There will be blood!

But closer home, there is another ‘bloody’ problem.  It was said that my forever hero, Muhammadu Buhari, hosting some of his party adherents, had used an adage in Hausa in which he said ‘kare jini, biri jini’, meaning ‘dog blood, monkey or (baboon) blood’, translated literally.  This matter has gone on for too long, with the almighty PDP jumping on it and magnifying the matter for poor Buhari.

The issues for me are these:  If Buhari is angry to the point of uttering expletives if he likes, then I should think he is justified.  If he has suffered painfully over the past 9 years to reinvent himself and totally abide by the rules of democracy, if he has spent many years in court and usually obtained lame judgments from so called supreme court judges, if he has been blatantly cheated, his time, energy, tears wasted, then as an old man, he should say even more than an adage which depicts a fierce struggle ahead.  If the PDP chooses to analyse every word spoken by Buhari, rather than make something of the time on their hands, then the joke is on Nigeria as a whole.  President Jonathan himself has said – and keeps saying – many things unbecoming of a president, but Nigerians do not hang onto those words of his.  Ok, actually Nigerians just expect him to mis-speak each time. And he hardly disappoints.

But more seriously, and as Farouk Kperogi educated us – being an expert linguist – it is really silly for anyone to take the words of an adage/idiom separately and reach conclusions.  I understand now, from reading many texts on the vexed matter, that ‘kare jinni, biri jini’, is an idiom that tells of a severe struggle, and at worst, tries to prepare the people for a defense of their votes come 2015.  Again Buhari will be accused of asking the people to defend their votes from riggers, as if that was not the essence of democracy in the first place.  Even in advanced countries from where we have copied our democracy, anyone stealing ballot boxes, or thumbing away for any party, will be lynched.  No one will wait for such a person to stuff the ballot box, or steal the box away, and then head to court.  The police cannot be on hand to solve every problem, and oh, in Nigeria, the police and army are party to the rigging.

Therefore, I believe the PDP should cut Buhari some slack, and should not be worried at all, except it intends to really rig its way back into government over the next 60 years as promised.  Like I stated last week, the admission by northern governors, that the problems of the north were not caused by them (and the problems still exists aplenty), means that they admit to their ineffectiveness.  Why they should expect to be kept on by the voters despite their ineffectiveness, beggars belief.  Voters, no matter how poor they are, know what they want, and that is CHANGE! Rigging prevents change, therefore the people should do all they can, to prevent rigging and ensure the majority voice carries the day.  People who know, say that the worst kind of corruption, is electoral rigging, because it ensures criminals get into elective positions, after which all is lost.  One cannot expect to build a great monument on a useless foundation.

Anyway, as for me, I am so depressed about the Nigerian situation, the perpetuation of fraudsters in government (Obasanjo made a statement about armed robbers in the legislature), the bastardisation of the last election, the continued looting of public funds, the profligacy of our people (public and private), the lack of ideology in our government, the dearth of true leaders who can ginger the people, and so on, that I don’t think I will waste my time ever voting in Nigeria again.  Let those who know how to manipulate elections and public funds continue.  Of one thing they can be sure, now or in the future; There Will Be Blood!  Either we are lucky and it is localized, or it becomes a total breakdown of law and order to the extent that foreign countries and bodies will intervene – and help magnify if it works for them.  It is apt to note, that one does not fight a bully with feather-dusters.  A bully recognizes only sheer force and courage.  Riggers are bullies, so Nigerians who still believe in Democracy should be ready to face them squarely.

According to newspapers around the same time, “Buhari said the North was not silent on issues of insecurity as claimed by some people but that the North does not own the police, soldiers or Central Bank…” “Since the leaders now don’t listen to anybody but do whatever they wish, there is nothing the North can do,” he said.

For saying this, people criticized him for being sectional, but from the above, it seemed someone asked him about the issue of the ‘north’ being quiet about Boko Haram, and his response naturally had to carry some statement about the ‘north’, not being silent.

I dare say that anyone who has contested for this country’s presidency and therefore thrown their entire lives and livelihood in the fray, have every right to criticise the government in any manner they want. Buhari is simply the most qualified in Nigeria to so do.  He has contested – and been cheated – many times than any other.  He has his failings no doubt, but in our culture, the elderly is always given a bit of leeway to vent their anger, especially when they have been upright and have tried to correct the anomalies to no avail.

One last word.  During the Democracy Day Church service, all the government functionaries present at Reverend Peter Akinola’s sermon, refused to say Amen to his prayer against corruption. I guess we should just give up on the government, and our hope for peaceful redemption in this millieu.  A simple prayer against corruption was not answered to by government functionaries, in the most obvious confirmation of government culpability in recent times.  The Bible even asks us; ‘Shall we continue in sin, and expect the Grace to abound’.  ‘God forbid’, answers the Bible itself.  How the present government expects the current level of mindless corruption, rigging, falsification, to continue, and for the future to be peaceful, does not make sense to any right-thinking person.  They should stop brow-beating us, and learn to do what is right.  Time ticks away.