• Home
  • Anti-Corruption
  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
  • National
    • Government
  • Security
  • Features
  • State
  • Event
    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Search
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
PRNIGERIA PRNigeria News
PRNIGERIA PRNIGERIA
  • Home
  • Anti-Corruption
    • Chinese nationals jailed in Lagos

      Court Jails Nine Chinese Nationals for Cybercrime in Lagos

      ASUU

      Tackle Corruption, Institutional Decay – ASUU Charges FG

      EFCC Arraigns Bauchi Accountant General Over N8bn Fraud as Court Sentences…

      PRNigeria logo fearured image

      EFCC Arraigns Ex-Convict, Other for Naira Abuse in Lagos

      EFCC Arrests 37 Suspected Internet Fraudsters in Ilorin

  • Fact-Check
  • Economy
    • Customs Diplomacy: Nigeria, Saudi Arabia Ink Mutual Assistance Deal

      Comptroller General Nigerian Customs Bashir Adewale

      Nigeria, Belarus Forge Alliance to Combat Smuggling, Facilitate Trade

      President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and CG Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

      Tinubu Hails Customs Boss Wale Adeniyi on Historic Election as WCO…

      WTO Lauds Nigeria Customs for Embracing Global Trade Standards

      Nigeria, Rwanda Sign Landmark Tax Treaty to Boost Cross-Border Investment

  • National
    • NELFUND

      NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal

      Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Major General Olufemi Olatubosun Oluyede,

      Security Watchdog Hails NSA, Military for Anti-Terrorism Successes

      IGP Kayode Egbetokun Police Boss

      IGP Egbetokun: Leading the Charge for a Safer Nigeria By Danjuma…

      Police Officer

      Police Rescue 29 Captives, Arrest 3 Suspects in Kogi, Lagos, Katsina

      NDLEA arrests ex-footballer for drug trafficking

      NDLEA Arrest Ex-Nigerian Footballer, 72-Year-Old Grandma, Others Over Illicit Drugs Trafficking

    • Government
      • Tinubu Seeks Visa Waivers, Scholarships as Nigeria Establishes Diplomatic Ties with…

        Malam Yusuf Abubakar Dingyadi

        Dingyadi, PDP Chair’s Vocal Spokesperson, Resigns

        Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar

        Ambassador Tuggar’s Doctrine of Calm in a World on Fire By…

        A brief travelogue by Fredrick Nwabufo

        Mrs. Didi Esther Walson-Jack

        18 Workers, Two MDAs Honoured as Federal Civil Service Week Ends

  • Security
    • Police Officer

      Kano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on…

      Nigerian Navy Personnel

      Navy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in Bayelsa

      Police Nab Two for Cement Diversion Across Four States

      Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Major General Olufemi Olatubosun Oluyede,

      Security Watchdog Hails NSA, Military for Anti-Terrorism Successes

      IGP Kayode Egbetokun Police Boss

      IGP Egbetokun: Leading the Charge for a Safer Nigeria By Danjuma…

  • Features
    • IGP Kayode Egbetokun Police Boss

      IGP Egbetokun: Leading the Charge for a Safer Nigeria By Danjuma…

      NDLEA Logo

      Drug Culture in Nigerian Music: When Art Imitates Harm By Arafat…

      Ambassador Yusuf Maitama Tuggar

      Ambassador Tuggar’s Doctrine of Calm in a World on Fire By…

      A brief travelogue by Fredrick Nwabufo

      WTO Lauds Nigeria Customs for Embracing Global Trade Standards

  • State
    • Police Officer

      Kano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on…

      Nigerian Navy Personnel

      Navy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in Bayelsa

      Tinubu Seeks Visa Waivers, Scholarships as Nigeria Establishes Diplomatic Ties with…

      Plateau Delegation Visits Zaria Over Mangu Killings

      Anambra Police Arrest Man for Masterminding Friend’s Abduction, Collection of N5.3m…

  • Event
    • NELFUND

      NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal

      EFCC Witness: Yahaya Bello Had No Property Dealings With EFAB

      Hon. Rukayat Motunrayo Shittu (RMS), with PRNigeria Ladies in PR I'm Abuja

      Rukayat Shittu Set to Publish Inspirational Book “Cracking the Glass Ceiling”,…

      Chief Cornelius Olatunji Adebayo

      Former Kwara Governor, Chief Adebayo, Dies at 84

      Managing Editor of Image Merchants, Mr Abdulrahman Abdulraheem, PR Expert, Celestine Achi and the Editor-in-chief, Yushau Shuaib presenting the book to PRNigeria center

      PRNigeria Commends New Book on Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations

    • PR Nigeria Award
  • E-Paper
Home National President Jonathan and Doubting-Thomase
  • National

President Jonathan and Doubting-Thomase

By
Yushau A. Shuaib
-
March 8, 2015

Doubting Thomases is the plural of a doubting Thomas. It refers to an incredulous or habitually doubtful person who is sceptical and refuses to believe something without proof.

