The US envoy anywhere and everywhere is the eyes, ears, and mouthpiece of the US. They have behind them the influence, prestige, might, power, and authority of their home country and government. Their influence and power is writ large, far and wide. But because they are diplomats and this is the Age of Diplomacy, they are seldom obtrusive in their dealings; diplomacy, quiet diplomacy, is the name of the game. But as Napoleon Bonaparte was unto old Europe, so they are to most of the countries of their accreditation. When they sneeze, nations catch cold. Leaders not only pay attention when they stir, act or speak, but would be wise to also read their lips as well as hips, to quote ex-US President George Bush (Snr.).
It is in this wise that I examine last week’s visit of the US envoy in Nigeria, Mr Stuart Symington, to the Ekiti state governor, Mr Peter Ayodele Fayose. I will not be surprised if the Presidency is aghast at the visit, coming especially at this most auspicious or inauspicious time, depending on which side of the divide you are. If presidential spin doctors are mute on the visit, it cannot be that they are not miffed; they may only be exercising caution while exploring behind-the-scene moves to express their displeasure and do fire-fighting.
Symington made three important statements that cannot be ignored. One was the envoy’s pledge that the US would see to it that the July 14 governorship election in Ekiti is free, fair, and credible. Recalling the role played by the same US at seeing the back of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015 and noting that the battle cry of Fayose has been that the looming governorship election be free and fair, the US envoy’s pledge is pregnant with meaning. Symington also described as laudable the infrastructural development of Ekiti by Fayose.
Who knows Fayose knows that this is his joker to win the July 14 election and install his deputy, Professor Kolapo Olusola, as governor and ensure what his team calls “continuity” Fayose never tires to take any person of note who visits Ekiti around his signature projects – the Ewi’s palace modernisation project; new High Court complex; new Oja Oba market; the flyover; new Governor’s Office; Adunni Olayinka centre; Ikere road daulisation and other dualisation projects spread across all the local governments; to mention but a few. Fayose is always quick to mention – and cannot be faulted – that every significant project in Ekiti had his signature, right from his from term in office. To crown it all, Symington said he had come to Ekiti to learn what Fayose, if he becomes president, had in store for Nigerians. Recall that in Abuja on Thursday, September 28, Fayose had declared his presidential ambition. Now, if the US is thinking, discussing, and talking about this, it must mean there is fire on their mountain in Abuja.
LAST WORD: As I scribbled this, a post came from a friend and colleague screaming “Buhari, don’t run!” I wasted no time firing back, without having read what he had to say: “Let him run, please! He who does not run does not fall!” I guess he was asking Buhari not to run in 2019. Let him run! Like biblical King Ahab (1 Kings 22: 1 – 40) who listened to his fawning and lying legion of prophets who urged him to “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and prosper,” let Buhari pay heed to the court jesters and self-servers around him and run for second term. Let him not only discountenance but also treat with contempt every voice of Micaiah. Otherwise, how cometh poetic justice and how do we take our pound of flesh from a man who has dealt so treacherously with us? Buhari, run jooo! Waiting for you in 2019!
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Re: What’s in a name: Ilesa Grammar School or Ilesa Government High School?
YOUR piece with the above title was eagerly read many times by me because of my personal affinity to Ilesa Grammar School. My late father, Chief E. O. Lucas, left his homestead in Lagos together with the late Canon C. E. Doherty to establish Ilesa Grammar School in 1934 under the aegis of Egbe Atunluse of Ijesaland. He used all his working life at the school until his death in 1966. All in all he used 32 years of his life to develop the school, with other notable and devoted teachers, to an enviable state of academic excellence known all over Nigeria and abroad. For his devotion to the educational development of Ijesaland, he was made Bajulaiye of Erin Ijesa.
On my own part, I am an old student of the school as I attended the school from 1958-1962. The school put me on a strong academic pedestal which allowed me to make a mark in the academic world. Thousands of old students of the school from 1934 were equally empowered by the school and as a result, the old students of the school are found in virtually all productive callings in the country.
Still on personal note, five of my siblings attended this quintessential school. From this narrative you can see why I and other old students of the school, including yourself, are passionately attached to our Ilegrams.
Now to my comments: In your piece you wrote that the old students should not have boycotted the commissioning of the new mega school. I am sorry I do not agree with you. What purpose do you think their presence could have served? Do you want them to be ‘honoured guests’ at the funeral of their cherished heritage? No way! By staying away the old students had made it known to Nigerians that our judiciary should be honoured and obeyed. It is a pity that since the advent of democracy in our country, the Executive arm of government has tried to cripple the judiciary by persistently disobeying lawful orders. The executive is doing this at our peril. The old students by boycotting the event had not ‘cut our nose to spite our face’ as you wrote in your article. The old students as law-abiding citizens sought redress in the court after the government of Osun State had ignored and disregarded the pleadings of eminent old students like Justice Belgore, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria; Alhaji Lateef Jakande, a former governor of Lagos state; Oba (Engr.) Adelekun; and others for more than four years to retain the name of the school. I agree with you that people holding transient power and who are today the ‘duly constituted authority’ should learn to respect people’s sensibilities.
In your article you also raised a very pertinent question about the ability of the Osun State government to maintain the mega schools in view of its ever-dwindling resources. You hit the nail on the head with this. I will also like to add that our present unsavoury maintenance culture is not taken into consideration in conceiving these gigantic structures. It will be interesting to see and assess the state of these Aregbe mega schools in five years’ time. It is good to copy good ideas from outside the country but in doing so we should not be oblivious of our present state of infrastructural development and maintenance culture, which are not very high at present. I will like to end this intervention with an answer to your poser.
I believe as a Yoruba man that there is something in a name. Proverbs 22:1 reads thus: ‘ A good name is to be chosen rather than riches, loving favour rather than silver and gold’. The old students and other stake holders of Ilesa Grammar School prefer the name Ilesa Grammar School for their school rather than the new Ilesa Government High School with mega edifices. Ilesa Grammar of old had one of the best sport fields among the secondary schools in Nigeria and that was why the school was a favourite school for the staging of Aionian and Grier Athletic competitions among secondary schools in Nigeria. This beautiful field is no longer there. It has given way to a mega school whose routine management in terms of infrastructural maintenance, discipline of thousands of students in the mega school, provision of municipal needs, and recreational facilities are yet to be well articulated. I thank you for bringing this issue up in your column. I can assure you that history will repeat itself again.
As an old student I hope you know that in the sixties and seventies the name of our school was changed to Ijesa High School by the ‘duly constituted authority’ of the then military era but later it reverted back to its old glorious name Ilesa Grammar School. I am sure that soon, the same cycle will repeat itself.
- Professor Olabode Lucas, Old Bodija, Ibadan.
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