Columns
Osimhen: Quit the anger! That $5,000 is not enough!
Published
3 weeks agoon
By Sunny Igboanugo
I got a job with The Guardian shortly after NYSC and from my little keske, supported my classmate to establish a business centre in Owerri. When The Guardian was proscribed, I didn’t go to Lagos to trouble my senior brothers. I joined my friend in Owerri. I not only lived with him, I lived on him and with him shared EVERYTHING EQUALLY without let.
We cruised Owerri in grand style. I ate the same thing he ate. We were both light drinkers, but drank as much as he could carry. Before setting out, I knew the size of his pocket and knew what I could order. That was the only restriction. I knew I could order beer or meat or anything on my own without consulting him, based on my idea of “our budget,” and knew he would pay without hesitation.
I toasted babes on the same budget, just as he did, never having any inhibition or hesitation about who would pick the bills of the peppersoup or whatever was needed for entertainment.
After the hunt, whoever was lucky, the other donates the bed. He was living in a one-room-self-contained apartment in Ikenegbu, different from my four-bedroom apartment in Enugu.
It didn’t matter that he had the dough or that I practically lived on him. On occasions both of us became lucky on our usual daily hunt, whoever gets to the bed first takes it and the other sleeps in the mattress on the floor. Sometimes we even preferred the mattress for obvious reasons.
Decades on, things became tough for my friend again and he reached out to me once more. I was living a good life and without hesitation I came through for him and he was reestablished. Two years after, things crashed for me again. I couldn’t even find money to evacuate my belongings from the city where I once lived in opulence. Just a phone call and my friend again picked the bills and did more.
Today, everyone seems ok. But tomorrow, when tough times knock again, we know where to go and what to do. Throughout the time when things were bad for me, I never felt any inhibition to live off my friend and when it was reversed, I never harboured any towards helping him out. He could drive my car and I could drive his.
So, what’s this nonsense I hear today? They call it ‘Entitlement Mentality!’ What’s that I ask? Does it mean I should be happy and I couldn’t demand that my friend with whom I chased rats and rabbit in the past help me when I’m in tight corners and I shouldn’t be sad or complain if he didn’t?
Does it mean I shouldn’t complain when my friend is living lavishly while I struggle? Does it mean that my elder brother’s son would be at home because of school fees while I send my own children abroad on holidays or purchase the latest SUV to add to the cars in my garage – or start changing my furniture or even start building a new house and my brother who probably saw me through school would applaud me? Just because it is my money?
When did that become the norm in our society? When has it become the practice that we shouldn’t expect our brothers to scratch our itching backs and like animals rely on nearby trees, or roll on the floor to get relief, while our brothers stand by and look on?
In the case you’re wondering where all these are coming from, I’ll tell you. I just read a story purportedly attributed to Victor Osimhen, Nigeria’s football sensation. In it, the Galatasaray goal poacher, narrated an encounter with one of his friends. He stated how this “friend” to whom he had always given money, told him that he wanted to set up a business. He subsequently doled out $5,000 to help this friend. That would amount to about N8million, roughly.
That was a good gesture. But, according to the story, he was surprised when his friend started grumbling that the money was too small, given that he earned $1million every month. For that reason, he not only counted it against his friend, but suggested that he would stop listening to people in need who came to him because they were ungrateful.
After all, the football star and the reigning African Footballer of the Year (AFOTY), stressed that nobody came to his rescue when he was struggling in Europe. In other words, he was self-made and everyone should do same.
He couldn’t just understand why people should be so ungrateful. To him, $5,000 was such a big amount in Nigeria, even though he acknowledged that in Europe, it was not enough to buy a pair of shoes for someone of his status.
Come and see condemnation as people lampooned this “ungrateful friend.” Some people were beside themselves with righteous indignation. Why couldn’t the friend find a way of making his own money? Was Osimhen his father? What right did he have to question or determine what he should be given? Osimhen should ignore him and move on.
I read all the comments and I shook my head in disbelief. Is this how low and deep our society has sunk? One thing that I found intriguing was that none of these people who formed the throng of supporters for the footballer paused to ask how he started with his friend and how far they went and what they told each other before Osimhen’s break came.
