Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Femi Adesina, said when his boss returns to the country, “filthy dreamers” will hide their heads in shame.
In a piece on Friday, Adesina described the filthy dreamers as those who “despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities”, noting that as the president’s spokesperson, he would never respond to such people.
“President Buhari has been indisposed since the beginning of the year. It is human, and presidents, despite their elevated status, remain human,” Adesina wrote.
“If there is anybody who considers himself 100 percent healthy, or who bears what William Shakespeare calls ‘a charmed life’, let that person stand up to be identified. All mortals are doomed to sickness, they can recover, and they can die.
“That is the truth that has been internalised by millions of people praying for the recovery of our President. And that is where the shallowness, vacuousness, and hollowness of people who wish the President dead, and carry unfounded rumours, is on stark display.
“Filthy dreamers. They speak evil of dignities, and despise dominion. But we forgive them, for they know not what they do. When President Buhari returns (as God would make him do) where would they hide their faces? In shame.”
He compared the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to Shimei, a character in the Bible, going on to describe the party as “evil wishers” who spend “their days conjecturing tragedy for leadership”.
“David had succeeded Saul as king of Israel. And Shimei was from the family of Saul (read, People’s Democratic Party, PDP). Shimei hadn’t forgotten the bloody nose the family of Saul got, when the kingship was taken away from them, and given to David. So when the latter got into a time of travail, no pity at all from people still smarting from bloody noses,” Adesina said.
“The All Progressives Congress (APC), inspired by Muhammadu Buhari, halted the 60-year pipe dream of PDP at the polls in 2015. Has the latter forgotten? No, they won’t forget till forever.
“But so much is the animus, the antipathy towards the president that they wish him dead. While millions of Nigerians are praying, some elements are rejoicing, and imagining evil. But they forget: man is not God, and Jehovah always has the final say. The descendants of Shimei need to learn vital lessons from their forebear.
“President Buhari has tolerated people who have called him all sorts of names in the past two years. If he didn’t move against them directly, he could have allowed many Abishais to move against them, ‘and take off their heads.’
“But not our president, a reformed democrat, a pious man, who has resolved to leave the people suffused by hatred unto God”, Adesina concluded.
It is now getting to three months since President Buhari returned to London for medical follow-up. Amid the persistent and widespread clamour for transparency, many will wonder why Adesina, who has been part of the conspiracy of silence, will not simply respect the wishes of the people and the standards of openness and accountability, by providing accurate information on the true state of health of the president, for which he is receiving treatment funded by the people.
