On August 22nd, 2013, some newspapers, including Leadership and The Nation,\u00a0 carried a rejoinder by Gov. Gabriel Torwua Suswam to the interview granted by elder statesman and Second Republic Minister of Steel, Wantaregh Paul Unongo, published in the Sunday Mirror of August 18, 2013.<\/p>\n
In the interview, Unongo, who is an encyclopedia of sorts, spoke on a broad spectrum of issues, and innocuously touched on the unfolding, but sadly under-reported tragedy that is otherwise called \u201cRt. Hon. Gabriel Torwua Suswam, Ph.D.\u201d But even for this \u201cRt. Hon.,\u201d renowned, as he is, for verbal inelegance, the rejoinder was an all-time low! In effect, he beat his own record!<\/p>\n
We have elected to take on Suswam because knowing Wantaregh Paul Unongo\u2019s disposition, he is likely to say: \u201cJust let Gov. Suswam and Special Adviser Akwaya be: they are my children.\u201d We understand his big-heartedness, but we are children too, so we are not constrained by his overly noble inhibitions. We do not have access to government money with which to buy space, but, through this opinion, we wish to make our views known.<\/p>\n
For an interview that ran for two pages, it is instructive that Suswam and Akwaya found only two paragraphs and three phrases objectionable. This means even by their twisted standards, in terms of objectivity and factual accuracy, the Unongo interview rates A+. When someone does so well, we believe, what he deserves is commendation; not condemnation. But then, we are talking here of inverted logic and \u201cRt. Hon. Gabriel Torwua Suswam.\u201d<\/p>\n
But before venturing further, we wish to draw attention to the fallen standard of education in Nigeria as evidenced in the Suswam sponsored rejoinder. Although the piece was written by \u201cDr. Cletus Akwaya,\u201d and possibly vetted by \u201cRt. Hon. Gabriel Torwua Suswam,\u201d the appalling confusion in tenses and pronouns in the rejoinder makes us want to weep for these supposed intellectuals and, by extension, Nigeria! A Ph.D and a Dr.? This is a classic case of double jeopardy.<\/p>\n
Just three examples will suffice since we did not give them their degrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears Unongo is fast loosing (sic) his mind.\u201d Messrs. Ph.D and Dr., the correct word is losing. Although this merits special comment, we will come back to it later. Here is another: \u201c\u2026at that time, Dr. Akume was on (sic) saddle\u2026..\u201d Once again, we believe Suswam and Akwaya meant to write:
\n\u201cAkume was in the saddle\u2026.\u201d But there are others, like this: \u201cChief Unongo may chose (sic) to\u2026.\u201d This is one grammatical murder too many.<\/p>\n
For people with such fanciful suffixes and prefixes like \u201cPh. D,\u201d and \u201cDr.\u201d, they do themselves, their certificates and their schools great disservice! This is more so as the grammatical liabilities of the duo are in such a foundational area as Basic Grammar and Composition, which is a 101 course in many universities!<\/p>\n
However, since Dr. Akwaya, who signed the rejoinder, was careful to differentiate his \u201cDr.\u201d from Gov. Suswam\u2019s \u201cPh. D,\u201d we are left to go into speculations.\u00a0 Ph. Ds are usually academic doctorates,\u00a0 but since Suswam got his in gubernatorial incumbency, his may be an \u201cExecutive Ph. D., and not necessarily an academic one.\u00a0 As for \u201cDr.\u201d Akwaya, his \u201cDr.\u201d may either derive from Medical Doctor or Native Doctor! But since he is not listed in the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) directory, it is likely that he is a native doctor. And it may explain why almost every time he opens his mouth or pens down a sentence, an English word dies!<\/p>\n
