FROM the moment he burst into national consciousness, preaching pseudo socialism and self-interest welfarism as a unionist, Adams Oshiomhole has always given himself out as mouthy, brawny and still winning. For unionism mesmerism, braggadocio, abracadabra and swashbuckling, this skill set is perfect. The skills should also be apt for politics too, because since his kind took over the unionism space, the original concept of fighting for and on behalf of others which I interpret as Afenifere, has shifted into reverse gear of Afenifera (crass opportunism). But those with better political sense try to whet Oshiomhole’s type of special skills with the wisdom of politics, which is street, cunning, selfish and hypocritical. Transiting from being governor to heading the ruling party isn’t a tea party. He must have added the wisdom of politics to what he considered his strength, which is taking the fight straight to the enemy.
A few days back, he had a double celebration for himself, first as the conqueror of the snaky Bukola Saraki and then, a successful combatant. But the roof is also certainly leaking over him and the rain about beating him will defy all his innate and acquired skills. Weeks back, God used this platform to tap Akinwunmi Ambode’s ears of the coming flood, which only His Spirit can lift a standard against, provided the embattled immediate Lagos governor would seek divine wisdom. Only Akin who is not Omo Akin can say whether what he boasted as his new skill, like Oshiomhole, is the real deal.
Places of worship for men of power is more of social-cum-contract-networking arena and their attendances are more celebratory, when they gather for their own in flowing robes and expensive dark Gucci goggles. Whether Adams is gbogbonise (nominal in everything worship) like Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, will not matter and since irrespective of the religion they profess, these power-seekers crawl into even forbidden holes to sustain their hold on political influence, I’m certain the party leader must have heard about a certain King Solomon and it would not matter if the most known of his story to many is the 700 wives and 300 concubines.
Yes, Solomon derailed into phalli mania, but he started with divine wisdom and because of covenant, God retained that capacity in him to be better than the rest of humanity and become a lifetime referencing of prudence.
Since both Solomon and Adams are kings, though of different ages and spheres but with the same vast domains, will it not be awesome for a deep royalty to call to another royalty, in desperate need of sense and little of self?
Of all the admonitions on wisdom from Solomon in Ecclesiastes, I find Chapter 8:8-10, very intriguing and apt in the situations around the chair now, both home and Abuja, from where merited insults are drowning him. In the said scripture, Solomon wrote, “he that diggeth a pit shall fall into it and whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. Whoso removeth stones shall be hurt therewith and he that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby. “If the iron be blunt and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength, BUT WISDOM IS PROFITABLE TO DIRECT (emphasis mine).”
With all his swag, Oshiomhole has just a one and a half pillars preventing his descent into uncommon opprobrium. In fact, just one of the said pillars is ramrod kind of, the other is somewhat derelict because it has no real root where it is, and could be demolished anytime the standing one, chooses.
So, why should a man standing on one and a half legs, taking ruckus as a pastime? Well, maybe he has long devised means of colouring his battles as that of his pillars but that deceit may no longer be sustainable, especially the one raging at his Edo backyard. Even within the party, he has almost become a pariah and now that he has lost out with the governors, his singular surviving strategy can only be; remaining a steadfast lickspittle of Aso Rock.
After each bout of show-boating, which is allowed in the politics of aggrandizement and president-so-pe (president wants it done this way) we encourage and enjoy, Adams should retire to his closet for a nagging self-appraisal of what hypocrisy has reduced him to; Aso Rock errand boy, failed godfather and Bourdillion attack dog. When those two are done using him, what would be left of him, may not even be desirable for himself.
Time is surely running out on Oshio, though his main pillar has a weird way of sustaining the deplorable but even if his main backers would not yield to the disavowals from all angles within the party, of what use would Oshiomhole be to himself, clinging to Villa and becoming everybody’s night soil man.
If it is the flattery of invincibility that got him here and thither, he should call time on the fawning around him and resort to more of Godly wisdom than combating both real and imaginary enemies. For sure, his angry protégé, will flag the party’s flag for his re-election and should Godwin Obaseki retain the seat without his input, he will lose all in one swoop.
The peace he needs to make with his feuding family in Edo, Abuja and elsewhere, should not only be genuine, he must be contrite enough to accept his unholy ways. Going forward, staying away from detestable acts like primary bazaar, would help him gain some ground of credibility. From thence, let it be fear of God all the way, even if pillars would quake. Only God is the Pillar that never fails. Is Adams listening on this Lord’s day?