By Remi Oyeyemi<\/p>\n
“We all make choices, but in the end our choices make us.”
\n– Kenneth Levine<\/p>\n
“When you choose an action, you choose the consequences of that action.
\nWhen you desire a consequence you had damned well better take the action
\nthat would create it.”
\n– Lois McMaster Bujold<\/p>\n
After what appeared to be the overwhelming verdict of the majority of
\nNigerians on the stewardship of late Chief of Staff, Mr. Abba Kyari,
\nthat adjudged his actions in office as calamitous, catastrophic, woeful
\nand grief-filled for the average citizen, some of his friends, both
\npersonal and official, have since bombarded the media space with “his
\nother side.”<\/p>\n
There were pieces from Femi Fani-Kayode, Simon Kolawole, Geoffrey
\nOnyeama, Segun Adeniyi, Waziri Adio, Reuben Abati and a number of
\nothers. The obvious attempt by this group was\u00a0 to humanise a personality
\nthat was by reputation, a monster to the majority of Nigerian citizens.
\nTheir attempts were obviously to mitigate the notoriety and obloquies of
\nAbba Kyari as Chief of Staff.<\/p>\n
It must of necessity, be conceded to the individuals identified above
\nand their ilk that they are all entitled to their perspectives on their
\nfriend, Abba Kyari. They have every right to celebrate their friend who
\ndied. It was not a sin to go down memory lane to avail the rest of us of
\nthe beautiful experiences they had with him. “K\u00ec\u00ed bur\u00fa t\u00edt\u00ed k\u00f3 m\u00e1
\nku en\u00eckan soso m\u00f3 ni, eni t\u00ed y\u00ed\u00f3 k\u00f9 la \u00f2 m\u00f2,” so goes the
\nYor\u00f9b\u00e1 aphorism. This aphorism, literally, would mean “No matter how
\nbad one’s situation is, there would be someone to sympathize, who that
\nwould be is unknown.”<\/p>\n
It is a good thing some or all of them had unfettered access to the
\nlate Chief of Staff. It was a great thing that they were able to discuss
\nhis private lamentation about some of the occurrences in the government.
\nIt was a great thing that they either worked together or they were
\nclassmates with Kyari. They regaled us all with the details of their
\npersonal relationships which had nothing to do with public interest.<\/p>\n
Suffice to say that all of us have friends at different cadres of
\ngovernment. How we relate to them is up to us. What we discuss with them
\nand vice versa is up to us. Those of us who are also relatives to those
\nwho hold public offices have the same rights of whatever type of
\nrelationship that mutually suit us. We are all entitled to such.<\/p>\n
In such relationships, either with friends and or family, the variables
\nare patently different from the variables that govern the relationship
\nand expectations of the public on whose purse the public office holders
\nare maintained. They live in government houses. They drive expensive
\ncars. They fly in different types of jets. They have the law enforcement
\nofficers of various grades and genre at their beck and call. They enjoy
\na lot of special privileges. On our purse.<\/p>\n
Thus, to whom much is given, much is highly expected.<\/p>\n
The question\u00a0 that demands immediate answer from the apologists of Abba
\nKyari who are competing with themselves to tell us his “other side” was
\nasked by Mark Twain in his book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, as
\nfollows:<\/p>\n
“What’s the use you learning to do right when it’s troublesome to do
\nright and ain’t no trouble to do wrong, and the wages is just the same?”<\/p>\n
When one is in public office, the basic expectation is one’s
\nresponsibility to the people on whose financial account one is
\nmaintained in that office. The people on the street. The powerless. The
\nvoiceless. The vulnerable. The weak. Those who have no access and should
\nnot have needed it if good governance had been given the priority.<\/p>\n
This also include responsibility to the businesses and the creation of
\nconducive atmosphere for citizens to engage in whatever their interests
\nare within the confines of the extant laws. Ensuring of social and
\neconomic stability is of great importance. With that, goes the most
\nimportant of all – safety of lives and property with tools of justice,
\nequity, balance and fairness.<\/p>\n
In all the tributes from Abba Kyari’s friends, trying to show us “his
\nother side,” there were too many sordid revelations about his person. As
\na public office holder, what came across most was his arrogance. His
\nsense of irresponsibility. His “I don’t care attitude.” His meanness.
\nHis pettiness. His vindictiveness. His brutality. His cunningness. His
\nduplicity. His manipulations. As posited elsewhere, Abba Kyari, with a
\nmien akin to that of a dove, was a heinous hawk, a vicious vulture that
\nis egregious and atrocious in its debauchery and cupidity.<\/p>\n
In this conscious cascade into casual casuistry, Waziri Adio and Simon
\nKolawole, my colleagues in our days at TheNews and TEMPO magazines, did
\nthe most damage. Segun Adeniyi also is in this cadre of those who did as
\nmuch damage. In an attempt to humanize a monster friend of theirs, they
\nshowcased his arrogance and putrid sense of irresponsibility.
