TO be an elder naturally suggests an aged person, mature, experienced, wise and temperate. And to wear the toga of an elder-statesman confers on one the added impetus of pre-eminence that often comes with holding important public office. And this elongated ‘elder’, if we call it that, simply means that this manner of elder is long in the knowledge and understanding of his country in all its finest nuances.
But Hardball posits that there are hardly such elders around in our dear country anymore. The Dasuki $2.1 billion arms scandal is a notable reference point. It has been revealed that a number of our elders we respected so much are merely mealy-mouthed old men who eat from both sides of the mouth. They have proved that they are mere old men and not elders. And to address them as elder-statesmen is to abuse that very word.
It has been revealed how our septuagenarians and octogenarians were debased (or did they debase themselves) sharing out our commonwealth in the manner common brigands would. It was a bazaar and money was being shared in hundreds of millions to our old men; they collected, they spirited the monies away and they all joined the President Goodluck Jonathan campaign train. They told us Jonathan was the best thing that ever happened to Nigeria; they told us nobody else could govern Nigeria safe for Jonathan. They told us that Nigeria would disintegrate if we failed to give Jonathan a second chance. It has turned out that they were lies, damned lies told by our elders.
Well, Hardball knows too well that it is not smart to be wise after the fact. In the sense that few elders would decline a presidential gift, which is what we can conveniently call the Dasuki booty. But what do you do when some of the compromised old men return to throw stones into the market place?
This is the impression one gets when we read such report as: “Probe, jail Jonathan if found guilty – NEF”. NEF stands for Northern Elders Forum. While Hardball will not hold brief for former President Jonathan, he would also not feel comfortable watching elders act in a child-like manner. The report under reference is credited to Chief Paul Unongo, described as the Deputy National Leader of NEF.
Unongo, a high-grade septuagenarian who would touch 80 if he stretched his finger was a minister in the 80s; a member of the Constituent Assembly, among numerous public positions he held. He is by every definition, an elder statesman.
Now do elders throw petrol at a raging fire? Do elders play with fire crackers? Who mellows down the youth and moderates matters when tempers flare and everyone is losing their head? Elders surely. This is why Hardball is taken aback when Elder Paul Unongo, hiding under the cover of NEF, calls for the trial and jailing of a former president. If Jonathan must be tried, so be it, but what value would NEF add to national discourse by championing that cause?
Nigeria is going through a difficult time; she needs introspective elders who can help guide her out of this storm, not gung-ho elders.
END
Be the first to comment