A week after the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Kogi State, Prince Abubakar Audu passed on, his sixth son Mustapha Audu, has revealed details of how the popular politician passed on. In a recent interview with Daily Sun, Mustapha also dismissed insinuations that his father was poisoned.

 “The truth about it is that my father was a very hard working man. Throughout the period of the campaign, he used to go to bed about 4-5am and by 7 or 8am, he was always up, travelling here and there, holding several meetings, taking no rest and eating no food.
“This was a man who had ulcer and was hardly eating. This began to tell on him on the Friday night before his demise. He became weak even though he was a very strong man. We had advised him to go to hospital in Abuja but he said no, that the election was very important, very significant and that no one would vote for him by proxy. He said he had to be accredited to vote for him­self and ensure that things went right. So we supported him.

“But that night, he grew very weak. So we had to invite a doctor who quickly placed him on an infusion. On Saturday morning he felt better. And we said okay, let us delay going for accreditation since it would be concluded at 1pm. Maybe at 12.45pm we would go there. That concluded, we returned to the place (his elder brother’s place as the tra­ditional ruler of the community) and waited. We later went to the polling booth and he voted. He was up and about, he didn’t rest. He didn’t know the meaning of rest; he didn’t know the meaning of laziness. He was always on the move. Even at night time he was always very busy.

“That night he was asking if he had been declared winner. He knew he never lost in an election. The previous PDP administrations rigged him out consistently in 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2011. But this time around, he knew that the central government would not tolerate that. So he was sure to carry the day.

“So that night, he was stressed out, having had very little sleep. At 7.45am, he passed on. He knew about his victory even before he passed on. The last instruction he gave me before his death was to tell my younger sister, Hajia Halima to go straight to the INEC collation centre to ensure that there was no form of rigging going on there. That was how she became the APC representative at the venue. That was the last instruction he gave me. He said, “Make sure that my victory is defended; make sure that the results are declared,”

Speaking further, Mustapha said: “I too had a little command centre I was running. So we were getting the results that were coming in. even that night, he was always asking me whether they had declared him winner. He was very optimistic about his victory. He knew he had won; he had no doubt about it.

“He was a hard fighter; he died fighting. In fact, he was one of the greatest fighters I ever saw. You could see what happened during his funeral. I don’t think any Head of State has ever attracted that number of dignitaries like he did.

“He was a man so well loved. You recall that there was this rumour that he had risen from the dead. You needed to see what was happening. People were dancing; people were jubilating, jumping up and hugging themselves and shouting, God is great, La ilaha illa Allah. The reason was that people loved him, because he gave his all to the people. He was after the advancement of his people.
“We his children know that his shoes are too big for anyone to step into. We all will see what we can do too for the state because he was a legend.”

Mustapha described his father’s death as the will of God.

“As Muslims, we don’t think about that. We don’t habour the thought that he was murdered by anyone. We don’t believe that anyone had a hand in his death. Once one dies, one is buried. Even if one was shot a million times, if God does not permit that, it would not happen. God said it was his time to die and he died. My father was the greatest man I knew, he always called it as he saw it; he was honest. He was straight as an arrow,” Mustapha added.

”Aside the 105 soldiers killed by Boko Haram, additional 34 soldiers we killed two days ago but it wasn’t in the news”- Deji Adeyanju.

I concur with Mr. Deji Adeyanju. The most heartless and reprehensible thing that our government could have done is to cover-up the fact that 105 of our soldiers were killed by Boko Haram a few days ago. To do such a thing is simply evil.
A soldier ought to be honored in death and this is especially so if he dies in the course of doing his duty and fighting for his nation.

The government has not only dishonored them by not acknowledging their sacrifice but they have also buried them in the wilderness like rabid dogs.
This is wickedness of the highest order and President Buhari, his Chief of Army Staff and his Minister of Defense should bury their heads in shame.

Anyone that buys the lie and propaganda that the 105 soldiers never died and that they are still alive is a compound fool or village idiot.
Will the military also deny the fact that a few days ago 34 of our soldiers were killed by Boko Haram? These boys died for their country. Why deny them?
I am outraged by the fact that a soldier will sacrifice his life for his country yet the citizens and authorities of that country don’t even appreciate it.

Pictures of the dead bodies were posted on social media. Everyone in the military knows that those soldiers are dead. It is an open secret. Yet because government denies it so many people just choose to believe them.
The truth is that Boko Haram must have used chemical weapons in the attack.When you look at the pictures of the dead bodies this is obvious. It was probably mustard gas.

All we want from the military is the truth. If 105 soldiers were not killed then how many actually were?
The whole episode happened last week in Borno state and the military authorities are denying it. I am sickened by that.
If others cannot appreciate the importance of honoring our dead soldiers, I can. I will not be intimidated and I will not remain silent.

Tell us where our boys are buried and if you refuse to do so we will keep asking. There must be accountability and respect for those that have made the supreme sacrifice just to keep the rest of us safe. Our soldiers deserve that much.
Finally let it be said loud and clear that since President Buhari came to power he has not bought one bullet for the military. Considering the fact that we are in the middle of a protracted and very bloody war I believe that this is utterly shameful. If you say you want to fight and defeat Boko Haram then why are you not buying arms for your troops?

This brings me to other matters and raises other questions about our President’s sincerity of purposes and commitment.
You say that you are fighting Boko Haram yet you are travelling the world drinking tea with world leaders whilst your soldiers are secretly being slaughtered.
You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet you were nominated as their spokesman and chief negotiator 2 years ago in proposed peace talks with the Federal Government.

