Former President, Goodluck Jonathan today March 27, publicly accepted the apology of a Nigerian management consultant, Dele Sobowale, who in 2014, wrote an article on Vanguard in which he insulted him and his style of governance.
Sobowale in 2014 was a staunch supporter of President Buhari who at the time was working hard to clinch the seat of power from Jonathan.
Sobowale in an article titled, ”COMPARING BUHARI WITH JONATHAN: IROKO VERSUS ROTTEN WOOD – 1”, dragged the former President who at the time was still in office. He attacked Jonathan for his style of leadership and also attacked his colleagues in the profession who wrote articles defending Jonathan. Part of the article read;
COMPARING BUHARI WITH JONATHAN IS LIKE COMPARING SOLID “IROKO” WITH ROTTEN WOOD. FOR STARTERS, EVERY CARVER KNOWS THAT NOBODY CAN MAKE A MASTERPIECE OUT OF ROTTEN WOOD. AND JONATHAN’S GOVERNMENT IS ROTTEN FROM THE HEAD DOWN. SO ANYBODY CANVASSING FOR A CONTINUATION OF THIS GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE REGARDED AS AN ACCESSORY TO THE GRAND LARCENY GOING ON NOW IN THE NAME OF GOVERNANCE.
FOR THE READERS, I SAID THEY ARE TOO FEW BECAUSE, WHEN READING THEIR ARTICLES, ONE CAN NOTICE THAT THEY ARE VIRTUALLY WRITING OUT OF THE SAME SET OF NOTES – PACKED FULL WITH THEIR OPINIONS, HALF TRUTHS, SOME FALSEHOOD AND SOME VENOM. THE BILE BELONGS TO FEMI ARIBISALA, THE VANGUARD COLUMNIST, WHO, LIKE DOYIN OKUPE, MUST BE OPERATING WITH A DICTIONARY COMPILED BY THE DEVIL – WHEN WRITING ABOUT BUHARI, TINUBU AND APC
LET ME ASSURE FEMI THAT WE ALSO HAVE A DICTIONARY AT UNIJANKARA, FULL OF HOTTER WORDS. SO NOBODY SHOULD BE UNDER THE IMPRESSION THAT HE OWNS A MONOPOLY OF SUCH WORDS. FIRST, THE READERS OF THIS DEFENCE OF BUHARI MIGHT WANT TO OBSERVE THAT ALL THOSE MENTIONED ABOVE, PRETENDING TO REFLECT “THE VIEWS OF NIGERIANS” ARE SOUTHERNERS, CHRISTIANS, MOSTLY YORUBA, EMPLOYED AND WELL-PAID, WELL- OR OVER-EDUCATED, AND THEY PROBABLY HAVE NOT STEPPED INTO KANO, SOKOTO, BAUCHI, NASSARAWA OR KOGI STATES IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS – IF AT ALL. BUHARI WHO THEY ALL LOVE TO “HATE” OR “HATE TO LOVE”, HOWEVER IS A MUSLIM, NORTHERNER, FULANI, AND HAS SPENT MOST OF HIS TIME IN THE NORTH SINCE RETIREMENT.