Author: Femi Adesina

In August 2020, when he gave a speech at the Democratic Convention, Biden ended that way. Same for his November 7, 2020 speech after he won the election. And of course, the line was there when he got inaugurated as President on January 20, 2021.

Well, the word is not regular English language, neither is it my creation. The copyright belongs to former Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, who created something being fast accepted in English from the Igbo word, Iberibe, meaning foolery, trickery, or stupidity. It is the act of being deceitful or untrue.

Was that because I work with a President elected on the platform of the APC? Not necessarily so. Yes, I’ve never really liked the PDP because I felt there was too much of buccaneering in the party, but I’d always been honest enough to give some governors in the fold of the party who were doing well their dues. I always mentioned Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State (he was still in PDP then), Danjuma Goje of Gombe State, and some others. They stood out for the good works in their states.

That was what he did when he was special guest at the State House Press Briefing in Abuja last week. There were many issues of concern in his part of the country, and the governor did not shy away from any.

The position of Mr. President was widely published by the traditional and digital media, and it became an object of debate. In the middle of it all, I received a phone call from Prince Nduka Obaigbena, Chairman of Arise Television and Publisher of Thisday Newspapers.

Pin-drop silence. Strange things do happen in Nigeria. But it had never been seen like that. For a father of the country to publicly excoriate a religious leader? For a Matthew to call a preacher an idiot, “a total idiot?” It was sacrilege walking on two legs.

It was not different on Wednesday afternoon when the new leadership of the military visited the State House to have their first meeting with the President/ Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari, himself a retired Major General of the Nigerian Army.

The same will happen to enemies of our country, who rejoice when negative things happen in the polity. They will lose las las, and then be gentle by force, as Nigeria is God’s project. It is bigger than anyone, and no matter the antagonism they have to the government of the day, no matter the antipathy they have for President Muhammadu Buhari and for other people serving the country, they will lose las las. And become gentle. By force.

If only more Nigerians knew this President. If only they knew the essential Buhari, the quintessential patriot and gentleman, they would behave differently, handle him with more care, and show him more kindness. Yes, everyone needs kindness, even Presidents.

What began about a fortnight ago as “genuine concerns and agitations” by Nigerian youths against the excesses of the Special Anti-robbery Squad of the Nigeria Police has suddenly transmogrified into expressions of hate against the land, leading to murder, mayhem and arson. My sympathy and condolence to family and loved ones of the dead, irrespective of how they came to their unfortunate ends.

Precisely on October 5, 2020, the Buhari administration once again wrote itself into the good books of history. It gave pride of place to teaching, once described as “the profession that teaches all other professions.” A number of goodies were unfolded to mark World Teachers Day

The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, announced that the rail project was conceived in 1987 under the Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida military regime, but “underwent protracted hiccups and prolonged abandonment,” suffered massive vandalisation, till it was resuscitated by the Buhari administration, completed, and now commissioned.

“After we got inaugurated into office in 2015, I asked the Governor of Central Bank for the state of our finances. He said no money. I was alarmed, and asked where all the money went. Before then, oil prices had hit $143 per barrel, and stabilized at $100 per barrel for a long time. But I was being told there was no money.

Former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, wants us to believe that the country is collapsing, and is now a basket case, with the economy and unity in tatters.

Our dear nation has not been spared in this difficult period and, indeed, has felt the impact of the global crisis. But as a responsive government, the Buhari Administration has within limited resources designed responses that are targeted at mitigating the full impact of this scourge.

In Nigeria, when one new administration comes, it abandons most, if not all, the projects its predecessors had been doing. The billions of naira or dollars, legitimate and padded, that had been spent on such projects do not matter.

But we are not talking about skeptics who conjure all sorts of improbabilities today. We are talking of millions of Nigerians who believe in our President, Muhammadu Buhari, and who are glad he came our way, as the administration he leads clocks five years today

Facts speak for themselves. And that is what we present at this auspicious season of the fifth anniversary of the Buhari administration. Facts are stubborn things, no matter how anybody tries to deny, distort or deride them

What am I saying in summary? Those who run down our President on every platform for inexplicable reasons should not think they will always get away with it. If you live in a glasshouse, don’t throw stones. And if you can’t take blows brother don’t throw stones

Let’s tell the story of Venezuela, because it bears striking similitude with that of Nigeria. Just like us, Venezuela is rich in oil, very rich. At a time, the county’s problem was not money, but how to spend it. Just like Nigeria.