This same guy, might not be just anyhow friend. This could be one of the friends with whom Osimhen shared gala and coke at the time they were running after vehicles selling pure water along Oregun Road. At that time, it did not matter who bought the items, but they would share equally and be happy. They would crack jokes, look into each other’s eyes with the deep reflections and understanding only two friends could share.
Nobody knows how many times this same guy could have sprung his friend out of trouble and what they both could have gone through together. Now, one person breaks through and feels it is too much to ask him to lift his friend up to at least a level where the both of them could still relate appreciably on a sound, if not equal ground. I’m sure that’s what the friend was driving at.
Now, the only way he could do that was to send this his friend the amount he himself confessed was not enough to buy a pair of shoes and believes the friend would jump up in appreciation. No true friend would. I won’t. I’ll grumble like that young man. I’ll not only grumble, I’ll confront him.
What Osimhen gave to that friend was not a reflection of friendship. It was a demonstration of the opposite – akin to master-servant – which is different altogether.
For those who want to know what true friendship looks like, read a similar story between Cristian Ronaldo and his own friend, whom he confessed made him what he is today. I’m sure the story is there for all to still go back to.
Mere tokenism is not a demonstration of friendship. Given the guy $5,000 out of probably $100million yearly earning is nothing but inconsiderate – if not outright wickedness.
To my brothers, who trumpet “Entitlement Mentality” slogan whenever issues like these are raised, be it known to you that what you’re are promoting is wickedness, especially in our African clime.
An African society is nothing but a community where a tree tries to make a forest or is expected to if that is the only option or until other options. People rely on each other to live, not out of privilege, but of right.
Where I come from, the parents train the first set of children and they take it from there and train the rest. Even if the younger one is the first to make it, the rest rely on him to cater for the rest. It is not even a privilege, it is a right. Whoever fails to live by this precept is not only a deviant, but wicked. And society sees him as so.
It is even worse these days, when I hear people advocating that parents should not expect their children to take care of them at old age, because they have their lives to live. That is the height of it.
The white man you’re trying to copy has his own structure cut out for him. There is nothing shameful about his parents moving to old people’s home. All manner of loans are available to start life or go to school. All manner of start-up facilities are available.
Osinmhen is wrong and his friend is right. Here, it is a different kettle of fish. We ride on each other’s back. We get hurt when we don’t get help. There is nothing to be ashamed of expecting your brother to give you money to start business.
So, when next, you think your brother who expects you to pay his son’s school fees is indulging in Entitlement Mentality, brother, the joke is on you. You’re not fooling anybody. You’re just wicked.
My name is Sunny Igboanugo, and I’m The Tiny Voice
You may like
-
BREAKING: Farotimi freed! *Granted bail hours to Ekiti ‘mother of all protests’
-
BREAKING: Assad flees Syria after 24 years in office *Rebels take over poser
-
BREKING: Ghana’s ruling party loses again! Dramani bounces back as President *Ruling party loses again
-
Farotimi: CSOs scoff at police! *Expect mother of all protests
-
Wike digs in against Atiku *Moves to fortify Damagum
-
Ohanaeze moves to free Nwajagu, Igbo leader, detained in Lagos over 2023 IPOB comments
Columns
Femi Olaleye, “Randy” Lagos doctor! *Aren’t Nigerian men in danger?
Published
1 week agoon
November 30, 2024
“The prosecution’s case was bereft of any credible evidence that she was a child. Credible and reasonable doubt was created in the prosecution’s case.
“The trial court relied on tainted and unreliable evidence of his estranged wife, Oluremi, and the alleged survivor.”
These were the words with which the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos nullified the rape conviction of Femi Olaleye, a medical doctor and Managing Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, on Friday, while lashing out at the judge of the Lagos State High Court that delivered the verdict.
When I read the story of this man’s conviction, I couldn’t help but notice the conclusion the Court of Appeal reached on this matter.
I saw beneath the frenzy of the entire episode a determined effort by an injured woman to extract vengeance on her husband in a failed love affair using that young girl as a bait!
