Swim With The Saint Or Sink With The Devil

President & Commander in Chief of the Nigerian
Armed Forces, Muhammadu Buhari |

Like him or not, President Buhari is an achiever! Like a diamond, the harder they work to smear him, the brighter he shines.

Accomplished and recognised half a century ago, the amiable Buhari, today at 74 is a reality too big to handle by scammers and enthusiastic dreamers swimming in a self-created world of delusional fame generated by the cheapness of the social media. It's our bad luck that every street in Nigeria is home to an unknown social media 'big name' who would walk the length of the street naked without being noticed for his irrelevance to the reality of the people.

It's equally our bad luck that Nigeria at its most challenging time have to contend with 'educated' citizens more dangerously empty-headed than the dumbest of the uneducated community. It's bad that there's a war between the practically educated and certificated fools who seemed consumed with a foolish and clearly inapplicable idea of capacity and knowledge. Oh yes, they are also fighting hard to infect the rest of the society using the weakness of Nigeria's immunity to such diseases as a convenient vehicle.

It is symptomatic of our moral degradation,  intellectual laziness, political immaturity and societal carelessness that people who partook in the prolonged vandalisation of our destiny as a nation still have the shameless courage to pretend a belated concern for Nigeria. Not only that, they are pretending participation in the processes of restoring normalcy to a system they deliberately destroyed using our resources and trust as a launchpad for their senseless attack.

Nigerians may be sensitive to trivial issues as being made clear by the ceaseless warfare in print and electronic media none of which is directed at issues relevant to our development but, certainly Nigerians are insensitive to their collective respectability and dangerously numb to modern concept of community and communal behaviour.

It's irritating  to see how some so-called educated Nigerians whose idea of 'patriotism' goes hand in hand with the most unpatriotic oddity of abandoning their crisis ridden fatherland to export their 'expertise' to developed distant lands while 'supporting' Nigeria with periodic online presence full of pretence and clear intent to denigrate honest people working hard to subdue what they ran away from. To them, foolishness is a genetic trait among Nigerians to notice their preference for a second class citizen identity in a foreign land where their 'expertise' at best, is a back-up option.

They are not as irritating as those who celebrate them sheepishly though. A brain is not a fashion accessory. It's meant for reasoning to sort out simple issues like this and thousands more. If you are the type to be impressed by flowery grammar that somebody can just wake up and play table-tennis with your brain by insulting a good leader like President Buhari for 'crimes' as humanly and harmless as slip of tongue, be assured you are part of the reasons Nigeria is what it is today.

The silliest kind of 'patriot' is the one that wet his pants at the thought of N'East before President Buhari fumigate the region and cleared it of the urchins that held the region to ransom for more than five years and billions of dollars down the drain with nothing to show but blood. If you don't see something to celebrate in this feat by the President when your microscopic eyes could see 'problem' in the President grammar, dates etc, you truly belong to clownish clan of the Nollywood. Assuredly, your 'talent' won't be wasted there.

Posterity is already judging President Buhari positively and in realtime. In just two years he has achieved for Nigeria a security that eluded the past regime for five years. He has restore dignity to Nigeria in the eyes of the international community. In just two years he has restored dignity to labour and effectively denied honour to thieves as was the norm. In just two years President Buhari has effectively checked the decline of our image as a nation.

In just two years Nigeria is integrated back into the global human community where things are done according to stipulated rules and regulations. In just two years our justice system is no longer traded like bread and butter. Justices is now justice; no more under the table verdicts as it used to be. I don't begrudge anybody his right to aspire for a President with whom his bread would be lavishly buttered. However, I don't have patience with those who abuse their brains in pursuit of a distant ambition. Stupidity is an affliction too difficult to hide, one doesn't need to work hard to prove he belong.

Maiwada Danmallam

SA Political To Honorable Minister Of Youth And Sports