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I was trying to purchase a set of toys for my children on London’s Regent Street, when a text message came confirming that Kayode Fayemi has finally been returned as the rightfully-elected governor of Ekiti state. But every right-thinking Nigerian knew that he won in the first place in 2007, and was robbed in the gangster manner perfected by the PDP. Someone reminded me that time has now come to fulfill my vow to eat pounded yam in Ado Ekiti. But the issues are far more fundamental and in one of the texts I sent to Kayode, I stressed the importance of commitment to values and being dogged in the struggle for righteousness while at the same time, like a goldfish in a bold, his every action will be closely scrutinized by Nigerians just as the expectations to be met are tremendous. We can only wish him well, while noting the irony that the Jonathan Goodluck, who was part of the PDP team charged to cook the re-run, ended up sending a congratulatory message to a man they openly robbed!
The Ekiti scenario, just like Anambra and Ondo before it, shows why our political system since 1999, has delivered so much aborted hope for our people rather than the fulfillment which the investment of toil and blood had envisaged. Nigerian democracy resembles an early morning wayfarer attacked by bandits and consequently lost all that he had on him. He has walked too far away from his homestead to just turn back, but is still too far from his destination. The bandits in the Nigerian story are members of the political elite who steal the present and future of the Nigerian people. The platform is the systematic electoral heists which became the order of the day from the beginning of this dispensation. The Nigerian people wanted to build a democratic life as the anti-thesis of the dictatorship of the military period, but did not properly appreciate that democracy cannot be achieved without democrats and people are not born democratic. It must be learnt and that platform of building democracy devolves to the political elite of the society but Nigeria’s political elite is very problematic, with far more negative than constructive propensities.
If Kayode Fayemi’s victory has been a most uplifting story underlining a suspicion that there was probably not a single state in the South West which the PDP won fair and square in 2007, you can imagine my delirious happiness in the early hours of last Sunday, when news of the sting operation conducted by the SUNDY TIMES newspaper of London, which nailed Amos Adamu, broke. It was the international confirmation of what many passionate sports lovers have long spoken about. Amos Babatunde Aremu Adamu (to give his full names) has held Nigerian sports, and especially its cash cow, football in a stranglehold from the period leading to Nigeria’s first-ever qualification for the World Cup final, in 1994. The man constructed a power base to bestride our sports like a colossus while accumulating stupendous wealth in the process. Adamu might not have come under intense scrutiny if his control has not also seen an alarming decline in the sporting fortunes of Nigeria. He employed cronyism to dominate and punish whosoever did not toe his line while a well-oiled system of rewards percolated Nigeria’s sporting system. Adamu “owns” sports, especially football and so powerful has he been that he serially engineers FIFA threats to ban Nigeria anytime an attempt is made to audit his control of Nigerian football. Hopefully, the well-publicized demand for $800,000 bribe in return for vote could see the beginning of his monstrous stranglehold that has caused us so much sporting sorrow. Someone reminded me that Amos Adamu is a cat with nine lives, but I believe every life eventually expires!
This week Goodluck Jonathan said he has kept all promises he made to Nigeria in the past five months. He probably forgot what he said about the unconstitutional nature of a First Lady’s office, in his first television interview. Just two days later, a certain Patience Jonathan gave a kick in the teeth to our president and her visibility has ballooned ever since. If anyone had doubts about Patience Jonathan’s position, he should ask Governor Amaechi of Rivers state, who was given a short shrift by the First Lady (unknown to our constitution) who happens to be the wife of our (equally unelected) president. Her “reign” has even been propitiated with the blood of three innocent Nigerians, as she attempted to distribute ‘political’ rice around Abuja. We have not been told where the money used to purchase the rice came from. The Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka could well have written a piece titled ‘Death and Patience Jonathan’s Rice’, but the denouement came last week, when Abuja was locked down so that Patience can bring women from all around the place to be mobilized to eventually vote for Goodluck Jonathan, if as they envisage, he steals the PDP’s candidacy. SUNDAY TRUST reported Dalhatu Sarki Tafida, DG of Jonathan’s campaign as saying Goodluck Jonathan will pay ANY price to become our president in 2011. The man has shown his hands, by unconstitutionally increasing the amount of oil money going to his Bayelsa. If we allow the incompetent Goodluck to ever become president next year we shall harvest more self-serving illegalities into the future. Reflecting upon these points in the past few days has further deepened my disgust at the depth of obscenities reigning in Nigerian political life!
N.B:
Is Jonathan Goodluck actually “Gbomo Jomo”? Why does he serially defend MEND and Niger Delta “militants”?
