The Mendacities of the Apostles of Corpsocracy & the ‘Return’ of the Chibok Girls – By Femi Fani-Kayode

Femi Fani-Kayode

They say that nothing is hidden under the sun. In God’s time and by the power of His word and glorious light, all things that were hidden shall be made known and the sun of truth shall shine forth brightly dismantling the web of mendacity and deceit and displacing the cruel darkness. The issue of President Buhari’s health, the enthronement of corpsocracy and the deep conspiracy and growing concerns about the issue of the Chibok girls and the circumstances of their purported release is making waves and generating a high degree of uncertainty, cynicism, skepticism, angst and tension in the country. For example an anonymous contributor who has deep reservations and grave concerns about the narrative that the Federal Government is engendering wrote the following:

"We keep warning you to KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE BALL but you are all easily distracted by the circus show they throw at you. Like his Friday-FRAUD circus appearances, EFCC discoveries, arrests of critics, etc.. But think critically. If a captain was killed few days ago and other soldiers were killed and wounded, how could the same group that killed them release 82 girls? They said Abubakar Shekau was fatally wounded and his deputy killed in an air strike. How will he, who is wounded, release his captives? The Federal Government told the world that they are afraid the girls are no longer in Sambisa. That they have been either killed, sold or scattered. How was it so easy to bring out 82 at once? Why are the girls ONLY released in May or October, when there is a major event coming-like the Democracy Day or Independence Day? THINK ABOUT IT: THEY KNOW HOW YOU ALL THINK AND REACT. THEY KNOW THAT YOU ARE ALL GULLIBLE, SO THEY TWIST YOUR MINDS. In truth, it’s all part of the plan but the challenge was Buhari’s sickness. It took them unawares. They didn’t plan for it or for the the loop holes that you see showing in their propaganda. He is suffering for the lies, deceit and the blood-letting that he supports. By the time God is done with him, his type will never spring up again. FOCUS ON THE BALL. BUHARI IS THE BALL AND NIGERIA IS THE FIELD. THAT’S WHAT THEY WANT TO TAKE: HER AND HER CHILDREN TO BE THEIRS. May 29 is around the corner and since there will be no achievement to talk about in the Democracy Day broadcast, they have decided to ask their co-conspirators to release some of the girls to decieve gullible Nigerians that that is their primary achievement. The whole thing is nonsense!"

Strong sentiments indeed. Yet the author reflects the thinking of many. For example when asked about his views on the purported return of the 82 Chibok girls, my friend and brother, the discerning, irrepressable and courageous Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state, said the following: "the government is flying dubious kites and selling cheap dummies to distract the people." What is NOT missing cannot be found. Discerning Nigerians understand that the stories do not add up. Right now, a matter of urgent national importance arresting the attention of all and sundry is that of the President’s health. While I continue to pray, in conjunction with other Nigerians, for the President’s quick recovery, I condemn without equivocation this shameless playing on the intelligence and psyche of Nigerians taking undue advantage of the vexed issue of the so-called Chibok girls. It has become the style of this government to distract attention but the truth will be told some day. The questions are: which Chibok girls are they talking about? Chibok girls who purportedly were writing Physics WAEC examinations but cannot speak simple English? Chibok girls who were shielded from the media? Till today the media have not been allowed access to the so-called Chibok girls. When is the next batch of Chibok girls coming? When is the next make-believe? When there is the need for another cover-up, distraction and diversion of the people’s attention and focus, they will fly their usual kite and sell the self-same jaded dummy. It is very unfortunate that we brought ourselves to this sorry pass”.

This is an insightful, concise and effective articulation and it can hardly be faulted. The suspicion with which most people view the Buhari administration and the unprecedented level of skepticism and cynicism that exists about their assertions and claims is indeed food for thought. One cannot dismiss the concerns of the skeptics lightly because many questions still have to be answered. For example it appears very strange to me that every time the Buhari administration has major issues and they need a distraction a new batch of Chibok girls are suddenly released. Two days ago the leader of Boko Haram, Mr. Abubakar Shekau, mocked and insulted Buhari and now he suddenly releases 82 Chibok girls? It appears to me that this is most unlikely! This begs the question: WHERE were these girls kept and WHO kept them? WHY are they not being allowed to see their parents? WHY have none of them been allowed to speak to the press? WHAT were the specific conditions of their purported release? There are so many questions that are yet to be answered. Meanwhile a list of names of the 82 girls have been released to the public showing that most of them are Christians yet curiously, as Aisha Yusuf, one of the convenors of the Bring Back Our Girls Campaign (BBOG), told AIT News at 8.00pm on the night of May 7th, “No parent has been allowed to see the released Chibok Girls and this is worrisome: no parent has identified any because the Government would not grant them access”. This seems stranger than fiction. Have the girls become ‘government propety’ now? If so what are the terms and what is the purpose? Equally strange is the fact that we have been told that they were kept in frightful and barbarous captivity in the hideous, barren and demon-infested Sambisa forest and other playgrounds and jungles of the murderous vampires called Boko Haram for the last three years and that they have been held captive in the cruel clutches of sadistic and battle-hardened Islamist terrorists, barbaric paedophiles, genocidal maniacs, sexual deviants, sociopathic perverts, bloodthirsty pyschopaths, serial rapists and degenerate coprophiliacs yet they all looked well-fed, well-oiled, well-kept and, in most cases, plump and fat with shining smooth skins. One wonders what type of food the Haramites were feeding their young captives because whatever it was ought to be shared with the unfortunate children that are suffering hell in the Federal Govermment-funded Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps of north-eastern Nigeria. It would certainly do them a world of good. 

