BUHARI: THE NON-HISTRIONICS OF HISTORY – A Reticent President Working Hard Too Late -
By ‘Tunji Ajayi
Of all the subjects humanity has come across, History seems to be the most resilient of them all. History is sincere and honest, but silent, not giving to the histrionics. Perhaps because he doesn’t take bribes, his sincerity and honesty is never in doubt. Like the clock he keeps working day and night, non-stop. Whatever History sees or hears he records verbatim. Like the journalist, he is also the eyes and ears of the society. History is never off his track and abhors manipulation. No matter how pulled or shoveled, he comes back to his track to tread on the right path again. History has a father. His name is Mr. Truth, who is equally rigid, stubborn on principles and incorruptible. Truth, the father of History is unconquerable and is ever resistant to being subdued and subjugated no matter how powerful his captors. Like Femi Emmanuel a cerebral motivational speaker would say: “Truth is never outdated. Only gimmicks do. Nothing endures like Truth.” Even when in bondage, he frees himself from the ramshackle of chains and captivity of his captors. Consequently, it is a self delusion to attempt manipulating and subverting Truth and History, because they own wings. Perhaps that explains why the scripture says in Proverbs 1:17 that “it is for nothing that the net is spread before the eyes of anything owning wings.” Consequently, it is in vanity that any man, no matter how powerful or influential attempts to change the course of History and subvert Truth. Truth survives the tests of time.
Like a chameleon, so is human nature; and like a hermaphrodite its look may be deceptive or confusing. For there is no face to show the mind’s construction. Man can appear good and pious but have deceptive characters due to his innate capacity to maneuver. Thus, the holy scriptures confirm the vanity of inanity in man; his impiousness and deviousness. In a lamentable tone, Prophet Jeremiah in his chapter 17:9 quipped: “The heart is more treacherous than anything else and is desperate. Who can know it?” And so, man is like “a white sepulcher.” A white sepulcher is often covered with beautiful veneers. It is often an exquisitely beautiful, well-painted and decorated graveyard. Most graveyards of the affluent and wealthy men in the society are often decorated with marbles and gold and costly stones running into millions of dollars. But deep inside are rotting flesh and bones and maggots, depicting the end of all humans and the vanity in their inanities, wealth, pride and arrogance. That is the white sepulcher, an apt description of humanity and man. And that explains why God was very happy and excited, but not until in his kindness he created man. The same man gave cause to lament and regret. Yes. Man made God to regret his kind actions. Thus, Genesis 6:6-7 confirms the veracity of this assertion: “And Jehovah felt regret that he had made men in the earth, and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only bad all the time. And so Jehovah said I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground . . . . because I do regret that I have made them” (NWT).
But man, in his deceptive chameleonic robe, wants to appear good and pious all the time, in the estimation of man and God. But while man could be hoodwinked and fatally deceived, God quickly warned man in Gal: 6:7 so as not to live under an illusion of having successfully deceived God: “Do not be misled; God is not one to be mocked. For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.” Thus, when a man is sowing, History is rolling the tape to record him. History is so meticulous. Though, the nettle resembles beans, man cannot sow nettles and reap beans.Man cannot plant the whirlwind and reap calmness. That is justice, the corollary and exactitude of History. Like the music buff King Sunny Ade would say in his My Dear (1986): “A kìí gbin àlùbósà, kó hu èfó. A kìí gbin ako isu kó hu ewùrà. A kìí gbin ògèdè kó hu àgbàdo. Ohun tí o bá gbìn òhun lo máa ká.” – You don’t sow onions and have it germinate into vegetables. Neither can you plant high-quality yam tubers and have them sprout second rate ones. You cannot sow plantain and it germinates into maize. You reap whatever you sow. In his Trench Town Rock too, Bob Nesta Marley kept shouting: “You reap what you sow.” It is a truism. It is a corollary.
