Nigeria Is In A special season. It is the season of electioneering. A season that mudslinging is the buzzword, no matter the attributes of the politician being run down. For those who claim to be in opposition in a presidential system of government, it is fair game to do all this and more.
According to them, the ruling government and the President, the subjects of attacks, have not seen nothing yet. They have promised to rake up mud like never seen before against the President, especially. Even where issues have been settled, they still procure people to do the dirty job for them, al’a Adetokunbo Pearse and his cock-and-bull Chicago story.
That is an issue for another day. Today, we address the Nigerians who see the truth, speak it and stand by it. They are not swayed by sentiment or party loyalty. The Nigerian in them makes them to stand for Nigeria and not settle for anything less. Take a bow: Sheikh Ahmad Gumi; Pastor Tunde Bakare and Governor Bala Mohammed.
In this political season of falsifying facts and figures in order to score cheap points, they have risen above that to put things in perspective. They spoke without seeing one another and at different forums. Their background is quite interesting: an Islamic cleric, a pastor and a politician. Bala Mohammed is governor of Bauchi State and national leader of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM).
Gumi and Bakare too need no introduction. They are well known as fiery clerics who say it as it is. It is not surprising that they were brutally frank in their assessment of President Tinubu ahead of the January 16, 2027 presidential election. Bakare contested against the President for the All Peoples Congress (APC) ticket in 2022. He lost the presidential primary like the others who ran against Tinubu.
But he was not embittered by his loss. Not then and not now. As a politician-priest, especially one beaten in a presidential primary by the incumbent, one would have expected him to say unkind things about Tinubu whenever he has the chance to do so. Bakare has shown that he is not like some politicians who are still licking their wounds over the 2022 loss of the APC ticket to the President. Rotimi Amaechi, the running mate to Atiku Abubakar of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), stands out among the bitter losers.
Will he ever overcome his loss? Na im toro be that, anyway. His claim that the late President Muhammadu Buhari promised him the ticket beggars belief. It is nothing but balderdash. Buhari promised him nothing. He should allow the Mai Gaskiya to continue to rest in peace. Mohammed turned heads when he spoke in Bauchi on the good works the President is doing.
According to him, “the President has done so well in so many aspects, especially in the areas of health and finance, because the states are getting more revenue now. And we are very grateful…
“When we were almost overrun by bandits, I went to him, and he responded, in spite of my position as a member of the opposition… Today, those who were displaced have returned to their places. We will never forget this good that he has done for us… We don’t always just oppose and criticise for criticism’s sake. When we see good things, we say it. Mr President has done so well…”
Gumi and Bakare spoke in similar fashion in media interviews. The interviewers were somehow disappointed that the clerics did not lambast the President the way they wanted. They tried all they could to get both men to say something awful, but they displayed cleric stoicism in the face of immense pressure. To a question on the cost of living, Gumi responded:
“The economic measures introduced by the government since its inception are not something that came out of the blues. They are well-documented measures that many economists would recommend… No, I am not saying the economic measures themselves are wrong. You may find very little with the economic direction in principle.
“The real question is: how much are we spending on social protection? How much of our national budget goes towards protecting vulnerable Nigerians? The government has introduced poverty alleviation programmes and other interventions. I am comfortable with them in principle, but the devil is in the implementation”.
On fuel subsidy, Gumi said: “Removing the subsidy was an inevitable consequence of the circumstances in which Nigeria found itself. However, I would have preferred the government to establish strong social safety nets before removing it… The government must pay greater attention to the people at the bottom of the economic ladder. NigerianNewspaper Access
“…I cannot be unfair to the government. It has introduced some interventions to support vulnerable Nigerians. But is what it has done enough? No”. Is the proposed return of subsidy by ADC’s Atiku the answer? Gumi answered in the negative: “Similarly, bringing back subsidy without addressing endemic corruption would amount to throwing money into a well”.
Bakare was not less candid at Envoy Nation in Leicester, England as he fielded questions on the President. He said the President “is an uninitiated politician who has been tried and tested”. The President, Bakare said, has done his best for the country. He said some of the President’s policies were necessary, explaining that ultimately the people would decide whether Tinubu deserves a second term. AccessServices
Bakare said he would be careful about claiming that Nigeria would have been better under his leadership, noting that Tinubu has been tested and possessed considerable experience. He described himself as a “propositional platform” that proffers solutions when things go wrong and does not believe in jumping from one party to the other.
He said he “is still in APC” and would vote his conscience during the elections. The positions of these men, particularly Gumi and Bakare, may be bad news to the Atikus, Obis, Seyi Makindes, Adewole Adebayos and Amaechis of this world, who believe that by now Nigeria would have become Eldorado, if they were in charge.
It is cheap and political talk. We saw what some of them did (one is still doing) as vice president and governors. It was (is) nothing to write home about. So, voting any of them in as president will be the greatest mistake Nigerians ever made. The electorate should read between the lines of what Gumi, Bakare and Mohammed said.
