[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t has come to my attention that the Buhari Presidency, embarrassed that not a single former President or ex Head of State attended Muhammadu Buhari’s June 12 celebration, is spreading tales, through faceless groups and expected to grace the headlines of tomorrow’s papers, to the effect that former President Goodluck Jonathan refused to rename the National Stadium, Abuja despite advise to do so, because he was afraid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo and lacked the courage to do so.
This is a ridiculous assertion as the facts will prove.
It would be recalled that on the first anniversary of his inauguration as President on May 29, 2012, former President Goodluck Jonathan honoured chief MKO Abiola by renaming the University of Lagos, Akoka, after him.
Between the National Stadium and the University of Lagos, which is more prestigious and which would require more courage to rename?
It would also be recalled that former President Jonathan took several other courageous decisions during his Presidency, including firing two ministers when questions of impropriety were raised against them.
There have been a number of serious and proven cases of impropriety involving Muhammadu Buhari’s ministers, including two incidents of clearly established cases of certificate forgery. Did Mr. Buhari have the courage to move against them?
The fact is that Muhammadu Buhari hoped to gain undeserved goodwill from the declaration of June 12 as Democracy Day, but after he was snubbed by all living former Nigerian leaders and Nigeria’s only Nobel Laureate, he had to cook up a story to satisfy his guests, some of whom, like President Paul Kagame, have castigated him to his face.
For the avoidance of doubt, let me state here that the slogan for chief MKO Abiola’s Hope 93 campaign was ‘Farewell to Poverty’. Today, Muhammadu Buhari, a man who made Nigeria the world Headquarters for extreme poverty, wants to reap Abiola’s goodwill.
It is not possible that he can do so by making former President Goodluck Jonathan, a man who made Nigeria the world’s third fastest growing economy, his scape goat.
It is therefore not a surprise that those who really knew and loved Chief Abiola, chose to stay away from such a farce.
Reno Omokri is Bestselling author of Facts Versus Fiction: The True Story of the Jonathan Years: Chibok, 2015 and Other Conspiracies. He tweets from @RenoOmokri.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
