The great American poet, Maya Angelou says
hate “has caused a lot of problems in the
world, but has not solved one yet.” Some
people, however, do not know that. Or
rather, they have closed their minds to it. So,
what did they do on Thursday last week,
when Gen. Muhammadu Buhari was to
speak at Chatham House, in London? They
also carried their bags of hate, and hired
protesters who were to heckle, harass and
pester the former military leader.
A leaked memo from official circles showed
that the Nigerian government was behind
the despicable action. The Assistant Director,
Civil Society and Support Group (Diaspora)
had asked for the sum of $20,000 (over N4
million at current exchange rate), noting:
“Nigerians in the Diaspora will converge at
Chatham House, United Kingdom on
Thursday, 26th of February, 2015 to show
solidarity and support for President
Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and his
transformation agenda in Nigeria as a
surprise to the august visitor, the
presidential candidate of the All Progressives
Congress.”
The memo was copied to Professor Rufai
Ahmed Alkali, Special Adviser on Political
Affairs to President Jonathan.
Apparently, the money was released, as
what the memo said would happen at
Chatham House played out to the letter.
Some Nigerian youths in Diaspora were on
hand to attempt a verbal lynching of Gen.
Buhari as he arrived at the event. But they
made such a poor showing of it, obviously
because there was no conviction behind
their actions. They were mere hirelings who
did not even have a grasp of why they were
there, nor an understanding of the person
they were supposed to protest against. Of
course, most of them were either not born,
or were too young to know Gen. Buhari as
military head of state 32 years ago.
It was a comedy of errors, as a journalist
tried to interview the emergency protesters.
Hear the journalist:
“They are Nigerians who are struggling
here. Some of them, actually (I’m talking
about the ladies), are from the red light
districts here. Some of the youths are
unkempt… and they are obviously
struggling.”
And truly, the youths struggled to defend
what they were out there to do. One was
asked why he was part of the protest, and
he responded: “Because we don’t want
dictatorship in Nigeria anymore.” Asked
further what he knew about Gen. Buhari, he
retorted: “I just heard about him from
people I saw earlier on.”
Have you done your homework, the reporter
wanted to know.
“Not at all.”
So, how did you come about this protest?
“I don’t know what to say. I’m not prepared
for this interview,” the young man said.
A female protester was asked why she was
on the march, and she said: “I don’t really
know much about politics,” adding that she
was there to support President Goodluck
Jonathan.
But what do you really have against Buhari,
she was asked.
“I’m not against anyone,” she responded.
That was the trend that ran through the
interviews with the hirelings. Hapless
Nigerian youths, possibly forced out of their
motherland by poor and uninspiring
governance, and who were ready to be
recruited for crumbs falling from the tables
of their oppressors. What I felt for those
young people was actually pity, and a bit of
compassion. Are these not supposed to be
future leaders? Cry, the beloved country!
But the chatterboxes at Chatham House
were not done. The queen of them all was a
female caught by an undercover reporter in
what you can call a sting operation. She was
the one who organised the protest, and her
leaking mouth gave out so much
information.
She first identified herself as Abi, and later
as Adijatu. She boasted that she mobilised
the young Nigerians by bus from
Manchester to London, and that most of
them were graduates, while some others
were about to get higher degrees.
The reporter, who obviously used a secret
camera, asked if she could set up a similar
protest for him possibly in New York. The
basket mouth said it could be done in
Maryland, Dublin, anywhere.
When asked how much it would cost, she
promised to give her phone number and
other details to the reporter. And on why
she was on the side of Goodluck Jonathan,
she said he was a heavy spender, while
Buhari was a low spender. Of course, no
romance without finance! So, she went with
the deep pocket.
Privileged information later revealed that the
protesting youths were paid about 80
pounds each. Eighty pounds! That is the
worth of the Nigerian youth. For that
amount, he could be ferried by bus from
Manchester to London, to take part in a
protest he does not even understand. Those
youths, who should be getting ready to
assume leadership positions, were selling
their birthrights for a mess of porridge. And
in future they would want that birthright
back, just like the biblical Esau, and it would
be too late. They would weep and wail, but
it would amount to nothing. Unscrupulous
leaders have bought their birthright for
thirty pieces of silver, the price of a slave.
Youths are the glory of any country. But the
glory of Nigeria is slain at Chatham House.
How are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in
London, publish it not in the streets of
Manchester.
Hatred is at full steam in Nigeria. Hate
campaigns. Hate documentaries. Hate
advertisements. Boko Haram is hate. Threat
of war from former Niger Delta militants is
hate. Hate at Chatham House, in Okrika
where campaign rallies are bombed, in
Bauchi and Katsina, where the convoy of the
president is pelted with stones. Hate
everywhere. Saying a presidential candidate
is brain-dead is hate. When you say a man
has no academic qualification, and his
illustrious classmates come out to vouch for
him, and his old school also releases his
result, yet you refuse to still believe, it is hate.
The onus then is on you to prove what you
claim. Finish! Hate almost killed Rwanda. It
turned Kigali to killing fields, where
hundreds of thousands of people were slain
in fits of fury. Is Nigeria on the road to
Kigali? It is hate that is the fuel of that
journey. There’s no petrol in filling stations
in some parts of the country now. But
Nigerians have plenty hate in their tanks.
And it is enough to take them to Kigali. One
religion against the other, ethnic groups
against one another. Deep seated
animosities, narrow mindedness, politics of
vendetta. All these will kill Nigeria, unless a
stop can be put to the bile, the hatred, and
the spleen. Nigeria is dying, and we don’t
seem to know it. Must campaigns be so
churlish and ill tempered? Must there be
downright lies, concocted stories, ill will and
evil machinations as we see around us? “I
will permit no man to narrow and degrade
my soul by making me hate him.” (Booker T.
Washington). But our leaders and politicians
have spawned so much hate, and those
who bought it have had their souls
narrowed and degraded. They can maim, kill
and destroy at the drop of a hat. Nigeria is
dying, and we don’t seem to take it to heart.
“Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being
intimidated.” (George Bernard Shaw). Some
people are so intimidated, terrified about
how the elections may go, so they are
sowing hate and bile in the people. Must a
country die because it held elections? Think,
Nigeria, think.
Let’s look at the brighter side of Chatham,
apart from the chatterboxes. Didn’t you like
Buhari’s poise and calm? Wasn’t the speech
he read so well put together? Didn’t you see
sincerity oozing out of his ever pore?
“I have heard and read references to me as
a former dictator in many respected British
newspapers including the well regarded
Economist. Let me say without sounding
defensive that dictatorship goes with
military rule, though some might be less
dictatorial than others. I take responsibility
for whatever happened under my watch.
“I cannot change the past. But I can change
the present and the future. So, before you is
a former military ruler and a converted
democrat who is ready to operate under
democratic norms and is subjecting himself
to the rigours of democratic elections for
the fourth time.”
Beautiful! Splendid. O pari. Shikena. Okwu
agwu. Finito. Buhari’s metamorphosis is
complete, except for those who are in the
grip of relentless hatred, consumed by
paroxysms of bitterness, grudge and acidity.
To such, I will recommend the words of
William Shakespeare in Richard III, when he
wrote about hatred, and declared: “Out of
my sight! Thou dost infect mine eyes!”


Source:Sunnewsonline.com

Awesome piece