Steve Nwosu
Since my last outing on this page was on the performance of President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on NTA’s ‘The Candidates’ interview series, I have no desire to return to that programme. However, one is tempted to say a word or two on the outing of PDP’s Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi on the same programme, especially as most of the social media lynch-mobs, who have been intervening on the side of the APC and its candidates, appear to have either watched a totally different interview, watched the programme with their earplugs on, or had too much wax in their ears.
I know, winning an election debate does not translate to winning the election proper, but it would amount to an insult on our collective intelligence to tell us that Buhari and Osinbajo came out better in the interviews than Atiku and Obi.
But I don’t want to belabour the issue. I would rather pray for all those who insist Buhari ‘won’ the debate thus: May your children and wards perform, in their school examinations, as Buhari and Osinbajo. Amen! May the Children of your adversaries perform as Atiku and Obi performed in the same examinations. Amen! And may your right ear wither and fall into your left pocket if you do not say a heartfelt ‘Amen’. But I digress.
I actually planned to focus on the CJN Walter Onnonghen saga, but Buhari, the APC, the PDP, the CCB, the NBA, the SANs, the courts, the NJC, the Acting CJN, and even Onnoghen himself have all so muddied up the whole thing that one can hardly see anything clearly anymore.
Suffice it to say that until the president decided to resort to self-help and suspend the statutes, penultimate Friday, I was actually going to advise the CJN not to resign (or step aside), as that was all the people behind this whole charade wanted to achieve ab initio. If you doubt me, just reflect again as everything is systematically being de-escalated now that Onnonghen is off the way – albeit temporarily.
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I won’t even be surprised if the Acting CJN is now sacrificed, as long as Onnonghen does not come back. And if that does not placate us, they could also throw in former SGF Babachirl Lawal, NIA’s Oke, and even a former governor (who is now an APC stalwart), to convince us that the move against Onnonghen is purely about corruption and the fight against it.
But we know it is not. What we don’t know, however, is what they are not telling us yet. But time will tell – especially, with the hurried inauguration of the 2019 election tribunals. But, again, I digress. For my concern this week is actually about the sitting duck governor of Lagos State.
Now, if I don’t understand what is going on in Abuja, I understand the goings-on in Lagos even less. Here, the state assembly is still spoiling for war, and drawing its daggers on a long emasculated governor, who has not only been defanged and crippled, but has also been effectively castrated and rendered impotent.
But the drums of war keep sounding even louder, and stirring up an impeachment tune that tends to remind one of the parable of thieving tortoise.
According to the fable, Mr. Tortoise, that cunning trickster of many African folktales, had overreached himself by stealing from his own father in-law and getting caught.
To punish him, his father in-law subjected him to a public disgrace. At sunrise, he dragged Mr. Tortoise to the centre of town and tied him to a stake, where all the townsfolk could see him, as they hurried off to their farms and market. As they passed bye, they poked jokes at Tortoise. Some spat on him, and commended the in-law for dealing with his light-fingered son in-law. It was the worst disgrace anybody could be subjected to.
However, on their way home at sunset, the townsfolk were surprised to see a weary, hungry and dehydrated tortoise still tied up at the same spot. Suddenly, their sympathy shifted to the tortoise, as they began to rain abuses on the ‘wicked’ father in-law. ‘How could a man be so heartless as to tie up his son in-law from sunrise to sunset?
Gov. Ambode has become like that proverbial tortoise, as speculations of his impending impeachment by the state House of Assembly continue to spread.
Suddenly, the same Ambode, who looked like an orphan a few weeks ago when the principalities and powers of Lagos politics decided to deny him a re-election ticked, is beginning to attract the kind of sympathy that should begin to give the leadership of the APC cause for concern.
