Femi Fani-KayodeA former minister of aviation, presidential spokesman and a director in the former president Goodluck Jonathan’s re-election campaign team, on Wednesday, attacked President Muhammadu Buhari, describing him as a tyrant and saying that he is a threat to Christians and the rule of law.
Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode urged former backers to abandon Mr. Buhari the same way a vociferous catholic priest, Father Ejike Mbaka, has done by warning that Nigerians were suffering and Mr. Buhari might lose the next election if nothing was urgently done between now and 2019.
“I am glad that Father Mbaka of the Catholic Church has finally seen the light and that he has denounced the Buhari regime.
“This coming from a man that once supported the President vigorously, even when members of his own flock and faith were being slaughtered, marginalised and humiliated, is cheery news,” Mr. Fani-Kayode who is on trial for accepting over 800 million naira government money said.
The government says, by accepting money given to him before the presidential election last year to do publicity for the former president, Mr. Kayode broke the law, as the money allegedly came from the office of the former national security adviser, Mr. Sambo Dasuki, who is also on trial for using money meant to fight Boko Haram for personal and political purposes.
Mr. Fani-Kayode has denied any wrongdoing, insisting that he was told the campaign funds came from donors and he used the money for the purpose it was meant for. He used the money for publicity during the election last year lost by Mr. Jonathan.
He has accused the government of Mr. Buhari of deliberately targeting those who worked closely with Mr. Jonathan in a bid to decimate the opposition.
The former spokesman of the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, OLisa Metuh, is also on trial for accepting money given to him as campaign funds. He has also denied any wrongdoing and insisted that he used the money for what it was meant for. But he has said he was willing to return it since the government is claiming the funds came from the office of the national security adviser.
Mr. Metuh like Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state has also accused the government of targeting the opposition.
Mr. Buhari and his All Progressives Congress, APC, have denied these charges, saying that those being tried should simply prove their innocence instead of trying to play on baseless sentiments.
“The question is, are they guilty or not?” prominent APC members often ask.
But Mr. Fani-Kayode in his statement to TheSimonAtebaNews on Wednesday night said in addition to those charges, President Buhari who is a Muslim and northerner from Katsina state, has deliberately undermined Christians who are being killed without reaction from his government.
He has also refused to appoint them and has focused on Muslims and northerners like himself. Christianity, he said, is in danger in Nigeria.
Mr. Fani-Kayode had earlier expressed support for Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, saying that he would not tolerate what Hillary Clinton had tolerated, by refusing to designate Boko Haram as a terror organisation early enough and remaining quiet as President Buhari undermined the rule of law and continues to throw opposition members into prolonged detention camps.
Mr. Fani-Kayode said he was speaking out “because we are not only in a time of great moral crisis in our country but we are also facing persecution and wholesale tyranny”.
“I am making this contribution not out of fear for the plight of the Christendom in Nigeria because I know that, as the Holy Bible says, “the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church”. It also says “He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps’”
Below is his statement on Wednesday.
I am glad that Father Mbaka of the Catholic Church has finally seen the light and that he has denounced the Buhari regime.
This coming from a man that once supported the President vigorously, even when members of his own flock and faith were being slaughtered, marginalised and humiliated, is cheery news.
Yet, there are still many more Church leaders that supported the Buhari government who sold their souls to the devil and that need to follow Mbaka’s example and recant.
The great philosopher, writer and intellectual Mr. Dante Alighieri once said that “the hottest place in hell is reserved for those who maintain their neutrality at a time of moral crisis”.
To add to this, it was our very own Professor Wole Soyinka, the distinguished Nobel Laureate, that said “the man died in him who remained silent in the face of tyranny”.
I have no doubt in my mind that this is the time to speak out because we are not only in a time of great moral crisis in our country but we are also facing persecution and wholesale tyranny.
I am making this contribution not out of fear for the plight of the Christendom in Nigeria because I know that, as the Holy Bible says, “the gates of hell cannot prevail against the Church”. It also says “He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps”.
It follows that no matter what the enemies of the gospel throw our way, including one million President Buhari’s, at the end of the day we shall prevail.
I am making this contribution not out of fear or to divide our nation but rather in an attempt to inform the Nigerian people and the world about what is really going on in President Buhari’s Nigeria.
What many fail to appreciate is that the Church and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ were built and spread by the blood and the bones of the Christian martyrs.
It follows that the more you persecute, jail and kill Christians, and the more you subject them to terror, shame, insensitivity and humiliation, the more the Church grows.
