Columns
My dear Sowore: Peter Obi is not mere packaging! Butterfly, not a bird either
First, I must acknowledge that no man is infallible. As a Catholic, I used to pride myself with the seducing mantra, embedded in the alluring belief that the Pope, the Catholic Pontiff and the custodian of the Catholic faith is. But that was until I listened to the explanation behind the teaching earlier in my Catechism class that the Pope is infallible.
It was then that I learnt that even with the Pontiff there are conditions for that. One of them is that the Pope is infallible only when he is speaking ex-cathedra. That is when he mounts the Papal Chair of Saint Peter, to whom Jesus Christ handed over His sheep, thus becoming the foundation of Christianity, according to the Catholic doctrine on the Bible.
Even beyond that, the Pope does not just come out to make such pronouncements after sleeping and waking up. There must have been a conclave involving the hierarchy of the church, where such a doctrinal issue would have been x-rayed and exhausted fully, relying on the huge spiritual endowment and tradition of the church. In other words, the Pope, just like other Catholics, is a sinner. He goes to priests to confess his sins.
What am I saying and how does it relate? It means I don’t expect anyone to be without sin(s). If a whole Pope cannot be so exculpated, who then is spared? Now, you must have watched the video of Omoyele Sowore, in his latest posturing on Peter Obi, former Governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25, 2023 election.
Sowere, publisher of SaharaReporters, one of Nigeria’s most influential online newspapers, and himself, a presidential candidate on the platform of the African Action Congress (AAC), in the same election, was at the Honest Bunch, a popular podcast with a lot influence in the Nigerian space. There, he laboured – a real struggle it was – like in any and every case of his traducers – to diminish the reputation of the former governor.
He dismissed Obi’s characterisation in a rather lackadaisical if not derisive fashion. He called it Packaging! Indeed, in this rather pernicious anti-Peter Obi attempt, he tried to lump him together with all Nigerian politicians, except himself. His reasoning was that any Nigerian who had held the position, from a local government councillor to President, should be discountenanced as an under-performer or corrupt or both. This is where, according to him, Obi belonged.
How infantile! But he wasn’t done, but stressed with some haughty mien, buried in some bogus, if not clearly obtuse reasoning. Asked specifically, he did not point at a particular point where Obi had erred outside another mere attempt at generalisation. “Obi is like every other Nigerian politician who has held office before,” he said. Even when his interviewers raised the issue of Obi leaving a whopping N75billion in the coffers of the state by the time he was exiting office, Sowore dismissed it.
He inferred that it was not true. And what was his evidence? He relied on what he said he heard Willie Obiano, Obi’s successor in office say about the money. Did I hear you scream Willie what? Yes! The same Obiano that was ambushed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA), as the anti-graft agency, said then – trying to escape the country to the US.
Have you forgotten that ugly image of the jittery-looking ex-banker-turned-governor, nervously clutching a bottle of water, obviously petrified by the thoughts of his sure fate in the hands of the red-jackets, with his eyes darting in different directions like a trapped rabbit as he sat on a bare iron chair – stripped to only a pair of red knickers, Tee-shirts and slippers? Those guys know how to diminish their victims – never mind that the matter has since sunk into the river like thousands others like it, as it is consistent with the EFCC.
I’m not mocking the Akpokuodike of Umueri, but only trying to emphasise that the difference between him and Obi. Of course, I need not ask Nigerians to choose who to believe between the two, given their records in the same state. That attempt to flee the country happened just a few hours after Obiano handed over to Chukwuma Soludo, his successor. I leave you to figure the reason. I also leave you to figure the reason why the matter has gone into audio sound, as our people will say nowadays.
Did Sowore also hear the story also about Obiano’s claim that Obi asked him to make a refund of N7billion, which he said was his predecessors sum of the money he spent in making him governor? That was also part of the story during the pendency of the quarrel between the two, all which began when they parted ways and the godfather began to support another candidate for the number one job in the state.
Like Obi was wont to dismiss the story in those days, why would he need to ask for N7billion when he could have pocketed the whole N75billion? The highest result would have been a few days in the EFCC goal, which from the story of Bobrisky, Nigerians now know is not a death sentence after all and that with the right string pulled, could even be akin to taking a nap in a classy hotel room.
