A simple but profound Igbo adage has a queer manner of relating the saying: “Enough is Enough.” It says it to the effect that when a matter or an occurrence gets too overwhelming or sinister, we must point at it. It is not clear from the expression what the motive of our elders was in pointing at the matter. Could it be to draw attention to it; to repudiate it or perhaps to cast a spell on it? Whatever the case may be, the very act of pointing at something ominous and foreboding is in itself an enactment of valour.
Hardball is therefore of the opinion that time has come to point to the weekly column of a certain Femi Aribisala published in Vanguard every Tuesday. Yes, he has indeed made a reputation for himself as a controversial columnist who seems to love to hold extreme views.
In fact his views rub against the grain so much they hurt like the sharp cut of the razor. Sometimes some wonder whether Mr. Aribisala truly means what he writes or he is just kidding. His support for the former President Goodluck Jonathan would make a case study in the art of intellectual endorsement for a candidate in a major election.
Of course, he is entitled to his views and standpoints. One can even grant a columnist some spell of propaganda especially of the subtle and intellectualised type. They are his prerogative so long as they are within the bounds of decency and journalism ethos.
But Hardball posits that Mr. Aribisala’s views are designed perhaps to damage the mind. His thoughts are often obdurate and at variance with edifying national sentiment.
His last piece (Vanguard, Tuesday, December 15, 2015) comes particularly insensitive and raises a lot of questions in the minds of compatriots of goodwill. Titled: “Goodluck Jonathan was an exceptional president”, it is an extension of some of the electioneering sing-songs he rendered early in the year. Now that the elections have been won and lost, it would be expected that all sword would be sheathed and we all return to making the best of our mother land.
In the face of the current revelation of large scale pillaging of the treasury during the administration of President Jonathan, one would expect all compatriots to work in tandem to see that our looted treasure is restored. But not Mr Aribisala; hear him: “Thanks to Jonathan, agriculture now accounts for 22 per cent of Nigeria’s GDP, more than oil and gas which only account for 15.9 per cent. Under Jonathan, Nigeria recorded more than 50 per cent reduction in food imports… With the innovation of dry season farming, Nigeria reached 60 per cent self-sufficiency in rice production…? Where is the rice, where is the food?
He says the ongoing investigation of public officials is a witch hunt of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but what is his take on the billions of dollars being revealed? Is Mr. Aribisala not troubled that so much money was removed in cash from our apex bank? As an Oxford alumnus, which other country has he heard that $2 billion cash is taken from the apex bank? Would he rather this grand thievery is not probed?
Where is the public consciousness of an intellectual- columnist that Aribisala supposedly is. He is indeed an exceptional columnist!
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Femi Aribisala is indeed a special case. I sometimes wonder if indeed he posses the credentials attributed to him, because his views at best are at variance with logical reasoning. Totally illogical.
A man hates another to the point that no matter what ‘good’he does, he is ‘bad’. As if that is not enough, he loves another to the point that no matter what ‘bad’ he does, he is ‘good’.
As a rule I don’t read his articles anymore because it leaves me dehydrated, depressed. An analyst who deliberately refuses to be objective, who mischievously rejects putting his opinion in a balance should be avoided like cancer.
I shudder to imagine this character as a ‘Biafra’ spokesman, he will simply set this country ablaze.