By Raheem Adedoyin
In recent times, I have been reeling from the death of close friends, acquaintances and compatriots.
His Excellency, Muhammadu Buhari ( GCFR)’ s addition to that list is more agonizing.
I was not a fan ( in fact, I was an antagonist) of General Muhammadu Buhari ( GMB) when he was Nigeria’s military head of the State . I was in the final year at the University of Lagos when he seized power in 1984. I was not an activist but the Aluta Continua spirit drove me to be against his regime. The dislike was heightened by his regime’s draconian decrees ( especially Decree 4 of 1984) that resulted in the jailing of journalists
But by divine favour, GMB got transformed into a statesmen of immense national value. He became a national icon for his spartan lifestyle and a folk hero for losing presidential elections.
Then, the unthinkable happened: the talismanic Bola Ahmed Tinubu cobbled together a coalition that defeated an entrenched ruling party – and its sitting president and made . Buhari the President.
I was a delegate from Kwara State at the 2014 national convention that produced Buhari as the presidential flag bearer of the new party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was a night of long knives, of hot horse trading . But Buhari prevailed.
The Convention ground in Lagos was the second time I would see and meet GMB physically. The first was also in Lagos during the wedding of the son of Alh. Lai Mohammed where I took this accompanying picture with him.
I was the Coordinator of the National Committee for Buhari Support Group ( NCBSG) in Kwara State which campaigned strongly for his reelection in 2019. The Group was self-funded. A major opportunity for a federal appointment under Buhari was lost to local Kwara politics ( I was in the OtoGe coalition) as I was removed from the list of Federal Board Chairmen from Kwara on the order of the then party leader in Kwara State.
But I remain eternally grateful to my two colleagues and friends who served in the Buhari Presidency – Mr. Femi Adesina and Mallam Garba Shehu- for their wonderful support for my international professional pursuits.
I hold as a trophy, President Buhari’s Congratulatory messages to me ( broadcast on the network of the Nigeruan Television Authority, NTA, and published widely in national and international media) on the two occasions that mattered to me in 2021: My 60th Birthday in July and my election in Vienna, Austria in September into the executive board of the International Press Institute ( IPI) representing Nigeria and Africa. My election was witnessed by a federal government representative sent specifically for that purpose from Nigeria .
May Allah grant President Buhari Aljanah Firdaus. Ameen.
Raheem Adedoyin,
APC Chieftain,
Kwara State
