Nigeria deserves a President that has insight
The Sad Story of the Puppeteer and the Puppet
It is so sad that President Buhari has allowed himself to be controlled like a puppet being pulled by Nnamdi Kanu.
Kanu seems to know so well how Buhari would react to every step he takes. So Kanu taunts Buhari like a woman taunts her husband by calling him "Useless man" and telling him to do his worst and see hell. So the foolish husband loses his cool and beats the wife blue black. The wife shouts that he has killed her, takes pictures and videos of her swollen face and battered body and sends them out. The man is called a beast by the public and maybe gets arrested by the police.
When it seems that attention on him is reducing, Kanu says or does one thing to work Buhari up. He gathered some men together and announced that he had formed the Biafran Secret Service: a group that does not have even pepper spray. He boasted that nobody would dare to arrest him. He said that the person that came back from London was not Buhari but someone else.
Given how the mind of Buhari works, Kanu knows that Buhari must react. So Kanu pulls the strings and the puppet reacts the way he wants. That is sad.
Kanu knows that the moment Buhari reacts, there will be videos and pictures and stories for the world. And that gives his cause global publicity and wins him sympathy. Buhari will be seen as the aggressor and oppressor while he is seen as the non-violent victim.
When Buhari returned from his medical trip and gave a speech, I wrote that the speech was written principally for Nnamdi Kanu and IPOB. Buhari was telling them that he was back and would deal with them for crossing the "red line". And true to his word, he swung into action.
Tension has risen in Nigeria over Buhari's reaction, and what is on the lips of everyone is Kanu, Biafra and IPOB. Rather than be cowed, IPOB and non-IPOB members have become more strengthened. Even moderates are wondering why they should still belong to this Nigeria with such viciousness from the military and the leaders.
Those who have read Mario Puzzo's The Godfather would see that Buhari reminds one of the impulsive first son of Don Corleone called Santino (Sunny), who would always react as predicted, and was, therefore, considered unfit to to run the Corleone empire.
IPOB must resist the urge to get violent because of the continued killing of their members and the inhuman treatment meted out to them, neither should they resort to attacking Northerners in revenge. Violence will dent their moral standing and also give Buhari a golden opportunity to replicate an Odi or Zaki Biam in Igboland. They must deny him that pleasure. Watching how angrily Buhari reacted during the Al Jazeera interview when the killing of IPOB members was raised, I tend to believe what Fani-Kayode said he told him that "they" cannot forgive the Igbos for the 1966 coup.
Nigeria deserves a president that is deep and tactful, a president that is proactive and not reactive, a president that will read in between the lines and see the result from the beginning, a president that will have practical ways of solving problems and uniting the nation.The Sad Story of the Puppeteer and the Puppet.