 

I learnt the expression is a reference to the Apostle Thomas in the Bible, who refused to believe that Jesus Christ had resurrected despite testimonies of his friends and the 10 remaining fellow apostles insisting that he would only believe after seeing.

 

Going by experiences of Nigerians with their leaders especially on politics, there are many who will rather prefer to remain Doubting-Thomas. In fact some of the Doubting-Thomases are not ordinary individuals but highly placed personalities even among the the media.

 

I do not judge a person by the group or party he/she belongs but by that person’s character and attributes. Remove Major General Mohammad Buhari from All Progressive Congress (APC) and President Goodluck Jonathan from Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) and what remain of the groups is same people that are of the same antecedents, character, dispositions and embodiments among others. These influence the wanton decamping from one party to the other because they lack ideological differences.

 

I must declare from the outset that whoever insults General Buhari, a former Head of State must be psychotic; and whoever attacks President Jonathan of non-performance must be a prevaricator.

 

Just to outsmart one another, the major political parties i.e. APC and PDP recourse to gutter politics to hoodwink not only the gullible public but surprisingly, even brainwash the supposedly enlightened individuals. It is surprising how people accept some conspiracy theories without questioning the rationality.

 

Sometimes last year, a former top military officer and a governor issued an official statement accusing Federal Government of being behind terrorism activities in North-East. He even claimed that aircrafts were dropping food and ammunition to the terrorists in their enclaves. Many of his colleagues believed the arguments until the accuser was asked to substantiate the allegations at the meeting of Council of States. Those who had earlier believed his allegations were ashamed when he was unable to substantiate and was thus forced to recant.

 

Sometime this year the National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki gave sincere advice that due to widespread insecurity in the North East as well as inability of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to distribute permanent voter cards (PVCs), it was necessary to shift elections. The spirit of cynicism aka Doubting-Thomas took over and many Nigerians came up with theories of conspiracy. Just weeks after however, the same individuals who doubted the military’s excuse are now the ones commending Nigerians troops for liberating dozens of towns and villages from Boko Haram. Again, the rate of distribution of PVC has increased from about 50% on February 3, 2015 to 80% by March 3, 2015.

 

While the debate on the postponement of elections raged, there were also allegations by Doubting-Thomases that federal government was planning to institute an Interim National Government (ING). The media was awash with insinuations despite the insistence by the Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Adoke that such contraption was illegal, unconstitutional and therefore, baseless.

 

Read Also:

  • NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal
  • Kano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on Household
  • Navy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in Bayelsa

In the midst of the confusion came yet another allegation that the Chairman of INEC was in the process of being removed without running afoul of any laws or regulations. Government officials did not only deny the speculations but President Goodluck Jonathan himself was forced to publicly deny the speculations. According to him, “INEC is a very sensitive body… You cannot wake up and change INEC Chairman… I never told anybody that I will remove him”.  The President is conscious that he lacked powers to unilaterally removed INEC Chairman just like any other constitutionally recognised commissions. There are some arguments that are neither morally or logically sound.

 

Meanwhile, apart from politicians playing their games, there has been a deliberate ploy by certain individuals to bring security agencies into the fray. For instance, Doubting-Thomases raised false alarm that Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) have been ordered to withdraw their personnel from some borders in the North-West without any cogent reason. One wonders what that action could have achieved. The timely response of Comptroller-General of  Customs, Abdullahi Dikko and Comptroller General of Immigration, David Parradan in denying the allegations saved the situation from further controversies on same.

 

Though Doubting-Thomases are still sceptical if security chiefs would allow the rescheduled elections to hold, the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh and Inspector General of Police Abba Suleman have assured eminent members of National Peace Committee on General Elections led by former Head of State, General Abubakar Abdulsalami that “the elections will be free, fair, credible and violence-free.”

 

Not yet done, when the online news syndicate platform, PRNigeria reported that the military have been instructed to make every effort to capture the leader of Boko Haram terrorists alive, another allegation emerged. This time, the theory was that government was planning to arrest a fake terrorist and force him to implicate some leaders through false confessions and statements.

 

Not even the operations of the Multinational Joint Taskforce (MNJTF) were spared in the antics of Doubting-Thomases. It was politicised. Rather than see the Nigerian troops as our people, the military is being portrayed as part of the ruling party because they serve the government. For that reason some critics would rather attribute successes and accomplishments of the Nigerian troops to the efforts of partnering countries.

 

The painful irony is that Nigerian troops have been victims of the insurgents, victims of local collaborators within the communities who betray them, victims of a political class which castigates them unnecessarily and are also victims of social critics who refuse to commend their efforts when they do well but ridiculed when they fall to the bullets or daggers of terrorists.

 

While some of us enjoy the friendship and brotherliness of patriotic and well intentioned officers and politicians, it will be disappointing and disheartening if either of the political parties play into the hands of enemies of progress and inadvertently help to truncate our hard-earned and cherished democracy.

