*’Reno Omokri’s ‘Return-To-Egypt Syndrome’ And His Irresponsible Campaign To Rewrite The History Of GEJ’s Scandal- Ridden Presidency’*

(Ope Banwo of Naija Lives Matter Responds to Reno Omokri’s Campaign to Whitewash the Government of Jonathan Goodluck)

Reno Omokri, over the years, through his sheer hubris, Twitter consistency, Obidient-baiting, and relentless image laundering for his benefactors-of-the-day, has undoubtedly made a name for himself as the Goebbels of our time, amassing hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter in the process.

Reno as a suspected writer-for-hire, like Goebbels before him has often argued form both sides of his mouth for whoever he chose to champion at any point in time with seemingly no embarrassment or recollection that he he previously argued a contrary point or position

One can only guess that probably Reno, led his false sense of self adulation and faux sagacity in discussing public issue, now feels he has the clout to rewrite our history and then make us long for former President Jonathan Goodluck, who, as far as I am concerned, laid the big part of the foundation for the mess we are in today today, in terms of corruption and insecurity in our land. I suspect Pastor Reno must definitely be feeling something other that the Holy Spirit when he continued his image laundering campaign for GEJ by claiming in his most recent diatribe that “The Jonathan administration was one of the best govts in Nigerian history.” hmmm? What? How? 🤷🏿‍♂️

He even tried to convince the gullible that Jonathan was great at maintaining security in Nigeria during his 6-year reign of incompetency and that GEJ’s govt was less corrupt than Buhari and BAT govt combined. Is Oga Reno being serious or just winding us?

Like Reno himself admitted in his article that triggered this response, where he shamelessly eulogized Jonathan and demonized Buhari and BAT on vexing issues of a insecurity, corruption and other stuff, ‘Nigerians have a very short memory,’. That’s a true and a SA fact of life. Lots of people do have a short memory but I sincerely believe that Reno’s own memory is even worse than that of the average Nigerian for him to have insulted our collective memories and intelligence by claiming Jonathan’s govt was one of the best in Nigeria’s history. How? And on what premise?

I should not blame Reno, though. It’s not his fault. It’s how the human mind works. It’s because of the hardship we are facing today under the ‘Eyije-Eyioje’ Trial and Error govt of President Tinubu, that is still struggling to get its act together after 9 months, following his brazen Emi Lokan ‘grab-it-snatch-it-and-run-with power’ gambit, combined with the lackluster performance of President Buhari in 8 years, which literally took us back to 1970, that is probably embolding people like Reno Omokri and his co-travelers in image laundering to think they can make us wistful for the govt of Jonathan Goodluck which, in reality, was a govt of humongous looting, one-scandal-a-day experience, inexplicable level of incompetence, and shameless display of ill-gotten wealth by govt insiders that Nigeria has ever seen.

The true history of our land when recorded by honest historians will record it that the Presidency of GEJ was not just one of the WORST in our nation’s history, but the one that frittered away most of the gains of the 8 good years of President Obasanjo Govt before him.

Reno apparently forgot that it was the brazen incessant fraud, scandals and ineptitude of President Jonathan that made many people decide that it has to be anyone BUT Jonathan in his fight for a second term in 2015. That he became the first incumbent to lost elections is a permanent commentary on his cluelessness as a leader. Buhari didn’t have to rig against Jonathan. GEJ was so bad and inefficient he could not even rig himself back to power. Also, there it is a matter record that NOBODY cried for him when we heard he had willingly handed over power in the face of clear electoral defeat. Even GEJ himself knew he was way over his head inside Aso Rock and making that congratulatory call to Buhari after the election was his best escape route to get out of dodge. There is a reason he never discussed his plans with the hyenas gathered around him who would have wanted him to continue presiding the orgy of looting for their benefit.

President Jonathan’s incompetency and inability to control the in-your-face looters in his govt actually gave rise to Buhari’s popularity that made many of us not even do a deep dive into checking out the competency of Buhari himself to rule. Our pain and suffering in ‘GEJ’s Egypt’ was so bad we were too happy to follow ‘Sai Baba’ into the wilderness, that we all dressed him in the borrowed robes of a savior based only on his dubious record of being ‘Mr Anti Corruption and Anti Indiscipline’ in 1985 with Idiagbon.

When you are suffering under the oppression of a current bad master or boss, you tend to forget how mean and useless your old boss was. You unconsciously start to romanticize your previous abusers without event realizing it

It happens even in marriage. You divorce your wife or husband because your life was unbearable with them but the minute you start going through hardship under your current spouse, your old one suddenly becomes a ‘saint’ though he used to beat you as a wife or was totally insufferable as a husband.🤷🏿‍♂️

The human mind is the greatest trick player as it tries to help us cope with present hardship. It repackages old memories in our mind and makes it look like a better yesterday. It’s a mirage

Even as a country, the Israelites who were slaves in Egypt for 430 years started longing for Egypt when they ran into some hardship in the wilderness. They forgot their 400-year suffering overnight and were ready to kill Moses and go back to their place of oppression. All of a sudden Egypt was a place they used to eat amazing 3-course meals and enjoy the best standard of living  in the world😂

It’s a deceptive mirage sun that often leaves a child stranded on the farm, and we need to stamp down this dangerous sentiment by people like Reno Omokri and his ilk of image launderers.