\nAcquiescing with Kyari’s refusal to publicly defend himself was a
\ndemonstration of bad faith, first to him as their friend, and second to
\nthe Nigerian public.<\/p>\n
Without any prejudice to their motives for so doing, they left their
\nfriend vulnerable to the harsh judgement of History by such
\nacquiescence. They did Abba Kyari a lot of harm. On the other side of
\nit, they also did a great disservice to the public who paid the wages
\nfor the comfort of Abba Kyari in office. On so many national issues that
\none would not want to repeat here, they did not tell their friend the
\ntruth and did not encourage him to be honest with Nigerians.<\/p>\n
Also, one is flabbergasted by the mere expectations of theirs, that Abba
\nKyari’s death should redeem him of his heinous acts against Nigerians;
\nthat his nicety to them as his friends should override his duty and
\nresponsibility to the public as a public office holder. As such, he,
\naccording to them, ought to be seen from that “other side” purview
\nrather than be judged by his actions in office.<\/p>\n
That they refused to separate personal relationships from responsibility
\nof a public office was very troubling. By virtue of their profession,
\nthey are in the best position to realise\u00a0 that personal relationships
\nwith a motley crowd of fawning friends and flattering family members
\nhave no meaning to the ordinary man on the streets of Il\u00e9s\u00e0, Warri,
\nRano, Enugu, Calabar, Gombe, Kano, Kaduna, Owerri, Akure, Itire, Iwo,
\nSokoto, Yola, Port-Harcourt, Benin, Asaba and or elsewhere in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Mixing up the disposition of a tyrant to his family and friends with the
\nexpectations of the public from a public office holder is very gross and
\nmuch more distressing coming from journalists of their caliber. They
\nknow and or ought to know that there is a big gulf between the two. The
\nmeasurement of the performance of a public office holder is the
\nhappiness and progress of the people, not the happiness and progress of
\nhis crowd of friends, cronies and family members, immediate or extended.<\/p>\n
Every tyrant has a friend. Every tyrant has a wife or concubine. Every
\ntyrant, if he went to school would have a classmate. Every tyrant if he
\ndidn’t go to school would have a street friend and playmate. Every
\ntyrant would have people in his lives to whom he has shown a soft side
\nat one time or the other. Every tyrant has a sense of justification for
\nhis actions. Every tyrant has a sense of self – righteousness, no matter
\nhow vacuous. Every tyrant almost always have the “other side.”<\/p>\n
But to the average citizens on the streets, he is still a tyrant. He is
\nstill a monster. He is still a wicked soul who has made their lives
\nmiserable. He is still that cruel person who never cared about their
\nwelfare. He is still that person who swims in the pool of arrogance of
\npower. He is still that ignoble soul who took decisions that hurt the
\nsystem and damagingly pulverized the man on the street. He is still the
\none responsible for their tears, their gnashing of teeth. He is still
\nthe one responsible, either in part or whole, for their povertization
\nand squalorization.<\/p>\n
To the man on the street, no matter the education of the tyrant, no
\nmatter “his other side,” no matter his loyalty to his friends, his close
\nallies and sycophants, he is still the one stultifying the voice of the
\nvoiceless. He is still the one pumeling the powerless. He is still the
\none hurdling the path of those without access. He is still the one
\ncreating anarchy within the system, inflicting it with more
\ndysfunctionality.<\/p>\n
Any public officer, whether elected or appointed, is accountable to the
\npublic, to the man on the street and not to his friends and family as
\nwell as cronies and sycophants. Whatever private communication between
\nany public office holder and his friends is totally irrelevant and of no
\nconsequences to the perception, assessment and judgement of his
\nperformance in the office by the public on whose financial account he
\nwas maintained in office.<\/p>\n
Those of us who are passing judgements on Abba Kyari are doing so on the
\naccount of his performance in the public office. His “other side” is of
\nno interest to us. What is of interest to us is why and how he
\ntraumatized our lives so heartlessly without remorse. We are bothered as
\nto why he could be so mean and cruel; cared so less, marinated in rancid
\narrogance and be so unconscionably corrupt.<\/p>\n
This is the crux of the matter. They should please save us from the
\ntales about his “other side.” That should be left to his family and
\nfriends, with whom we also sympathize because of our own humanity. They
\nare entitled to their accrued happiness as his bosom friends and family.
\nBut that is gulf apart from his duty and responsibility to the public at
\nlarge.<\/p>\n
Then I read Femi Adesina’s piece about dreaming of Abba Kyari’s death.
\nIn the concluding part of that piece, Femi made an appeal to sympathy,
\nusing religion and the vulnerability of us all to death, as his tools.
\nHe expressed disgust that many are dancing on the grave of Abba Kyari.
\nBut he forgot to remember that Abba Kyari himself danced on the graves
\nof many Nigerians who died as a result of nidorous policies on which he
\ncollaborated with Mohammadu Buhari and the cabal. What some of us seek
\nto know is whether the former Chief of Staff ever believed he would ever
\ndie while he was exercising power with such uninhibited disdain for his
\nfellow human beings? Did he know that we are all made of dust and would
\nreturn to dust?<\/p>\n
I am sure if he did, Abba Kyari would have acted differently in so many
\ncircumstances in which he acted ruthlessly, without mercy, without
\nfairness, without balance and with condescension and arrogance. No
\nmatter how we roll it, no matter how we dice it, no matter how we spin
\nit, no matter how we twirl it, no matter how we turn it, no one among us
\nwould leave this life alive. We should all remember that.<\/p>\n
And to Femi Adesina himself, before he begins to pity the rest of us, he
\nshould also remember that one day, like everyone else, he would bite the
\ndust. Telling us to either give up our land or die, would one day be
\nremembered by the relatives and victims of wanton murder, mindless
\nmaiming, rapacious raping, ferocious arson, destruction of farms and
\nvillages driven by ethnic cleansing of which he is a proud mouth piece.<\/p>\n
All of us must always remember that we all have appointment with death.
\nIt is a necessary end to which we must all come. In or out of power, we
\nmust always be very careful what we do to others.<\/p>\n
It was Carl Gustav Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who
\nfounded analytical psychology and was influential in the fields of
\npsychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, as well
\nas religious studies who admonished as follows:<\/p>\n
“The wrong we have done, thought, or intended will wreak its vengeance
\non
\nour SOULS.”<\/p>\n
And I dare to add, “dead or alive.”<\/p>\n
\u00a9Remi Oyeyemi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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