By Tunde Abatan,
tunde2013abatan@gmail.com,08165660217
Omo o Le jo Baba,ka maa binu Eni,Ayele,
Omo ole Jo Baba,Ka ma binu eni
FFK yi Jo Fani ju
Omo o Le Jo Baba ka maa binu Eni
When he rode to power in the gale of mass popularity and endorsement in 2015,it was with the belief that he actually came to permanently chase away the scoundrels,the loafers,political jobbers and looters who he booted out of office in 1983 after four years of civil rule.
His popular acceptance was also with a view to replace the corrupt political actors who have pulled back Nigeria’s political calendar by their actions,inactions and conduct in power.
But today,that President Muhammadu Buhari can openly embrace and welcome with outstretched arm,the likes of politically inconsistent and loafer like Femi FaniKayode, is an open endorsement of those he came remove with the Change mantra.
As for FFK,in the over two decades of his political career, the rate at which he has changed camp and moved from one political bed to the other is an indication that to every of his moves,lies his penchant to backstab and betray his benefactors for his own survival.
Since his Alajobi days in the South West after the end of infamous Abacha regime in 1998, to his picking a job with former President Olusegun Obasanjo, he has remained as inconsistent as he could be.
Thus, when President Muhammadu Buhari embraced him last Thursday in Aso Rock to the charging of his aides and associates, it was to prove a point that like his new friend FFK, PMB is always ready to board any political train to retain his tenacious hold on power even if it means rocking the political platform with which he climbed to power.
To have thrown party hierarchy aside and quickly embrace FFK means perhaps his loyalists and those who shout on rooftops about his integrity might not have seen the last of his antics which by all sense of reasoning, bellies the reason and energy those who threw him up from political retirement to leadership of the nation.
A nation desperately in search of genuine leadership at a time it was in political crossroads in 2015.
The anger of notable members of the ruling All Progressive Congress,APC; youths from the Northern parts of the country and even the South is as indiscribable as the urge by the President’s handlers to present FFK as a newly discovered saint in spite of his having serially painted Buhari with tar brush in the last six years.
To the Northern Youths Leadership Forum led by Elliot Afiyo, Buharis open embrace of FFK regarded as representing opposite of what they thought he stood for,is an indication that the country is sinking and only patriots could revive it.
As for them,Buharis perceived capitulation to embrace his avowed enemy is an indication that,”he is caged spiritually and physically”.
As for Solomon Dalung, former sports minister,Buharis open embrace of FFK,is a sign of the insensitivity of the government to the plight of Nigerians.
Without being partisan,he declared that Buharis political action is a squandering of the goodwill of Nigerians on the platter of reckless political ambition such that the party and by extension the nations peace is definitely threatened .
Indeed,those angered by the admission of FFK are not necessarily threatened by his non relevant political and electoral weight, which according to Joe Igbokwe, a dye in the wool APC and Buhari supporter, believes the laters attitude.
His open embrace is a slap in the face of diligent party supporters.
As for them, to roll out the red carpet to welcome somebody who has no electoral value belittle those who have worked to sustain the party in spite of a bit encouraging performance.
As for Igbokwe, to welcome such character like that is a slap in the face of supporters who have stood with the party and the President through thick and thin.
Islamic cleric, Sheikh Gumi puts it more succinctly when he went back memory lane and refer to FFK “as a traitor and fake likened to Biblical Judas.” To him,to welcome a betrayal of Oduduwa race is to say the least demeaning.
He is saying in effect that FFK may be the long awaited Judas,Buhari and those who hijacked the party may have been waiting for.
The acceptance of FFK into the party directly by the President is not only an indication of lack of coordination and trust in the party hierarchy especially since FFK has no known electoral worth back home in his Osun state. Some think he should’ve been made to join the party from his ward level to show his grassroot relevance.
It is doubtful whether FFKs mission in the APC sinking boat is about grassroots acceptability but rather as an instrument at other levels of the party.
Buharis action is also an indication that FFKs admission may not necessarily be for party politics but also to fight some intra- party battles for the soul of the APC in the South west in months to come as we inch towards 2023.
It may also be a deft political move by Buhari to pocket the party which for now has no identifiable leadership structure before next months national convention.
Being an agent provocateur, FFK is needed by the Congress for Political Change,CPC, tendency of the APC to reign in ‘rebelious’ members especially from the SW who might want to defy national leadership directives towards 2023.
With the APC now split along two clearly defined North and South tendencies,chances are that FFK is being used as an errand boy by the CPC to whip into line the Action Congress of Nigeria,ACN, members who might be pursuing agenda different from Buharis.
Aso Rock cabal ,it is obvious, is bent on retaining power at all cost.
Giving,FFKs romance with some ministers and Governor’s of the party from the North,it is clear to all intent and purpose that his embrace by the President is to recruit him to do the dirty political jobbery he is noted for.
Above all, President Buharis new penchant to being in bed with the same characters in the People’s Democratic Party,PDP especially some South East governor’s like Dave Umahi, is seen as a desperate move to gain in the South East, what he might lose in the South West in the months ahead.
This is , in spite of FFKs loud mouth which though may not necessarily translate into vote, but may distract his fellow Yoruba from South West…a dirty man’s job indeed.
Now that President Buhari has found company in ‘patrons’ and ‘friends’ of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission,EFCC,he is obviously replacing the more credible and brilliant associates he used to gain ascendancy in 2015 with the scoundrels he pushed out of power .
Power is game and game could be fair or foul but the object is absolute Power.
It is quite obvious that with the high insecurity in the country, a battered economy which has nose dive beyond redemption in the earliest possible times ,minders of Buhari are all poised and determined to retain power by all means possible.
In this battle,it is using the characters it chased out of power to upstage those who installed him.
The next few months will be very interesting especially with the likes of FFK who are always ready to do their masters bidding if the price is right!