Okay, Sowore believed Obiano that the said money in the bank was “tied to projects,” already awarded. What about it? Did it vitiate the fact that money was saved or diminish the impact of such projects. In fact, that Obi started saving money for the state from day-one tells more of the story.
But that was not even the case. Everybody at the handover to Obiano, witnessed when Obi was naming each of the banks and the amount he left in them. He was calling their Managing Directors to step forward to acknowledge their existence to clear any doubt. Each of them obliged. Even years after, these same banks still attested to the fact of the existence of the funds. All Sowore needed was to go back to the video evidence.
Let us even concede to Sowore, Obiano and others who believe him that it is audio-money that Obi was talking about. What about the other aspects of this man’s stories – some tales that are clearly beyond contemplation in Nigeria – not to talk of believing them. One of them being that Obi practically denied his own mother the pleasure of accompanying the delegation that went to marry his wife, Magaret from Akwa Ibom.
Why? It was his way of saving cost. Obi, had made provision for 12 people only and when push came to shove and it became obvious that the numbers had to be pruned down, his own mother was asked to step down. After all, in his own argument, the same bride would be coming home where the mother and daughter-in-law would meet and live permanently. Is this also “packaging?”
This was more than two decades before he ever dreamt of politics. Many people then would have hired buses for the same event. I did. The fact that Obi had started of talking of saving costs at a time young men like him would willingly show off with their wealth to impress the public is a demonstrable evidence to contradict the “packaging” tag.
Was it also “packaging” that Obi rejected his official residence in Ikoyi, a tradition accorded to his peers, when he was appointed the Chairman of Fidelity Bank. Obi not only preferred his own rented house in FESTAC town, but the line up of exotic cars that came with the office – a development, which I learnt encouraged other members of the board to toe the same line. This was way back before he became governor.
I’m sure Sowore has heard about that unique narrative from a Port Harcourt residence? Yes, the story of how Obi fixed the road to the estate housing one of his warehouses. The residents had sent a delegation to notify him that the trailers coming to the warehouse had damaged part of the roads rendering it inaccessible.
Instead of the rash and brash response of the usual Nigerian big man, Obi had apologised, saying he would see what he could do. To their complete amazement, even before the delegation could return to those who sent them to report progress at the next call, bulldozers and tractors were sent to the road and by the time they left, months later the road was far better than the original state. The man who gave that account would certainly not believe Sowore that it was “packaging.” He appreciated the reality, hence he took time to cite at the time it mattered so that Nigerians would know.
It may also be packaging that Obi is building a hospital in Ukana community, Enugu State, where his late elder sister was married to. The community had expected him to dole out wads of cash or kill many cows to announce his true presence in giving his sister what is known in Nigeria a befitting burial. Imagine their disappointment as they did not get it. Imagine the impact now, as they are getting a hospital.
Is it also part of the “packaging” that as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Obi did not accept any of the perks of office including cars and official salaries. It must also be “packaging” that at the time 35 of his colleagues were angling to share the entire savings from the excess crude account, he was the only one recorded by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, then Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy as objecting and insisting on saving something.
The day Obi stood before Ejike Mbaka and like Jesus before Pontius Pilate, kept silent as the Catholic priest harried and hounded him to no ends, Sowore was not at home. He might have been haggling for fish at Dugbe Market in Ibadan.
Is it “packaging” that Obi boasts that he has just one house, located in Onitsha and no other place in Nigeria and any other one identified to his name anywhere in the country should be seized? Is it “packaging” that he visits at least one school or hospital every week, where he doles out cash in donations? Is it “packaging” that he carries his own bags at airports or has been flying economy ever since he started travelling? Is it “packaging” that he sleeps in cheap hotel rooms?
Obi’s only daughter, a multi-degree holder trained in the United Kingdom has since elected to return home to Nigeria to help mould young minds as a secondary school teacher instead of throwing up his father’s name to get instant high-octane jobs in the banks and other blue-chip firms where he has investments. She is also qualified to secure jobs in global entities like the UN, UNICEF, WHO or even the Silicon Valley, home to Microsoft, X or Facebook.
