The IGP ’s macabre dance and other stories

BEFORE we spoil of mouth with the Inspector-General of Police’s (IGP) recent odious fouls, let us first enliven ourselves with the heart-warming performance of our national team, who trounced ‘almighty’ Argentina last week four goals to two. Coming from two goals down to white-wash one of the world’s most accomplished football-playing countries made the victory even sweeter. There are those who make a mockery of this accomplishment on the ground that Lionel Messi was not on the Argentinean side and that Sergio Aguero did not play the whole 90 minutes; important as these observations are, they do not diminish the fact that “second eleven” Argentineans could still have walloped the best of the Super Eagles in times past. And come to think of it, even Team Nigeria was not our full strength. So, we relish the victory and commend the team and its handlers.

We, however, serve notice that this victory must not get into the head; it does not even give us bragging rights over the Argentineans who still hold a commanding advantage over us head-to-head. A positive way to take the victory is see it as clarion call to hard work on the road to Moscow.

Hurray! Old-man Robert Mugabe, after 37 odd years in power, has tumbled from grace to grass. Such is the uncertain and slippery terrain of power! Today above; tomorrow, beneath! Today you call the shots; tomorrow you take all the shots fired at you. Today you give orders; tomorrow you receive orders. Present tense and past tense; ex-this and ex-that; changing situations and circumstances confirm the transience of power and the mortality of every living soul. Mugabe, the only leader independent Zimbabwe has ever known; the man who thought he had a firm grip on the reins of power is today a byword and a proverb. It would have been better if we can say he has become history; he has, in fact, been offloaded into the dustbin of history. The reasons are not far-fetched: From a war hero and liberator of his people, he became a tin-god and vile dictator; from Comrade-President and Leader of the Vanguard of the workers and peasants of Zimbabwe, he became destructive of the very essence of People Power; from a Party Leader standing ram-rod in defence of a revolutionary party and its revolutionary ideals, he compromised and became a woman wrapper who chose to cast his lot with a woman, another man’s wife whom he snatched, possibly like biblical King David snatched Uriah’s Bathsheba, and in the process distanced himself from, denounced, and ostracised his Comrades.

Comrade Renegade, Comrade Backslider, your ignominious end had been long foretold! But because it was late in coming, you thought it would never come; deluding yourself you had mastered the situation. Such are the thoughts and ways of dictators steeped in their ways. Oedipus was right: Him whom the gods would destroy, they first make deaf. Good riddance to bad rubbish! As an undergrad, I rallied and marched for an independent Zimbabwe but what we got from Mugabe was not what was fought for. Instead of freedom, we got a nightmare. Right from here, thousands of miles away from the centre of unfolding events, I savour the wind of change blowing across Ian Smith’s former Rhodesia. Zimbabwe shall be free!

Tin-gods everywhere, especially here in Nigeria, should learn from the ruins of Mugabe. Impunity has only one destination – disgrace and destruction. The Inspector-General of Police should take note. Where did he receive the authority and powers to withdraw the orderlies of sitting governors – from the Constitution, from Mr. President, from some cabals or did he act on his own whims and caprices? Permit me to make five postulations. One: Competent and qualified IGPs will seldom act in vile ways but anyone not picked on merit usually overreaches himself to do the dirty jobs of some masters or Cabals or act as the Man Friday of shadowy characters. Two: It is in the character of errand boys to be beholden to their masters. ‘Inferior’ races often bend over backward to over-do the bidding of ‘superior’ or ‘Aryan’ races.

They act more Catholic than the Pope and until and unless restrained and reined in by their masters, they leave no stone unturned to cry more than the bereaved. Three: Impunity multiplies impunity and like the Reign of Terror during the French revolutionary years demonstrated, audacity breeds more audacity. The “We are above the law” syndrome that has taken over the Buhari administration must have emboldened the IGP in his recent atrocious statements and posturing unbecoming of a highly-placed and strategically-situated public official of his calibre. Four: ‘An elephant does not eat the grass under its huge frame’ is the wisdom of our people but audacity and impunity destroy morals and breed what we can henceforth call the ‘Mugabe’ syndrome. In coveting his secretary and sleeping with her even while she was married to another man, Mugabe ate the (forbidden) grass under his frame. It is instructive that this sacrilege has paved the way for Mugabe’s downfall. Is the IGP listening? Five: History is a silent but sure rewarder: What you think it does not see, it takes in fully and what you think it glosses over, it painstakingly and accurately records. In the fullness of time, it apportions everyone his or her due recompense.  It is Mugabe today, whose turn tomorrow?

