President Muhammadu Buhari has been advised to ignore those who recently defected from the ruling party to other political parties. The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) gave this advice in a press statement issued on Monday.
According to MURIC, instead of dissipating energy on defectors, the Federal Government (FG) should concentrate on its infrastructural projects. The statement added that the defectors never really belonged to the ruling party. It described them as distractors who only possess nuisance value and politicians who find it difficult to operate in a transparent political environment because the corruption virus is not only in their blood, it is domiciled in their DNA.
“They have found an easy solution by defecting to the same party which prioritized corruption, idolized kleptomaniacs and rewarded criminality and impunity. These are the true enemies of the Nigerian people. Thieves are regrouping to loot again. We must congratulate Buhari for ridding his team of molls, pests, hypocrites and parasites. Majority of political liabilities and cogs in the wheel of progress are out of the way. But it is not over until the two big masquerades unmask and jump the fence into the traitors’ mafia camp.
“We voted for these defectors because of Buhari. We did not vote for them on personal merit. We pity the defectors. They are victims of collective amnesia. Have they forgotten that they rode on the back of Buhari in 2015 to get into what later turned out to be a den of thieves? Buhari was the magic name in 2015. He has not lost that magnetic aura. The records show that he has performed creditably well in spite of the deadly mines laid by traitors in that notorious den. Buhari is still the dot in the com”.
The signatory to the press release, Ishaq Akintola, a professor of Islamic eschatology and director of MURIC said, “We are not moved by the number of defectors. The questions we should be asking is ‘What is their quality? How much moral fiber do they possess? What has been their contribution to party followership? How loyal have they been to their party? Have they ever been supportive of presidential initiatives? Are they the type that will pass the integrity test? Have they been playing positive roles in the war against corruption?
“Progressives who support President Buhari’s anti-graft fight should heave sighs of relief if the answers to the above questions are all negative. In fact Mr. President should be congratulated that traitors and clogs in the wheel of progress have finally shown their faces. When the going was good, they were only good as alternatives to Nollywood, court jesters and boot-lickers of corrupt hill-top political godfathers, sleeping on duty, blocking presidential nominees, budget padding and delaying budgets for seven months. These people never really belonged ab initio. They came with a mission to protect their stolen booty and to protect their superrich and corrupt godfathers by debilitating and retarding the war against corruption.
“What exactly is the benefit of bitter kola since it has no segments when cracked open and it is so bitter when bitten? Wheat must be separated from the chaff before it can be useful and a good surgeon will not hesitate to amputate a rotten limb in order to save the remaining healthy part of the anatomy.
“We are aware of the fact that politicians generally have not lived up to the expection of Nigerians and no single political party is an exception. While there is little choice in rotten apples, we must note that if Buhari’s party is not the answer, it cannot be those who pauperized the citizenry and brought the country to its knees. We are not thinking of any party, our focus is on President Muhammadu Buhari. Our interest is integrity, transparency, probity and accountability.
“Nigerians are advised to jettison party politicking for that individual who has been identified as the champion of anti-corruption not only on the African continent but also in the whole world. We must build upon the recent singular honour which the International Criminal Court at the Hagues gave the Nigerian president when he was invited as an august visitor to the highly reputable court.
Ishaq Akintola of MURIC added, “The significance of that invitation must not be lost on Nigerians. One of the judges of the court remarked that Buhari was the only African head of state to have visited the court as a guest and not as a criminal. We see this as a great honour to the whole country and not for our President alone. Therefore we have no single modicum of doubt that Buhari can lead Nigeria back to a glorious El Dorado if given the chance.
“In our closing remarks, we urge President Muhammadu Buhari to ignore defectors and concentrate on infrastructural development. We urge Nigerians not to fall for the antics of dexterous kleptomaniacs. Let us rally behind President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s only internationally acclaimed anti-graft crusader. Defectors from the ruling party have only exposed their true mission in politics, namely, stealing without borders. They jumped the boat when their mission failed. They have been too clever by half.”