Humans love to thwart truth and alter the already written history. The celebrities and the affluent ones quite often go as far as spending millions to employ professional image makers under the garb of public relations managers, or public affairs officers, personal assistant on media and publicity etc. They hire highly-paid pundits who are well trained in sophistry and clever use of explanations that seem correct but are really false in order to convince and deceive unwary people. High profile personalities do hire eloquent personnel well groomed with all manners of fallacious arguments to confuse and convince. With their “argumentum ad consequentiam” like lawyers would say,they present their fallacious argument, determined to be true or false, based on whether it would be pleasant or desirable to their audience, rather than based on reality on ground. Such arguments are well polished and embellished to tickle the audience’s ears. Though the PR and image maker man knows it is utter falsehood and a sacrilege on the altar of History to falsify known truth. But he cares less so long his falsehood and ballyhoo pleases his boss. Thus, the world wasn’t surprised when few weeks back the eloquent special adviser to the president on media and publicity blew out a ballyhoo which set the world rolling on the floor with uncontrollable laughter. Until then, I never knew that intense and uncontrollable laughter could cause belly aches and simultaneously draw tears from the lachrymose until recently when Mr. Femi Adesina the presidential aid on media told the world why Nigerians - these same Nigerians - are more attracted to Buhari than Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Aminu Kano. For almost a whole day my mouth left itself ajar. It refused to close despite all my efforts. He was reported to have written on the topic: “The essential Buhari: VP Osinbajo got it!” What Osinbajo got right according to Adesina was his painting Buhari well at an event in London, where Osinbajo on the other hand reportedly said that Buhari was “possibly Nigeria’s most popular politician that we have had in generations!” I am sure his audience merely watched his lips stupefied. They know better far beyond his rhetoric and political grandstanding.
One thing in creative writing is that writers should avoid in their writings the damaging effect of solecism, malapropism, illogical submission, misapplication of concord rules, and even comma placement. Not many writers are aware of the damaging effect of ordinary comma placement which could change and distort the entire intention of a writer, or confuse the ultimate decoder of his message. There are about five different types of comma (,) each one depending on the contextual usage in a sentence viz: comma parenthetical, comma apposition, comma series, etc. Thus, to avoid being deceived, especially by spokespersons or politicians, it is instructive to observe very well where they insert their commas in their manifestoes, or even where they pause or take a short breath in verbal communication. Oh, a topic for another day. But while reading through Femi Adesina’s comment in the text, one notices that his submission on President Buhari as being “possibly Nigeria’s most popular politician that we have had in generations” might be very correct after all. Truly, Buhari is popular. Very popular. There are countless reasons. But the chief amongst was that Buhari is the only President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces ever in Nigeria’s history, whose thoughts and mindset are so obscure and hardly known either by those he leads or the military on which he has constitutional oversight as the Commander in Chief. I do know that wars are won with clear and unambiguous directives from war commanders.
But I do not know whether Buhari’s reticent and non-sequitur stance on virtually every issue of national importance could lead a country out of the doldrums or win any war. He loathes inter-personal communication, but latches on intra-personal communication. Thus, the president only delights in listening to himself alone. That is the truth which explains why Nigeria wasted so long time in discussing what to do with herders’ ravaging cows all over the country, while the rest of the world moved ahead. Except that the south-west state governors took a bold joint decision on the subject, President Buhari, after gallivanting hither and thither is still in search of the 1960 grazing routes till today. He also took eternity debating whether or not bandits, kidnappers and insurgents should be declared terrorists; even while every day witnessed the unrestrained orgy of mass killings. Yes. Like Femi Adesina boasted, Buhari is popular in doing the bizarre. But placing him in the mould of Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, Aminu Kanu, et.alon statesmanship pedestal is a sacrilege; let alone putting him on a higher plane than those brainy political gladiators.
Nigeria is under excruciating pain and anguish as buttressed by the perceptive erudite and witty Reverend Farther Mathew Kukah, who eloquently gave his often acrid truth recently that many Nigerians prefer being out of this country if they had the opportunity. Hear him: “Successive uncaring governments have created situations under which Nigerians are now suffocating.” The intellectually sound and cerebral cleric went on: “So when Nigerians say that they want out . . . it is because they are convinced that even uncertainty is certain for them, because they have come to believe, right or wrong, that elsewhere or anywhere is better than where they are now.” Kukah went on: “When will Nigerians realize that the dark night of underdevelopment has stretched for so long that the dawn of development seems impossible? Can you imagine that after over 60 years of independence with trillions and trillions of dollars that have been spent, we still cannot provide ourselves with electricity . . . housing and good roads, and we are still romanticizing and nostalgic about our past? How can a country make progress while in reverse?” Hmm! I wasn’t wrong after all to have captioned my last piece on this bold and cerebral mind as “The Candor in Kukah’s Candid Counsel”.