Unfortunately, the lower court seemed eager to help her in the wicked scheme either because of the ostensibly determined effort by Lagos State to punish sexual offences or just pure conspiracy.
Clearly, the story didn’t add up, just like many others, including that of that Yoruba film actor that is now serving jail term for molestation. There’s no doubt that sex happened between this doctor and the wife’s niece. But the story went beyond what the public was made to see.
My conclusion: Much as every sexual offence from either male or female, particularly rape and more particularly child molestation, I think the public must beware of not being used to achieve some evil agendas.
There must be a clear division between actual commission of a crime and an obvious case of a setup as appears in the instant case. That difference must be clearly established.
The warning by Shakespeare that “Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned” must always be in the public consciousness whenever they’re inquiring into these matters.
That said, society must also remember that here is not the Western world where they imply that freedom is absolute and people are allowed to behave in the manner they wish.
Ask your daughter where she’s coming from. Ask your son to explain the reason for standing with that girl in the corner of the street and what they were discussing. Take charge of your children’s moral behaviour. It’s not their exclusive property.
People of my generation never flaunted our lovers before our parents. We only showed them our would-be wives. It wasn’t absence of freedom, but respect.
What did you go there to do? This was the frequently asked question from our parents. But today we’re told it shouldn’t be asked again because it’s blaming the victim – very obtuse reasoning.
Today, we’re being told it’s okay for a woman to go to a man’s house, change into his boxers, or even sleep naked on his bed, enjoy some smooches, then come out and shout – rape!
No! It wasn’t okay with our parents. And nothing shows that today’s society is better than what our parents made of theirs and left for us. The complete dislocation, if not destruction proves so.
Olaleye may be lucky. While he counts his losses and moves on – definitely things will never be the same again – his bitter ordeal must send a clear message to men – These are DANGEROUS Times!
Need we say more? – The Tiny Voice
Columns
The education Doctor Reuben Abati needs outside PhD!
Published
2 weeks agoon
November 26, 2024
By Sunny Igboanugo
Would any sane man go to Iga Idunganran and demand to buy the palace of Oba of Lagos or a piece of land inside? How much would anyone offer the monarch to cut such a deal? Even if Kabiesi is willing to sell, assuming he is so pressed for cash or the amount being offered is so mouth-watering and irresistible, would his chiefs allow it? Would ordinary Lagosians including even the area boys that swarm around that area of Lagos?
An accurate response to these questions should produce the right answer to educate Reuben Abati, the main anchor on The Morning Show, the breakfast programme on Arise Television on issues regarding the sale of land in Igboland. For indeed, despite his high educational level and high intellect, he still needs education – a lot of it.
That Abati is an intellectual giant and media guru is difficult to deny or put down even by his worst enemies. But there is more to intellectualism and media face to make things complete. I guess that’s where the problem is with (Doctor) Abati – he insists that everybody must include that prefix in addressing him. So, I must comply.
I guess Doctor Abati has everything anyone could desire in a country like Nigeria where superfluousness takes precedence over substance. His meteoric rise in the academia – getting a PhD at the age of 24 – certainly no mean achievement – speaks to this. So is his attainment in the media industry also enough proof.
Imagine leading the Editorial Page of The Guardian – the almighty Flagship of Nigerian media – where all the intellectual titans of a certain era in the country coalesced as a driving force of the nation’s thought industry – and at such a young age to boot. He couldn’t have been up to 30 at that time. So for this, he becomes a superstar – so elevated by an admiring public. But is that all there is to it?
Somehow, Doctor Abati, seems to reflect the reality of Nigeria. President Olusegun Obasanjo, put a finger to it in one of his public outings. He narrated how certain people had gone to God to complain about Nigeria. Why should you give this country everything on earth – abundant land with all manner of precious minerals buried in it – so rich that it grows virtually everything – too many waters that are home to the most prized aquatic life – human resources that prove the best across the globe – how could you be this partial?
God was said to have laughed at his accusers and told them to wait and see the type of leaders the country would have. Even those who took that complaint to God, which of course could have included people from Israel, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia or Singapore, would have been aghast at what Nigeria has turned out and would be thanking the same Almighty for not allowing them switch places.