These are places where her mates with such tall academic credentials, plus the right connections are. Perhaps, foregoing such positions in place of a “common classroom teacher,” is also “packaging.” Would Sowore allow his own daughter after such huge investment in personal development take such a job?
Perhaps, Sowore is blind not to notice that on the day of her wedding, not a single private jet was noticed at the airport near the venue and there was no roadblock anywhere close. How is it possible? All Obi needed was to snap his fingers and things would start happening. Which other man or woman of Obi’s position in the country would celebrate the son or daughter’s wedding without the entire sky going dark with rains of influence for days?
Even Sowore! Would he accept that? I fully understand his situation. Obi is far beyond his reach. The former governor, is simply doing the impossible and he couldn’t bring himself to the reality. I’m sure the SaharaReporters boss, would be willing to give anything in lieu of something to hold on Obi. He craves Obi’s moral and social standing and the accolades and the recognition therefrom. Surely, no Nigerian could be that pristine in conduct and character. Nobody could have such a near-perfect record – in business – in office – in family life. How is it possible?
So, he shoots off, frantically looking for something to hold on to. Like his brother, Reno Omokri in similar business of propaganda and empty sloganeering, having not found any blemish, he tries to invent one. Imagine Reno saying that Obi is not worth much because he did not build a primary school in Anambra as a governor. Perhaps, nobody has told him that Anambra maintains the status of the richest state in Nigeria in terms of per capita.
Is it a state where the smallest town has one or two hotels capable of hosting even foreign envoys comfortably that would be crying of primary schools in the villages – I know some state capitals where there are no decent hotel accommodations in Nigeria. It is villages where the likes of Reno hails from that would be talking of primary or secondary schools and not Anambra. Building extra primary schools anywhere in Anambra is unnecessary surplusage – a waste of money. And Obi doesn’t waste money. He hates it and that’s why he is in conflict with the rest of his peers and become the darling of the masses.
Just like you would hear some people, including Reno, mouthing that Obi built a brewery instead of schools or peddling some other infantile mantras, forgetting the amount of money breweries like Guinness sends to Dublin, its home on yearly basis or the amount Heineken makes for Germany. For starters, the yearly revenue of these two companies could make Nigeria bounce back to money is not our problem era of General Yakubu Gowon.
It could not have been packaging that Obi was such a huge success, even as a student of the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN). His Nsukka story, resonates everywhere even before he told it himself to the Honest Bunch crew, where Sowore later went to demean him. It depicted that even as a young man in his 20s, he had carved a niche for himself in terms of financial engineering through sheer dint of hardwork, nose for opportunities and personal restraints from the disease of squandermania. Imagine living in his own house, buying three cars at different stages before graduation and building two bank branches as a student. Was that also packaging?
Sowore’s other problem is found in virtually all his counterparts past and present, hugging this effusive “activism” mantra, a term which has assumed a different meaning from what it is elsewhere – the problem of personal interest first before the national interest. Else, where is the basis of comparison between him and Obi? Like many others of his ilk, he simply wants to be what Obi is without being so. So, instead of accolades, it has evoked envy.
Like so many of the so-called activists in the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), who had adopted activism by day and acquiesces by night, Sowore believes that he has postured enough in Nigeria to deceive the people into adorning him with the national hero toga. But for me, the only thing worthy of recognition is his ability to hit the national consciousness, so early in life. It takes some talent, good or bad, negative or positive to achieve that. After all, Lawrence Anini did so, just as Victor Osimhen. But dreaming of Obi’s reputation in and out of Nigeria is stretching it too far.
People like Mao Zedong, Martin Luther King, Lee Kuan Yew, Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sakara, Jerry Rawlings, didn’t just become what they were by mere rabble-rousing. They identified the needs of their people and worked towards them. They knew it was not about them as individual but their nation. That’s the difference. Here, with people like Sowore, it is a different kettle of fish.