Sure, I am one of the people most disappointed with how far the BAT govt has been performing to date (I expected more and said so) , and we all know Buhari govt was a big disappointment, but GEJ’s govt was NOT better and was definitely not one of the best govt Nigeria has ever seen. Not by a long shot.

In case present suffering has made Reno Omokri and  his co-travelers in running down our country forgotten what we went through under President Jonathan, and how bad his govt was on security, corruption and everything in between, here are just a few facts from the GEJ years to refresh their memories .

1.*GEJ Govt Spent N4.62 Trillion on National Security in 5 years, yet widespread insecurity remained in the govt from 2011-2015* contrary to the revisionist writeups by mischievous image launderers like Reno Omokri.

Listening to Reno wax strong in his attack on Buhari and BAT and his elevation of Jonathan to hero status over insecurity concerns, you would think that an 8-year period of peace, akin to the coming 1,000 reign of Christ, ruled the land in the GEJ years from 2009 to 2015.🤷🏿‍♂️ Yet, the incontrovertible truth is that despite the GEJ govt spending such humongous sums on security from 2011-2015, Nigeria continued to face escalating attacks from the extremist Boko Haram, whose activities have claimed over 11,000 lives in the same 5-year period. Even in his own south-south, Tompolo and Asari Dokubo, self-confessed oil tribal lords, basically held him to ransom and dictated terms to him at will, including collecting billions of dollars to ‘protect’ Nigerian oil fields from oil pirates. What an irony.

Kidnappings, crude oil theft, armed robbery, and other sundry crimes were also widespread across the country. Or was it not under the Jonathan Govt that we had the first massive bombing in Nigeria? So what was Reno smoking in trying to dress him in stolen robes of a successful president on security or better than BAT or Buhari on security issues? On what empirical basis other than emotional hubris?

2.*The Jonathan Govt and $6bn oil Subsidy scam/fraud* – we all watched in stupefied fascination as our NASS debated the 205-page parliamentary report that uncovered a long list of alleged wrongdoings involving oil retailers, Nigeria’s Oil Management Company, and the state Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation right under the nose of GEJ or maybe with active participation of his close aides.

According to the leaks from the reports, a total of 15 fuel importers collected more than $300m two years ago without importing any fuel, while more than 100 oil marketers collected the same amount of money on several occasions.

The leaked report also says that officials in the government of President Goodluck Jonathan were among those who benefited from the subsidy fund. This is the same govt that Reno and his co-travelers in disinformation are saying is better than BAT or Buhari’s govt?

1. *The $200 Million Dollar Malabo Oil Scandal* – It was under Jonathan that we had the $200 Million dollar Malabu Scandal that Nigeria is still dealing with. It involves a former Petroleum minister, Dan Etete, who was convicted in France for money laundering. His illegal company, Malabu Oil, received an illegal $1.1 million from the Nigerian government as proceeds for the sale of an oil block. Upon receipt, the money was immediately disbursed to certain individuals. The scandal still haunts us and our economy to this day!

1. *The Dasuki $2.1 BILLION Arms Scandal was under GEJ’s watch*. It was from President Jonathan’s govt engineered the $6 BILLION scandal where Dasuki was given the Nigerian money to share with everyone from pastors, juju men, governors, tv stations in one of the most brazen and unbelievable scandals the world has ever seen in his reelection bid.

Of course, GEJ denied being aware of Dasuki and his govt’s $billions, but that denial in itself is proof positive of how incompetently sad the GEJ govt was, should we even choose to believe him. How a President can be so aloof or incompetent as to not know about $6 billion being taken from our govt coffers for such a disgusting exercise as we heard from Dasuki himself. It’s either GEJ was the most incompetent president EVER or lying through his teeth about being ignorant of that disbursement. I will leave it to his image launderers to decide which one he is… At least BAT, who is even older than GEJ by 20 years, has not claimed ignorance of any scandal in his govt. He not only acknowledged it but suspended or removed those accused of it. So how can you even compare the 2?

1. *The N32.8 Billion Police Pension Fund Fraud under President Jonathan*: Five people, including a former Director of Police Pension Fund, Esai Dangabar, were accused of misusing N32.8 billion from the Police Pension Fund under Jonathan’s govt. Mr. Dangabar even accused some committee members of the Senate of benefiting from the loot. GEJ did nothing to get to the bottom of the scandal and left Nigerians watching in disgust and pain.

1. *Dame Jonathan and her $31 Million for ‘medicals’ Scandal* – It was under GEJ that his wife had $31 million dollars in her account that she claimed was for Medical Bills when EFCC seized it under Buhari. Did Reno ever ask Madame Dame, who had no job as First Lady, how she made $31 Million to put in her account?