The academic standing of the duo is further made questionable when they write that Unongo claims to \u201chave super political structures\u201d when he is not \u201can architect, mason or engineer!\u201d By this, Suswam \u201cPh. D.\u201d and \u201cDr.\u201d Akwaya mean a political structure is something physical, and to build it, one needs an architectural drawing, plus a mason or an engineer, who will mix cement and mould blocks to build it! If it were not so pathetic, we could even laugh. But we rather ask: Need people wonder anymore why: Our Benue; Our Future has today become: Our Benue; Our Graveyard?<\/p>\n
But we move on to the kernel of the rejoinder. And we make bold to say both Suswam and Akwaya are good students of Joseph Stalin who coined and popularized the sick maxim: \u201cCall your enemies what you are.\u201d Otherwise, how could Suswam\/Akwaya dismiss the Unongo interview as \u201ca tissue of lies,\u201d and then proceed, without qualms, to erect, not a tower of truth, but rather, a pyramid of falsehood?<\/p>\n
But what is worse is that it is an inverted pyramid. Meaning: the pyramid is not only shaky, as it were, but the more one seeks for even scraps of facts, the more one comes upon an elaborate tapestry of half-truths, twisted facts, inverted logic, bare-faced lies, embarrassing ignorance and disembodied subjectivity.<\/p>\n
That the title of the infantile rejoinder disagrees with the verbatim quotation of the supposedly offending portion Unongo\u2019s interview is proof that Suswam et all have nothing to indict the elder statesman with, but only used the interview as a pretext\u00a0 to \u201cfinish the old man,\u201d as Unongo is now called in Government House, Makurdi (GHM).<\/p>\n
The rejoinder is entitled: Unongo Did Not Make Suswam Governor. But the rejoinder quotes Unongo thus: \u201cI have evidence to show that I worked for his (Suswam) progress, and three times I was critical to his winning elections.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is, therefore, nowhere in the quote or elsewhere in the interview where Unongo said he \u201cmade Suswam governor.\u201d We repeat: Nowhere. The above merely means he was part of the forces that made Suswam\u2019s electoral successes possible. If a statement as simple as this makes Suswam\/Akwaya to go haywire, should they not be rather quarreling with their teachers? Why Unongo?<\/p>\n
Another grouse of Suswam and Akwaya is where Unongo is quoted to have said ex-Governor George Akume went to his house \u201cin the company of Suswam, Prof. Steve Ugbah and Arc. Joe Ikyaagba and lay down begging me to work for Suswam.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once again, we maintain that Unongo saying he was begged to work for Suswam does not amount to saying he \u201cmade Suswam governor.\u201d So charging the man with an imaginary offence is not only wickedness, but also something akin to witchcraft.<\/p>\n
In any case, if Suswam personally denied accompanying Sen. Akume to Unongo\u2019s house, we would know what to say: and we are waiting for him. But as it were, it was Akwaya who was pushed into the market square to make a fool of himself, and equally advertise his probable medical challenge.<\/p>\n
Perhaps, he is still recovering from his bullets-in-the-head wounds!<\/p>\n
Unongo did not mention Akwaya. He specifically mentioned Akume, Suswam, Ugbah and Ikyaagba \u2013 all of whom are still alive and active in the public arena. If both Suswam and Akwaya chose to forget, why did Akwaya not think of something more intelligent to say when faced with the dilemma of confronting truth with falsehood? This is especially so, as Paul Unongo recalls seeing Akwaya on that day.<\/p>\n
His words: \u201cI say this most grudgingly, but then you are insistent that I speak. After the meting, I decided to walk them outside where they parked.<\/p>\n
And I saw someone cleaning one of the jeeps. Of course, why should a driver not clean his principal\u2019s car. It is just that when the cleaner turned to open the door of the jeep, I recognized him as Akwaya, then the commissioner for Information. It struck me as odd. A whole commissioner!