 

There are not much differences between the major political parties apart from the names of their flag-bearers. Our appeal therefore to partisan politicians, is that they should be conscious and mindful of what they do and say because Nigeria is bigger than individuals and institutions.

 

The March 28 and April 11, 2015 rescheduled dates of elections should remain sacrosanct while the swearing in of the elected President on May 29, 2015 must be respected.

 

Yushau A. Shuaib

Blogger: www.yashuaib.com

[email protected]

Abuja

VISIT OUR OTHER WEBSITES
PRNigeria.com EconomicConfidential.com PRNigeria.com/Hausa/
EmergencyDigest.com PoliticsDigest.ng TechDigest.ng
HealthDigest.ng SpokesPersonsdigest.com TeensDigest.ng
ArewaAgenda.com Hausa.ArewaAgenda.com YAShuaib.com
Previous articleInternational Women’s Day: Minister tasks NASS on Violence Bill
Next articleAbuja Police Trains Officers on Election Duties
Yushau A. Shuaib
Yushau A. Shuaib
https://prnigeria.com
PRNigeria is the pioneer Press Release Distribution agency in Nigeria. A member of image Merchant Promotions limited, PRNigeria encourages individuals and organisations to be more transparent in their information management. with dedicated Editorial staffs, the PRNigeria ensures that information provided on its platforms are timely, factual and authoritative Read more at: //prnigeria.com/about/
Facebook Twitter

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

NELFUND

NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Gwabin Musa, National Security Adviser (NSA), Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and the Major General Olufemi Olatubosun Oluyede,

Security Watchdog Hails NSA, Military for Anti-Terrorism Successes

IGP Kayode Egbetokun Police Boss

IGP Egbetokun: Leading the Charge for a Safer Nigeria By Danjuma S. Musa

Police Officer

Police Rescue 29 Captives, Arrest 3 Suspects in Kogi, Lagos, Katsina

NDLEA arrests ex-footballer for drug trafficking

NDLEA Arrest Ex-Nigerian Footballer, 72-Year-Old Grandma, Others Over Illicit Drugs Trafficking

Malam Yusuf Abubakar Dingyadi

Dingyadi, PDP Chair’s Vocal Spokesperson, Resigns

NDLEA Logo

Drug Culture in Nigerian Music: When Art Imitates Harm By Arafat A. Abdulrazaq

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and CG Customs, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

Tinubu Hails Customs Boss Wale Adeniyi on Historic Election as WCO Chair

NIPR President, Ike Neliaku and Comptroller-General of Nigeria Customs Service, Bashir Adewale Adeniyi

NIPR Congratulates Adeniyi on Election as Chair, WCO 

Comptroller General of Customs Bashir Adewale Adeniyi elected as Chair WCO

NIPR Congratulates Adeniyi on Election as Chair, WCO

Tinubu Mourns Elder Statesman, Business Mogul Aminu Dantata

His Death is National Loss – Northern Governors Mourn Legendary Business Mogul Aminu Dantata

LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply

Log in to leave a comment

Recent Posts

  • NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application Portal
  • Kano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on Household
  • Navy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in Bayelsa
  • Tinubu Seeks Visa Waivers, Scholarships as Nigeria Establishes Diplomatic Ties with Saint Lucia, OECS
  • Police Nab Two for Cement Diversion Across Four States
  • Home
  • About
  • Adverts
  • Contact
© 2020 PRNigeria. All Rights Reserved.
Latest News
NELFUND Warns Students Against Fake Loan Application PortalKano Police Confirm Death of Armed Robber After Foiled Attack on HouseholdNavy Arrests Suspected Militant, Recovers Machine Gun in BayelsaTinubu Seeks Visa Waivers, Scholarships as Nigeria Establishes Diplomatic Ties with Saint Lucia, OECSPolice Nab Two for Cement Diversion Across Four StatesFACT-CHECK: Are Travelers in Kogi Under Attack by Armed Fulani Herdsmen?FACT-CHECK: Did Borno Governor Zulum's Wife Lift Primary School Mate Out of Poverty in Viral Video?Fact-Check: Did Saudi 'Sleeping Prince' Wake Up After 20 Years in a Coma?Fact Check: Does Rat Faeces Cure Appendicitis as Claimed in Viral Video?Security Watchdog Hails NSA, Military for Anti-Terrorism SuccessesIGP Egbetokun: Leading the Charge for a Safer Nigeria By Danjuma S. MusaISWAP Terrorists Eliminated While Planting IEDs on Borno HighwayFG Officials Arrives S'Arabia for Business Mogul Aminu Dantata’s Burial in MadinahPolice Rescue 29 Captives, Arrest 3 Suspects in Kogi, Lagos, KatsinaCustoms Diplomacy: Nigeria, Saudi Arabia Ink Mutual Assistance Deal
X whatsapp