By Kunle Adebayo, Lagos, Nigeria.
The spokesman for the All Progressive Congress party (APC)before 2015 is well known. His name remains Alhaji Lai Muhammed, now the nations substantive Information Minister. He cut his teeth waging propaganda warfare against former president Jonathan and literally tore his reputation to shreds. Lai Muhammed was a terror—a torn in the flesh of the former President and his People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The Ilorin born politician did not give them any breathing space.
He was stringent, using dirty tactics to call them all sorts of names until they became weary—and tired. Majority of Nigerians who didn’t believe initially, began to change their minds under persistent onslaught unleashed by Lai Muhammed. The scale of attack was such that Jonathan and his PDP party were chased out of power. For the first time in the history of Nigeria, an incumbent was defeated in presidential election. Such is the testimony of the “tongue power” of the fiery Alhaji Lai Muhammed.
It is now 7 years, his party, the APC ascended to power and curiously the apparently “sharp and biting” propagandists have been quiet. He is no longer critical, sarcastic or harsh. His sudden shy expression may not be unconnected with his party’s woeful performance and the severe hardship inflicted on Nigerians. In contrast, the same Jonathan he castigated now appears to be a saint—contrary to what Muhammed had made Nigerians to believe and crucified for.
The state of the country today under the APC—Muhammed’s party is nothing to write about; beyond the unprecedented greed masterminded by his party’s henchmen, Muhammed himself might be speechless about the deadly turn of events. Thus, the APC that rode to power on the crest of massive popularity has tumbled into the nadir of disgrace—despised by the grassroots for subjecting them to harrowing poverty. Beyond that, they are badly shaken and disturbed by the endless greed and thirst displaced for corrupt practices.
Now the nation under Muhammed and his party’s watch has become sharply divided. The signs are frightening and unbelievable. This revelation has lead both the literate and the illiterate to ask: what type of government is this? Deceit, abuse of office and unbridled nepotism. A new dimension has even been introduced—that of hate speech and ethno-religious sentiments. This has flared up in recent months with tension reaching boiling points. The former president never descended to this abysmal level. In his own case there was sanity and order.
Now, the nation is faced with a steady decent into anarchy and chaos. fear rules the landscape; the type that set bells jangling each time an object crosses your path. Since the days of former party chairman Comrade Adams Oshiomole the APC has been strangely on the brink. One good reason could be that those who worked for the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari have been left in the cold–ditched by a cold heartless leadership. Adams Oshiomole took to gangsterism and held the party hostage until he was booted out of office.
The one that came after him, Mai Mala Buni fared no better. He too began to plot another tragic course until he got trapped in his stew. He was promptly thrown out and replaced by another —who else, other than the many times recycled Senator Adamu Abdullahi! A former two-time governor and a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, this one has spent barely 3 months in office and the party is already drifting from “frying pan to fire”! Now prominent big wigs are leaving the party in droves—all because of his nauseating leadership style.
Senator Adamu’s unbecoming attitude under a democratic dispensation is heavily implied in the hardship currently faced by Nigerians. You cannot exhibit ethnic bias in modern era in the administration of an important office as the chairman of a ruling party sidelining whoever is not in your good books and expect people to keep mute. Adamu should know that the APC is not his father’s birthright and at the appropriate time, he will be shown the door—like his predecessors. We are in an enlightened era and this is not the time to gamble.
Poor decisions under this APC administration has bleed the nation dry and if anything the times ahead might be infernal. The APC leadership must sit up and start seeing power and political office as a means to further the interest of all and sundry. Since Alhaji Lai Muhammed has kept quiet, it is either the others follow suit or be ready to lose the 2023 general elections. Nigerians are now wiser; they have seen through the tons of lies dished out by Lai Muhammed in the years preceding their arrival. They have found out it was all a game. Now the truth is out in the open. And Lai Muhammed knows it.