But no matter how well-fed, a butterfly will never become a bird or a lizard, crocodile. The difference between him and Obi is that marked and evident. If he truly wants to earn a spot for himself, the only way is to back-pedal, accept the reality. Teaming up with Dele Farotimi, who has since recognised the Obi phenomenon and its meaning to The New Nigeria Project, and has pursued it with every gusto, in promoting this project, may not be a bad idea! I rest my case.
My name is Sunny Igboanugo and I’m The Tiny Voice!
By Sunny Igboanugo
The kite swooped on the herd of sheep and picked a lamb, soared above the skies onto its nest. The father asked one question – what did the parent say when you took their child. The kite replied – nothing father – they were just gazing at me in silence. Then the kites father made an order – return it immediately. Any parent that keeps mute when its child is in danger, has a more sinister intention hidden in his heart. The kite obeyed and returned the lamb.
The next day, the same kite swooped on a brood of chickens and picked one of them. Then the mother went hysterical flying from pillar to post in frenzied movements. On return, the father again put the same question. This time, the kite presented a different picture, describing the shrieking cries of the mother-hen and how it tried to attack and failure to retrieve its chick, went into a frenzy.
Let’s have dinner, the father quipped excitedly. Danger is over. The parent has displayed every weapon in its arsenal. That is the reason chicks remain the main dish of kites till date. My father told me this story decades ago, which of course is one of the anecdotes that is as old as minds could picture. My father probably picked it from his own father.
Yet, the implication in terms of central message has never lost its texture, despite its longevity. Rather, it has become truer with time – be careful of that man with few words – refrain from attacking a man that has not offended you – never bear false witnesses. These are standard cautionary and globally accepted natural edicts, which when observed in breaches, could result in highly disastrous consequences.
Is it not intriguing how this reality has stung Omoyele Sowore like those wicked agbisi – only those who sat on the bare floors would relate with the brain-twisting, sharp and excruciating pains those black ants delivered through the bare buttocks of children – in our mother’s kitchens in those days?
Have you been watching Vincent Otse, alias Very Dark Man, recently? What do you make of the multiple arrows he has been aiming at the heart of the Revolution Now exponent? I have my people and both the optics and the import derivable therefrom could only taper towards a central reality – cow wey no get tail na God dey drive am fly!
It was a song, sung by the popular Prince Nico Mbaga – that legend of the 1980s, whose epic – Sweet Mother – still resonates centrally in the Nigerian music history even till date, long after he was gone. I think it was the flipside of that legendary outing that dominated the airwaves at the time.
Never had that song, which you heard in those days blasting from the record shops at Achapo Street – in Ajegunle – the popular centre for music records business or through the windows of privileged homes in the face me I face you compounds in the days when even the poor afforded stockfish – now a delicacy you could only enjoy the aroma from a distance if your income is not in six figures – days when even the local women looked at ice fish with disdain and derisively related it with the “poor” as Ozu Nwada. O! What memories! But I digress!
But before I walked too far and disappeared into those days when me, as a child sleeping on a mat at a one-room apartment at Number 14 Uzor Street, but still ate lavish meals which I must now struggle to offer my wards, I return to today’s reality to ask myself why this is happening before my eyes. Why must it be VDM that is now waging a war against Sowore – with whom he was only too cozy – just yesterday!
For months now, this selfsame Sowore, had launched a massive blitzkrieg against Peter Obi, candidate of the Labour Party (LP), in the 2023 presidential election. In what is more of a cocktail of bits and pieces, odds and ends set of drivels rather than any form of articulated reasoning based on facts and figures, this same man, actually came out with what has now become his catchphrase – Obi is a packaged fraud!
Don’t bother to ask him for facts supporting his conclusion. The only one he supplied was that the former Governor of Anambra State, was hobnobbing with supposed thieves and brigands responsible for Nigerian woes.
Yet, this selfsame Sowore, conveniently left out his central role, and incestuous relationship with the same people at an auspicious period, which ended up in watering the ground for what he now complains about from the rooftops. Were it not for Sowore, there might not have been a President Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu as APC governments – the worst era Nigeria has ever endured and currently cursed with!
