Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister of Education, says President Muhammadu Buhari “has not recovered” from the stress of his first tenure in office and is therefore “unwise” to seek reelection.

And what a way to make her point: Ezekwesili gave the parable of a masquerade who, after suffering the beating of his life in a neighbouring town, was asked if he would return to the town, but he said he would not because he hadn’t recovered from the first beating.

Ezekwesili said this in a series of tweets on Monday in reaction to the declaration by Muhammadu Buhari that he would be running for a second term in office.

Using a parable, Ezekwesili inferred that Buhari’s decision to seek reelection was unwise, as he is yet to recover from his first term.

“There was a masquerade which in a burst of Hubris left its own village & strayed into a neighboring town. The neighbors gave it the beating of a lifetime, it barely survived. Asked some months later if it would go again, it replied: I have not recovered from my 1st journey!” Ezekwesili stated.

“Reading the Breaking News that our President will be seeking reelection in 2019, I remembered the story of the ‘Ejionu’ masquerade.

“Our President has not yet recovered from his first journey and here he is UNLIKE the very wise Ejionu, seeking to embark on a second one. Hmmm.

“The nice part of the ‘Breaking News’ is that it is good to formally know that it is directly to President Buhari that Nigerian citizens will shortly be handing the APC’s own #RedCardToAPCAndPDP in 2019.”

Buhari’s formal declaration to run for a second term took long in coming, but it did not come to many as a surprise as there had been many indications that he would re-contest.

However, Ezekwesili expressed conviction that 2019 general election would deliver major upsets.

“1959 Elections ushered in Independent Nigeria. 1979 Elections ushered in Democracy after civil war and military rule. 1999 Elections ushered in Democracy after another decade and half of military rule. 2019 Elections will END THE REIGN OF A DECADENT POLITICAL CLASS. #MarkMyWord,” she wrote.

“It is clear from those Timelines that Nigeria rotates historical Changes on a 20-year cycle. 2019 is DEFINITELY: #YearOfTheOfficeOfTheCitizen. WE shall TALK the Vision. WE shall Walk the Vision. WE shall Work the Vision. WE shall ACHIEVE the Vision!”