Permit me the indulgence in using such exaggeration or imagery. It is that I am so happy for knowing many things about how our misrulers think, how they steal, who they gift money, and most especially their hypocrisy - as a result of this r of or of o fight between the president and his Vice. I had secretly believed - passionately - that, the powerful Nigerians are the ones who would start the revolution on behalf of the masses. Until recently I didn't know the actual name for such scenerio: Law of unintended consequences they call it. I do believe in this law. It is this law that is in play between the president and his Vice.
Oh, ye, let the same law ravages the governors and their deputies. Let them too engage in r of or of o fight. Let them tell and show. Every day I go through the ritual of praying for peace not to reign between these two men called Obasanjo and Atiku. I would say, "Lord, hear the cry of your son crying…let there be no peace between them. Let them talk and let them destroy each other. Lord, you know I've been in bondage - of hope - for so long. You know those before me had died chewing the same hope and the hope buried with them. Heavenly father, inflame their egos until it bursts and consume them. Hear thy son supplication. Hear me O' Lord."
Gosh, my heart stopped a bit when I heard that the president had appeased his Vice by sending presidential jet to take the latter to their real home - United Kingdom - in order to operate his injured knee or whatever. I thought God had forshaken his son. But such doubt was only momentarily. "No way," I had said aloud, making fellow passengers on the tram turn their heads toward me. "Obasanjo and Atiku's fight must lead to emancipation of my people." When I say emancipation, it does not exclude the possibility of a genuine getting started - an end to colonial knavery.
I was about to say that Nigerian journalists were (are?) courageous but Atiku/Obasanjo's war is more courageous. If not for the r of or of o fight between the two, we would never have known about PTDF fraud. I mean we would never have known where money was authorised, how money was authorised, and where the money went. We would never have known who beneffited from the money. Tell me, how many investigative journalists have what it takes to expose the corruption being perpetrated at Aso Rock? This r of or of o fight is only second to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti – in terms of exposing corruption and fraud in high places. "You be rouge, I no be rouge; you be thief, I no be thief; you dey steal, I no dey steal; you be robber, I no be robber; you be armed robber, I no be armed robber..."
I expect fellow Nigerians to take the current r of or of o fight between Atiku and his Oga personally just like Okey Ndibe. I expect them to fume and to feel proxysm due to a sudden divine revelation of truth. I expect Nigerians both at home and in the Diaspora to exploit the situation to chase the baldheads away. But this won’t happen for two reasons. One, because years of mental and military torture have killed the man in us. The other reason is what Odia Ofeimum, former president, Association of Nigeria Authors (ANA) says about Nigerian government, "The attempt to smash opposition has become an in-built tradition in our political system. That opposition, therefore, needs to be smarter than they have always been. If you are prepared to stand up to people in power, you must know that they are going to use every means, delicious and crooked, to get at you. They used it in the past and they will use it again."
I find a typical example of years of mental and military torture in what a Nigerian recently told me: that finding Electoral Data Machine in Adedibu's house is not a big deal in Nigeria. He had said it with such conviction; apparently suggesting such practice is normal and definitely part of political dispensation, which the masses must accept willy-nilly. All my attempt to convince him that such thought amounts to mental slavery did not accomplish an intended result. The young man was actually making jest of me - for being so serious about Nigeria. I gave up.
Above all, it is easy for the Nigerian governments to maintain such mental and physical domination because of their skilful art of confusion and, or deliberate deceit. No matter how conscious and, or brilliant reader one may be, there's always the element of doubt regarding the truth about government corruption. Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Nuhu Ribadu, recently accused members of the political class of politicizing the investigations into activities of the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), saying it could cause the country's collapse.
But tarry a little, for I believe the country has already collapsed even before this r of or of o fight! This reminds me of highly placed Nigerians trying to settle this r of or of o fight, arguing the fighters should concentrate on how to govern Nigerians well. I ask, when has good goverance become the duty of any government in Nigeria? I believe Ribadu's claim that there was a conspiracy to confuse Nigerians, the media and the National Assembly over the PTDF issue. Yours truly is already confused anyway. I barely know among the two worms the one to believe. You see, they have become parasite in my brain. So I believe both men, meaning they're both corrupt.
For instance, the president and his party, PDP, has cried foul thereby rejecting the report which indicted the president. Meanwhile Ribadu has reiterated that his commission had always performed its duty without being teleguided or operating under the influence of the Presidency although, contrary to public expectation, nothing was found against the president. "We have carried out thorough investigation here and abroad involving the International Police (Interpol). No foreign account has been traced to Obasanjo. Obasanjo has no house anywhere outside Nigeria. Obasanjo owns no bank anywhere in the world…" Ribadu also said that the president did not authorise anybody to pay PTDF money into TIB Bank but accused the vice-president of engaging in unlawful dealings with a United States Congressman, Mr. Jefferson.
"We found out that it was Vice President Atiku that authorized the money to be paid into account in TIB. We did not see the approval of Obasanjo for the money to be paid into any bank. We saw documented evidence where Vice President Atiku, officials of the bank including Mike Adenuga and the secretary of PTDF agreed that the money must go to an account in TIB. We did not see Obasanjo's discourse with any bank or officials of banks concerning PTDF matters." Even Minister of Finance, Mrs Nenadi Usman has defended Mr. President over the alleged approval of 20 million dollars PTDF, insisting that the President has never approved the disbursement of any amount from #50 million upward either in writing or orally.
See, they still think I'm a fool who can be fooled every time, even with Fasewe’s revelation that President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice-President Atiku Abubakar were beneficiaries of the controversial MOFAS account. Further confusion is the resignation of all members of the Review Committee set up to complete and fill the gaps in the report of the Ad-Hoc Committee on PTDF. Also, the Senate President said so many things had gone wrong and that the Presidency had been degraded, "this whole thing is getting messier," he was reported to have said. However,, it finally brings relief when both fighters were found guilty. Let two of them spend the rest of their lives in jail. This maybe a wishful thinking, but it pains my heart when morons have to determine the lives of even those who sabiplenty book.
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