2019: More International Pressures May Mount on President Buhari to Jettison Ambition

Olusegun Obasanjo, farmer and former president, has been at the forefront of the Buhari Must Go campaign, though he was one of those that supported his election bid in 2015. His current position has resulted in what analysts have described as Buhari breaking protocol to directly attack a former head of state and a retired General, a position that is uncommon due to the so called espirit-de-corps that exist between retired officers. Recently, where receiving his supporters at Aso Rock, Buhari obliquely referred to Obasanjo’s power project when he was in power, suggesting that there is nothing to show for the $16 billion dollar the Obasanjo pumped into the power sector. Though Obasanjo replied him by referring him to go and read his book to get details of how the money was spent, subtly alluding to the fact that President Buhari cannot read English but can only understand Hausa language. “If he cannot read the three-volume book, he should detail his aides to do so and summarize the chapters in a language that he will easily understand,” Obasanjo said. Almost simultaneously, the Catholic Church staged a nationwide demonstration against the government of Muhammadu Buhari, decrying the incessant Killings by Fulani Herdsmen, strategically fixed on the day the church is burying the dead priests that were killed. All over the country, there were demonstrations by the Catholics. Coming out in there millions, they caused so much traffic snarls in the country. And the Papal representatives were said to be part of the contingents to the Benue burials.

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And within the same period, Arewa youths also insisted that both former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and President Buhari must step down on grounds of age as they do not want any candidate older than 70 years.

The altercations between Buhari and Obasanjo spell the next step in the silent war of the General. Obasanjo commands lots of international influence because he is said to belong to a small elite group in the world that decides the fate of world leaders. A few of these reside in Africa, and in Nigeria, the other members are said to be Alhaji Sule Gambari, General Ibrahim Babangida and Theophilus Danjuma. Obasanjo has been speaking with such confidence about overthrowing Buhari through the ballot box.

On the other hand, the Catholic Church is a formidable international organization that has tentacles within all intelligence bodies all over the world. They are slow to rouse, but for the directive to have come from Rome for the procession and open letter by the Bishops with a veiled threat, he Buhari government, no matter how much they feel secured, may as well watch it. The momentum may only gather as the 2019 election draws near. As Uche Ezechukwu, a social commentator puts it, Nigeria should do well to learn from the Philippine example. ”The Catholic Church does not rush into such decisions as protesting against a constituted authority and when it decides to move against the government,as the Church in Nigeria has reluctantly undertaken, it is because it has tried every other quiet strategy and failed. The Church is a universal entity with a central authority, hence the unanimous protest by every Catholic parish in the country, and they count in scores of thousands with tens of millions of members. You can be sure that the May 22 March reverberates all over the world and will influence the policy of other nations towards this government.
What is happening in Nigeria is not new. In the late 1970s the people of the Philippines, led by the Catholic archbishop of Manilla, Cardinal Jaime Sin, rose up against the corrupt and high handed rule of President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife. Marcos refused to change his ways, and so the People’s Power led by the Catholics of the Philippines swept him away, just with their rosary beads and hymn books. PMB and his insensitive APC government should heed the lessons of the Phillipino example and change their ways! There is still time.”