Ondopress
Former presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has said many in Southern Nigeria celebrated when former President Umar Yar’adua died than was witnessed when former President Muhammadu Buhari died.
According to him, the celebrations were televised, adding that even before Yar’adua died, many Southern pressure groups were already agitating against his administration.
Omokri said this in reaction to claims circulating that Nigerians were sad at the news of the death of Yar’adua in 2009 but rejoiced when Buhari died.
He said, “Sadly, many Nigerians have a very short memory. Now, some Nigerians have conveniently convinced themselves that they were sad and mourned when President Yar’adua died. False.
“Please fact-check me: There was more spontaneous celebration in Southern Nigeria when Yar’adua died than when General Buhari died.
“The celebration began even before he died. When he returned from Saudi Arabia in the dead of night, Sahara Reporters posted videos of the ambulance that took him from the airport to Aso-Rock. The videos went viral. Many Southerners were insulting him and praying for his death. Yes, this happened!
“He was accused of having a cabal intent on preventing then-acting President Jonathan from assuming power.
The country was so tense that there was even talk of a military coup to forestall the power transfer from President Yar’adua to President Jonathan. Protests were led by prominent Southerners, especially Pastor Tunde Bakare and others I would not like to mention. They called themselves the Save Nigeria Group. The protests were wildly popular in Southern Nigeria.
“Fifty-seven prominent Nigerians, mostly Southerners, signed a document calling on Yar’adua to resign. The group was known as G-57 and had the overwhelming support of the Southern-based media.
“Elder statesmen of Southern Nigerian origin issued warnings to Northern Nigeria. In a now-infamous Wikileaks cable, the then Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Dambazau, complained about the meddlesomeness of certain Southern leaders who were ‘in and out of Aso Rock’, to use his words.
“His wife, Turai, was demonised falsely, as a power monger, even as she was traumatised by the breakdown of her husband’s health.
“And then, when he died on May 5, 2010, and it was announced the next day, there were spontaneous celebrations around Southern Nigeria. And these celebrations were televised.
“Those celebrations were louder, more organised, and intense than those that occurred in some parts of Southern Nigeria last week.
So, please stop revising history and gaslighting the gullible by saying that you mourned Yar’adua because he was good, but mocked Buhari since he was bad.
“That is a lie that history can bust via a few seconds of Google search or Grok query.”