PMB: Reflections on Africa award for strengthening Peace, by Femi Adesina

• Published date: 20 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

Aprophet has no honour, except in his own country, says the Good Book. This was on display once again in Nouakchott, Mauritania, early this week when President Muhammadu Buhari stood ramrod straight to receive the Africa Award for Strengthening Peace, given at the 3rd edition of African Conference for Peace, organized by the Forum for Promoting Peace, based in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Was this not the same Buhari daily derided at home, excoriated and flagellated by some trenchant critics, who never see anything good in their country and its leadership? Again and again, that same leader has been receiving plaudits outside the country, celebrated and applauded by those who know the value of gold.

No wonder the Good Book urges us again not to cast our pearls before swines, lest they trample them under foot, and turn round to attack us. That's how some vocal minority in Nigeria treat their President, but it by no means reduces his worth in the eyes of the majority of countrymen and women, as well as the international community.

Was he not sometime in recent past declared the Champion of Anti-Corruption in Africa by the African Union? Yet some caterwauling people never stop to assault the anti-graft battle at home. Oh, it's selective. It's ineffective. Blah, blah, blah. Didn't ECOWAS make him Champion of the fight against COVID-19, with roaring success? Yet septics and cynics said nothing was done, even when Nigeria and West Africa defied the dark auguries that had been made about the pandemic.

And has he not been invested with highest National Honors and garlanded in many countries, including Portugal, and many other African nations? Yes, for those who believe, no evidence is needed, and for those who don't believe, no evidence is possible. They remain marooned in unbelief, so we leave them to their fate.

Why was President Buhari given the African Award for Strengthening Peace, handed to him by world revered Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah from Abu Dhabi?

President El-Ghazouni of Mauritania said he was singled out among other African leaders for providing good leadership and promoting peace in a multi-ethnic, multicultural and multi-linguistic country like Nigeria, and extending his experience and wisdom to other African countries.

Now, that's the same Buhari that our so-called activists and political priests claim has divided the country more than at any other time. They simply see what they want to see, and say what suits their fancy, no matter how untrue.

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