Muhammadu Buhari, Governors Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Amaechi of Imo
and Rivers States, as well as formers governors of Lagos, Anambra and
Abia States, Bola Tinubu, Dr. Chris Ngige and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, were
recently in Owerri on campaign.
These chieftains and other notable figures of the APC took some time
off their schedule and paid a courtesy call on the Catholic Archbishop
of Owerri Ecclesiastical Province, His Grace, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony
J.V. Obinna. Vintage Obinna exploited the opportunity to tell his
guests his Nigerian story.
Speaking earlier, Gen. Buhari appealed to everybody to go for their
permanent voters cards, as well as vote according to the dictate of
their conscience.
"We are going round to tell Nigerians to get their permanent voters
cards ready, to go out and vote and to make sure that it counts. He
said that there has been continued dilapidation of the country's
infrastructure, education, health care and the most serious among this
is power. "Millions of Dollars, not Naira, have been spent but nothing
to show for it", Buhari told Archbishop Obinna.
In his own short remark, the former governor of Lagos State, Bola
Tinubu, pleaded with the Archbishop to beg politicians to stop playing
politics with religion, stressing that no nation that passed through
this lane survived.
"Poverty has no religious or tribal mark. Some people, who fail in
many areas try to hide under religion. The clergy should continue to
discourage politicians from playing politics with religion", Tinubu
said.
For Senator Chris Ngige, Nigeria is on the verge of vanishing and the
church has a role to play in promoting good leadership.
Lending his voice during the visit, the former governor of Abia State,
Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, disclosed that APC is committed to good governance,
adding that the party will ensure that everyone elected abides by
this. He finally appealed that APC should be given a chance to execute
their programmes.
ARCHBISHOP OBINNA RESPONDS
"When I heard you (Buhari) were coming, I went back to my PhD thesis,
which I defended in January 1984, and I want to read a part of what I
wrote just a few days after the coup d'état of December 31, 1983.
"In 1960, the British colonial government relinquished the
administration of Nigeria. On January 15, 1966, a military coup d'état
ended the rule of the Nigerian leadership, which took over from the
British. Corruption was the declared reason for the coup. This coup
then led to a three-year civil war, 1967-1970.
"A military coup d'état in 1975 ended the leadership of General Yakubu
Gowon, a military head of state. In 1979, the military handed back
power to a civilian regime. As I was putting finishing touches to this
study, the news of another military coup came. In effect, President
Shehu Shagari and the civilian leadership were overthrown on charges
of the same ineptness and corruption, which he had earlier decried and
in the face of which he had called for an ethical revolution. A new
military head of state, Muhammadu Buhari, now presides over Nigeria.
Where we go from here is yet uncertain. . .
"On December 31st 1983, a moral crisis in Nigeria gave way to a
military coup d'état. In his broadcast to the nation on the reasons
for the coup, which toppled the civilian government presided over by
Shagari, the new military leader of the nation, Muhammadu Buhari, said
that the army seized power in order to put an end to the serious
economic predicament and the crisis of confidence now afflicting our
nation.
"Corruption had attended unprecedented heights under Shagari", said
Buhari, dismissing as rigged, the August election that gave Shagari a
second four-year term. "There is ample evidence that rigging and
thuggery were relative to the resources available to each of the
country's now banned six political parties". Buhari added that his
government would not operate kick backs, manipulated contracts or
over-invoicing, nor would it condone forgery, fraud and embezzlement.
After reading a portion of his doctoral thesis, the Archbishop then
asked his visitors: "Have we moved forward or backwards from this
point?"
Read more at Vanguard:
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