Tinubu and the Icarus Complex By Folake Aderibigbe

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There  is a saying  that  those  who  live  in  glass  house  should not  throw  stones. The  rationale  for this is  the  dark  prospect of  retaliation which  could   be more  heinous  and destructive given  the structure of the habitat  of either  the initial assailant  or  the avenger. This message is thus a very wise saying. One wonders then why someone like Bola Tinubu, an accomplished and successful politician but highly suspected godfather, should go out of his way to acknowledge that he is not only a godfather but a positive one.

That clearly beats the imagination that the idea of a godfather in Nigerian politics can ever be linked to anything positive or   in any democracy for that matter. This is because in plain terms, godfathers cut corners and promote their selfish goals and objectives at the expense of merit, justice and community life in any society and democracy. Godfathers are simply anti-democrats.

According to reports,  Tinubu  told  a campaign  rally  that Governor Mimiko  of  Ondo  State  took  money  from  him  but did  not play ball. He   said  Mimiko  has labelled   him  a  godfather  and  he accepts  that because  “godfatherism  is  biblical  and that is why Christians  refer  to God  as their  father.” According to him, “I play godfatherism in the South-west   for the good of our people. My godfatherism is for progress and monitoring.  I have brought development to Osun, Ekiti, Lagos, Edo and Ogun States and the people are better for it.”

This  is  a very   clear  and   provocative  example   of  hubris and  a classical  case  of the Icarus  Complex  in  Greek  mythology. The Icarus complex   is  the fascinating story  of a brilliant man blessed with intellect  by the gods  to  make  a bird-like object glued  together  with wax  and able  to fly. Icarus grew heady with the applause of onlookers and flew too close to the sun which melted the   the wax and he plummeted to death on his strange contraption.

It is unbelievable that someone like Tinubu can liken his attested godfatherism to how Christians see God whom they worship as the type of godfatherism he practices and acknowledges. I leave it to the people and governors of the  other South-west  states  to which  he said he has  brought progress  to react as they deem  fit  to  his boastings. We are however interested in how he  has  been  able to ask  for  change at the centre  of  government  in  Abuja   while  promoting continuity in his backyard  here  in  Lagos.

One thing  is clear and  that is that  this self  proclaimed godfather  is a Godless  and  hypocritical  man  without  any religion.  This can be seen from the way he mistook godfatherism at Christian baptism for the way Christians regard God. Secondly the fact that he allowed a Christian-Christian ticket  in  Lagos  and  created  the Ambode  ticket  and went one to attempt  to  foist  himself  on  Buhari  for  a  Muslim-Muslim APC  ticket  before sanity  prevailed  in the  party  for  him  to anoint Osinbajo  and  make  a U-turn, showed  clearly that he  was only interested  in retention  of power  in Lagos State at all costs and not  in placating  Christians  in the state for their long, political  neglect  and discrimination.

So it becomes apparent that both the change and continuity that Tinubu and APC are asking for at the centre  and  in Lagos  are shallow,  hollow and false  in all  respects  and Nigerians  and  Lagosians  should  deny them  both  at  the  polls during  the   presidential and  the governor elections in  Lagos.

In fact, the inconsistency and dishonesty in their intention in Lagos  is clearly  highlighted at  rallies where Ambode  is  present and they  shout “APC  for  Change”  when  all  they  are seeking in Lagos  is dismal  and suffocating continuity  of  the  state governance  in  Tinubu’s dirty  and deep pocket of 16 years of thievery, nepotism and cronyism.

Definitely, again, the governorship election in  the state  will  put an  end to that with  the emergence  of  J.K Agbaje  as the new  governor  of Lagos. That is the main duty of Lagos voters for now.

THISDAY

END

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