Videos even showed him being celebrated nationally for this singular role. Yet, this is the same man, assailing Obi for keeping bad company! But that is what happens with the purveyors of anti-Obi sentiments. They inevitably meet a drought and are left with nothing more to rely on but contrivances. Where the well is dry, they import water tankers to try a rescue.
Where deceit fails, they try illogic, then subterfuge, half-truths, outright lies and then mischief as they meet more frustrations. Imagine a Sowore saying that Obi packed Northerners in lorries and sent them back to their homes. In Nigeria? At what period? The same Obi who built his personal and state security architectures around northern people – Northern Aide De Camp (ADC) and Norther Commissioners of Police throughout his eight years?
To Sowore, nothing is good enough! He even mocks Obi for saying that he owns only one house in Nigeria – a development, which elsewhere defines absolute personal contentment. Elsewhere, the fact that Obi could prove this claim is demonstrable evidence of reduced propensity for induced stealing and absence of hunger for corruption and therefore a call for celebration. But what do you have here? Spite, mockery and contempt.
Now, it is not like Obi’s records – public and private are hidden. This was a man, who even as a university student, had become so successful in business that his chain of buildings were used as bank branches – that at a point was one of the 10 richest men in the UK – in fact, one of the 8.000 richest men in the world – so the source of his wealth is not suspect.
In office as governor, this was the same Obi who took schools in Anambra State from number 26 to number one, starting from his second year in office by sheer dint of visionary leadership anchored on self-denial – the only governor in history that left a whopping N75billion in the coffers – capping it all with emerging as the best in the implementation of the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs).
Now, if a governor attains the first position in this globally-accepted measurement instrument – covering all indices of developmental – physical infrastructure and policy frameworks for human capital development, what else defines excellence in leadership? Yet, people like Sowore will never be persuaded.
Now you know why! VDM has supplied you with the answer. Sowore is in business. His activism is business – his Revolution Now – business – attacks on Tinubu – business – Obi is a packaged fraud – business – presidential ambition business.
Not that the world didn’t know this. But coming from familiar quarters – given the relationship between the two – both erstwhile friends – it is only gotten clearer and better. It is even moreso when the further and better particulars is not coming from Obi, but a more virulent voice!
Now, what is said about fate? What does the law of Karma say again? How does a tailless cow deal with flies again? Sowore has given us the lead and VDM has given you the answer.
But hear the philosopher! Beware of your thoughts, lest they become words; beware of your words, lest they become actions; beware of your actions, lest they become habits; beware of your habits, lest they become character; beware of your character, lest it becomes your destiny! Nigerians, think!
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice!
His Excellency
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar (Waziri Adamawa),
Former Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
Abuja, Nigeria
Your Excellency
Permit me, to use this medium to address you. I apologise most profusely for breaking protocols and not following proper and established channels. But I believe this is the best and ONLY way to reach you immediately because of the urgency of the matter at hand.
I had to write you quickly after watching the interview when you appeared as a guest on Prime Time, a public affairs programme on ARISE NEWS Television. I must confess being enthralled at your physical fitness, mental alertness, eloquence, articulacy and richness of ideas. You looked every bit presidential.
That you appeared superlatively healthy physically and mentally at the ripe age of 79 can only be a gift from Allah. God has indeed preserved you so well and I congratulate you, while praying that God will grant you more years here on earth to see Nigeria become a great nation that it is meant to be and that you will make fruitful contribution towards that outcome.
Now, this is where I want to anchor the essence of this letter – the blessing of God and His expectation of man. There is no doubt from what human eyes could see that you have enjoyed this blessing tremendously. Look behind you and see how far you have come.
How many of your colleagues in the Nigerian Customs, where you left as a Deputy Director (Deputy Controller) are still remembered today? How many of them could even unlace your shoes today in terms of national recognition. How many of the people you started business with got to half of where you reached as a business mogul? How many of the people you went into politics with got to your level. How many of them are still around today – even those that are younger than you?
Please, Waziri, take a look back and count the blessings of Allah on you. How many can you count? You were preparing for your inauguration as Governor of Adamawa State, when suddenly, you were spirited from a Governor-elect to contest for Vice President and for eight years you enjoyed that position. Was that not evidence of Allah’s hands in your affairs, when the same position others sought with everything in them was offered to you on a platter of gold?
