Support for Buhari has redefined patriotism

The question around the Buhari candidature today is how to treat a man who killed one of your parents; jailed you or ruined your family business. In finding answers to these infractions, we naturally say – keep your enemies at arm’s length. You can understand when someone recently wrote that the only reason some people […]

The question around the Buhari candidature today is how to treat a man who killed one of your parents; jailed you or ruined your family business. In finding answers to these infractions, we naturally say – keep your enemies at arm’s length. You can understand when someone recently wrote that the only reason some people are still alive is because it is illegal to shoot them. But the stories I am about to share would change the ontology of our perception of things and force us to redefine them.For those who watched the bad rap on Buhari on NTA and AIT Buhari, this was what it was primed to do – maximum damage. On every campaign trip, the Party of Desperate People appealed to dirt and the primordial sentiment of others. With nothing to sell, this is an ingenious strategy, but it has had the reverse effect and forced me to do a redefinition of faith and true patriotism.
Alhaji Shehu Shagari ought to be Buhari’s bitterest foe. It was his government that was overthrown on December 31, 1983 but the elder statesman has issued at least two statements within one week, asking to be spared the politics of vendetta of the ruling party. In an earlier statement, he categorically denied the purported interview quoting him as enumerating the ‘achievements’ of Goodluck Jonathan and endorsing his re-election campaign. Shagari is not alien to dirty politics; he probably remembered how the painful loss of his four sons was attributed by the dirtiest minds in the land to his perceived role in bringing Nigeria to its present state. The loss of Buhari’s eldest daughter to sickle cell anaemia featured in the tantrums of the ruling party’s campaign. Fani-Kayode even went as far as saying that a man who has no male children is unqualified to run the nation!
On January 15, Lawal Ojuolape’s son penned a long one for informationng.com. His father was one of the infamous three executed for drug trafficking in 1984. The young lad wrote that he sees hope in the Buhari candidacy than in the dynamic inactivity that has stagnated the nation under PDP. That piece teaches more about about forgiveness than a sermon from the compromised regime pastors and bishops. It takes patriotism several miles higher than the rote recital of the national pledge.
Pa Adekunle Ajasin was one of the many civilian governors imprisoned by the military in 1984. This has been used ad nauseam to whip up sentiments in a desperate attempt to get the Yoruba race to turn their back against change. But the Ajasin family would have none of it; they issued statements saying they had nothing against Buhari’s candidacy and that the family had moved on. Again, here is another incredible redefinition of faith, forgiveness and patriotism by the Ajasin family.
Although Buhari is being called to lead a democracy, those who wasted their parent’s school fees and their teacher’s notes remind us of Decree 4 and how we would all be cowed should Buhari win. There could be no worse victim of that obnoxious decree than Tunde Thompson. He and Nduka Irabor were detained under its provisions, but in a January 11 interview published in The Sun a large-hearted Thompson unequivocally forgave Buhari.
I have never met Lola Shoneyin. Her work precedes her and there have been passing conversations with Pius Adesanmi who acquainted me with her writings from his library. Lola has been tweeting from Buhari campaign rallies. What many may not know is that Lola’s father was jailed six months by the Buhari/Idiagbon regime for nothing other than he was a government contractor. Last week, Lola wrote a moving account of how the 1983 coup affected her father’s business, reducing the family’s social status.
But she did not end there; she disclosed that her father is an APC stalwart and a Buhari supporter who was scandalized by President Jonathan’s distinction between corruption and public stealing. She has been on the Buhari campaign team with first-hand account of how the General relates with his younger campaign staff.
In each of these instances, General Buhari’s campaign team could have made a YouTube video to shore up its support, but decency, decorum and issue-based campaigns has restrained them. His rival revels in character assassination and grabs at straws. These large-hearted individuals rekindle hope that there are better patriots than those who mouth patriotism without exhibiting its values in their lives.