foremost pro-democracy activist, late Gani Fawehinmi was, in another breath, greeted with great enthusiasm and warmth by Nigerians, most especially on the social media.

    “Barely after 48 hours by my count, there were over 150,000 Tweets on Twitter Trend discussing the new Presidential directive. Thankfully and expectedly, over 80% of these Tweets and reactions hailed Mr. President’s decision.

    “In what could be described as a twist, many of such applauses came from well-known opposition voices like Femi Fani Kayode (@realffk) amongst others.”

    According to him, the story on Facebook was not an exception. as Nigerians were thankful to President Buhari for upholding Democracy and staging a surprise when it was least expected.

  • Buhari appoints Shonubi as new CBN Deputy Governor

    President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the nomination of Mr Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi as Deputy Governor at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) subject to Senate confirmation.

    Malam Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, made this known in statement in Abuja on Friday.

    Shonubi is currently the Managing Director of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) – the financial payments, facilitation and settlement platform.

    Read Also: CBN okays N357/$1 rate for BDCs

    NIBSS has been instrumental to the growth in electronic payments in the Nigerian financial industry.

    Before assuming the headship of NIBBS in 2012, Shonubi had garnered decades of executive-level experience in financial service operations, notably as Executive Director at Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Ltd and Ecobank Nigeria Plc.

    NAN

  • Nigeria safe, secure for tourism – Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Abuja declared that Nigeria is safe and secure for tourism, citing improved security and country’s burgeoning economy.

    He made the remark while receiving Mr Zurab Pololikashvili, the Secretary-General of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    According to him, it would have been inconceivable to host an international tourism conference in Abuja four years ago, because of security concerns.

    In a statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, the President said ‘‘I am pleased that the country is now sufficiently safe and secure, and the message should go out to the world for all tourists and business travellers. The first thing tourists look out for is security and I am happy we have it now.

    ‘‘Minister Lai Mohammed has been trying to convince the world that Nigeria is safe and has great potentials for tourism and investment.

    “I am glad that you and your team have come here to see things for yourself,’’ the President told the UN tourism chief, who is in Abuja for the 61st UNWTO Commission for Africa (CAF) conference.” he stated

    Read Also: Senators, Reps threaten Buhari with impeachment

    Highlighting the nexus between tourism and sustainable development, the President said Nigeria would not be left behind in ensuring that communities and businesses benefit from tourism development.

    In his remarks, Pololikashvili commended Nigeria for the successful hosting of the conference which brings together African Ministers of Tourism, principal executives of the global tourism body and other stakeholders in the tourism sector.

    The UN tourism chief told the President Nigeria had huge potential to develop the tourism sector considering its large economy.

    ‘‘We can do it in Nigeria, we can create, convert Nigeria to the main tourist destination in Africa. There is a huge potential here. Culture, nature, food you have everything here.

    ‘‘You are investing in agriculture, improving seamless travel through visa-on-arrival programme, reforming the economy and doing so much on security. Nigeria is safe,’’ Pololikashvili said.

    Also speaking, the Information and Culture Minister said 166 delegates, including 26 tourism ministers from Africa are attending the UN tourism conference, holding from June 4 to June 6 in Abuja.

  • Garba Shehu rolls out the artillery

    AFTER waiting many months for ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s volcanic rage against his successors to turn dormant, the Muhammadu Buhari presidency has in frustration finally decided to answer back. In a statement issued last week by a presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, the former president is painted as a hater of constitutional rule whose admonitions on democracy should be scorned. Mallam Shehu did not use expletives or any word that could be interpreted as discourteous, but the statement retained enough weight and significance to probably shake the confidence of Dr Obasanjo, assuming the often imperturbable ex-president could be easily ruffled by anything. Dr Obasanjo has not replied Mallam Shehu, and it is not even certain that any response, if it ever comes, would cut ice with the people, considering the characterisation of the former president as an anti-democratic leader.

    In many brutal statements authored or ordered by him against his enemies and anyone he chose not to fancy, Dr Obasanjo indicated he had managed to surround himself with many young and daring iconoclasts, unblushing regicides eager to decapitate or defang a king. Now, President Buhari himself, after enduring abuse for many months from the former president, has also shown his capacity to draw a hedge of strident giant slayers around his beleaguered presidency, men and women adept at Internet abuse, and others like Mallam Shehu who by a cocktail of truths and falsehoods have developed the talent for skewering oligarchs and hierarchs. Dr Obasanjo has been used to drawing blood and flak in equal measure over his pungent and unsparing attacks against his enemies, and sometimes even his friends. It is not surprising that President Buhari’s men, having also now tasted blood, Dr Obasanjo’s, have found it is not as sacrilegious and distasteful as they had been led to imagine, and are now inspired to go beyond seeking the former president’s head to desiring his torso and his legacy, or anything else he prizes.

    The president himself has found his voice in attacking Dr Obasanjo, a voice that previously did not rise above whispers, but is now echoing boldly, brilliantly and spectrally across baleful divides and impossible terrains. Facts and fictions have become greatly obfuscated in the process; but as the president’s charge of $16bn power projects spending indicated some two weeks ago, the presidency seems determined to haul anything at opponents the Buhari government last Friday suggested were so enriched and loaded that they made him despair. Since the swords have left their sheaths, the country must brace up for merciless cuts and thrusts between the two main combatants. Other former presidents averse to President Buhari’s leadership and style have spoken in metaphors and vernacular idioms. But for Dr Obasanjo, a man so inured to pain and abuse, he sees no value in speaking in parables that fly over the heads of his enemies. He always wants them to see his blows coming, to imagine and deconstruct their ferocity, and to die many times before death comes. As much as he can help it, and as the elections draw near, he will injure with his words as he will wound with his gaze, skewer when the time is right, and disembowel for effect.