Now, compare that with the Presidency. Since 1992, you have sought this position with every effort. You have fought doggedly with the last breadth in you. Like the General you are, you have fought gallantly. But even a General must retire from the warfront and hand over to younger officers to continue where he stopped.
Such retirement does not suggest defeat. Rather, it suggests wisdom. It suggests experience. It suggests circumspection. It suggests prudence. It suggests strength.
For record six times, you had made attempts at the Presidency and for that number of times, you had failed to attain that feat. Why continue – even when time and circumstances clearly indicate that your chances of getting it at the seventh trial is bleaker than the rest? Is it not even an attempt to tempt God?
Waziri, please permit me to share this anecdote. It is about the prototype developed by Brazilians to catch monkeys. They throw utu – a kind of nut usually craved by monkeys into a bottle with a narrow neck and hang it on tree branch. The opening is wide enough to allow the hand of the monkey in, but too narrow to allow a clenched fist out.
Knowing that monkeys are greedy and would never let go, they take full advantage of this fact in setting this obvious trap. True to their expectations, the monkey would usually fit its hand into the bottle and grab the nut, but would be unable to pull it out with the nut. The owner of the trap standing by would then begin to approach. The monkey on sighting the obvious danger would start struggling with the hand inside the bottle.
Now, all the monkey needed do is to free the hand and let the nut go to save itself. But it never does. Because all its senses are focused on the sweet taste of the nut it loses the sense of danger and stays with the bottle until it is caught – not even having the opportunity of tasting the same nut. That is how the Brazilians catch monkeys.
Alhaji, does this send any meaningful message? Does it look or sound familiar? Like the situation of the monkey with its hand in the bottle, Nigeria is in danger at this time. You have the singular opportunity of saving it. The only way to do it is through the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
Your insistence on running for the ticket of the party ahead of the 2027 presidential election represents the perfect imagery of the monkey’s hand in the bottle.
No doubt like the nut to the monkey, the Presidency is sweet. But like the unpromising situation of the monkey, there is no way you can pull the nut out with a clenched fist. The only option is to loosen your fist and let go.
Waziri Adamawa, free your hand. Let go this quest for Presidency. It is not yours. Destiny has denied you the opportunity. Your biggest opportunity was in 2019, though it was not to be for reasons that are now history.
Today, the odds are stacked against you! You are not from the South – make it the South East. You are no longer young. You belong to the old order. Yes! You are favoured to win the ADC primaries but winning the election proper is a different kettle of fish. There is no way you can win it. Forget what your followers are telling you.
On the other hand, sitting right beside you is Peter Obi. All the odds are in his favour. He is from the South – the South East. He is young. He has the organic following. He will win the presidential election of Nigeria before midday on January 18, 2027.
Let me conclude this letter by creating two scenarios. Consider a situation where you contest this election and fail as you are bound to. What will it be said about you? How will history record you?
Will you not be seen as the man who finally sounded the death-knell on Nigerian democracy by allowing President Bola Tinubu transform Nigeria into another Paul Biya’s Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni? Surely, that imminent fall will not only be a fall in unfulfilled goal, it will be a fall of destiny of a national. The consequences are heavy, grave and unimaginable!
On the other hand, if you conquer the greed of the monkey and let the nut go, you will not only have helped in freeing Nigeria from the immediate bondage in which it is destined in the hands of Tinubu and his brood of vipers, you would have saved it from the cataclysmic eruption of blitzkrieg that might result as a counter.
Remember how it is now history that you destroyed the PDP by insisting to run against the zoning arrangement. How will it sound that after delivering the fatal poison that killed the once largest party in Africa with a deadly political fang you whipped the ADC with a poisonous tail to achieve the same result.
As we speak now, David Mark, ADC National Chairman is from the North. Now, you want to take the presidential ticket, thus replaying the reel of the PDP scenario. Is it not obvious that the result will be the same? Is it not the same PDP playbook?
