Yesterday’s men, today’s men and allied matters (2)
How do yesterday’s men behave overseas? On 1/7/13, the whole world watched on CNN, BBC, and Aljazeera as ex-President Bush renovated a health center for women in Zambia, physically participating in the painting with his wife, and on the following day, laid a wreath jointly with President Obama in memory of those who died in the 1998 US Embassy bombing in Kenya. On 9/9/13, Gordon Brown, former British Chancellor of Exchequer [1997-2007] and former PM was in Abuja as UN ambassador for global education to discuss with our officials on how to tackle the issue of 10m+ out of school children in Nigeria [the highest in the world]. He was here to discuss how to utilize the $250m fund on schools, teacher recruitment and training and new technology which are parts of the new initiative. We are already used to Carter and his guinea warm crusade. We also have Russia’s Putin who has been playing musical chairs with the country’s presidency, transiting from president to PM and back to president. In Italy, Berlusconi is a typical bad-man yesterday’s man.
Which mode do our yesterday’s men follow? We also have a mixed bag! But it depends on the category of yesterday’s men in question and their open or hidden agenda. There are those with open and partisan political agenda [Tinubu, Rufai, Buhari, Atiku]; there are those who have hidden political and relevance agenda [Obasanjo]; there are those whose interest is towards a better Nigeria [Ezekwesili] and there are those who are just seeking relevance, reputational rehabilitation and will speak on anything and everything[Fani Kayode]. There are those who maintain dignified silence and only speak when they need to[Shagari, Gowon, Ekwueme, Abubakar, Shonekan, Ken Nnamani] and those who only speak as it affects their previous dutiy or core competence[Soludo]. Thus, Tinubu, Rufai and Atiku will never see anything good in whatever the government does or read mischief or evil into it; Obasanjo would stir the waters by remote control and be the first to ask why the water is troubled and even offer to help to calm the waters; Shagari, Ekwueme or Gowon will not engage in controversies and will urge peace and harmony; Soludo will speak on banking and economy while Fani Kayode will speak on everything, relevant and irrelevant, sensible and senseless!
The curse of the yesterday’s men [and women] syndrome is that they are always better, their successors are always up to no good and they never appreciate the efforts of today’s men. Furthermore, and most unfortunately, most of yesterday’s men are hypocritical, economical with the truth and forget that the foundation for today-good or bad- was laid yesterday-when they were in charge! They also create the impression-and think we all agree with them- that whoever decamps from PDP becomes an automatic progressive. When Obasanjo says that Nigeria is cursed, that the present leadership is clueless or whatever, he forgets that he has contributed to Nigeria’s fate more than any dead or living Nigerian. When Tinubu canvases for a system where the disadvantaged are taken care of, where people go to school and where there is a leadership integrity, he forgets that he has been the lord and master of Lagos for the past decade and that unlike Jigawa state where the physically challenged receive monthly stipend, or Kano, their weddings are subsidized, in Lagos, they are deported or forced to port and that people cannot have education of their dreams when fees are increased by 1000% as it happened in LASU. And when he complains of impunity, political intrigues and highhandedness and the center, he conveniently forgets the experiences of Festus Keyamo in Delta Senatorial re-run or Opeyemi Bamidele in Ekiti State!
Those in charge and in power today will always counter-attack: Even you? What did you achieve? You were a colossal failure! In the ensuing melee, the real issue is hidden or ignored. When Professor Soludo spoke on certain issues that he is knowledgeable about, Mr Aganga replied that he should be thankful that he was not in jail! Mrs Ezekwesili’s paper referred to earlier covered two pages in The Guardian while the ‘offensive’ part was just 2 paragraphs, about 1% of the paper. But the government response ended op advertising the paper and the portion they were uncomfortable with; it was indeed the reason why I had to read the paper. It was the same with Tinubu’s UK paper. In these instances, the issues were obfuscated!
So, what should the men of yesterday do and how should the men of today react so that the society is better off? All the men of yesterday are Nigerians and are entitled to freedom of expression, association and aspirations. But they have a burden of haven been there before and therefore may not act in such ways as to devalue the institutions they had personified. Former heads of state, in particular should speak and act very decorously. They have views and there are official and unofficial channels to air such views. It is unbecoming for persons who had been CEOs of Nigeria Inc. to start making inflammatory statements, promoting parochial or destructive values or even desecrate the office that they once occupied so as to attain some petty or even grand political gains. Other yesterday’s men outside the above category should express their views but there should be devoid of undue hypocrisy, holier than thou tendencies and unbridled rabble-rousing. Even those that have partisan agenda should know that opposition politics is not about trading insults and opposing everything and anything. It is about providing alternatives, arguing with facts and figures and explaining why and how your template is better that what is being offered.
Those in Government must realize that everybody has a right to ask questions and to disagree. Their responsibility is to sift the wheat from the chaff, make use of the ideas when and where necessary and offer meaningful explanations when it is necessary. It is not imperative for government spokesmen to respond to every statement that comes from ‘enemy quarters’. In any case, we are all citizens and nobody should be seen as an enemy just because he exercised his freedom of expression or association! Even those who are on top today will soon become yesterday’s men and I don’t think that they will fancy the idea of people in government attacking them with all the resources of the state just because they expressed their views.
[Concluded]
BY: Ik Muo