THE phrase in the headline is a Yoruba coinage that has been confused by many for a scriptural quote. It translates “Sweet is the remembrance of the righteous”. Its origin could as well be Proverbs 10:7 which says “The memory of the righteous is blessed but the name of the wicked will rot”. The Yoruba translation of above is “Iranti oloooto ni ibukun, sugbon oruko eniyan buruku yoo baje”. In the viral Arise TV interview of how now-late Muhammad Buhari was drafted into partisan politicking, by his long-time friend-turned hater, Buba Galadima, who claimed to be one of those who scripted the semi-conscription, it was clear he was brought in to serve a largely ethnic, primarily North’s (Fulani) agenda. For someone so weaned, there was no way his politics, interest, focus and policies could have been national in scope. He was, by Galadima’s confession, persuaded into politics to help North contain the perceived “freedom” of the Yoruba ethnic militia, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC), under a Yoruba presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo and the permissible Bola Tinubu leadership of Lagos. Those who expected him to be pan-Nigerian after gaining the national leadership of the country which gave him expansive constitutional and latitude to dictatorial power, to further the primary agenda of his mobilisers and backers (who must have also provided the financial, human and promotional resources) must be living rent-free in dreamland. He had specific ethnic assignment; he was properly groomed and mobilized for it. For all the agendarists cared, Buhari was possibly not more than a prop to them, while giving him the mai gaskiya vibes and mask. Yoruba will call it, calling a mad man the groom, to allow the hailer an easy passage. Even with the admittedly morally-disciplined former soldier, his presidency was almost the case of who paid the piper dictating the tune, despite the soundbite of belonging to all and not belonging to anyone. But is it likely the retired General had always been a hater of Nigerians who are not Fulani or Muslim, absolutely selfish in his love for his own? Like many of us, Buhari could have been raised a closet jingoist and by his religious orientation, a bigot? Many of us, including those criticising the late President, are closet religionists and regionists, without realizing it. You only need a meltdown to know the depth of your bile for either an ethnic group or a religious body. There are some Muslims, if you mistakenly carry their remains close to a church, they would literally resurrect from Hades, the land of the dead. Same with some Christians. Sallah meat is sacrilege to them. Stepping inside a mosque would be like locking the gate of heaven against them. Yet God isn’t a religionist. Even Jesus isn’t. Funny enough, the tag of Christian on the followers of Jesus was neologised by unbelievers in Antioch as a way of distinguishing believers in His ministry, as revealed by Acts 11:26. God is looking for men whose hearts are with and for Him, not religionists who revel in wickedness. When I consider the Igbophobia among my Yoruba folks in Lagos, I wonder if the hate harbingers ever pause to think God made all men, before religion and region specifications, and even their so-called land they are defending. I have heard severally of Igbo being expansionist in mentality through definite orientation; reason the race must be commercially-muscled like munched orange in Lagos and the rest of South West. Well, the Igbo race is not any better, especially at home. They are as unwelcoming as any protectionist or nationalist could get. Infact, in fairness to the Yoruba race, it used to be globalist in relating with others before the politics of asunder began playing with the no-man’s land controversy. While not defending Igbo’s indifference to Yoruba’s admonition that a newcomer to a city who doesn’t fall into disgrace knows his boundaries, will it not be hypocritical of my race to see the power-mongering Fulani as tolerable in political partnership which Igbo are seen as not deserving, when the Fulani race is as expansionist in mentality as the Igbo race? Maybe because Igbo have this in-your-face approach to their agenda and maybe theirs, is more of economic and commercial dominance. Truth is, Fulani, both the aristocrats and their foot soldiers are no longer subtle in their quest for power, both political and territorial, in order to subdue other ethnic groupings. While every form of expansionism will end up in tensed displacement, political dominance is the apogee of expansionist ruthlessness, considering the superiority of political power to others, including economic power. In our clime, just like others, where the power of the State, is almost limitless, every other advantage caves into subsidiary nature. The one with the political power holds both yam and knife. Billionaires in America are falling behind Trump not because they have suddenly grown fond of him, but because of what the presidential power, adversely administered, could do to their business empires. Meta man, Mark Zuckerberg is now funding Trump presidential library from being an unabashed adversary in his first term. A president in his second and final term with eyes on vendetta is a dangerous enemy to have, from Abuja to Washington. Why are Fulani herdsmen who are supposed to be nomadic, now laying siege to states, especially those dominated by Christians, conducting killings as if targeting total annihilation?. If you are trying to wipe original owners off their land, then your target must be to take it over, which has been happening in the sustained siege. I have heard rumours (because there is no confirmation yet) that Muslim Fulani political leadership is allegedly committed to seeing that no Christian-dominated state continues to exist in the North, especially in the North Central and North East, leading to the daily bludgeoning, using the herdsmen/farmers facade. How can my Yoruba people be cool with that and be so abhorrent of Igbo? Is it because the states under siege are mostly in the North? Do we still remember the panic that gripped the South West when the Fulani expansionists hit closer home before the likes of Sunday Igboho (forget his alleged excesses, he is a Yoruba hero in his own right), put some wedge in the agenda? Maybe God deliberately positioned Oyo State as Yoruba liberator. If Ibadan didn’t stop the Fulani invaders from Ilorin during the 1840 Osogbo war and turn them away, nearly all the Oba in Yoruba land, would be answering Emir today. Galadima in his interview specifically mentioned Ilorin as the town in contention, compelling the drafting of Buhari into politics. He alluded to alleged move by OPC to dislodge the Fulani emirship and return the throne to Yoruba, the original occupier. It means Buhari was drafted to preserve the conquest of Muslim Fulani and expand the expansion agenda. Well, Yoruba became an enabler with a view to benefit. And we are where we are today.