Doctor Abati, as he wishes to be addressed, has virtually everything. But see what his immense gift has done to him. Like many of his ilk unable to manage their endowments, he has been struck with the same disease geniuses suffer – megalomania. He simply lacks the ability or knowhow to manage all the gifts bequeathed in him by nature and learning.
Imagine what he would have been if humility was added onto him as well. But instead, having been so bereft, where that virtue ought to be, sits a deluge of egomania, self-conceitedness, if not narcissism. Even a passive observer notices those features easily on that programme, where he ostensibly makes his own rules and brooks no form of opposition thereof. Who else hasn’t noticed him dismiss his critics as illiterates and uneducated? Who didn’t hear him call others social media rats? Many of such expressions are not only inelegant for use on television especially, but in most cases, forbidden totally. But he uses them.
“I’ve said it severally on this programme that nobody will tell me not to speak!” That was him last week, clapping back on the backroom staff, who apparently wanted to manage the programme to fit into the time and space allocated to it. Of course, he spoke while others had to recline and recede to their cocoons.
How many times did he have to shout-down his colleagues right there before the cameras? Even the irrepressible Rufai Oseni had had to suffer the impetuous, grumpy attitude and bow to the cajoling, if not bullying on many occasions. Who would have thought that Mary Chinda, his colleague could face such tongue-lashing in the open studio for the singular sin of not prefixing his name with Doctor?
Who else could have demanded that especially on television where it is a well-known tradition to address people by their first names if not Doctor Abati? It is this penchant for egoism that has been at play since last Thursday’s outing on the programme regarding his infamous comment about Ndigbo not selling land to strangers, which has now raised a lot of dust.
Now, much as I agree that targeting Ndigbo and handing them the short-end of the stick in Nigeria has remained a somewhat state policy under the All Progressives Congress (APC), beginning with President Muhammadu Buhari, as he then was and sustained on a higher scale by Bola Tinubu, his successor, I don’t think that he was playing anyone’s script in that direction. I definitely don’t think he was speaking for anybody.
I think he simply went into an overdrive as it is wont with him on many occasions. No doubt, the nature of the programme allows the anchors a lot of latitude to impute their opinions lavishly on given subject matters. But on many occasions, this has not only led to excessive licentiousness, but outright abuse. This was actually the case in this instance, in my view.
Now, what was in issue? Ojy Okpe, the anchor of What’s Trending segment of the programme, had played a video where Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, praised the entrepreneurial spirit, what he called the mercantile spirit of the Igbo that impels them to develop everywhere in Nigeria, including building their own residential houses and dwelling with host communities, something he says other ethnic groups lacked.
“The Igbo are very proud people, the Igbo are very mercantile, the Igbo are the only ethnic group in Nigeria that when they enter Kano State, they build houses in Kano State for themselves. They don’t rent. When they enter Lagos, they own almost two or three local governments, they build houses and live there. There’s no place they go they don’t make impact. But other Nigerians will come to my place, rent houses and live without building a structure. But the Igbo are not like that.”
This was what Abati reacted to. And what did he say? First was to acknowledge the truism in Akpabio’s comment. He even stressed the popular local saying that anyone that ventured into a community where there was no Igbo should scram immediately because it meant danger. But the problem is what he described as the flipside, which he took the liberty to adduce.
In doing so, he sought to take back with the left what he gave with the right hand, stating that in Lagos, for instance, it was rather the “liberalism” of the people than “conquering spirit” of Ndigbo that was at the base of their massive investment. Really? Pray! What is this liberal spirit supposed to look like when the lands were not given out free?
When did a symbiotic affair based on willing seller, willing buyer translate to one party doing the other a favour. For those who don’t know, it is with the proceeds of such lands Igbo people bought that families established businesses for themselves and sent their children abroad where they became high-rate professionals, with some of them becoming mega billionaires in foreign currencies.
This is not peculiar to Lagos. It is true of all the major cities in Nigeria. Families in major towns of Onitsha, Aba, Enugu, became very prominent because they sold land to outsiders to develop themselves. Onitsha became the hub of lawyers in the entire Igboland, because families sold lands and with the proceeds, sent their children abroad to study law. The evidence of that enterprises is everywhere.
