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“Death is … the absence of
presence… the endless time of never coming back … a gap you can’t see,
and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound.”
--- Tom Stoppard
Czech-born, English playwright.
“Something startles where I thought I was safest”--- Walt Whitman (quoted in George Lamming’s novel, In Castle Of My Skin)
Nigerians are generally very good,
passionate mourners. Most of the time, the extent the mourning could be
stretched depends largely on the calibre of the deceased, and the
possible political, social or material capital that could be reaped from
the most enchanting and elaborate eulogies by those who are able to
formulate them. We cannot, however, deny the existence of genuine
mourners (sometimes, also, made up mostly of those whose boundless
privileges have been brutally terminated by the person’s demise), but,
it is still evident that mourning periods in these parts seem to have
become the most suitable period for advertising crude, repelling
dissembling, by men and women, with less-than noble motives.
About three weeks ago, Mrs. Stella
Obasanjo (nee Abebe), the most prominent among the several wives of
Nigeria’s President Olusegun Obasanjo, was buried in Abeokuta, amidst
tears, eulogies and great pomp. She had, reportedly, died in far-away
Spain of complications arising from cosmetic surgery. The dominant
thinking, re-enforced by statements here and there by her friends and
acquaintances, was that since an elaborate, and probably multi-million
naira, “talk-of-the-season” birthday bash was being put together to mark
in style her sixtieth birthday which would have taken place on November
14, she had gone to undertake the s urgery (tummy tuck) to trim up
herself and look really pleasant and ravishing on that day -- a
quintessential birthday girl. Unfortunately, that frivolous pursuit
turned fatal, and the rest as the cliché goes, is history. “Vanity
of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity”
(Ecclesiastes 1:2).
I have taken time to examine the
various tributes paid to late Stella Obasanjo by several characters that
have over the years over-tasked the public space with their uninspiring
presence. The most prominent description of her, which was later seized
upon by countless unimaginative mourners and plagiarized and recycled
several times over to the point of almost turning it into a national
slogan, was the one in which she was called “the mother of the nation.”
It would be interesting to look out for the inventor of this ingenious
phrase, who, most unfairly, stands the chance of being denied due
dividend for his “intellectual property,” as his voice has been
effectively drowned by more strident ones in the battle by mourners to
out-mourn each other.
Indeed, many people may want to
contest the propriety of describing Stella as the “mother of the
nation.” Well, that one is their business. What no one would be able to
deny her is the fact that she was a very good, caring mother -- to her
only son, Olumuyiwa Obasanjo. She loved the boy so much, and was hundred
percent committed to his welfare, happiness and comfort. Now, the young
man has just qualified as a lawyer, at 27 (don’t ask why so late), and
while his peers are pounding the streets looking for job, a comfortable
mansion, at the staggering sum of $537,129 (over N75 million naira) has
already been purchased for him at No. 704 Carol Street, Brooklyn, New
York. When you look at that sum, in a country where human beings are
practically feeding from dustbins and sleeping under bridges, where
people die because they are unable to provide the five thousand naira
required to pay for drugs and sundry treatments at our dilapidated
hospitals, you would then begin to appreciate the true worth of the love
this mother had for her son.
Now, remember that Stella was
merely a housewife, and had no employment from which she earned any
income. Remember also that her husband is a loud anti-corruption
crusader, and so would not bring himself to commit state resources to
purchase such an expensive house for his son. The implication then is
that Stella, an unemployed housewife, may have “struggled hard,” m ore
than other housewives, to raise this over N75 million (don’t shudder),
maybe, from the aprico she usually squeezed out from
house-keeping money and from her wardrobe/cosmetic (surgery?) allowance,
to buy this palatial mansion for her beloved son. And as soon as
mourning period is over now, Olumuyiwa, a fresh law graduate, the
beloved son of his mother, would invite the world to his exquisite
palace in Brooklyn, for his predictably lavish wedding banquet, the type
his mother would have ensured he had, and give Owambe,
sorry, Ovation magazine and other promoters of
vanity like it, fresh, glossy photographs to splash on their pages.
Certainly, this lucky son of an extremely fashionable mother, would be
counted upon not to disappoint in this regard, at least, to show his
peers, whose mothers were not caring enough, what they really missed in
not having mothers like his. Sw ee-eet, Mother, I no go forget
you, for de suffer, you suffer me-o-o-o!