Where the so-called “great” Christian leaders of Christendom with the mega-Churches and the better known Pastors and Bishops in the land have compromised with evil and have chosen to either side with the enemy or remain silent when confronted with the tyranny of the state, the Lord will raise other voices to stand up for and speak for His people.
Nobody is indispensable to the Living God, no matter how large, rich and powerful your Church is and no matter how many people you have in your congregation.
Once you have betrayed the faith and joined hands with those that seek to destroy the gospel and persecute Christians in our country you are finished and your end has already been determined by God. It is just a matter of time.
Yet thankfully there are some men and women of God that have refused to be silenced, that have proved to the world that they are not cowards and that have chosen to remain true to the faith.
These are the true believers who have not sold their heritage, faith and future for a mess of pottage. These are the faithful remnants who have refused to sit back silently and watch our Lord and His message being crucified all over again. These are the true saints whose reward is the Kingdom of God.
An example is Pastor Bright Bayo Oladeji, who is a journalist by profession and a Baptist preacher by calling. On the 2nd August 2016 he wrote the following on his Facebook page.
“Where are the Christians who sold the Church? The Islamic agenda is being perfected. Professor Ishaq Oloyede, a prominent Islamic fanatic who said he was not aware Christians are being attacked and killed is now to head JAMB replacing Prof Ojerinde, a Baptist.
Four Muslims were not replaced but left to continue. Out of the 17 offices, 9 new replacement are Muslims and 4 retained are Muslims. 13 out of 17 are now Muslims. NUC, Muslim. JAMB, Muslim. TETCOM, Muslim.
Where are those Christian leaders who sold the Church for a plate of porridge? Where are those telling us Professor Yemi Osinbajo would stand for the Church being a Pastor?
Do they involve him in all these lopsided appointments in favour of the North and Muslims or not? Do we have Christians among the APC leaders? Does Odigie-Oyegun, the National Chairman of the ruling party really belong to the Catholic church?
The fact that Buhari released these appointments the same day that the PUNCH Newspaper published an editorial titled “Buhari’s parochial appointments” (this is a paper that endorsed his candidacy) is a dirty slap on the nation.
To say the least, it is a corruption with impunity. Many are afraid to speak out and are being intimidated by the security operatives. Have we become second class citizens in our own country?”
Pastor Bayo, as insightful and courageous as ever, has asked a pertinent question.
Sadly the answer to that question is “YES”: since Buhari came to power Christians have become second class citizens in Nigeria. We warned our people but they wouldn’t listen.
Nigerians said they wanted “change” and now they must live with it. Every Christian that supported President Buhari and the APC, including some of the most prominent Church leaders, should bow their heads in shame.
As long as this evil continues, we will not remain silent and neither shall we be intimidated. No matter how hard they try, Nigeria will NEVER be Islamised and neither will our Christian faith be rubbished.
When Christians are treated with respect and dignity and when they are honoured in the land that is when we will know that true change has come.
When Yoruba Muslims are allowed to lead their northern counter-parts in prayer in the mosque, that is when we will know that true change has come.
When the secularity of the Nigerian state is reiterated and confirmed that is when we will know that true change has come.
When southerners are regarded as being on the same level as northerners in the affairs of our nation that is when we will know that true change has come.
When the murderous Fulani herdsmen and militias are finally disarmed and when they stop slaughtering our people with impunity and without any fear of retribution from the state that is when we will know that true change has come.
When Christians are no longer murdered in cold blood in some parts of the north simply for exercising their faith whilst the government turns a blind eye that is when we will know that true change has come.
When Christian leaders are no longer subjected to insults and brutal assault by over- zealous security agents simply for praying and reading the Holy Bible that is when we will know that true change has come.
When the Igbo people are not treated as pariah citizens and when their children are no longer shot in the streets like stray dogs simply because, as a people, they have their own dreams and aspirations and simply because they are protesting against the manifest injustice that they have been subjected to in the land, that is when we will know that true change has come.
When Middle Belters and the northern minorities are allowed to carve out their own identity and when they are freed from the intimidation, harassment, hegemony, genocide, cultural imperialism and slavery of the core Muslim north then we will know that true change has come.
Until then the change that the Buhari administration has offered and served to the Nigerian people is nothing but fake. It is a classic case of 419. It is evil. It is wicked. It is nothing but a monumental fraud.
Mr. Fani-Kayode is a former Minister of aviation and presidential spokesman.
Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of TheSimonAtebaNews