 The whole thing is all the more curious when one considers the fact that the 21 Chibok girls that were previously released have not, up until today, been returned to their families or their commnunity. Why is this so? The question must be asked: what the hell is going on? Clearly we are being played for fools. And we have now been informed that these beautiful young mannequins and damsels were swapped in return for huge sums of money and five hardened and battle-tested Boko Haram commanders. If this is the case the Nigerian people have a right to know exactly the amounts of money involved and the details and names of the commanders that have now been returned to lead the happy gathering of the ever-faithful, all-powerful and stupendously rich Islamist and Salafist Mujahadeen. Ambassador Babagana Kingibe and Alhaji Mamman Daura: over to you! Even though journalists were barred from witnessing the event or entering the Presidential Villa on that day, I am glad that pictures and footage of the Presidents meeting with the Chibok girls were released to the public. And those pictures and that footage, taken from a safe distance by the Presidents handlers and staff and not by enquiring and inquisitive journalists, tell quite a story. 

 The truth is that the whole thing stinks to high heavens. There is a rotting fish and a dead rat, combined, dispensing a compelling, overpowering, ungodly and unholy odour from somewhere under the floorboards of Aso villa. We are told that the President travelled to London immediately after the event. Let us hope that he will come back home hale and hearty though somehow I doubt he will. I doubt that things will ever be the same again for him. I suspect that Vice President Yemi Osinbajo may be Acting President for quite some time and within the year he may well be sworn in as substantive President. Let us wait and see. The truth is that if the objective of the whole “return of the 82 Chibok girls” exercise was to distract Nigerians from the numerous challenges of our Government and our ailing President it has not worked very well. We are glad that Buhari was at the mosque on friday. We are also glad that he received the 82 Chibok girls and travelled to the United Kingdom for more treatment albeit for an indefinate period of time on Sunday. However we hereby reiterate our call for him to resign honorably and go and take care of his health permanently. Hanging around and appearing on fridays at the mosque for a photo-shoot and a short prayer with his friends and staff was never going to be enough. If the plan is for him to go away for a few weeks and then return to start that puerile rubbish all over again it is not going to work. He is not the Chief Imam of the Villa: he is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And we the people say NO to corpsocracy! There is no place in our constitution for the rulership of the living by the dead. Now if anyone has any doubts about the seriousness of Buhari’s situation and ailment I urge them to zoom in on the picture of him taken on friday whilst he was walking through the Villa external corridor just before going to the mosque. I am referring to the one in which he was flanked by his National Security Advisor, Babagana Monguno and his Chief of Staff, my old Cambridge University colleague, Abba Kyari. Take a close look at his hand and cheeks in that picture. 

They are swollen beyond the norm. It appears that he was put on steroids just so that he could come out for the mosque. Again it appears that he is suffering from dementia. Worse still he can barely walk for long stretches without being propped up and, according to my sources, he drawls and sometimes dribbles when he speaks. It is sad and pitiful. No man should be forced to go through that and be displayed before the world in such a condition simply for political purposes. All those that were around him on friday as he was walking to pray to his god looked like hungry and desperate wolves whilst he looked like the willing and gentle sacrificial lamb. This is God’s judgement and it is terrifying and humbling. We must not gloat and we must not ridicule him. Rather we must all learn from it and fear the Lord of Hosts and the Ancient of Days. The Bible says “it is a frightful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God”. And so it is. The President attracts nothing but pathos. He looks like a fallen character from a Shakesperean tragedy. He is a rejected and broken soul: a ghost and a shell of his former self. He needs to be pitied and he should be allowed to resign and to go home and rest in peace. Yet whatever Buhari chooses to do we must always remember that rebellion against a tyrant is an act of obedience to God. They may have today but tomorrow belongs to us. Opposition to corpsocracy, subjugation, internal colonialism, slavery, religious bigotry, persecution, injustice, dehumanisation, the Apostles of hate and the evil cabal that have birthed and nurtured these vices is a divine injunction because the bible says we must “resist evil”. Our struggle is not just political. It is ideological. It is fundamental. 

It is spiritual. It is deep and it is far-reaching. We do not just want to change the leadership of this country. We want to restructure and redefine the whole nation. We want to pull down the entire system and rebuild a new country. Corpsocracy or no corpsocracy, that is our mission and that is the calling of our generation. That is the battle that we need to fight and the war that we must win. Permit me to conclude this contribution with the words of Mr. Opeyemi Agbaje, a financial consultant, a writer and a public commentator. He wrote, "As we advocate compassion and prayers for Buhari at this time, I would also like us to reflect on the fate of the hundreds or thousands of people killed by Fulani herdsmen, the hundreds of Shiites killed in Zaria and other places in the north, the many biafran demonstrators murdered in the eastern towns and many other recent victims of state sponsored and tolerated killings. They need compassion too!" These are precisely my sentiments. God be with us all.