The PDP, under President Jonathan’s lead, wants to turn Ekiti, no Yoruba land, to a battle ground
All things considered, there is every indication that President Goodluck Jonathan has decided to shatter the peace subsisting in the only part of the country where there remains a modicum of peace as opposed to the horrifying bloodletting, armed robbery, kidnapping and piracy that have completely overwhelmed other parts of the country. In the only section of Nigeria where children’s throats are not being slit while asleep or where the president’s own uncle and godfather’s children are not being kidnapped, the President, who has appropriately been likened to Nero, is irretrievably edging Yoruba land into war. This president, who has failed to secure the lives and property of Nigerians but who, instead, has justifiably been accused by some Northern leaders of trying to profit from the horrendous and ghoulish mayhem in the North, is doing everything to cause chaos in Yoruba land. Some three months ago, I drew attention to his outflanking and, surreptitiously surrounding the Southwest. Today, he has succeeded in procuring, like merchandise, a minor but respected section of the Yoruba leadership which has, in turn sold him the national conference agenda and donated one of its own to kick start the process. The result is that while the extravagantly funded talk show is ongoing, the hard-headed and vocal section of the Yoruba intelligentsia, the Femi Falana’s, Akin Oyebode’s, the Bisi Adegbuyi’s, not to mention Wale Oshun, who by now would have shouted themselves hoarse about Jonathan’s serpentine designs on Yoruba land, are at peace with the President’s men in Abuja.
No, I am not by any shred of imagination suggesting that the president and his party should not wish to have a reasonable showing in the coming elections in Ekiti and Osun or, indeed, strive to conjure another Jonathan victory in Yoruba land, come 2015; but for the president to want to inflict this species of Yoruba politicians on us; persons whose antecedents are an open book to Nigerians in general and to us, in particular, should ordinarily be beneath him. We were recently told in Ibadan that what he wants in Yoruba land are not politicians but ‘soldiers’ of fortune and we have since seen some of them. But if we may ask: what does Jonathan want with ‘soldiers’ if not to turn Yoruba land into a war zone? After all, there is no evidence to suggest that this President will faint at the sight of more blood. He is not known to squirm at those daily slaughters up North; not even a whimper. Rather, our President embarks on joyous trips to the places like Jerusalem and Rome, in an apparent show of religiosity which Nigerians now know is hollow. It will matter nothing therefore, if a few thousand Yoruba men and women, children in particular, get needlessly slaughtered. His 2015 ambition is enough motivation, he must have surmised.
The President may wish all these and more for us but it is we, the larger, un purchase-able Yoruba, that must think deeply. We must remember that it was during a no less grim circumstances like this that the Yoruba legend, Hubert Ogunde, composed his timeless Yoruba Ronu, a song which our governors must immediately contract the Ogunde family to reproduce in millions for distribution all over the Southwest just as Tunde Kelani’s epic musical film of that song must be shown all over; even in churches to which the President has taken his political tourism. Yoruba must refuse to be led again into a second slavery. Some unthinking Yoruba politicians, out of envy and jealousy have decided to: SE RA NWON NITORI OWO, ATI NITORI IPO. NWON TUN FE SO YORUBA DI BOLU FUN JONATHAN GBA. SUGBON O, ENI BA DALE A BALE LO meaning they want to turn Yoruba to a ball to be kicked anyhow by President Jonathan. Waterloo awaits them.
Nigerians must have seen what the PDP is already making of both the Army and the Police. While we have Senator Adeleke’s word as to how, on the orders of Jonathan’s Police Affairs Minister, seven A.K 47’s were trained on his head, Musiliu Obanikoro, the Minister of state, Army, was reported in newspapers to have led soldiers to Ilaje Ese Odo, Ondo state, last Saturday even as a legislative bye election was ongoing. Till now, a supposedly independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has not been able to announce the result of that election. We can only imagine how many battalions, a President who has no faith in the ballot box, will inundate Ekiti and Osun states with on their respective election day. As a Christian, we hope he knows the story of David and Goliath. It would have been interesting, if not calamitous, that the President went all the way to his South-South region to zero in on a man Nigerian courts declared to be above trial in a massive corruption case, at the instance of EFCC, to do his wish in the PDP primaries in Ekiti.
Need we any further evidence of his designs on Ekiti and its people?
We hope they will not be led by the Satan itself to self destruct. It is our hope that they will not resort to the Oyinlola strong arm tactics of 2007 in Osun state which saw many of our people to their early graves. Those pictures are forever engraved in our subconscious in Yoruba land. Their game is up and the Presidency, INEC, the Nigerian Army and the Police should know that this clarion call is not only being read all over the world but it could very well be part of dispatches from several embassies to their home governments. The most interesting thing, however, is that his armada will not meet Ekiti or Osun people with our hands tied behind our backs. Before that D-Day, however, we, Omoluabi Yorubas, have work to do. I quote below how aptly this work was captured on ekitipanupo during this past week: “There is a gang up to force a regime change in Yoruba land which is being backed up and is fully and massively funded by the presidency
– remember the stolen billions. If we don’t want them to take us back to their inglorious past of infamy and bloodletting, then all hands must be on deck. Our elite must step out of their cocoon and go to their respective towns and villages to reach out to the electorate. The real village square meetings of the people must hold publicly at which the people, especially the impressionable youths, who have voter’s cards and are eligible to vote, will be properly counseled on the communal position on fundamental political issues”, especially the need for Ekiti never to become a colony of stranger elements. Ekiti has forever sealed her freedom with the blood of its citizens shed at the KIRIJI war.
These men should poignantly remind us of U.S President Bush 11 when he wanted a regime change in Iraq. He ferociously battled Iraq, and today, on a daily basis, Iraq loses not less than 20 or double that number of its citizens to suicide bombing. The PDP, under President Jonathan’s lead, wants to turn Ekiti, no Yoruba land, to a battle ground. There would have been no problem if they believe in the ballot box, but they don’t since, even in cahoots with their lackey in the Labour party, PDP cannot garner 40 percent of the votes in either Ekiti or Osun state. Therefore they intend to suborn INEC to do the unthinkable and the impossible. They will forever regret the day as Jonathan would have thereby sounded Nigeria’s death knell. And his 2015 ambition, the leitmotif for all these shenanigans, would have gone with the winds.
We can only hope he will be better advised and will not dare.
