Opinion: Muhammadu Buhari and decent company By Is'haq Modibbo Kawu

Date: 2015-05-21

EARLY this week, the All Progressives Congress, APC's Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate, announced a 2-Day Policy Dialogue on the Implementation of the Agenda for Change, on the eve of the inauguration of the Muhammadu Buhari Presidency, by May 29th, 2015.

The initiative is ordinarily welcome and many newspapers saw it as the unveiling of the incoming government's policy direction. But there is a most devious element to the whole project, and that is the inclusion of former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair as "Keynote Speaker" in a Policy Dialogue of an incoming administration elected on the platform of bringing change to our country.

Last week Thursday, most Nigerian newspapers had also carried on their front pages, a picture of the same Tony Blair flanked by Muhammadu Buhari and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. Tony Bliar had visited the incoming leaders in Abuja. And as is his wont, Blair spoke very patronisingly "assuring" Buhari of "the support of the major democracies of the world" (On what authority was he giving such an assurance?). He went further to tell Buhari: "In whatever way we can, we are ready to support you and help you (And who are the 'we' that the war criminal spoke for?)...Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to see you again here in Nigeria..."

The romance with Tony Blair started on the eve of the last elections when Bukola Saraki organised a meeting and photo-op with the former British Prime Minister for General Muhammadu Buhari. If we had thought that it was just a pre-election faux pas, that was perhaps a necessary part of the Chatham House appearance by General Buhari, we were mistaken. Because, the larger-than –life image that Tony Blair is being invested with by the incoming administration, through the machinations of an over-ambitious member of the APC has become a most disturbing aspect of potential policy, including foreign policy. Last week, Bukola Saraki posted a selfie of himself and Tony Bliar on his facebookpage, soon after a meeting at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel Abuja. It is also instructive that the 2-Day Policy Dialogue had been announced by long-standing Bukola Saraki aide, Bolaji Abdullahi, who is Deputy Head of the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council.

An unwelcome visitor

The problem is that Tony Blair does not possess the halo and aura of credibility that the neo-colonial elite and some individuals in the APC are investing him with. If we have a serious, politically-conscious ruling elite that is dedicated to the best interests of humanity, we would actually have organised Tony Blair's arrest for onward transportation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, to be tried for crimes against humanity and the illegal invasion, occupation and destruction of Iraq, on the basis of lies.

On Tuesday this week, Olatunji Dare's THE NATION column, titled: "AN UNWELCOME VISITOR", explained in great detail, the crimes and indecencies of Tony Blair, that has been turned into some policy Guru befitting the change that Nigerians desired with the election of Muhammadu Buhari. This is the same Tony Blair that cannot freely walk on the streets of London and is perhaps the most detested politician in the whole of Europe today.

As Olatunji Dare reminded: "So unpopular and discredited had he become at the end of his record tenure as prime minister that he could not embark on a farewell tour of Britain, where he was sure to be greeted with shouts of 'liar, liar' and pelted with tomatoes and eggs...The last time Blair went to testify before a parliamentary committee looking into how the UK entered into the unholy alliance that invaded, occupied and destroyed Iraq, he had to be smuggled into the committee room through a back door, to save him from the wrath of protesters"!

If the APC denizens inviting him to be "Keynote Speaker" at their Policy Dialogue had looked carefully, they probably would have seen the blood of innocent Iraqi men and women dripping from the pores of their guest and each time he opens his mouth, they probably would have also seen the flesh of Iraqi children still hanging on his teeth! The neo-colonial elite is by nature not better than a eunuch; they always believe that they need the imprimatur of the metropolitan, imperialist bourgeoisie to validate their rule.

When such elite groups include over-ambitious individuals like that touting Blair for the APC, they make very elementary but unpardonable mistakes because of the deeply unpatriotic content of their intentions! Why would any serious patriot committed to the real development of our country be seen in the company of Tony Blair? What policy directions are they working out for Nigeria that warrants the "keynote Address" of a Tony Blair? There is also a neo-colonial contraption called the Honourary Investment Council headed by the British Conservative Baroness, Lynda Chalker, that was put in place by Olusegun Obasanjo, who also suffers a surprisingly unacceptable level of inferiority complex, vis-a-vis the leading imperialist politicians.

Elected to provide leadeship

General Muhammadu Buhari should remember early enough, that he has been elected to provide leadership for change that works for the Nigerian people. He needs the acceptance and approval of the Nigerian people, not the imprimatur of imperialist politicians. He should, please, keep very decent company. Being lured into photo-ops with Tony Blair, at the behest of an overambitious young man, actually diminishes his stature.

Tony Blair is not decent company! If we cannot arrest him to face his day at the International Criminal Court, because of our neo-colonial encumbrances, they should please stop inviting Tony Blair to our country. We are a nation of decent people with a strong sense of history. The crimes that Tony Blair committed against the Iraqi people were some of the worst war crimes of the Twenty-First Century.