Waziri Adamawa, remember that even Nnamdi Azikiwe, with all his greatness, never became President. Obafemi Awolowo never attained the position either. Yet, as a reporter with The Guardian in Enugu, I could not count the number of dignitaries, Nigerians and foreigners, whom I reported their presence at Onuiyi Haven in Nsukka, home of the late Owelle of Onitsha.
I assume that of Ikenne, the home of the great Awo would also have been the same before his demise. Who says your own home in Abuja or Yola, would not be a Mecca for Nigerians and world leaders to pay their homage by the time this race is run and the mileage counted.
That will only be possible if you decide to play the role destiny has put in your hands. Waziri Adamawa! Save Nigerian Democracy! Save Nigeria! Let your name be written in gold letters and not with blood of Nigerians. Yes! President may be denied but Father of Democracy is there. It even sounds sweeter!
May God guide you.
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice!
I bet you didn’t know Abike Dabiri. Two factors will make this possible. Either you were not around in Nigeria in the golden era of our Nigerian television girls – the era when being a regular face on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) gave you the golden key to open all doors – or you were somewhere in the villages very far and distant from civilization – many of us were – that included not having access to the television.
O! You didn’t know? You didn’t know a time was in this clime when seeing a television screen from a distance, was one of the biggest privileges one could get let alone watching it – that people clustered at the windows of homes with television sets to catch a glimpse of Village Headmaster, for instance.
You’re carrying shoulders because you probably met the time when carrying a Blackberry phone was all you needed to get that fine babe behind your sheets! Today, you thought that because you could now watch your matches on your phone – I watched all the AFCON matches on my phone, being on the road most times – there was no time men had to climb walls to turn television antennas to get some appreciable pictures. Chai! This changing world.
Bet you didn’t hear about Bimbo Roberts – later Bimbo Oloyede, Julie Coker and later Augusta Maduegbuna, Elizabeth Nze, Sienne Alwell-Brown, Ruth Benamesia-Opia, Eugenia Abu, Ronke Ayuba, Kehinde Young-Harry, Lola Alakija, in no particular order. No! You wouldn’t if you were not that privileged in the 1980s and even 1990s. They were the glamour of that era.
Glamour? Not in the sense of beauty – but glamour, because television made them so. For indeed, some of these television faces, were not that glamourous.
But beauty or no, Abike Dabiri was one of the discoveries of that era. Obviously not in competition with these others who were the newscasters on NTA News At Nine, she actually carved a niche for herself elsewhere on Newsline – the soft-sell edition of the station’s news programme aired every Sunday.
Abike Dabiri was a toast of that programme. She was a reporter’s reporter – traversing beyond the seven seas and seven wildernesses to bring to Nigerians those rare stories that either made Nigerians laugh their hearts out or cry their eyes out – a doyenne of human-interest reporting.
Then, suddenly – suddenly – suddenly – the serpent came with the forbidden fruit – the temptation of higher ground – the allure of high office – Tinubu’s tainted chalice that comes like glittering ornament but with hollow and rotten underbelly. She took, she ate and now everything scatter-scatter. Our dear Abike Dabiri accepted and ate the sour grape and now her teeth are set on edge! What a pity!
The breeze has blown to uncover the romp of the hen. Before now, whoever believed that our dear Abike Dabiri farts. But we now know that Abike Dabiri-Erewa not only farts, but her fart smells badly. At first, no one noticed the degeneration.
The time she was at the House of Representatives, was the golden era of Tinubu. That was when the Jagaban Borgu was the governor of Lagos State. She glowed along by tapping from glittering appeal of the Lagos show boy!
At that time, Tinubu was generally holding the golden trophy adorned with the beautiful calligraphy of democracy in Nigeria. That was before he drank from the poisoned chalice of Muhammadu Buhari, his predecessor by joining him in the hatred for the Igbo man – a phenomenon that becomes the nemesis of some Nigerian leaders – Buhari’s major insignia. Then the desperation! Then the degeneration! Now the albatross!
Now, whoever hates the Igbo and remains the same? None! That was what sealed Buhari’s fate. And surely the snake that bit that braindead archeological discovery – that museum piece – has definitely whipped Tinubu with its tail and the rest is now history. If not, compare a Tinubu as governor when he was all cozy with Ndigbo and now he has turned 360 degrees.