LAST WORD: What is the difference between Jonathan and Buhari in the way very serious corruption issues are treated as “the family affairs” of the party in power? We are all familiar with the way Jonathan lackadaisically treated high corruption cases involving key members of his administration such as Stella Oduah, Abba Moro, and Dizeani Allison-Madueke as “family affairs.” Buhari has done similarly with humongous corruption cases involving the erstwhile SGF and other close aides. No investigation; where there was, no EFCC or DSS harassment and arrest like was done to PDP leaders; and no refunds of stolen monies. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, made damning allegations against the NNPC GMD; both men were summoned to a ”family meeting” by Mr. President and they came out, embraced, smiled at each other and for the camera – case closed! Head of Service of the Federation made damning disclosures against Mr. President and others involved in Mainagate; the Chief of Staff to the President was furious; the media carried it but a few days later, Oga CoS and Madam HoS emerged from another “family meeting” back-slapping and embracing each other; they posed for the camera and beamed smiles – again, case closed. What, I ask again, is the different between Jonathan and Buhari; between half a dozen and six; between the pot and the kettle; and between the rock and the hard place? Haven’t we simply exchanged one task-master for another, even jumped from the frying pan right into the fire? It is either these folks do not ascribe an iota of intelligence to us “the people” or they are the ones so bereft of intelligence that they keep sleep walking into the same ass hole again and again with dire consequences that will make even a fool call them foolish.

FEEDBACK

RE: Buhari administration’s many odious scandals

If any soothsayer had predicted that Buhari would lead the country the very way he is doing now, many would have labelled the soothsayer a doomsayer. The many vexing scandals rocking this administration are beyond anybody’s imagination; they run contrary to the hope and trust Nigerians had in Buhari as our Messiah who would obliterate corruption from our nation and gain back our glory and respect among the comity of nations. One is so sad to the extent of being numb. In other words…

What else to say? Who is going to save Nigeria is the million-dollar question for fellow compatriots to answer. Thank you for your steadfast reporting on burning national issues. It helps the reading public to know how well or bad the government is performing. In this instance, the performance rating is very unimpressive and disappointing – Yacoob Abiodun, Hayward, California, USA.

RE: What’s in a name: Ilesa Grammar School or Ilesa Government High School?

Your piece on the above and the responses thereafter call for deep reflection.  If there is nothing in a name, why is Aregbesola interested in name-change? The reference to William Shakespeare’s “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” should rather be directed at Aregbesola as his name-change exercises amount to much ado about nothing. I quite agree with you that name-change does not in any way affect an institution’s rich cultural and other heritage and Aregbe has done well with the gigantic and beautiful edifices of model schools across the state .Unfortunately that is where it ends! What are the welfare provisions for the teachers in those and other schools? The teachers are disenchanted and this has translated into the terribly poor performance of the state in public examinations, which performance continues to nose-dive on a yearly basis. Therefore, it is better to have a moderately beautiful school building and environment using a third of the cost of what is on ground while the teachers are taken good care of for them to optimally perform their statutory duty of nurturing their students to deliver excellent performance. We all know why states governors prefer gigantic structures and road construction at the expense of payment of salaries, gratuities, and pensions. Self-interest is at the centre of it as it affords them the opportunity to manipulate the actual cost of such projects. But Aregbe’s name-change cannot be enforced beyond his tenure, which expires in 2018! The old students’ absence at the commissioning was significant as their presence would have portrayed them as people without principles since the case was already a subject of litigation. The calibre of men and women in the old students’ association is such that should not be rubbished. To tag them as opposition group is tantamount to calling dog a bad name to hang it!

— Odedokun Adeyemi, Akure, Ondo State.