They were crimes not only against Iraq, but also against our collective humanity. And the invasion, occupation and destruction of Iraq had been on the basis of a lie. Olatunji Dare puts it very succinctly: "Contrived earnestness, evangelical fervor, and ability to tell a blatant lie with a straight face: That is the quintessence of Tony Blair. No weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq. But by the time British forces pulled out, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi had been killed. Hundreds of thousands more had been displaced and Iraq lay in ruins. Hundreds of British soldiers had also been killed- all for a lie...he hundreds of thousands of Iraqis whom Blair's warmongering removed from this world, and the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis it turned into refugees or otherwise brought to ruin have no place in Blair's consciousness".

They obviously have no place in the consciousness of those who have been arranging this liaison with Muhammadu Buhari (for the sake of a personal and unpatriotic political agenda, we hasten to add!) and those in the APC Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate, who have chosen Tony Blair as the "Keynote Speaker" at their Policy Dialogue. Muhammadu Buhari must see through the personal agendas of over-ambitious individuals that in the long run, do disservice to our country's heritage of support for oppressed peoples and which opposes imperialist brigandage; the type Tony Blair typifies!

Source

 

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Ilorin Innovation Hub     Onilu     Yomi Ogunsola     Shao     Mary Arinde     Kunbi Titiloye     Dapo Teni Nig Enterprise     Yoonus Kola Olatinwo     General Hospital, Ilorin     Oloje     Kwara State Printing And Publishing Corporation     Academic Staff Union Of Universities     Tunde Mukaila Mustapha     Congress For National Consensus     Senate Presidency     Radio Kwara     Sulyman Buhari     Pakata Development Association     Ridwan Agboola     Shoprite     Omu Aran     Yunus Lawal     Saheed Popoola     Guber Aspirant     Kolo     3MTT     Afolayan     Segun Ogunsola     Amos Sayo     Iliasu     Olabode Towoju     Ishola Moses Abiodun     Binta Sulyman     Minister     Suraj Tunji Oyewale     Emmanuel Olatunji Adesoye     Kayode Yusuf     Opaleke Bukola Iyabo     MMWG     Samuel Elizabeth Keatswa     Mohammed Halidu     Kwara State Branch Of The National Library     Oniye     Abdulhakeem Amao     KWSUED     Simon Sayomi     Share-Tsaragi     CACOVID Palliatives     Sardauna     Abdulquawiy Olododo     Yoruba     Usman Yunusa     Simeon Sayomi     Lasiele Alabi Yahaya     Ajeigbe     Najim Yaasin     Olushola Saraki     Magaji Erubu     Atunwa     Hijab     Funmilayo Braithwaite     Solomon Edojah     Erin-ile     Sabi     Kwha.gov.ng     Shettima Of Ilorin     Joshua Adeyemi Adimula     Jelili Yusuf     Olumide Daniel Ibitoye     Kayode Zubair     Ilorin Emirate Staff Association     Olupako     Kaosarah Adeyi     Funmilayo Mohammed     Ifelodun     Omotoso     Alimi    

Cloud Tag: What's trending

Click on a word/phrase to read more about it.

Kehinde Boyede     Taofeeq Olateju     Abdulrazaq Solihudeen     Ajase-Ipo     Asiwaju Bola Tinubu     Salihu Alhaji Musa     Risikat Lawal     Shuaib Boni Aliyu     Aremu Odolaye     Suleiman Ajadi     Nigeria Foundation For Artificial Intelligence     Communication Network Support Services     Buari Edun     Kwara State Infrastructure Development Fund     NaAllah     Pategi     Bilikis Oladimeji     Kayode Oyin-Zubair     Odogun Olushola Gabriel     KWSUED     Iyeru Grammar School     Mufutau Gbadamosi Esuwoye     Kolawole Bashirat     Ojo Fadumila     Tosin Saraki     Folorunsho Alao     Olosi Of Osi     Oasis Muslim Care Foundation     Oni Adebayo     Mahmud Ayinla Giwa     Pius Abioje     Mahe Abdulkadir     Saliu Ajia     Gbenga Olawepo     Kwara State Health Insurance Agency     Busari Alabi Alausa     Chartered Institute Of Personnel Management Of Nigeria     Ubandawaki     Joseph Bamigboye     Tanke     Frootify     Issa Oloruntogun     Abdulfatai Ahmed     PPS     Theophilus Oyebiyi     ITP     2017 Budget     SWAN     A.O. Belgore     New Nigeria People’s Party     PAACO-PCL Consortium     Kwara Volleyball Association     Onilorin Of Ilorin     Abdulquawiy Olododo     Salmon Babatunde Salmon     Ejidongari     Abdulsalam A. Yusuf     Mohammed Ibrahim     Ajibike Katibi     Oyun     Kwara 2023     Yakubu Danladi     Kupchi Hosea Maxwell     11th Galadima     Soffiyyallah Kamaldeen     TIIDELab     Saka Abimbola Isau     Ibrahim Jawondo     Gbajabiamila     Patience Jonathan     James Kolo     Kwara NIPR     Kamaldeen Kehinde     Stephen Fasakin     Oba David Oyerinola Adedunmoye     Mohammed Katsina Ahmed     Aliyu Kora Sabi