AUDIO:” I am not your mate”….APC Lagos Chair,Chief Henry Ajomale to Jimi Disu at THE DISCOURSE on Sunday
ENDAUDIO:” I Am Not Your Mate”….APC Lagos Chair,Chief Henry Ajomale to Jimi Disu At THE DISCOURSE on Sunday
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As usual, I have been up since 3a.m. The going on in the country is giving me concerns. I can’t really sleep and when I have this kind of restlessness, I opted to read and or listen to the PAST such that I may or can find timely and timeless clues needed to address my PRESENT concerns and thereby gain insight, yea, both mental succor and physical stamina to handle the how and what can and may shape my FUTURE.
It is based on the foregoing that I elected once again to peruse Jimi Disu’s Blog the early hours of today which is instructively June 12 – for those who appreciate history and would appropriate the spoken and unwritten story thereof will not treat this as coincidence – in search of materials (written or voice) of yesterday that one can glean from and which may give insight into what tomorrow may and can bring.
Though I listened to the LIVE broadcast of the interview between Mr. Jimi Disu, anchor of the Discourse on Classic 97.3 FM and Chief Ajomale, the Chairman APC in Lagos State, I am once again wont to listening to the recorded edition and uploaded version of the interview so as to sufficiently hear and read between, beneath and beyond the lines of what was said in order to better situate the message and the messenger in proper perspective and place in the scheme of things even as events unfold and are unfolding in our socio-political lives.
Any curious and discerning mind may and would beg to know of what particular correlation the interview had in addressing personal restlessness on my bed and the public restiveness in our land. Well, as concerned citizen of this country who has attained the age of wisdom, and today being June 12 – an auspicious date to further reflect on the political direction and contribute to national discourse, I pounder, on regular basis, on what was, is and (may) be. I sought and still seeking to know how directly and otherwise, a rancorous and acrimonious ‘political space’ can and would affect me and mine should – G-d forbid – Nigeria disintegrate.
And since politics and the political harbingers have some ways and will for a while, if not forever, have significant say in how I lead and live my life, I retrospectively sought to know how the political class and our social elites – from their words and actions – are handling present issues and poised to harnessing the course of events that are gradually and ultimately shaping our lives as a people particularly in the Southwestern (Yoruba) region of Nigeria should the foreseeable but avoidable dismemberment of the country happens – may the gods forbid it.
Like many listeners, callers and commentators to what went down before, during and after that interview, I was shocked and angry at the insensitivity and the bravado, characteristically brazen posture and brash posturing of the political leadership which was aptly but sadly represented by the ‘top notch’ politician that came for the interview.
It is begging to ask: is this what we would get and live by in Odua Republic should and when ‘things fall apart’ in this political enclave called Nigeria? G-d forbid!!! If what we heard and saw from the likes of the interviewee is anything to go by, then the Yorubas are somewhat ‘doomed’ to live with and by accursed political shenanigans that will not show rounded sensitivity, display tacit judgment and exhibit servitude while serving when providentially graced and humanly privileged to hold political power and civil authority ‘in trust’ for and by the people.
I made the foregoing troubling assertion on both the political class and the masses in Yorubaland in view of the seemingly but roundly warped ‘superiority mentality’ of we know and can do better if not best than others/them where and when it comes to political leadership and matters of public good in the event of the disintegration of the Nigeria state which may lead to smaller nations like Biafra, Arewa, Odua etc.
For a while, the political class in Yorubaland has come to believe and relish in that awkward disposition that good governance is defined by and should be the provision of physical infrastructure such as tarred roads, blocks of classroom, painting of public buildings, and other social jamborees. Recently, there was a deconstruction of this narrowed way of defining and guaguing good governance and political leadership when certain of the Yorubas opted for the gospel of ‘stomach infrastructure’ to crowning a more of political aberration whilst derobing political albatross – so they think.
Suffice to note that good as both physical and stomach infrastructures appear to be in giving credence to the deliverable of politics and political performance, both are not the real deal as our somewhat shrewd Yoruba leaders are wont to make them look and make us believe. If anyone is in doubt, the depth of messages and manifestos of politicians and political parties in developed democracies clearly prove to the schooled that what are being touted as sterling political leadership and good governance in this clime are not really the big deal after all.
In the land of the blind, the man with one eye will of surety parade himself as the best sighted. But the Yorubas are not blind. In all ramifications, particularly in this clime, they are well sighted. The Yoruba political class should not take the discrete and more civil dispositions of their masses that will rather but peacefully engage their ‘elders’ in the bid to correcting the obvious anomalies in governance as a show of cowardice or a people conquered.
Some are today out saying and matching that their ‘mumu don do’. But I dare say that in the first place and from the outset, we are not ‘mumus’. Yes, the Yorubas are not ‘mumus. If our civility is being taken for docility, then the political leadership is naive and pathetic. The critical mass of the Yorubas are acclaimed to be well educated, sophisticated, civil and cultured. These attributes will (and may) one day be the undoing of bad leadership and poor governance where and when the people show their revulsion, which may well not be easily controlled and quickly contained.
In the light of today’s agitation and confrontation that are being thrown up by and within some sections of the country what is the stance of my people (the Yorubas). What is the instruction and wisdom for our political class to take and heed from the restlessness and restiveness across the Niger? Igi gogoro ma gun mi loju, oke rere lati nlo.
It is good and sterling wisdom at display that the Yorubas are not calling for the disintegration of Nigeria like the Igbos are wont to do and more recently like the Arewas. Suffice to note that the position of a greater and larger masses of the Yorubas and our reservation on the possible disintegration of the country is and should not be mistaken for wholesale acceptance of the insensitivity and bravado-ish if not outlandish posturing of the Yoruba elites and politicians at the helm of affairs at various levels and arms of government in the nation.
This is my reflection on the state of the nation as I choose to first pinpoint the plank in the eyes of y own (Yorubas) before and or while attempting to pinpoint the dusty and rusty wood in the eyes of others. It is when and where the political class sees and treat the people as mates in the scheme of things that the bird will peacefully and progressively rest and nest on the tree.t
Tell him to go and look for his mate at oshodi under bridge .I don’t blame him though, Uncle Jimi was part of people who voted him into power
I was highly embarrassed hearing him speak! We were all waiting for him and he turned up late as is usual with puclic office holders and still claimed the programme was for 3pm! Who would invite you to a 2pm programme for 3? Very embarrassing and a poor example to all!
What does he mean by that statement