Many interior Igbo families would like to be like Onitsha where land is hot cake or Aba, where families become entrenched as billionaires because they raised enough capital through land sales to engage in merchandises like textiles, stockfish, same as their counterparts in Lagos. Incidentally, it is the scallywags and urchins in such families that the public seem to focus on to count the losses. They never showcase the big men that attained their status from such proceeds. In other words land sales is a quid pro quo, where you lose something to gain something. It has nothing to do with accommodation or liberalism. It’s pure business, simplicita!
Besides, could an American in New York claim to be “accommodating” or being “liberal” to a fellow citizen from Texas who bought and built house in the city? Shouldn’t that be an anathema? Should those expression ever come from a public figure like Doctor Abati? Methinks no! That’s a dangerous mindset, the sought that has now become quite prevalent in recent years, especially of the APC-Lagos.
When Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu established the Apapa Wharf, was the thinking like this? Did he acquire land to set up and engage in other businesses that made him the richest man in Africa, because the Yoruba were liberal or because each of the people in the value chain saw opportunities? Did Aliko Dangote establish the Dangote Refinery Limited in Lagos, because the Epe people are the most liberal in Nigeria?
Citing what he claimed was the experience of Thomas Owolabi Shobowale (TOS) Benson, the late Yoruba politician and lawyer, who rose to the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and who he quoted as claiming that his Igbo in-laws refused to sell land to him, Doctor Abati had stated how that summed up the “irony of Nigeria about the politics of the federation.”
Then he went off: “The same Igbo who are so industrious that they are all over and do well in other parts of Nigeria, you go as a non-Igbo man to go and buy umunna land, you will be told that you don’t belong even as an in-law. That’s by the way of an aside, but these are the issues, in my view!” Does he know what Umunna land is all about? That’s where he should have begun the conversation.
By now, it would have been obvious to Doctor Abati that he committed a faux pass given the deluge of responses that have trailed his comment. In fact, it would have been much so as he stepped out of the studio on that Thursday into the volleys of reactions from Ndigbo across the world. Even those with him in the Arise News studio, who were privy with the Igbo tradition would have schooled him adequately.
The encounter between him and the same Ojy Okpe the next day, seems to underscore the fact that he must have been privy to the other side of the story. They must have told him the difference between Umunna land, which is land belonging to a family as opposed to land belonging to an individual. He must have been told the reason such lands are seldom sold to an outsider, including members or the same community.
All he needed do at that stage, was to at least clarify his position or provided further evidence if he was convinced he was right. That’s if apology would be too heavy in his mouth. But he didn’t. Instead, he remained obstinate and even switched on a combative mode, dismissing the opposing views as nonsense is the key issue. That’s the way of the pompous – a disease of the self-centred.
How would it look that a whole Doctor Reuben Abati, who ought to know everything, and whose job is to teach and correct the ignorant society, who practically learn at his feet, would now submit himself to correction? That constituted the albatross that made him thunder at Ojy Okpe, when she tried to bring up the issue with the obviously sole intention of offering him the opportunity to make amends.
Even since that time, more evidences have been pouring out about how wrong he was on the matter. Beside many examples of Yoruba people owning properties in Igboland, the Mbieri people of Imo State – the supposed in-laws of TOS Benson have also contradicted the TOS Benson supposed narrative. It has now emerged that the people saw it as an anathema to sell land to their in-law, but instead, donated one to him, where he now decided to build a post office that is still standing in the community till date.
Indeed, the issue of Ndigbo not selling land to outsiders didn’t start from last week. It is an old story. But the classic response is how many houses do these people have in other areas outside Igboland? Recall Akpabio that spoke is not Igbo and the reference he was making wasn’t about Igboland. He was complaining that other people do not copy Ndigbo who build houses in Akwa Ibom and live.
He insisted that rather do so, others simply rented for the number of years they lived in the state and departed thereafter without owning properties. That was the crux of his submission. Abati, ought to have made more sense if he had detailed how many houses, he built in Akwa Ibom or anywhere outside Lagos to justify his hunger to buy Umunna land in the South East.
