THE APC AND THEIR MANY LAME EXCUSES

There are several excuses that the Ruling All Progressive Congress APC and President Mohammadu or Mohamed (from the published but not verified school certificate Result) Buhari and his dyed-in-the-wool supporters ‎had continued to bandy around even after one year in office. But like Scott Spencer noted “The trouble with excuses, however, is that they become inevitably difficult to believe after they’ve been used a couple of times.” The excuses are not only unbelievable, they are simply lame! Let’s look at some of the popular excuses

EXCUSE No. 1: WHAT THE PDP DESTROYED IN SIXTEEN YEARS CANNOT BE REPAIRED IN ONE YEAR!

The proponents of this line of argument posit that the Peoples Democratic Party PDP that held power at the center since 1999 when reigns of leadership was returned to Civilians from the Military (we forgot that so soon) only destroyed the Country. Going by this line of argument the PDP did not only lose the elections of 2015, they are also very bad at destroying, after all "It's easier to destroy than to build." If indeed the PDP destroyed this Nation in its sixteen years Power, given the depth of destruction carried out by PMB and the APC ‎in the last one year, there will probably be nothing to repair by now. The Propagandist paint a picture of a Nation that gained independence in 1999 and not 1960 and that there were no challenges such as inadequate Electricity, Mass unemployment, inadequate Health care etc before 1999. For those who care to read, dig up PMB’s 1984 Coup Speech, here is a little extract to whet your appetite; “Arson has been used to cover up fraudulent acts in public institutions. I am referring to the fire incidents that gutted the P&T Buildings in Lagos, the Anambra State Broadcasting Corporation, the Republic Building at Marina, the Federal Ministry of Education, the Federal Capital Development Authority Accounts at Abuja and NET Building. Most of these fire incidents occurred at a time when Nigerians were being apprehensive of the frequency of fraud scandals and the government incapacity to deal with them. Corruption has become so pervasive and intractable that a whole ministry has been created to stem it. Fellow Nigerians, this indeed is the moment of truth. My colleagues and I – the Supreme Military Council, must be frank enough to acknowledge the fact that at the moment, an accurate picture of the financial position is yet to be determined. We have no doubt that the situation is bad enough. In spite of all this, every effort will be made to ensure that the difficult and degrading conditions under which we are living are eliminated. Let no one however be deceived that workers who have not received their salaries in the past eight or so Months will receive such salaries within today or tomorrow or that hospitals which have been without drugs for Months will be provided with enough immediately.” ~ Coup Speech of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, January 1, 1984. To what dept has the APC destroyed this Country in one year? Don't ask me, ask anyone in the street. 

EXCUSE No 2: PRESIDENT BUHARI DID NOT KNOW THE DEPTH OF THE PROBLEM BEFORE HE CAME INTO OFFICE:

This portrays our President as a man who dived with two feet into an untested River.  ‎If that indeed is the case then truly we have entered "One Chance." President Buhari from All indications had remained largely in Nigeria post 1985 and was a part of the Council of State a well respected body of former Presidents, Heads of State, and Heads of Government etc. He's also a retired General who had the wherewithal to get any information he needed to enhance his understanding of the situation on ground as at the time he was seeking to lead the Nation. To further help his course unlike his days as Head of State when it was Treasonable Felony to seek information of any kind, former President Jonathan signed the Freedom of information Act guaranteeing PMB access to any information he seeks. If PMB encountered any problems or obstacles in his quest for information, it was not reported. Besides, our Nation still prides itself as having a very vibrant Press so much so that a columnist once said "Anybody who is sincerely interested in developing the Country as an elected public officer can do that without a retinue of advisers by simply reading our Newspapers daily" I can't agree more. A young man was once caught impersonating as a lawyer and when asked he said he horned his law skills from the Legal pages of Newspapers.

This lame argument also portrays our President as someone who is not fascinated with books. "Readers are Leaders" which book is our President reading now? That will be a good question for all of our Politicians to answer as well.

