Is it now becoming a fad in our society here to just utter words without reckoning with their meaning? I ask because these days, all manner of statements are made without regard to their import or meaning.
An attention-seeking candidate in the coming elections put out some posters in some parts of the mainland of Lagos, with this terse statement in Yoruba: ITU-SILE-EKO (Lagos’ freedom), and anyone reading it will want to ask: freedom from what? Stupidity? Naivety? Greed? Barefaced thievery or executive robbery?
If eminent indigenes of Lagos like Alhaji Kafaru Tinubu, Justice Muri Okunola, Chief Molade Okoya-Thomas, Alhaja Abibat Mogaji and Oba Adeyinka Oyekan of Lagos, all of blessed memory; and Prince Rilwan Akiolu, as he was then known, before he ascended the throne of his forebears as Oba of Lagos; as well as Prince Tajudeen Oluyole Olusi, in their wisdom, identified the sterling qualities in the young Senator, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and were unanimous that not only was he eminently suited to be the traditional torch-bearer of Eko (Lagos) as Asiwaju, that he fitted the bill to be the next progressive governor of Lagos State after another of their own, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, I wonder who in this our lovable Lagos State has better pedigree to question their judgement on Tinubu.
In any case, has those misusing words or mis-applying them ever stopped to acknowledge the wisdom and sagacity of our fore-runners who were also apt and precise in their assertions? Our people are fond of saying of one being born and properly groomed and goes on to re-train himself. Bola Ahmed Tinubu belongs in the category of a child of promise that strove ceaselessly to become a man of substance to be loved or loathed but that cannot be ignored.
Men like that belong in the genre of great men and women of history like Pandtri Nehru, Obafemi Awolowo and Mother Theresa whose pursuit and attainment of excellence have attracted to them their own fair share of envy, jealousy and unpardonable perfidy. When the strings of successes of such people are ascribed to anything other than hard work and good luck, we end up with what the Yoruba say of mean and jealous people: “A njuwon o se wi l’ejo, ija ilara o tan boro, boro.”
But, more importantly, what bondage can some people conjour in their hearts that they are in, to think the whole of the state was in bondage of one man with them?
To dismiss Asiwaju Tinubu as inconsequential, is to recommend oneself for psychiastrist’s examination; and to dismiss the collective wisdom of the eminent Lagosians mentioned above.
If among his peers, he worked his way from being a governor, like them, to becoming a leader and a discoverer of governors like Raji Fashola, Akin Ambode and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, it could only be attributable to one factor: single-minded dedication to one’s duty and exceptional brilliance. It is nothing like a flash-in-the-pan or sheer happenstance. And, if in doubt, beat that record.
I am not a pushover in political matters. Añd having experienced Jakande from his emergence in 1979 to the present occupier of the governorship throne, I think it is cheap and idle talk for anyone or any class of people wishing to be popular to be talking of their being in bondage. I suggest they should be honest enough to admit that while they were busy with trivia, the guy they love to hate is at his desk burning the midnight oil on developmental matters. Or, hasn’t someone said the defining characteristic of intelligence is to pay attention to important defining matters?
If you ask me, I will say on Tinubu, majority of citizens, rather than being in bondage, are bonded with him as Lagos strives on excellence on virtually every front that borders on meaningful development.
Leave a Reply