How many houses do other tribes have elsewhere outside their homelands? Are the people in Maiduguri refusing to sell land also? Are people of Benin, Delta, Benue, Katsina, Rivers, Ibadan or Ekiti selling to only Igbo people? So, why are other ethnic groups not dominating the Igbo in those areas where lands are sold easily to outsiders unlike Igboland who hoard their land?
Except anyone could prove that he went to buy land from the ubiquitous real estate companies or land dealers that advertise on daily basis all over Igbo cities and was denied on account of not being Igbo, Doctor Abati, would not make sense. But insisting on buying Umunna land or okpuno obi land, is like insisting on buying land inside the palace of an oba or a sacred shrine in Osogbo. The response to that is a no-brainer. If that is the crime Ndigbo committed, then it will be repeated over and over for many years to come.
Doctor Abati must have been told this much. But has it changed anything? Will it? Nada! From him since then, mum has remained the word. Incidentally, Ojy Okpe was not on duty on Monday. Perhaps, if she were, she might probably be moved to raise the issue once again and given him further leeway to make amends. But knowing the persona involved, the “emperor” would have cowed the others from bringing up the matter, accounting for why it was not on the card on Monday despite remaining a live issue on the front burner in the Nigerian polity still.
What does this say? Not a few see the development as demonstrable evidence of character failure on his part, which they say reflected the President Goodluck Jonathan days and the mess he made of it as presidential spokesman. His critics say with Oronto Douglas, his predecessor the former President, was smelling roses, but even after Jonathan virtually handed him a blank cheque and boundless latitude to operate when he took charge, the result was still unmitigated disaster.
By the time he was trounced by Buhari, the image of the ex-President was so bad that Nigerians preferred to vote in a man with bread label or NEPA bill as certificate instead of a PhD holder then at the Presidential Villa. Nobody needs be told the consequences of that ironical outing, given what Nigeria is today. So, vicariously, given this line of thinking, Doctor Abati cannot exculpate himself of blame from the further mess of today’s Nigeria – a consequence of his supposed character failure.
That same template erected on omniscience, arrogance and self-conceit with which he was accused of virtually messing up the well-oiled media structure Oronto left behind, thus ruining the Jonathan presidency, is what they insist have become evident in the current undertaking at The Morning Show, he hosts.
The jury is still out on this tag. But what is evident is that Doctor Abati needs some education – not the type through which he acquired all manner of academic credentials that have equipped him with such rare intellect and with which he has become such a superlative analyst on television, quintessential orator and public speaker – but the one that strips him of all forms of arrogance and purges him of every vestige of contempt for opinions outside his. He needs to attend the University of Humility and human management!
My name is Sunny Igboanugo and I’m The Tiny Voice!
Columns
My dear Sowore: Peter Obi is not mere packaging! Butterfly, not a bird either
Published
4 weeks agoon
November 14, 2024
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!
News Editor:
08054103450
December 9, 2024 6:47 pm
December 9, 2024 6:47 pm
BREAKING: Farotimi freed! *Granted bail hours to Ekiti ‘mother of all protests’
BREAKING: Assad flees Syria after 24 years in office *Rebels take over poser
BREKING: Ghana’s ruling party loses again! Dramani bounces back as President *Ruling party loses again
Trending
-
News4 weeks ago
INCREDIBLE! Man wipes out family, kills himself after Trump’s victory
-
News2 weeks ago
Why Ojy Ope stayed away from Arise after ’embarrassing’ clash with Abati
-
News3 weeks ago
How Buhari, Tinubu destroyed Nigeria – Obasanjo *We’re heading towards Somalia
-
Columns4 weeks ago
My dear Sowore: Peter Obi is not mere packaging! Butterfly, not a bird either
-
Columns2 weeks ago
The education Doctor Reuben Abati needs outside PhD!
-
News6 days ago
BREAKING: Farotimi, activist, Obidient exponent arrested, Elumelu, UBA boss fingered!
-
News4 weeks ago
BREAKING: Obaseki flees Nigeria! *He won’t get far Okpebholo
-
News2 weeks ago
SCAM! NNPCL lying! Not a drop of fuel from PH refinery – community