\nBut then there is something called unemployment.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy worry was that Akume was cheapening his cabinet by converting his commissioners into cleaners or drivers. But there is also another thing called sycophancy. Of course, you can see that Akwaya is so good at it that when Akume left, Suswam inherited him.\u00a0 But he down-graded him to Special Adviser; to serve as his Chief Press Secretary (CPS). Note that the governor has no CPS again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is why when Suswam made my wife commissioner, and took her to Information, I had serious misgivings about it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The world must now understand why it is convenient for Akwaya to forget. If it is amnesia, we have the cure. If it is, however, senility, a sickness of the aged, we sympathize with both Jacob and Esau that it has caught up with them so early.<\/p>\n
There is so much falsehood to counter, but which do we take next?<\/p>\n
Ok. Suswam and Akwaya\u2019s other grouse is that Unongo said he registered the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) name with N100, 000 in 1998. Wantaregh has said this for umpteenth times, and has always mentioned the the names of those who betrayed him. It is interesting that none of them has ever
\ncontradicted him \u2013 either publicly or privately.\u00a0\u00a0 And they are both alive.<\/p>\n
Of course, it is public knowledge that Unongo consequently left the PDP for the All Peoples Party (APP). But if Akwaya cannot remember driving someone to Unongo\u2019s house in 2006, how do we expect him to recall the events of 1998?<\/p>\n
In one portion of the rejoinder, \u201cDr.\u201d Akwaya writes, half-heartedly, that Gov. Suswam \u201c\u2026is however, (sic) appalled with this tissue of lies being shamelessly pushed into the public domain by Chief Unongo in his desperation to seek relevance in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n
We hasten to say that even if Unongo or someone else were lying, Suswam cannot be \u201cappalled.\u201d The reason is because he is too much at home with lies to be offended, least of all, \u201cappalled\u201d with one isolated or occasional case of lying. His lies are legion and legendary, and so we need not list them here.<\/p>\n
And as for Suswam making Unongo\u2019s wife a commissioner, it is a non-issue.<\/p>\n
In any case, if the appointment was to silence him, it was a wasted effort.<\/p>\n
And we further add that elsewhere, people of Unongo\u2019s socio-political stature have repeatedly pushed their wives and sons to the national scene as ministers, special advisers, senators and ambassadors. So if his wife was appointed a mere commissioner, it is not his tragedy, but that of a skewed system that rewards selflessness with ingratitude, even iniquity.<\/p>\n
Akwaya also said, most mischievously, that Suswam defeated Unongo in the PDP primaries of 2006. Unluckily for him, we were there at the Aper Aku Staduim-venue of the primaries, and can say authoritatively, without fear of contradiction, that Unongo, like all the other aspirants, was defeated by the government machinery, which was heavily tilted in favour of Suswam \u2013 its anointed candidate. One of the aspirants, Prof. Iyorwuse Hagher, even had to petition the then Gov. Akume, to the Tiv Traditional Council.<\/p>\n
But we add that even then, even then, with all the manipulations, with all the executive might, Suswam could not win the primaries. And to stop the primaries from going into the decisive, second ballot, some aspirants like the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, Chief Ralph Igbago, were coerced into undemocratically \u201cdonating\u201d their votes to Suswam! We know that even in village meetings or nursery schools, votes are not donated!<\/p>\n
Anyway, it is a measure of Suswam\u2019s gratitude that today, his chief benefactors like Sen. George Akume and Ralph Igbago have left the PDP and found accommodation in the All Progressives Congress (APC). If he can turnd against Akume and Igbago, who only \u201cworked for his progress.\u201d<\/p>\n
And finally, we come to this: \u201cIt appears Chief Unongo is fast loosing (sic) his mental balance on account of his old age.\u201d The meaning of this unrestrained verbal diarrhea is poignant, even in a Government House where restraint is in executive chains; honour, on exile; truth, in retreat; and respect on sabbatical.<\/p>\n
We say this because no one in his right senses mocks old age, which ia blessing in every culture and civilization. And this is why we also pity this \u201cDr.\u201d Akwaya.<\/p>\n
We recall that about two years ago, he was admittedly shot in the head, and had to be evacuated abroad for treatment. Who knows if he still has a bullet still logged in his medulla oblongata? Knowing the compound effects of bullet wounds, particularly in the brain, who can tell if it is \u201cDr.\u201d
\nwho is actually on the verge of \u201closing his mental balance?\u201d
\nWe rest our case. For now.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Mzeeiyol<\/p>\n
Agedam, Gboko<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On August 22nd, 2013, some newspapers, including Leadership and The Nation,\u00a0 carried a rejoinder by Gov. Gabriel Torwua Suswam to the interview granted by elder statesman and Second Republic Minister…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n