Columnist, Hashim Suleiman, has warned fifth columnists to stop blackmailing President Muhammadu Buhari into compromising the conduct of free and fair election for their own selfish interest.
Suleiman, who disclosed this in a statement, said President Buhari is committed to finishing strong. He said the managers of the All Progressives Congress (APC) campaign have succeeded in spreading a narrative that suggests to the society that the only way they can win is for Buhari to manipulate the system. He however said that President Buhari will not succumb to their blackmail.
‘‘There are other contestants in this race. President Buhari will not declare a war and throw them under a bus just because he needs to satisfy an imaginary payback that has been orchestrated by lazy campaigners forgetting that them and Buhari were beneficiaries of free and fair conduct by Goodluck Jonathan. So many people have argued that the most significant contribution of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to Buhari in 2015 was at the primary elections in Lagos in 2014 but the victory at the main elections was an amalgamation of forces ranging from Tinubu to Amaechi, Saraki, Atiku, Kwankwaso, Nyako and a host of others.
‘‘If the above narrative is what it is, then it’s very safe to say that Buhari has fully repaid Tinubu by first allowing him to nominate the Vice President and several others in cabinet and other appointments. Furthermore, he ensured the conduct of a free and fair primaries where Tinubu emerged. They are bandying a video of Abeokuta rally in 2014 where Tinubu campaigned for Buhari, but Buhari was also in Jos, Yola, Yobe, Bauchi, Nassarawa, Sokoto and Imo states to campaign for Asiwaju and he made equal or more speeches and the question to ask then is why the blackmail?
‘‘People who read my articles a lot know I’ve always been a defender of mischief and blackmail which has become a shortcut that Nigerians love to employ owing to their lazy mindsets and crave for cheap gains in order to pull down people they assume are their stumbling blocks to those shortcuts they want to take to progress.’’
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