TAKE UP YOUR WEAPONS OF WAR AND FIGHT TO RECLAIM NIGERIA By Matthew Akhere

I am inspired to write this long piece and open the minds of all well-meaning Nigerians to what is going on in Nigeria. It is my hope that  you find time to read and digest it. And after reading it, it is my fervent prayer that Nigerians whose veins run with love and patriotism for Nigeria and want a better tomorrow for our children, and children’s children will begin to mobilize and take action to fight back and help President Buhari to reclaim Nigeria from the clutches of the enemies of Nigeria.

The things that are currently going on in Nigeria did not happen by accident. neither did it happened overnight.  The militants blowing up oil installations in the Niger-Delta, the corruption in the judiciary, the attack by Fulani herdsmen on Christian communities, the depreciating value of the Naira and the resulting in inflation and untold hardship on Nigerians, the rumoured death of President Buhari, the rising tension between the Christians and Muslims, the agitation for Biafra, etc., are result of carefully planned, well-coordinated efforts by the enemies of Nigeria. They are at war with President Muhammadu Buhari, and they are at war with you and I.

Who Are The Enemies That I am Talking About?
They are the corrupt Nigerians. They are the thieving politicians and public office holders. They are the looters of Nigeria’s money and now have combined wealth greater than Nigeria’s wealth. Those we voted out of power. They are the big shoes President Buhari has stepped on and are now fighting back with great vengeance. And they are everywhere – NASS, MDAs, Oil & Gas, state government, armed forces, government, presidency, at home and abroad, media, in churches and mosques, in traditional circles, my neighbor and your neighbor, and tertiary institutions, in urban and rural areas – they are just everywhere. They are Nigerians who stole Nigeria’s commonwealth, bought mansions across the world with the money budgeted to fight Boko Haram and other insecurity, build health, transport and education infrastructure and make life better for Nigerians. They corrupt Nigerians responsible for the continuous depreciation in the value of the Naira, the skyrocketing inflation,the hunger in the land and the current religious and ethnic division and strife among Nigerians.

Who Are They Waging War Against?
They are waging a war on President Muhammadu Buhari for stepping on their toes and cutting off their supply of Nigeria’s commonwealth. They are waging a war against you and I for voting them out of power and thereby reducing their power to control the nation’s commonwealth and engender their destructive agenda.

What Is their Aim and Strategy?
They have the aim to grind the Nigerian economy to a halt, make Nigeria ungovernable, and frustrate the current government. They want to take back Nigeria by all possible means so as to continue their evil agenda of looting and impoverish Nigerians.

Their strategy is to create chaos and disorder in key aspects of the Nigerian life, and in all things that bind, unite and make us thick as a people - economy, oil and gas, politics, religious, ethnic and social associations.

What Are Their Narratives and Messages
Their narratives are negative, evil and full of hatred.

They are using denial messages. They are saying they are not responsible for the current economic situation we found ourselves. They are saying they did not loot Nigeria’s money. They are saying they are not responsible for the hunger in the land. They are saying they did not leave the treasury empty. But we all know they are responsible for the current economic hardship

They are using emotive messages. They are saying they are being victimized for being in the opposition. They will tell you they are being witch-hunted for standing against injustice, oppression and dictatorship. Whereas they are the real oppressors.

They are using religious sentiments. They will tell you Buhari wants to Islamize the country. They will tell you the Christians are the problems of Nigeria. They will say the Muslims are Boko Harams. They will say Biafra agitators are Christians. They will tell you to kill any Fulani that comes near you. They will tell you never to vote a Christian to become president of Nigeria. Whereas they are our real enemies.

They are using the hate narratives. They will tell you President Buhari hates N’digbo. They will say the Yorubas do not like the Hausas. They will say Hausas are cows and belong to the zoo. They even kill and pronounced President Buhari’s death on social media in order to cause religious and tribal war. This is the height of their desperation and wickedness! Whereas they are the haters of Nigeria and the Nigerian people.

How Far Have They Gone?
Their starting point was the North. They wanted to sustain Boko Haram insurgency they created as a weapon to grind the economy and make the country ungovernable.  When they found that the Buhari regime has virtually dismembered and quenched the insurgency, they shifted base to Niger-Delta and found the restive unemployed Niger-Delta youths as willing tool. They created the Niger-Delta Avengers and other militant groups that are blowing up oil installations and reducing our revenue from oil. Again when they found out that these militant groups could be contained, they shifted attention to using ethnic division to achieve their evil agenda of making the country ungovernable.  In actualizing their ethnic evil intentions, they shifted base to the East and found yet again willing tool in the restless and unemployed youths in the East. They sold and fund the Biafra agenda. These Biafra agitators have today become a menace in the East. Again when the enemies of Nigeria realized that the voice for Biafra republic might wane, they shifted attention to using religion to achieve their aim. Yet they found willing tool in the Fulani herdsmen who have long held unfinished war with some Christian-dominated communities in the Northern Nigeria. These corrupt politicians are the ones equipping them with guns and encouraging them to kill and maim. Their aim is simple – when everything fails, religion will not fail because Nigerians are religious very people!

In between all these, they planted their foot soldiers in Bureau de Change whose work is simply to mop up and hoard Dollar, and engage in currency round tripping in order to weaken the Naira and cause inflation. They planted their foot soldiers in the oil and gas sector; some of them are oil marketers, some are in PENGASSAN and others are owners of petrol stations. Their job is to create petrol scarcity, and cause disaffection between the people and the government. They have their foot soldiers in the national Assembly whose aim is to frustrate corruption war and economic policies of the federal government. They also have foot soldiers in the mass and social media. The work of the foot soldiers in the social and mass media is to communicate negative narratives about the economy, about the government, about the President, communicate tribal, religious and ethnic hatred in the land, and recruit membership in their fold.

Sadly, while the enemies of Nigeria are telling their negative story in a very purposeful way, no one appears to be telling the positive story of Nigeria in a manner that makes sense. While the corrupt public servants and politicians have deployed messages and foot soldiers on every mass and social media platform winning the minds and hearts of our young and vulnerable, no one seem to be helping the President.  Even the President’s media team seemed to have been battered bruised, and overwhelmed. The President’s media men have become lost in the crowd. They have become bereft of ideas about how to fight the communication war. All they do now is to send pictures and press releases to ineffective media outlets.

I tell you, there is a war being waged on Nigerians and the Nigerian nation and the target is President Buhari, and you and I – all of us who supported and made his becoming the President possible. At the height of their wicked agenda are the many unpleasant stories that went viral recently about the ‘death’ of our President.

The corrupt politicians and public office holders want to regain control of Nigeria’s commonwealth and continue to pull the strings in decision-making. They have started already using all destructive means, killing the Naira, causing religious and tribal tension in the land, and discrediting the president, and their plan is to finish the job in 2019. We must not allow this to happen. All of us that voted Buhari to become the President must not allow this to happen. We are the ones who clothed him President, if this clothe of honor is successfully torn, it is our honor that is torn.

Therefore, it is high time for all of us who voted Buhari to become President and those who truly love Nigeria and want a better tomorrow for our children and children’s children fought back. It is time we took up our weapons of war and help the president fight these undesirable corrupt elements. Our weapons are not guns or cutlasses or machetes. Let leave the guns for our security apparatus. Ours is the use of pen via the mass and social media to pulling down of every stronghold that is discrediting President Buhari and festering its evil agenda on Nigeria and driving the Nigerian people to poverty. We must all come out and defend President Buhari with the last ink in our pen on mass and social media. We must outsmart, outmuscle, demystify and rubbish their evil narratives. And the time is now.

God bless Nigeria.