1. *Deziani Alison-Madueke and Allegations of Billions of Dollars in Stolen Oil Money* – One of the most salacious and mind-numbing unforgettable cases of corruption under GEJ involved the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, whose accounts have been frozen while some of her properties, including a mansion worth N3.58bn in Abuja, have been seized by the EFCC. Diezani, who claims to be suffering from cancer, has been in London since May 2015. According to news reports from Punch and other newspapers, ‘Among other things, Diezani is accused of diverting $115 million oil cash and distributing it to some prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party during the build-up to the 2015 presidential election’. That’s just one of the dozens of allegations of corruption by this related family member of the Jonathan Govt that ran into billions of dollars. I didn’t vote for BAT and I am a vocal critic of the BAT Govt too but how anyone can now try to whitewash GEJ and declare him as better than this 9-month-old BAT government is beyond me. Beyond the fact that most of us disagree with most of the ‘eyije – Eyioje’ Trial and Error policies, the worst ‘looting scandal’ we can see against them is a case of Beta Edu requesting for govt money to be paid into her account and she didn’t even get the money! So what is Reno talking about in comparing the 2 or even comparing the record of GEJ to Buhari or BAT. It must be Egyptian syndrome worrying Reno and his co-travelers in misinformation 🤷🏿‍♂️

1. *N20 Billion Missing Oil Money – The Former CBN Gov Lamido Sanusi once raised the issue of N20 BILLION oil money that was missing from the NNPC accounts in 2013 under GEJ and the matter was never resolved.

1. *15 million private jet/arms scandal: We all read and watched in disbelief the scandal of A private jet conveying $15 million in cash to Johannesburg for a purported arms deal between Nigeria and a South African firm. A prominent Nigerian pastor even played a leading role in that scandal. That deal seriously embarrassed Nigeria, but the National Assembly under GEJ failed to investigate.

1. *The Abba Moro Immigration Scandal involving the death of over 15 individuals who went to write entrance examinations into the Nigerian Immigration Service on March 13, 2015. They sold application forms to hundreds of thousands of Nigerian youths and then got some of them killed due to their incompetence, greed, and lack of empathy for the people. GEJ was the president then, and his Minister of Interior, Abba Moro, has remained in office. A private company, Drexel Nig Ltd, was also implicated in the recruitment scam of collecting N1,000 from each applicant. The world watched in horror and disgust as NOTHING was done to hold anyone accountable. That was under GEJ.

1. *The Ekiti Gate under GEJ Gov with a PDP Gov planning to rig the election – A leaked tape of the alleged electoral malpractices during the gubernatorial election in Ekiti State caused a major stir in the country. Four principal characters were heard discussing how to manipulate the election. The voices were those of former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro; the Minister of Police Affairs, Jelili Adesiyan; former Deputy governor of Osun state, Iyiola Omisore, and Ayo Fayose, both former governors. Despite the huge evidence in the public domain, the Presidency said it would not investigate the matter. The National Assembly under GEJ Gov failed to investigate the matter, which is clearly a major assault on our democracy. Mr. Obanikoro indeed went ahead to receive a National Assembly approval for ministerial appointment.

1. *The Farouk Lawan Money Under Cap Scandal. House of Representatives member, Farouk Lawan, was caught on tape collecting $620,000 out of a $3 million bribe while his committee under the GEJ administration was investigating the fuel subsidy scam. He was seen on tape collecting the money from oil mogul, Femi Otedola. This is another messy scandal under GEJ’s presidency that Nigerians had to endure.

I hope you get the picture now…These are just 12 instances of what was easily 500 or even 1,000 scandals under GEJ government . No Carping.

*Someone Should Tell Reno We Are NOT going back to Egypt* –

Though I don’t think anyone in BAT’s govt or Buhari’s govt would ever mistake me, or count me as a supporter of the new government , I still took time out to write this long article to put it on record and make sure we keep reminding people of the mess we had to deal with under the Jonathan Goodluck government so that those with short memories among us do not easily forget and then start romanticizing one of the most incompetent and scandal-ridden governments in our history.

President Buhari was a huge failure in my own opinion and that of most Nigerians I think , and so far the Government of President Bola Tinubu has been underwhelming with its ‘Eyije-Eyioje’ Trial and Error, lack of a coherent strategy, and sometimes confuse my strategies to deal with many issues they met on the ground, or created for themselves. BAT and his team are capable of much more and we will keep pushing them to do more. That said, however, I think it’s an INSULT to past governments for anyone to claim that the GEJ Govt was better.

It’s too early to have conclusions about the BAT Govt and our country and all of us will all be better served if we focused more on putting pressure on the BAT Govt and its officers to do better rather than trying to prime us with disinformation in an ill-conceived campaign to make us long for ‘GEJ’s Egypt’ again.

Fact is we may not be eating well right now in the wilderness we have found ourselves with President BAT, but we were definitely not eating Milk and Honey In GEJ’s Egypt. Someone should deliver Pastor Reno Omokri from his “Back-To-GEJ- Egypt” Syndrome because we are definitely NOT going back to Egypt!

My name is Ope Banwo. I may not be happy with the performance of President BAT so far, but I still remember how much more awful it was under GEJ.