And what happens after this? This
lucky son would certainly have enough balance in some accounts,
carefully placed above the gaze of London Mets, to wallow in every
imaginable luxury that suits his fancy. It would be unlike his
exceptional mother not to have taken extra care to ensure enough
resources are laid up for him, to last him a lifetime. So grateful was
Olumuyiwa that he recently ca lled upon everyone that cared to listen to
celebrate his mother. “Indeed, as you mourn her passing, please, also
remember to celebrate her life,” he declared at the special session
of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting convened to sympathize
with President Obasanjo.
Those who insist that Stella was
their “mother of the nation” certainly know what they are saying. If
anyone is in doubt, let the son of another public officer make that kind
of purchase, and let’s see whether Nuhu Ribadu and his E FCC would not
whisk him and his father away, even in front of his mother’s corpse?
Yet, this beloved son of “the mother of the nation” walked free, with
his fiancée, and even addressed a FEC meeting in Abuja, right under
Ribadu’s nose. For all you know, the story about the house and its
scandalous purchase has been securely buried with “the mother of the
nation” in Abeokuta amidst profuse eulogies and enthralling dirges.
Stella was also a d arling
sister. During her burial proceedings, I saw one grief-stricken young
man on TV, Somebody Abebe, lamenting bitterly: “Imagine, she just gave
me a job last month. She just gave me a job at NDDC. And now, she has
died!”
What a pity, losing such a nice
sister. How many sisters can just wake up and “give” their brothers plum
jobs at places like NDDC! It’s so unfair, losing such a sweet, big
sister like that. What now would be the fate of other Abebes who would
soon graduate from school? Who would “give” them pl um jobs at NNPC and
NLNG? What a pity!
A TV report listed the NTA station
at Iruekpen as one of Stella’s “legacies.” I would remember that when
that TV station was commissioned, our inimitable Reuben Abati, (who
incidentally turned forty last Monday) had described it as “Stella TV.”
But in some reports last week, the people of Iruekpen, Stella’s
hometown, claimed that they had nothing to show for givin g Nigeria a
“First Lady.” And people are asking, what really is the meaning of
“first lady,” and what does a nation profit from it? Well, it does seem
that while some are counting their gains, others are complaining
bitterly. Na so dis world be.
Well, if the Iruekpen people are
complaining, I don’t think the Abebe family would join them. Stella had
their comfort and welfare uppermost in her heart. Remember the Ikoyi
House Scandal which led the president to publicly say that he was
embarrassed by the way choice houses were wantonly allocated to several
members of his wife’s family. The minister who supervised the allocation
was fired, and the matter ended there.
Indeed, a unique mother of a
lucky son has gone -- to face her Maker. She loved life, especially and
the frills and thrills of it. Money was not her problem, and so she
sought vanity and fulifilment anywhere they could be found. She spared
no cost to seek to look beautiful and younger, irrespective of the
prevailing mood in the country. The tummy tuck she had gone to do at the
elite hospital in far away Spain was at a huge cost. This at a time,
when the nation is bored stiff with endless calls from her husband and
his countless aides to tighten our belts.
Indeed, many were surprised that
despite the still fresh scandals of the purchase of houses in Ikoyi and
Brooklyn, a lavish sixtieth birthday bacchanalian revel was still being
planned by her and her like-minds to paint Nigeria red, and show
everyone that in her coffers, there is always a sur plus to spend. This
must be painful thought to the generality of Nigerians battling for
survival in an impossible economy worsened by the directionlessness of a
wayward leadership.
She had powers and wielded them
without reservation. She once gave orders that Atiku's wife and wives of
state governors should desist from allowing themselves to be addressed
as Her Excellencies, a title she felt should be reserved for her alone
-- even when there is no constitutional provision for the "office" of
First Lady. This attracted a harsh reaction from the Nobel Laureate,
Prof Wole Soyinka. Till today, Lagos lawyer, Festus Keyamo still insists
that she was the one who ordered the arrest and detention for two
weeks of the publisher of Midwest Herald, for
the magazine's cover story captioned: "Greedy Stella"
Despite all these Stella
deserves to be mourned. She was after all the founder of Child Care
Trust, that sought to bring succour to a couple of ; physically
challenged children. She was also a man’s wife, a boy’s beloved mum and
some people’s sister. It is painful she had to die, and more painful
that her death was clearly avoidable.
Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
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