Only recently the Secretary to the Government Babachir David Lawal is quoted to have said “The exercise of governance is not about reading reports. The reports are here, so many volumes that, for example, it would take me like seven days to go through and I wonder what happens to my work while I am reading it: while the economy needs attention, unemployment is there, insecurity is there, people are blowing up pipelines and so on” he went on to say; “………this Government is too busy with more vital areas of Governance and we are not intending to spend our time reading reports.” As George Santayana said “Those who do not learn from History are doomed to repeat it” the only way you can learn from History is by reading reports the point our SGF is missing.

While the ruling APC accuses the opposition PDP of been bad losers, the APC are very bad winners

EXCUSE No 3:  ‎PMB WILL ONLY WORK WITH PEOPLE HE CAN TRUST:

This excuse grabbed the headlines especially when it was taking almost forever to come out with his cabinet and the same excuse given for PMB’s rubbishing of Federal Character in his appointments, when the truth is our President is not a bridge builder. He sought to rule the Federal Republic of Nigeria, not to be the King of the North. Three times he contested the Presidential pools in 2003, 2007 and 2011 before the grand civilian coup that brought him into office. In all these years our President did not reach out to people from other zones of the Country, no friends or people of like minds from the other side of the divide. Like his constant 150 cows, his ambition was the only thing that was constant, what do I do when I get the power was never given a glimmer of thought, how do I carry all the regions along in my quest to bequeath a better Nigeria that my Children and Generations unborn will be proud of was not on the front burner, prompting many to ask if he truly has an hidden agenda?

PMB's failure to build bridges had lead to many of the challenges that confronts his Government today. Many of those around him are fair weather friends. My enemy’s enemy is my friend was the platform that brought them together under the broom they called APC and they are not the type that will tell him the truth.

EXCUSE No. 4: IT DOES NOT MATTER IF PMB HAS A CERTIFICATE OR NOT

In the heat of the Certificate saga, I joined others to point out the obvious lapses in PMB’s certificate:

A)     CLASS SIX: The Nigerian Educational system changed to 6-3-3-4 in 1982. Even at that by the time I left school in 1987 we ended at Class Five, before then we had the 6-5-4 system. How come the result of GMB is indicating that he graduated at Class Six? Was the North having a different system of education from the west?

B)     The introduction of Student Passport Photograph in their certificates was introduced in 1998/1999, so how come we have the Passport Photograph of GMB appearing in the purported certificate obtained in 1961?

C)     Since the Certificate is an official document, it should bear the official name of the owner. Which is the official name of GMB, is it Muhammadu or Mohamed as it appears in the certificate?

D)     Now the icing on the Cake, GMB said “However, before we obtain that, let me say for the RECORD (emphasis mine) that I attended Provincial Secondary School, Katsina. I graduated in 1961 with many prominent Nigerians, including General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, former Chief of Staff at the Supreme Headquarters ………………..”  The Late General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua was born March 5, 1943 and joined the Nigerian Army in 1959. GMB was born December 17, 1942 and joined the Nigerian Army in the same 1959, but they wrote their Secondary School Certificate together in 1961. Amazing, they were already in the Army before they got their Certificates. What was the qualification required to join the Army in 1959?

This was after the Nigerian Army has stated that it is not in possession of his West African School Certificate. Surprisingly the Certificate saga has refused to die a natural death even after the Nigerian Army had reversed itself that President Buhari’s Certificate are intact and with the Army.

When Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe dragged the President to court seeking his disqualification on the grounds that he never sat for the Cambridge West African School Certificate (WASC) in 1961 as he claimed, I was expecting PMB to simply through his lawyers present his certificate to the Court, he rather engaged the services of about 25 lawyers including Ten Senior Advocates of Nigeria to represent him according to reports.

The latest twist is that Nwokocha-Ahaaiwe had written to the court to withdraw his suit.

Did our President sat for the exam as he claims? The burden of proof is on the President and his handlers. An old adage says; “Truth is like a man who gas under water, the bubbles will come to the surface” it’s only a matter of time. There was another Buhari - Salisu Buhari the First Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1999 who was impeached after it was discovered that he forged his University Certificate from Toronto University. He has since been pardoned and was chosen as part of the governing council of University of Nigeria in 2013
 In the main time if PMB hopes to succeed as president he should do well to imbibe the resolution of Flourence Nightingale, she said “I attribute my success to this – I never gave or took any excuse.”

Just Thinking Aloud!