Like The Mother of all elections that was held in Nigeria in 2015 which saw the exit from the seat of power of former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the emergence of the ‘converted democrat’ Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s fifteenth Head of State, the year 2016 is significant for many reasons.

First, there will be a testing of the might of proponents of the anti-corruption and anti-insurgency fights which have, so far as many right-thinking Nigerians are concerned, taken the shine off the new government and its promise to turn around the fortunes of the nation through its highly touted change mantra.

There is also the staunch and unwavering resolve of the President, being the leader of the bandwagon, to sustain the fights no matter whose ox was gored in the process.

Then the agitations of powerful oxens within the nation’s political space, men and women of high caliber who are fingered as culprits and accessors, whose big shoes are not only being stepped upon but out rightly being pulled off their solid feet! And they have started to kick!

Then the insurgency war keeps raging even as government continues to spit fire!

Aside the testing of mights, however, is the palpable fear by most Nigerians that the President and commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces himself may baulk to the mortal risks involved in these twin battles – corruption and insurgency – leaving Nigeria going back to the grey days.

The fear: the President’s life may be at risk!

Enter the prophecies and predictions:
Like the 2015 General Elections where prophecies and predictions clashed against one another in the treadmill of speculations leaving Nigerians wondering where the pendulum was swinging, prophecies and predictions have also begun to rent the air on the fate of Nigeria regarding the anti-corruption and insurgency struggles in 2016 and not a few predictions made whispers regarding the safety of the life of Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari. An online ‘Prophet of Doom; Ibafo, even made reference to Buhari being “an endangered specie.”

Generally, all the speculations indicate ‘touch socio political and economic time’ for Nigeria and leaves doubts in place of hope for the citizenry.

Father Mbaka, the controversial Enugu-based cleric and head of Adoration Ministry who in 2014 began a tirade against “Jonathan’s bad leadership” and even predicted his defeat at the presidential polls, a prediction which when realized, became a historic ratio decidendi for future reference; and has also spoken the untolds fear of many Nigerians that the President may die in the hands of assassins due to his anti-corruption posture.

Now this development is shaped almost like the campaign strategy of the PDP and Jonathan handlers during the election when they made unhealthy postulations on Buhari’s age and concocted imaginary terminal ailments around his person, even predicting that he would die before the end of the electioneering exercise or shortly after assuming office.

If there were plots to assassinate the President at that time, the success of that plot remains in doubt for the President recorded successes in the campaigns and elections, emerged as winner, has since assumed office and is looking larger than life, large enough to breathe down the necks of those who had converted the people’s collective patrimony into private estate.

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The President in appreciation of father Mbaka’s bold and courageous move in speaking out against Jonathan’s administration recently paid a highly celebrated presidential homage to the cleric, making the trouble-shooter one of the few, if not the only cleric, that has been so openly appreciated and honoured in the life of the Buhari-led administration.

Did that visit send father Mbaka to the spiritual mountain, from the top of which he ‘spied’ through the ethyreal antennas to see what political moves the enemies of his new friend were making? Would the President appreciate this scary prediction and make moves to strengthen his security apparatus or merely gaze through the predictions while continuing talking tough on his plans to send ‘thieves’ to jail? Time would tell.

During the IBB and Abacha reign, marabouts and all manner of fortune tellers and prayer warriors had their place in the corridors of power, praying for and frisking off detractors of those in authority. Father Mbaka may not be thus classified, but a right- thinking President should be wise enough to listen and act accordingly, as they say in administration, to do the needful.

Father Mbaka saw ‘something’ and the Prophet has spoken out again, using his New Year message as platform, he announced to Nigerians that the collective enemies of Nigerians and the President have almost perfected the plot to assassinate him. Now, it would not be a terminal disease as the PDP predicted earlier since they couldn’t conjure up a willing ailment, but it would be the assenals of anti-democratic elements who are miffed by the President’s unrelenting anti-corruption moves.

Prior to the 2015 Elections, not a few Nigerians feared that the President may be killed because ‘bad elements wouldn’t bear to have him as head of state. Nigerians clearly understood the reality of the rot that the nation had become in the wake of Jonathan’s six-year rule. The economy was in a rental state, swaying uncertainly around the precipice while the people lived on borrowed times, even as the insurgents bombs boomed away.

Everything that the nation depended on for survival dwindled, and the devalued currency failed woefully to meet current trends and needs. Nigerians wished oil was not the in-thing, even the Federal Government made emphatic statements on going back to the Greens – agriculture – while corporate organizations and government threatened to downsize the workforce: Many made good their threats, sending unwary applicants into the overlaboured labour market.

Among the comity of nations, Nigerians image and positions suffered integrity standing, with nationals perpetually tossed on the scales of international relations and found wanting. Nigerians who left the shores of the country in search of greener pastures suffered abroad, chased to and fro, murdered, sent packing and regarded as “crazy wayfarers.” At the home front, the bombs of terrorists kept reverberating while the nation became a refugee camp for her own people. Youths who had the guts went to the high seas to commit suicide in the name of exiting the nation and escaping to Europe through dangerous terrains. That was the Nigeria we live in prior to Jonathan’s exit.

Smoking with a single agenda which has the change mantra as the embodiment of his party’s manifesto, Buhari appeared for many Nigerians, as a Messiah of sorts, an apostle of change and Daniel come to judgment. It didn’t matter to a belaboured citizenry from what space chance had spun this great surprise on Nigerians, nor his military background, what mattered was that he was as embittered as Nigerians against the touted democrats and he was a willing volunteer, the one who appeared to hold the magic wand. And through the ballot box, Nigerians committed the ultimate heist, pulling off the seat under the heavy buttocks of the retrogressive on March 28, 2015, Nigeria’s political history was re-written! And he said he is a converted democrat! He became Nigeria’s President and commander-in-Chief of the armed forces and ever since, anti-democracy forces have not had peace.

But…. Would they resort to attempting to kill the President? Would that give them freedom in the face of the charges against them? That remains to be seen, but it should never be seen!

As for Nigerians, they may be in a hurry, just like the proverbial tortoise in the pit latrine, but certainly not in a hurry to hear that anti-democracy elements had murdered sleep! For Nigerians, the mandate has been given and their sufferings should end and the President should run with the mandate given to him on March 28, 2015. He shouldn’t die at the threshold of the missionary work, or there would be revolutions that may have the magnitude of breaking the fibers that still hold the nation together! The set back will be unimaginable, and the giant of Africa may become a fry in the pan of political usurpers, national and internationally.

It is important for the President to deplore his good offices in strengthening his security apparatus even while expediting action on bringing those who are found wanting to justice. It is also imperative that he also considers the plight of Nigerians and makes drastic changes!