    But as brutal as he is, and as fearsome as his reputation has become, Dr Obasanjo will find it difficult to respond to Mallam Shehu’s adumbration of the ex-president’s anti-democratic measures and tactics between 1999 and 2007. Hear the president’s spokesman on how Dr Obasanjo unlawfully unhorsed some governors: “A five-man legislature met at 6:00 a.m. and ‘impeached’ Governor Dariye in Plateau; 18 members out of 32 removed Governor Ladoja of Oyo from office; in Anambra, APGA’s Governor Obi was equally impeached at 5:00 a.m. by members who did not meet the two-thirds required by the constitution. His offence was that he refused to inflate the state’s budget. The lawmakers had reportedly met with representatives of the President in Asaba, Delta State and then accompanied to Awka by heavy security provided by the police Mobile Unit. The PDP President at that time had reportedly told Obi to forget re-election in 2007 if he did not join the PDP because he (the President) would not support a non-PDP member.”

    Mallam Shehu continues: “In Ekiti, Governor Fayose in his first term faced allegations of financial corruption and murder. Following the failure to heed the instruction of the Presidency to impeach only Fayose and spare the deputy, Madam Olujimi, now a senator, the PDP President declared that there was a breakdown of law and order in the state and declared a state of emergency. He appointed Brig-Gen. Adetunji Olurin (rtd) as the sole administrator of the state on October 19, 2006. In an earlier incident in Anambra, it took an insider collaboration to thwart the unseating of Governor Ngige by a powerful thug sponsored by the PDP administration.” Then, to paint a rich contrast, Mallam Shehu gloats: “Thank God for Buhari, none of these absurdities has happened under his watch, but the PDP is indicating their boredom with his meticulous observance of the constitution by calling for a return to the old order.”

    Mallam Shehu strains credulity by contrasting President Buhari’s rule of law record with Dr Obasanjo’s abominable standard. The president may not have sunk to Dr Obasanjo’s depths by removing governors, and may even abhor the former president’s tactics, but he is less gifted in enunciating democracy, let alone projecting it. He has defied court orders and disdainfully refused to say why or entertain questions on the matter. And whereas the former president has sometimes spoken glowingly, even if facetiously, of democracy and adhered scrupulously to the idea of national fairness and equity, the president has on the other hand said nothing about democracy, exhibited extreme discomfort with the concept, groaned that constitutional strictures immobilise him from the alacrity and bad-temperedness that pockmarked his rule as a military head of state, and has ruled, spoken, and behaved as a military leader far more imperial and regal than when he first took office in December 1983.

    It was needless for Mallam Shehu to compare President Buhari’s record with any of his predecessors’. It is sufficient to attack Dr Obasanjo who has done and said enough to arm his opponents for decades to come. The former president’s foibles are so stark that no one needs any research to identify his weaknesses and failings both as a private citizen and family man on the one hand, and as a public figure with all his sanctimoniousness and abject lack of grace and fidelity to political morality on the other hand. There will still be many more chances to take Dr Obasanjo to the cleaners, whether with facts or fallacies, as Mallam Shehu is becoming adept. Let the presidential spokesman, however, abstain from comparing anybody’s record with that of President Buhari, for the president at bottom has no inspiring record worth being deployed for one comparison or the other.

    Dr Obasanjo has opened himself to attacks of all kinds. But his enemies will be dismayed to find that he can hold his own very admirably. The reason, it is suspected, is genetic. As his wife indicated in her hugely censorious book full of coruscating domestic anecdotes, Dr Obasanjo is incapable of shame, possesses very lax principles and few virtues, and pursues his enemies with a vengeance and relentlessness that are both unearthly and incomprehensible. Mallam Shehu and other hired hands can write all they want, Dr Obasanjo will simply shrug off the abuse and pursue his quarry, much like the boxer Joe Frazier pushing his way through a fusillade of Muhammad Ali blows. He will not flinch at an upper cut, whether from the president or his spokesmen, and he will barely twitch at a blow to the medulla oblongata. He is as solid as they come, pugnacious, quarrelsome and impolite. When he has no answer to an abuse, he will simply turn his attention elsewhere.

    Mallam Shehu will of course exult at just how well he has connected to the head and body of Dr Obasanjo with the wounding accounts of how the former president demeaned the Nigerian constitution and nearly inoculated the whole country against its commands and provisions. There was no exaggeration in the presidential spokesman’s accounts. In any other country, Dr Obasanjo would indeed be a pariah, pushed into ignominy by his poor appreciation of democracy and his even more inept perception of the historic role nature conferred on him to help set the foundations for Nigerian democracy. But Dr Obasanjo, no matter his failings, is brimful of rustic gumption. He is smart enough to know that President Buhari is even a much worse democrat than he, and in three years has shown himself to possess more contempt for democracy than Dr Obasanjo exhibited in eight years.

    President Buhari and his spokesmen and defenders will sustain their barrages against Dr Obasanjo. But trust the former president to be unswayed by the blows. He will intensify his assault on the president’s re-election bid. Already, the president is not quite as composed as he would like in the face of Dr Obasanjo’s indescribable smugness. But whether his discomfiting lack of patience is sufficient enough to nudge him a step further to unleash his investigative and prosecutorial hounds on the former president is not certain. To do that, even for a man so inflexible, so self-deprecating, and so indifferent to public opinion, the president will have to calculate whether he would not inadvertently and invariably open the gates of hell in a country so riven by crises and conflicts, some of them perhaps indirectly engendered by the president himself and hardened by his familiar administrative inattention and anachronisms.