Like his spokespersons, the president too would also latch on what the learned lawyers call “argumentum ad fidem” which thrives on fallacious arguments that asserts the truth of a proposition by an appeal to pious testimony or religious revelations. The man recently swore with the Holy Quran apparently to convince Nigerians why he would not stay a day longer than May 29, 2023, and wanted his successor to secure the country like he tried to do; fix the economy, since according to him “we have a lot of people who are unemployed”. The President had earlier promised to end insecurity before leaving office, and leave Nigeria as best president that ever ruled Nigeria. The adage says if wishes were horses, beggars would ride. But unfortunately, wishes are never horses. So, beggars may never ride. I am certain that Nigerians are yet to forget the “Insha Allah” cliché brought into our lexicon between 1985 and 1993 by the self-styled military President Badamosi Babangida who took over the reign of this country by military coup-de-tat in 1985. Unarguably, he had huge achievements until his subterfuge and maneuvering started four year later to elongate his stay in power. A deft and witty military officer with political savvy, Babangida kept swearing with the Holy Quran and his “Insha Allah” assurance to hand over power until he was technically forced out of power in 1993. Even till the last minute, he still latched on his craft - subterfuge - in his various addresses to the nation often riddled with excuses and conundrums. At last he never handed over in the real sense of it. He said he was “stepping aside.” Babangida aptly ran afoul of the masked Afro-Beat music maestro, Lágbájá’s homily in his track: Simple Yes, Or No. Lágbájá advised: “Let Your Yes Be Your Yes, and Your No be No. Elaborate explanations ‘iro la maa ba nibe’ ” (Too long explanation is often ridden with falsehood). According to him, “t’ón bá ti n f’ìka kan’lè, fi’ kan ahón, na’ka soke, iró fee jabo nìyen.” – Whenever they raise a finger with which they’ve touched the ground and their lips in order to convince, know that falsehood is about to drop).
While it is not being argued whether President Muhammadu Buhari might want to stay beyond 2023 or not, it must be emphasized here that “argumentum ad fidem” – subtle appeal to pious or religious creed or sentiment is not new in Nigeria’s political history, and should not hoodwink or sway any Nigerian into believing that once God’s name is used by the Nigerian politicians to convince, a deal is sealed. But whether a man praises himself to high heavens, or has his image launderers do so on his behalf, there was a man whose words remains ever indelible and whose witty words, though, often enveloped in humour was laden with stark truth. He was the late comedian and humorist Gbenga Adeboye. Hear him: If the whole world is deceived into thinking you are a pious and good man, and thus praying for you while actually you are a wicked and evil soul, their prayers for you are in vain and will turn into malediction. But a reversal will be the case even if the whole world is cursing you while you are truly pious and doing good for humanity; every curse will turn into blessings for you. The lesson is that there is nothing a man does that is hidden from God who will repay man according to his deeds. Setting out for early morning work in the farm is often considered the wisest decision for a farmer, instead of going to work in the farm in the scorching sun. Thus, failure to act wise often provokes a rhetorical question enveloped in Yoruba adage that “Sé ìgbà yí làárò, t’árùgbó n ko igba ebè”? – Is this an early morning time that an aged farmer should be attempting to plough 200 mounds”. Another one that passes a similar message. “Sé ìgbà yí làárò, t’árùgbó n sun ekún ehín?” Are these the early years of childhood that an old man is crying and longing to have new teeth”? Nigerians are incredible optimists, many of whom are prayer warriors who believe so much in miracles, including putting 20 litres of fuel in their cars while expecting it to take them from Lagos to Maiduguri. Or from Ibadan to Port-Harcourt, while looking forward to a Sunday testimony before a pastor. Buhari has barely 15 months left out of his 8 years in office. A leopard has its own renowned toga which doesn’t change, regardless of season except perhaps a force majeur. Any promise or swearing to change Nigeria from her present state to Dubai, South Africa or America’s towering status is a mirage. It is a forlorn hope expecting to see much difference or departure from the stereotyped past before May 29, 2023.
“Esin atiro jà” literally means a horse that fights battles while leaning on one leg only instead of four. Winning a war on one leg appears a herculean task, even while placing two legs still requires much tact to subdue the enemy. Yoruba, a tonal language is beautified with tongue-twisting words, proverbs, alliterations, assonance, homonyms, figures of speech etc. Surprisingly “Esin atirojà” has the same hormonal tune exactly like the noun “Trojan Horse”. A Trojan Horse or Greek Gift also depicts negativity, deceit, unreal, trickery, or perhaps impossibility. Let President Buhari’s loquacious praise singers and image launderers learn to keep mute henceforth, and stop giving false sense of capacity to perform. Let them allow Buhari’s Trojan Horse to go and take a rest. It is far too late to start worrying about Nigeria or working hard to effect any noticeable change before May 2023; and perhaps far too late for the horse to perform any trickery or magic. A toothless old man may never grow new teeth. Verbum Satis Sapienti
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*’Tunji Ajayi, a creative writer, author, biographer and audiovisual documentary producer writes from LC-Studio Communications, Nigeria (+2348033203115, +2348162124412) Face book: https://www.facebook.com/tunji.ajayi.946
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