Ekiti prodigal

I almost ruled the reconciliation between erstwhile PDP horror Dr T.K Aluko and his former tormentor and mentor, Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose, a no news. No, I didn’t take it a ruse. In fact, there is something about their on-off reconciliation that says both are likely to keep the vows this time, particularly the returnee home-boy. There is a sense in T.K becoming a laughing matter, in this friend-today, enemy-tomorrow, friends-forever relational circus, with the man he told me, taught him all he knows in politics and I guess, including the art of prodigality. It is the no-shame mentality in our politics, in the spirit of no-permanent enemy mantra, that took out the big-deal for me, in the matter of Aluko’s wandering. Who among those dissing and still likely to excoriate Aluko today in Nigerian politics, even fringe players, aren’t possessed with the demon of throwing chiseled heavy pieces of rock at political homes where they are likely to take shelter during their winter. The only problem is that many would have broken all the shields in the house, before their eventual return. Call it a case of peeing where one would eventually sleep. How can such sleep be demulcent!

But trust this special breed, there is always a comforting corner for them in homes they caved in the roof while seeking their fortune elsewhere. The conducts of cross-carpeting politicians in our clime, should ordinarily make the Biblical prodigal son grin in self-assuredness. He is surely nobler in character. He didn’t stay outside, arching his backside in a way that the frothing fart, from his dinner with pigs, would leave his father and brother inconsolable. He got what he should deserve, albeit earlier than required, and vamoosed. He returned contrite, not asking too much and without the baggage of his adventure.

Politicians only return “home” when what is left of their fingers is mere stump. They return like lepers who can milk cows but could splash the precious liquid in an irretrievable manner. They always return to seek “something” and you want to ask what did they actually misplace in the first place.

The terms of Aluko’s return are sketchy. Both the mentor and the mentee would have disappointed their brand of politics, making such conciliatory give-and-take known. Who does that in politics anyways. It is good for their game, to keep us guessing. But their hands are not always hidden for too long. Very soon, their buried consensus, would soon be out for censure.

For the sake of decency, I hope none of the parties, particularly the governor, is setting the other party up. The story of the prodigal son, for me, is the most beautiful in the Bible. The symbolism is central to our eternity. Politicians move around to seek relevance and office, the prodigal son (how I wish he had a better identity especially after his genuine repentance) sought genuine reconciliation with his own. But there could be a nexus for those with the right heart among the Exodusians. Penitence and forgiveness is central to genuine reconciliation. Being truly penitent from the heart and not mental calculation of the gains a return could facilitate, would be enough to make a leg of political reconciliation rewarding. The other beneficent leg is genuine forgiveness from the “boss.”

Strangely as it may appear, Aluko may even be more iconic that some of his peers, ilk and mockers. He left because Fayose would not give him his due after paying his due. After my call encounter with him and the call on the governor to see what is fair as fair, Fayose called in, to explain that the issue of Aluko breaking door and law to help him get the party’s ticket and his perceived snub on the promised Chief of Staff and Commissioner for Education jobs, as well as blocking Aluko’s House of Reps bid, went deeper than my admonition that if T.K was good enough to break the party secretariat’s door for the governor, he should be good enough to serve close to the governor’s door.

Without doubt, there will always be majeti keta gbo (two-man secret) issues between soul-mate comrades when the goings are robust. Maturity is also better served if feuding soul-mates do not turn the inside of their dirty linen out, even when such sacred clothing must be washed and hung outside.

I have never met Aluko but we had hours, talking. I don’t expect a Fayose protégé of about 40 years, by his own account and someone who has taken in, a bit of nearly all cleavages in Ekiti, PDP and APC tendentious politics, to be a saint. But something candidly communicated Aluko’s deep love for Fayose. In the midst of their war when eyes would be allowed to be crimson red, Aluko painfully tried not to rubbish the person of his mentor, though he did incalculable damage to the governor’s politics. In that fit, whenever he called Fayose by name during our conversation, he would quickly reverse self without remonstration and say “brother Ayo” (Yoruba’s apogee of respect).

One, the governor wasn’t present to protest a mentee being rude. Two, the governor wasn’t likely to hear, at least not from my end. Three, nothing should matter at that point and for a Yoruba junior, the best way to communicate your displeasure to a senior, is removing “Brother or Aunty” prefix. It is a way of saying, someone has frittered all regard you have for him. Four, this observation should be inconsequential in a heated conversation and don’t we even get to address the One who sustains the breath in our nostrils, more rudely when soliciting divine help?

But it didn’t go unnoticed with me and I wish the governor too, will countenance it, despite the insignificance. I saw a heart in a struggle between vengeance and love. He chose vengeance and the opprobrium he is getting, should be enough reward. During the botched reconciliation, Fayose chose revenge over forgiveness. He must have learnt from recent heartbreaks around him. Aluko should search his heart and ensure his penitence is real. His mentor should also be wary of the numerous “brother of the prodigal son” who wailed and railed at the return of his brother, all because of “inheritance”. The governor should emulate the prodigal son’s Dad. Wait, what about the duo and millions of their kind in our political firmament, first reconciling with the original “God the Father” through “God the Son” and embracing a new life, totally guided by the “God the Holy Spirit”.