: Makinde, wife installed as Aare Omoluabi, Yeye Aare Omoluabi of Akure Kingdom

Even the argument about fidelity to political promises which used to favour the Fulani hegemonists in the past, no longer counts. But for the bravery of Iyiola Omisore, then-national secretary of the APC, South West would have returned from the “alliance” empty-handed because Buhari was seeking another Muslim Fulani in Ahmad Lawan to succeed him after making his VP Yemi Osinbajo a passenger in their administration despite running on a joint ticket. A riddle to solve is the real content of Buhari’s heart. Was he just programmed into the one-sidedness he unleashed on the country leading to countless casualties by his sponsors who “dragged” him into politics and eventually procured the presidency for him, or maybe he didn’t just have the heart to love others? Yoruba posit that whoever is taught wickedness and is embracing it, has wickedness already in him. Buhari’s Muslim/Muslim “ticket” as a military ruler, could be an indicator he was inherently Christianophobic. Until he was persuaded off it, Muslim/Muslim “ticket” with Tinubu was his preferred combination for the 2015 poll, despite his already-entrenched poor perception as an Islamic extremist. In an interview with Channels TV, he said he saw nothing wrong with the combo. When he took that infamous trip to Oyo State to tell then-Governor Lam Adesina “your people are killing my people”, the tone was already set for his future presidency but most Nigerians, particularly in the North Central who dumped Jonathan for him, were tone-deaf. Even South West who followed Tinubu to the 2015 alliance paid dearly, with Buhari’s Fulani kinsmen robbing everyone of sleep, obviously aided by state power, being wielded by the man “drafted” to “protect” his own. While the presidency of Tinubu would appear a windfall for Yoruba from the marriage of Anansewa with Buhari’s North, it was a dividend that came with a lot of diffidence, for a race sired by legendary warriors. For eight years of Buhari’s brutal reign, Yoruba political leadership led by today’s president genuflected. Even when the daughter of the symbolic ethnic leader, Papa Reuben Fasoranti was mowed down by Fulani terrorists, the much the race political leader could say, was “where are the cows?” Some said he was doing the monkey thing to catch a monkey at his monkey business; stooping to conquer. Maybe, but did another leader whose memory is certain to last the second coming of Christ, not vow not to glorify cow to eat hide? And if not for men like Omisore who God used to ignore lucre and stand for the race, would the everyday dobale (prostration) for cow, not have been in vain? Some have argued that maybe Buhari was a good man with bad intention? Well, the content of a man’s heart is a pointer to the realest him. Yoruba are quick to point that intoxication only fuels the real intent of man (ohun to ba wa ninu eni ni oti npa eni mo). Like his lean frame, the heart of the late leader appeared too narrow to accommodate love for men, outside of his race and religion. Last week of his passing and burial, was a duel between Nigerians and Nigeria as represented by the political class, which did everything to make a saint of him for history. But the everyday people thought otherwise, though I will never subscribe to the hate being spewed by some on the social media, considering he sought forgiveness from those he sinned against before his death. The former president had concluded his own race. The rest is between him and his Creator. For those still living with god complex, his almost-shallow grave should be a major existential lesson. What stood out for me in all the events surrounding his final exit, was the jubilation in Kano by the same talakawa (the poor) he supposedly spent a lifetime serving. The “Buhari ya mutu” viral videos were particularly too painful to watch for me. I was close to tears. May God forgive his shortcomings, amen.