The latest installment of the Abacha loot of $23 million of the total of $3.65 billion so far reminds those who are still thinking independently of the fraud called Muhammadu Buhari. This fraud continues to see and say that Abacha did not steal. This was the same fraud that was marketed to Nigerians as the messiah that would fight corruption to extinction. During the campaign some Nigerians were even thinking that if Buhari wins, many corrupt Nigerians who had looted the treasury for decades will relocate to safe havens like Dubai and the United Kingdom that accommodated looters like Umaru Dikko who were ensconced there successfully from persecution. Today, Buhari wines and dines with the most corrupt men in Nigeria. From Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, the Kano State governor who was videoed on camera receiving a bride in dollars, to Rotimi Amaechi who allegedly partly bankrolled Buhari’s election from loots that can be traced to the Rivers State treasury. This is Nigeria! A nation with so many enlightened men and women who are always ready to believe the narrative that suits their pocket, ethnic group, and religion, regardless of glaring evidence. These same Nigerians are believing, and marketing the narratives of the party and men that brought in Buhari. Someone might ask – Nor be juju be that?

It is not juju. It is the craft of men and women who have come to understand how gullible Nigerians can be. And how religion and ethnicity can be used to hypnotize even the highly educated. So, during the recent NBA gathering, Shettima said that Tinubu would oversee the economy, and he would be in charge of security. This perhaps is the beginning of their campaign narrative. But there is a silent narrative that is salient. This is the narrative of the unhealthy southerner and the healthy northerner. On first take, this opinion might sound untruly outlandish. But when you analyze the number of unhealthy presidential candidates who have won elections in Nigeria lately, this opinion becomes increasingly worth investigating. On paper Kashim Shettima Mustapha is a qualified Nigerian who has the education and experience to lead. On ground, it was under the government he served as commissioner in five ministries and led as governor, that metamorphosed into the insecurity nightmare that pervades the nooks and crannies of Nigeria today. It is this same department that he is promising to lead. 

On close scrutiny, Kashim Shettima’s appeal that Tinubu and his men are hoping would win them the next presidential election becomes evident. First is the fact that Buhari is a religious and ethnic bigot, and a Shettima presidency plays into the playbook of Buhari’s bigotry. Being a Muslim and Kanuri man just like Abacha and Buhari’s mum, Shettima is the candidate that can replay the role Goodluck Jonathan played in succeeding Yar’Adua that didn’t happen with the Osinbajo movie. He is also the candidate that can make Buhari support his lieutenants that want continuity to cover themselves from persecution for wide-ranging corruption that includes the unimaginable loans that the Buhari administration has accumulated. For Tinubu, playing unhealthy or being unhealthy works in his favor because northerners who are not tired of the present pervading poverty and insecurity can still mobilize support for him with the belief that Tinubu will not last even a single term. For Yorubas who are still controlled by religion and ethnicity, it is Tinubu all the way. But can you or Nigeria survive a President that is one of the truest definitions of a politician who has used state funds to enrich himself and family, and a vice president whose state is the headquarters of insecurity in Nigeria?

Ata Ukuta, Editor – Towncryyers