And as long as the darkness will give way to reveal the sun breaking from the East, the sting of the snake’s tail will reach everyone who toes that line. You know why, the dominant culture of the Igbo man is ofo n’ogu – justice, equity and fair-play! Have you watched an Igbo man pray with colanut.
He wakes up and with his cola in his hands, beckons on his chi with these words – ndu mmiri, ndu azu, mmiri atanaa, azu anwuna – the life of the river, the life of the fish – may the water not dry and may the fish not die! Egbe bere ugo bere, nke si ibeya ebena nku kwaa ya – let the kite perch and let the eagle perch – whichever says the other should not perch, may its wings whither. Which other people say the same or similar prayer elsewhere?
Now, because the kid-goat watches when the mother-goat is chewing the cud, hating the Igbo has become a fad among those who want to please Tinubu. Obviously, the totem through which this sentiment find expression is Peter Obi. He has become the tree standing by the roadside that receives the strokes of the machete. Obi has remained the hieroglyph for expressing real and imagined pro-Igbo angst.
So, in 2025, when Babajide Sanwo-Olu wanted to mend fences with Tinubu, after allegedly falling out of favour with his boss, he launched an unprovoked attack on Obi, using the latter’s Johns Hopkins University lecture as a pad. Reno Omokri, has since made himself Minister of Peter Obi Affairs. Daniel Bwala, Femi Fani-Kayode et al along this line never end a line without Obi getting a slash of their machete.
Enter our dear Abike Dabiri-Erewa. The little birds flying around whistle that her tenure as Chairman of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiCOM) is coming to an end and she is eying a renewal or another job from the Jagaban. How else to go about it than the low-hanging fruit? – Peter Obi.
From nowhere, on Sunday, the media were suffused with the screaming headline – “Peter Obi has actually raised monsters.” As it were with syndicated stories, each of the medium used to transport the outing carried the same headline – well crafted – of course, using her journalism skill to make maximum impact.
After rambling some clearly obtuse and incoherent words in form of reasoning, she ended up with even more brainless, imbecilic and asinine submission – by the time it is Igbo turn to produce Nigerian President, Obidents – followers of Obi – would have destroyed his chances. Me paraphrasing. Chai!
Now, aunty Abike, whose turn is it now? Isn’t already the turn of Ndigbo and the selfsame Obi? Isn’t it part of the argument that the seat your Jagaban is occupying was stolen from Ndigbo? So, you know that Ndigbo also have a stake to it? Yes! You know. But now you have eaten Tinubu’s palm nuts, see how your teeth have all turned red.
But Ndigbo have another way of invoking justice – ochu nwa-okuko nwe ada ma nwa-okuko nwe nwenwe-oso! I won’t explain. Find an Igbo staff at NiMCOM – if there is one – because I hear you hate them so much that finding one near you might be impossible. But even a cleaner in your office could help or better still – ask your spare parts seller. He’s sure to be Igbo!
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, I’m The Tiny Voice!
Jonathan to Atiku: I don’t play God *I still achieved, though imperfect
BREAKING: FG opts for open court trial of coup plotters against Tinubu
ADC: Fight, scatter them! *Presidency goads Kogi lawmaker on Mark’s leadership
-
News4 weeks agoGovernor weeps, as terrorists kill soldiers, police in night ambush
-
Columns2 weeks agoSeun Okinbaloye saga: How does Tinubu survive if Wike resigns?
-
Columns1 week agoAbike Dabiri: Did Obi raise a monster or you’re drunk on Tinubu’s poisoned chalice?
-
News2 weeks agoStop using Latin phrases, make clear, unambiguous orders – NBA tells courts
-
News4 weeks agoBREAKING: Bloody day in Ibadan! *Trailer loses control, crushes residents!
-
News2 weeks agoNafiu Gombe: Yes, I have sponsors! *I can’t fight ADC big men alone!
-
Columns2 weeks agoCentus Nweze (JSC): Death of legal purist, irony of Nigerian judiciary
-
Columns3 days agoBe the hero that saved Nigeria! Open letter to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar