‘Egbon, the breeze-shooter’ is a piece of satire with historical and cultural benefits. The Yorubas hold respects dearly. When they place “civilised conduct” above other virtues, they imply respect as a two-way traffic.
In the true African spirit of respecting the elders, the Yoruba are tops. In fact, they are so good at it they genuflect while speaking with older ones on phone. And even prostrate to their oba’s empty chair. But then, even in their “natural diplomacy,” an errant “Methuselah” could earn himself a “polite insult.”
That may explain why Chief Olusegun Osoba, former Ogun State governor, “played the game Egba-to-Egba” at Imeko with General Olusegun Obasanjo. The “game” was to “curse” Baba in Yoruba, for playing him out in last year’s 419 election. Otunba Gbenga Daniel took over. Now, Osoba has also turned his anger and suspicion on Chief Bode George. He raised “an alarm” that if a “pin” scratches his “skin”, Bode George “should be held responsible”. The latter, someone alleged, “misled” Obasanjo into unleashing the soldiers that held Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos, Osoba and Niyi Adebayo, former Ekiti governor, hostage, penultimate weekend – in Ayo Fayose’s Ekiti. Tinubu too, fingers George for that humiliating experience.
Old man George has acquired new names, since he became PDP’s (Southwest) national vice-chairman. Some say he’s controversial; others brash. Some even call him loquacious. But it was Tinubu that put it simpler and succinct. After the January 27, 2002 Lagos bomb blast, George led the PDP delegation that paid Tinubu a condolence visit. And the governor paid his “courtesy politically”. He called George “egbon” (elder brother). “He is my egbon. But he is a trouble shooter”! Certainly, it wasn’t in the exact sense of IT “trouble shooter,” the problem solver.
Anyway, Bode George has been linked to many controversies, recently. He’s yet to clear his name in the messy affair at the Nigerian Port Authority, where he was the chairman. Transport Minister, Abiye Sekibo, has raised accountability questions over N21 billion, $34 million and 10 million pound sterling indebtedness. And the $567 million revenue; the $376 million sold to banks, the $41 million NPA got from CBN to fund projects. But instead of addressing those, George called Sekibo and the new NPA chairman, Sarumi, “bloody idiots”.
When the Yoruba hold “civilised conduct” above other virtues, respect is implied as a two-way traffic. But the chief has been carrying on, recently, as if God and patriotism are in his pockets. And with his military mentality, he sees everything, every utterance as coup-inviting. Yet, he invited the military to “imprison” Tinubu, a civilian governor. Do you imagine what could have happened if Tinubu’s security details resisted the siege?
With the death of Chief Aminosoari Dikibo (PDP South-south) vice-chairman and Senator Bala Yauri, PDP (Northeast) vice-chairman, Bode George doesn’t seem to have a boundary, anymore. He now shoots the breeze from all directions. He’s been so snippy that people wonder what exactly his brief is.
After the March 27 council election, those who accused the PDP of rigging, especially in the Southwest, got his tongue-lashing. He claimed it was a revolution. An outcome of his earlier prediction that the PDP would “capture” (a military term) the Southwest. To him, the Yoruba were tired of “tones of lies” many use (Chief Obafemi) Awolowo’s name to tell. Somehow, egbon didn’t see that as a “coup”, maybe because the PDP won.
However, when Governor Orji Kalu of Abia shouted over alleged threats to his life, George saw “a potential thing for a coup.” He claimed people were “pumping out all forms of signals thinking they can topple this government”. And when the Federal Secretariat got burnt in Lagos, he saw another coup in the making. But did it occur to him that it could have been government’s irresponsibility that initiated the fire – in whatever level and form?
By now, almost every Nigerian knows that the PDP was responsible for the Uba-Ngige palaver in Anambra State. However, while we were talking about a practical solution to the problem, BG went idealistically philosophical. “In Africa”, he said, “when you have a problem like that, you go back to the African way. The elders will have to be involved”. Well, maybe. But Obasanjo went to his hometown earlier in his first term to consult with the elders on how to solve Nigeria’s problem. What came out of it? Or did he see the wrong babalawo? If Egbon BG is so sure of his “African solution”, why wait this long when insecurity and poverty have swept off the poor?
The naval man’s caustic tongue even descended on Mallam Tukur, the chief executive of Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission. Tukur did not support Obasanjo’s strangulating fuel tax. And BG kicked. “If you want to be a politician, pull out of the place”. He accused the man of talking “bla-bla-bla” in the media. But didn’t my people say that only a witch can identity a witch?
This chief probably ranks tops among those Professor Adebayo Williams accuse of speaking “neither from the heart nor their head”. He talks too much – reacting for the presidency and the PDP, all at once. He claims to be more democratic than the Greeks. His patriotism comes only after that of Obasanjo. Yet, some see him as a mere opportunist, reaping where he did not sow. George never fought for democracy.
In fact, he never voted for Obasanjo in 1999. He was in London, on a self-exile, while many, especially the press, fought his military peer to a halt. So, why should he carry the PDP on his head, claiming to like Nigeria more than the rest of us combined? And must he always descend into what Williams calls “uncivil barbarity”? Must he “protect” his “interest” with indecent rampart? Then, expect to hide behind an abstract called “respect” to escape condemnation?
There is something said to be “reciprocal”. There are words like decorum, decency, moderation, tolerance, etc. I am told, they, like respect, guild socially acceptable conduct. And there is no defined “Berlin wall” between elders and younger ones here.
This egbon just has to tone down. He showed no respect to Osoba, his elder. And to our sensibilities. If he has so much in his head to talk about, he should pour them into the practical solution of the problems he, PDP, Obasanjo and co have caused this nation. Enough of breeze shooting, please!
- First published in Saturday Sun of April 17, 2004
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