Former Ambassador to the Philippines and veteran broadcaster Dr. Yemi Farounbi has said that it is not surprising to him that President Muhammadu Buhari has turned out to be ‘Nigeria’s punishment’.
He emphasised that God is using President Buhari to punish Nigerians because “in 2014/2015, when we were campaigning, when Nigerians decided to accept the campaign of one chance, they were warned of the history of Muhammadu Buhari and how he imprisoned many politicians, including Chief Obafemi Awolowo. God is a wonderful Being, he decided to use Buhari to punish Nigerians for their evil deeds, and Nigerians deserve these punishments”.
He further revealed, “Nigeria is not what I thought it would be; I have incurable optimism that Nigeria will still be better. Those who are enjoying the proceeds of bribery, corruption, an epileptic power supply, and insecurity, among other vices, are not looking forward to seeing a better Nigeria.”
The veteran broadcaster made these revelations while featured on a weekly radio show, Ayekooto on Radio, anchored by Olayinka Agboola and broadcast live on Splash 105.5 FM, Felele Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo State, recently.
The former ambassador to the Philippines stated that the threats from bandits against President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state portend great danger to the country’s unity.
He said, “The acts of the bandits have shown that they mean business. They recently ambushed officers from the Brigade of Guards in Abuja, and this is an absolute insult and injury to the sovereignty of the country. Whenever I hear this, I feel ashamed of our country.
Continuing, he said, “I was once an Ambassador to the Philippines, and whenever I have the opportunity of visiting Cambodia, I was treated with great honour like a saviour. One day, I asked the King of Cambodia why I was accorded that honour, and he replied that Cambodia had a problem with insurrection; it was Nigerian policemen who were drafted to quell the mutiny and restore order.
“Now we are being threatened by terrorists in our country, and our soldiers are almost incapacitated. The Nigerian soldiers that went to Lebanon, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo, but now they cannot effectively defend the territorial integrity of their country”.
The elder statesman further stated that there is no significant difference in the ideologies of the two major political parties in the country, namely the APC and PDP. He revealed that the two major parties are only recycling politicians who have little or nothing to offer the country, while citizens of the country are nonchalant towards their rights.
Farounbi further lampooned the All Progressives Congress (APC) for fielding a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, stating that such acts could further put the unity of the country in jeopardy.
He said, “In any decent society, there are traditions. Following the annulment of the 1993 election, we believed that there should be equal access to power, with rotation between the South and North, ensuring that all Nigerians are equally represented. This agreement has become an unwritten rule.
“One of the fundamental principles that guided the establishment of PDP at inception was that power must be rotated. In addition, there must be a balance between the two major religions in the power rotation. The two political parties broke the unwritten rule of religion and ethnicity in the power rotation because they see Nigerians as impotent.
Dr Farounbi spoke further, “We have a problem with insecurity, and no politician is telling us how they will find possible solutions to it. Politicians are fond of using slogans and lies to take power from us, Nigerians must insist that any aspiring political office holder must tell us their vision and manifestos.
“Instead of focusing all our attention on Muslim-Muslim tickets, we should focus more on the two fundamental issues affecting Nigeria – hunger and insecurity”.
Ambassador Farounbi, however, stated that Buhari can still redeem his image by becoming Nigeria’s best president if he could sincerely restructure the country into six geographical zones stating that such act will help to strengthen the country’s economy and political space.
Speaking on the proposed independent Yoruba nation, “A nation is different from a nation-state; you should agitate for what is achievable. I have not seen a country that fell from the sky”.
The veteran broadcaster further urged Nigerian political leaders to be sincere in their campaign promises, while also encouraging Nigerians to love one another and be prudent in the management of public funds.
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