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Suddenly, the Ambode, whose re-election misfortune got several people dancing, is becoming the beneficiary of a public outpouring of sympathy and solidarity. The Ambode whom people were too scared (and intimidated) to queue behind his photograph, even in the most remote electoral wards, during last year’s controversial Option A4 guber primaries, is now the same person that Lagosians are storming the premises of the state House of Assembly in defence of.
The same Ambode we all agreed was too arrogant, politically naïve, and, above all, so ungrateful that he began to bite the fingers that fed him and, therefore, deserved all the disgrace that was shoved down his throat, is now the one on whose behalf many Lagosians are now willing to confront the deity.
Of course, it’s not that Ambode has suddenly wizened up, and has started to ‘settle’. No! He is still his old foolishly proud self. It is just that many otherwise disinterested bystanders are now asking questions: Isn’t there a limit to the punishment a man can be subjected to for his political transgressions, disloyalty and naïve indiscretion? Isn’t it a culturally acceptable norm that we leave the weakling’s wife for him after using him to wipe the village square? Must we also be so mean as to take away his wife too? Non-partisans are naturally beginning to line up behind the presumed underdog.
Yes, we know that the unprovoked move to demystify the political establishment of Lagos (whether in thought or in deed) was the most stupid, most suicidal thought that could ever enter the head of the living in the Nigeria of today, but how would Ambode learn the lesson of that indiscretion if we don’t allow him to live and see his folly unravel before his very eyes? How can he understand that the war he was blindly leading himself into was the same war that tested Generals, like Buhari, saw from a distance and resolved not to fight – at least, for now. They saw the futility of it and opted for rapproachment instead. Ambode could have asked the likes of Bukola Saraki and Rotimi Amaechi, who contemplated it, how bruised it left them. And if those were too far away, he could even ask a certain radio/TV business mogul all he had to do, in order to save his neck, and that of his broadcasting business empire. Just for airing one controversial documentary!
Even, Alausa, the seat of the Lagos government, is replete with examples Ambode could have learnt from, without making his own mistakes afresh. Why did he think ex-governor Fashola refused to fight, in spite of all that was done against him (many of them, by Ambode himself)? Isn’t BRF back to the fold today? Surely, discretion is the better quality of valour.
Femi Pedro, and even Muiz Banire, have retraced their steps after some years in the wilderness. Kofo Bucknor, who has refused to bend, has never recovered either. If truth must be told, only God or Tinubu can retire Tinubu. So, Mr. Ambode, if you think you can’t live with him, just know you can’t live without him either.
That said, however, the question still nags: What good would Ambode’s impeachment serve anybody in Lagos today? Why are we so intent on kicking a dead horse? Why whip up sentiments against the ruling party ahead of an election that is already dicey as it is? Bullying Ambode some more could backfire and lead to protest voting.
Hasn’t it occurred to anybody that, pushed to the wall, Ambode, as a governor, still has enough arsenal to cause APC appreciable collateral damage? Even if he loses out in the long run, as he is bound to, he’d have inflicted some telling bruises on the party. The party can then take back its pound of flesh (with some blood) when, and if, it finally installs a successor.
Even then, Ambode would still not lose any more than he already has – for there’s no guarantee that those who want him out would stop at impeachment. Or is anybody in doubt that a massive probe would follow his handover of power? Or that those on his matter would not turn back until they have escorted him to jail?
Meanwhile, how true is the allegation of N45 billion? Under what expenditure heading would such humongous amount be put? Wouldn’t that be a booby trap to set Ambode on his way to jail after May 29 (or June 12)? Why has passing the Lagos State budget suddenly become such a big issue? How did Jimi Agbaje come into the mix? When did Ambode infiltrate the ranks of the all-powerful Road Transport Workers Union? Is it not the same Ambode, who could not even buy over one state assembly member – not even the PDP members?
My honest advice: APC should not take Lagosians for granted. Carrying on as if the sentiments of the millions of voters, who do not carry the card of any party, do not matter could prove costly for the party and its candidate ahead of next month’s governorship election.