You say you are fighting Boko Haram but the man you appointed as your National Security Adviser was retired from the army a few years ago for ordering the release of Boko Haram terrorists under suspicious circumstances.
You say you are fighting Boko Haram but the first thing you did when u came to power was to remove military checkpoints.This guaranteed Boko Haram free movement and access to the entire country.

You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet last year you told the world that an attack on Boko Haram is an attack on the north.
You say you are fighting terror yet since you came to power Boko Haram has grown in strength, has regained lost territory and has been declared the ”worlds number one most deadly terror group” by the Global Terror Index.

You say you are fighting terror yet since you came to power Nigeria, according to the Global Terror Index, has been declared as not just having ”the first most deadly terror group in the world” which is Boko Haram but also of having ”the fourth most deadly terror group in the world” which is a group that the Index describe as the ”Fulani militants” and that we call the Fulani herdsmen.

You say you are fighting Boko Haram yet since you came to power Nigeria has been declared the world’s ”third most terrorised country” by the Global Terror Index after Iraq and Afghanistan which were declared first and second respectively whilst Syria and Pakistan were declared fourth and fifth.

You say you are a ”born again democrat” yet you voted against the protection of human rights at the United Nations alongside Iran, Zimbabwe and North Korea.
You say you respect human rights yet you barricade Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser, in his home, endanger his life, deny him medical attention, flout court orders and make him critically ill.

You say you respect human rights yet you arrest Governor Boni Haruna simply for standing as surety for Dasuki and you try to force him to abandon his friend.
You say you respect human rights yet you raid Governor Attahiru Bafarawa’s home and arrest and detain his son simply because he is friends with Dasuki.
You say you respect freedom of speech and human rights yet you lock up Nnamdi Kanu indefinitely and your security agents shoot two unarmed and harmless pro-Biafra youths to death in Enugu simply because they were involved in a peaceful demonstration.

You say that you are a believer in the rule of law yet you ordered your secret police to storm a sitting governors official home in Akwa Ibom knowing that he enjoys immunity from such matters.
You say you love Nigeria yet a bomb goes off in Kano killing over 21 people and instead of coming back home to mourn with your people you continue junketing around the world.

You say you know how to run Nigeria but according to Paul Wallace and Michael Cohen of the United States magazine known as Bloomberg Business your ”bounce has become bust”, your ”policies irk investors”, you have ”destroyed Nigeria’s economy” and you ”do not have the capacity to move the country forward”.

You say that you know how to manage the economy yet stocks and shares have crashed, small businesses are folding up, our foreign currency has dried up, industries are collapsing, agricultural output has decreased, our foreign reserves have been spent and the value of the naira has depreciated since you came to power and it continues to fall.

You say you know what you are doing and how to manage Nigeria’s affairs yet the U.S,-based Washington Times newspaper says that you lied to America about your so-called good intentions for Nigeria and that you have ”duped the United States of America” with your false promises and empty words.
You say that you are fighting poverty yet according to the Business Day Newspaper Nigerians are ”getting poorer for the first time since 1999”.

You say that you will restore our countries fortunes yet the fuel queues are back and the prices of food, transport and basic commodities are soaring by the day.
You say that you are a man of your word and after you were declared winner of the election you promised not to malign, persecute, witchunt, demonize, disrespect or go after President Goodluck Jonathan and members of his administration unless you had concrete evidence of wrongdoing yet when you came to power you did precisely that.

You say you are fair-minded, true to your friends, loyal to your supporters and always reasonable yet you did not concede even one ministerial slot or approve one ministerial nominee of the two men that helped you more than any others to win the presidential election, namely President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governor Bola Tinubu.
You say that you want the country to change, that you believe in fairness and equity, that you are a progressive, that you believe in a generational powershift and that you want the country to move forward yet you are trying to destroy  Bukola Saraki simply because he won an election and became Senate President.

You say that you are fighting corruption yet no-one has been made to face the music or brought to book over the 25 billion naira REMITA and Systemspecs scandal and neither has the matter been clarified or resolved even though it has been established that the whole deal was struck under your watch.

You say you love Nigeria and all Nigerians yet your Fulani kinsmen, under the guise of herding cattle, are slaughtering thousands of innocent people all over the south and Middle Belt, yet you remain their Grand Patron and you refuse to utter to a word of condemnation for their actions.

You say you respect Nigerians yet every time you travel out of the country you spend your time telling foreigners and the foreign media how useless, rotten and corrupt your people are and how you are the only saint in Nigeria.

In view of all this I am constrained to ask whether President Muhammadu Buhari has a conscience or is it that he has just lost touch with reality? Everything that I said about him during the Presidential campaign has been confirmed and in just six months he has betrayed the trust and squandered the goodwill that the Nigerian people bestowed upon him in the March presidential elections. I have to say that I am not surprised by this because his ”change” mantra was just an illusion.

What he and his APC failed to disclose to the Nigerian people during the campaign is that what he meant by ”change” was a change from light to darkness. Sadly our people trusted him and now he has plunged our nation into that darkness.
May God enable him to find the courage to retrace his steps before it is too late and may the Lord deliver Nigeria from those that are around him that fail to tell him the truth.

I gather that they call those of us that oppose President Buhari and that are PDP supporters the ”wailing wailers”. That is an interesting expression because by the time Buhari finishes with Nigeria I have little doubt that the entire country will be wailing.

The truth is that I would rather be a ”wailing wailer” that posterity vindicates than a ”lying liar” or a ”howling howler” who has lost his way and who continues to have confidence in a man like Buhari and a party like the APC that is hell bent on destroying our country and our cherished democratic institutions with their Rambo-like insensitivity and total ineptitude.

All those ”lying liars” and ”howling howlers” that voted for President Buhari should clap for themselves for the terrible mess our country is now in. We will remember them in our prayers too.