Buhari, a worry; Atiku, a concern

PERMIT my choice of words, but only a fool would sacrifice his happiness for the joy of others. Am I against sacrificial living and giving? Maybe I should employ better clarity; I meant for the sadistic joy of politicians of the Nigeria specialty, where what ultimately matters, is power for its abusive sake. So, Abdullahi Yada’u of Kanam Local Governemnt Area of Plateau State decided to batter and then divorce his wife Hafsat Suleiman, because she would not consent to joining him to give Atiku Abubakar, Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate in the February 16 poll, a joint vote. He even bragged of his “feat” on  an international news platform. For him, Turaki Adamawa is a god that must be appeased with the chunkiest portion of Aso Rock cake in this election cycle and nothing else would matter, including conjugal bliss and the future of the products of his collapsed marriage. So much for him.

Hafsat is the stubborn housewife whose worship of god Muhammadu Buhari is a matter of life and death and nothing else would matter as long as she remains a faithful. Well, good for her and one can’t really blame her for becoming an initiate, when it was the same Abdullahi that took her through nocturnal indoctrination in 2015 when they jointly and joyfully poured libation to the new god in their home- President Muhammadu Buhari. In the course of the years, the deity in Aso Rock had left Abdullahi completely traumatised and the flattened fellow, deciding to employ the Yoruba saying of “orisa bo le gbemi, fimisile bi o se bami” (an unprofitable and non-profiting god should not demand further cost-implicative sacrifice).

But Abdullahi is probably just a disgruntled initiate without the deep understanding how the gods deal with mere mortals. You don’t get to walk away without a price, even when they had given you no prize in the real sense of it. If you are intent on turning away from their shrines, you are likely to forfeit the prize you had from elsewhere before you jumped on the worshippers’ bandwagon, especially when the new shrine you are headed, is of the same terrestrial value, as the now-despised.

The soul of man, is the home of his being. Once taken or captured, the owner goes into mindless captivity like Hafsat. Sensible persuasions make little or no sense to such a fellow again. Hurtful coercion pushes him or her, to the extremity of soulless indulgence. Self-immolating acts now give the purest of murderous joy.

Both Abdullahi and Hafsat are lost in the desultory promises from the new gods in their lives, just like millions of Nigerians, who are now approaching the coming presidential race as a battle of the gods.

Well, the nation has never been congruent from when the political forebears debuted with fascistic tribal politics, but the latest dimension is of existential crisis. If Buhari thoroughly disappointed Abdullahi in less than four years, why should the future be sacrificed for Atiku, who is also not a stranger to disappointing application of power?

Cult-following is the life-blood of any politician. Whoever achieves the feat, should be credited with some sagacity. But what if the god-leaders are not delivering? Why should a man’s soul be completely lost to a venture for which he is sowing without reaping? Ok, let’s take it that some ventures are just for-God’s-sake, for which no rewards should be expected even if same were promised at inception. But at least, you return in peace, not in the pieces the home and future of the Yada’us had now been inadvertently subjected, considering Hafsat’s siblings’ vow that their sister would never return. May the peace of Allah find the desolate confines of the Yada’us.

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For millions of intending voters, supporters, sympathisers, backers, donors and paid internet trolls of the two leading candidates, can we all pause for a moment, to think the Yar’duas and the dangers posed to everyone by four-plus-four and Atikulated in their mental-home formats. Unlike the president who over the years, has systematically built an expanse shrine of worshippers who rarely get disappointed like Abdullahi because the god-man has a way of feeding them a sustenance for their wild desires, Atiku is just unravelling in the deification business. But in recent time, many Abdullahis are springing up, even in core North, disavowing of the president’s deityship. I rode in the commercial vehicle of one in Abuja not long ago. Both Buhari and Atiku are a no-no for him, though he is from Katsina and his maternal root is in Adamawa. He is in, only for Masari, the underwhelming-in-performance governor of Katsina State, who is believed to have contributed mostly to turning Buhari’s party to vote-buyer, rigger and manipulator in supplementary elections, right in the president’s backyard.

He explained his befuddling position thus, “my grandfather told me Buhari has never been a good man and he has never changed”. And Mr Atikulated? “He has not used his position to help Adamawa the way he should”. So, is the entire presidential line-up hopeless?

The surprisingly well-informed fellow is voting Peter Obi, and by implication, Atiku, as he listed the Igbo-man’s many A-list leadership attributes. This muslim Fulani fellow should define it all, for rabid hailers on both sides and haters from the other side. Both Buhari and Atiku are Fulani and Muslim. If he wanted to be a soulless adherent like millions are today, his choice would be as easy as chopping off, a half-baked cake. Unlike Abdullahi, he didn’t vote any presidential candidate in 2015 because both Buhari and then-president Goodluck Jonathan fell below his standard. He had long be disappointed in the man, Buhari, and thankfully, not destroying the future of his own, for any cheap god. For those in such destructive bondage, I pray the Almighty Father, to please lay in ruins every high place in disagreement with Him in Jesus Name.

Tribune @ 70

This Tuesday, Nigerian Tribune will engage the rest of the world, from Lagos. Yes, the oldest fellow in the media newsroom is a septuagenarian and it is going to be a season-long celebration of an idea which, by God’s grace and mercy, will last eternity. To the leadership, I say, celebrate.