Columnist Sam Omatseye Writes ‘The Suicides’
In a fine moment, Nasir El-Rufai was Atiku’s boy. Until he became Obasanjo’s boy and started to throw potshots at Atiku.
The moment was no longer fine enough. Moments later, when he became anti-Obasanjo, he ran to Atiku’s bosom until he nearly bit off the man’s nipples. He was thrust out again, neither for Atiku nor Obasanjo.
You can call it a pirouette or an about-face, but the former governor of Kaduna State will tell you that both are his name, if he is sincere.
But he is only conditionally sincere.
Truth to him is not about beauty but utility. Sorry, Poet John Keats, who proclaimed that “truth is beauty/beauty truth.” If truth is not useful, El-Rufai can do with another option. He abides by his Machiavellian impulse. It comes naturally to him to switch from master to master, from idea to idea, from play to fray.
When he sat with Atiku on a panel last week, about-face sat side by side with pirouette. It is called political harlotry, and what better duo to play it in the public arena. He seemed to rhyme with the Adamawa chieftain again. In the pathology of politics, your past sins are forgiven so long as, today, we bear the same insignia.
So, they are both bedfellows. And the reason they are swooning as one is the president of the federal republic of Nigeria: Bola Tinubu. He gives them nightmares when awake in daytime. They gathered together because some so-called democratic non-profits put them together, and called it “strengthening democracy.” How do you strengthen democracy by corralling only one voice. Maybe it was terminological handicap. They were grasping for the appropriate language. Or else, they would have said: “strengthening the opposition.” All they amassed in the building was a cacophony of contrarian voices, including Kayode Fayemi and Rotimi Amaechi.
Nothing they said in that meeting was about strengthening democracy. Is it what Atiku said? He griped about democracy and judiciary. He lamented the power of the courts in determining elections. Pray, was it not the same Atiku who gallivanted all over the world shopping for judgment about certificates of the president? Was it not the same man who wanted the courts to help him win the election? Is it because he suffered the “O lule” syndrome that he has now changed his pose about the courts? He forgets that he had certificates that conflicted with certificates in his school, if he did attend them.
Then without evidence, he said the government was giving his men N50 million. He needs to show proof. So, if the people said they collected N50 million, did he ask them to return the money? Can he name names please? If they collected, and they are still with him, does it not show that he has no reason to condemn corruption? He should have spat those who told him the story to either return it or stay out his squeaky-clean politics. He said no such thing. Rather he accused the administration of arresting Prof. Yusuf Ahmed, and described as muzzling critics and opposition. The prof was arrested for contract corruption, and awarding them to his family members. Obnoxiously, Atiku sees nothing wrong with that. Was he not the same fellow, I mean Atiku, who made the term SPV – special purpose vehicle – a household word? A vehicle for corruption. The term was innocent until the Adamawa chieftain spewed it into the public space. This man has been looking for the position of president since 1992, when he was a Customs officer of some degree of integrity, and now he is a near octogenarian. He wants to occupy the position in his 80’s so he can impose a Trump-like senility of anxiety on all of us.
He said he has lived his life, and all he wants is power. That is deception. It happens to some men who have acquired wealth. They focus on one desire: conquer their fellow humans. Hence Epicurus wrote: “If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches, but take away from his desires.” The man, however, still craves wealth at close to 80, and the people are not giving him the desire.
But the lighthearted moment was when Rotimi Amaechi stood up. I wish he just sat and watched. How could he say he has been in politics because of poverty. Is he poor now? He has been in power for 24 of the 26 years, and he was always in sync. Just two years out of power, he is angry? Maybe he was under the spell of Jesus when he said the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. Amaechi’s version? Steal, maim and kill. It was a memorable assertion against all the speakers since he did not excuse all his fellow travelers. So, how are they the alternative? Shall we now elevate those vices as models of governance?
Nasir El Rufai is the comic figure, although he may not be the sort of comedian for the hour. He said he did not want to be minister. Haba. As Reno Omokri wrote, why did he spend all that time in the Senate. Just for show? He dressed well, prepared notes and ideas about power, and he was not interested? Hence, I wrote earlier that he has a Machiavellian attitude to facts. Even before he appeared before the Senate, he had embarked on a pilgrimage to Europe with his friend Jimi Lawal, and explored deals with firms on electricity. He should not lie to the public. Such lies do no respect to the Nigerian people.
The president wanted him to be minister. But he was not popular with the top brass of the party, including those who had worked with him. So, the president had to reconsider. I read a few posts from Joe Igbokwe about the man’s value. I don’t know where Joe got that idea. He should go to Kaduna, where some of his associates are behind bars, and they are finding it difficult to defend the findings of the House of Assembly on how he spent the state funds, including about power projects that went kaput. That Kaduna is standing and its Governor Uba Sani is earning accolades is a boon after El-Rufai’s era of error.
He also confessed on the panel that he could also oppose the government if he served. So, there. Someone once told me that he asserted that he loves to attack big men, so as to get attention and bring them down. It is the practice of some persons – not all of them – of a certain relationship with the earth.
All of them on that panel indicted themselves. It shows they are not looking at the clock, and what it is saying about today. They forget that, in the market, dollar is gradually peeping down from its peak. Inflation is high but prices of tomato, beans, dry fish, etc, are losing altitude. They forget that over 600,000 students are now benefitting from the student loans. They cannot see what happened in December. How many Nigerians came home and how much did they enjoy their country? El-Rufai, who failed to bring peace to Southern Kaduna must be marveling over how much calm has come as balm to the streets and heaths. He must wonder at the return of Birnin Gwari. The panelists did not see that the roof of their party, PDP, is on fire. Two hench men going to blows in public in Asaba. Did they not see that? Those who say they are still in the APC only exhibited a loose tongue.
What it shows is that they are suicides, looking at the backend of their political profiles. It is like the novel, Suicides, by Argentine writer Antonio Di Benedetto. The protagonist is a reporter who is reporting three suicides. He describes their profile this way: “There is terror in their eyes. But their mouths are grimacing in sombre pleasure.” Tells the story of our men on the panel.
This Article first surfaced on The Nations Newspaper.
Madukwe B. Nwabuisi is an accomplished journalist renown for his fearless reporting style and extensive expertise in the field. He is an investigative journalist, who has established himself as a kamikaze reporter.
