Prince Charles Dickson

pcdbooks@yahoo.com

Jos, Plateau Nigeria

I had warned myself that I would stay clear of Yoruba politics especially that of Ibadan, the centre of the wild, wild west (plenty apologies). However this essay is essentially not an Ibadan thing or an Anambra thing…it is also not a Bauchi State thing neither is it about the yan whatever in Gombe State. But the issue here is that this is the continuous sad story of a Nigerian leadership gone confused, leadership empty of idea and weary of direction. A leadership of thugs and hooligans, not even organized thugs but confused hooligans…From Oyo to Gombe States its same tale, if I was not led to do this piece, the Adedibu interview on the Osun State Broadcasting Corporation and the recent clashes in both Bauchi and Gombe States was enough push.

One, I must state that until media houses stop celebrating some of these hooligans by interviewing them or giving them high praise to the heavens, we may be far from sanity…however on a second thought, it may not be totally out of place, such interviews are necessary to be able to avail us the opportunity to hear their foolishness laced with all the startling revelations that come with them.

Hear Adedibu “even in the presence of the President, the Governor prostrated for me, more than six months…” what have we turned our nation into a ‘Baba Alaye’ arrangement. One appreciates the Yoruba penchant for respect but in this case, this is sheer political hooliganism.

This was the same case in Anambra when a small confused hooligan with more money than brains got the Governor to commit to a shrine and looting accord. At that point too there was a meeting amongst the tripod, there was such a meeting of hooligans between the President and Mantu with Governor Dariye. In the case of both Bauchi and Gombe States the Governors are the chief hooligans while the guber hopefuls are junior hooligans. In Bauchi sever al lives were lost when Governor Mau’zu and Isa Yuguda hooligans clashed recently, in Gombe if the Minister of Special Duties survived the assassination he may have still been in the Hospital if not for fate, when hooligans funded by the Governor caught him napping, either he did not come with his own hooligans or his, were over powered because we saw his own at work at the PDP convention.

An old man of 76 years packs several hundreds of hooligans and turns a whole governor’s office downside up like a motor park riot scene… then in Anambra a young man does same and then in each case no arrest whatsoever is made, the hooligans on the contrary go hay wire because they all have a “work permit” from the Chief hooligan.

Some of the utterances of the Old Hooligan did not really surprise one, it only went further to strengthen the truth that Nigerians can most times be docile (No offence meant) because where else would nonentities like Adedibu and Chris Uba be making noise and then adding trouble to the noise, a local meat seller becomes thug lord and installs Governor over a State that is home to Nigeria’s premier University, if that is not bad he appoints the Deputy without the Governor’s knowledge and when the mix goes sour he says with confidence I will remove the Governor.

This is the same man that slapped the Dep uty Governor publicly because the poor man either forgot to or did not see the thug lord. Strange things do happen.

And to imagine that quickly this matter would be handled with all the seriousness it deserves, the President has this to say “Omo dada (good boy), Adedidu is a colossus, a frontline politician in Ibadan…one part of  Adedibu’s statement which was instructive was that he had over 1 thousand replacements for Ladoja, I hope the President had that and knows that we in that case as a nation of hooligans have over a million capable leaders able to lead Nigerians in a way and manner alien to his deceptive rule.

The anarchy in Oyo, Gombe , Bauchi are all coming at the right time for these hooligans especially as it suits there overall plan for 2007, Chris Uba said it “rigging, is all part of the game”. This presupposes that if you can rig without much trouble, how much more when there are pockets of unrest here and there, you can as well cancel the elections or better still have direct access in installing a remote controlled mumu (fool) like the one Adedibu can always slap and the whole Ibadan cannot and will not do anything. The law of Political hooliganism was further pushed by Adedibu when he explained “using of thugs…nothing can stop him, its all part of politics.

Despite the whole thug war, does anyone know that 21% of Oyo’s is spent on Adedibu as settlement on one hand and to fight him on the other? Chris Uba still gets what I call keep body allowance or brokerage fees for his presidential runs like it was during the Abacha era.

The use of thugs and hooligans is not peculiar to Nigerian politics, but in style and crudity, and puts us in a class of ours, the caliber of persons involved makes ours a far cry for help because in our case, it is taken not just to the extreme but at the nation and citizens’ expense.

It is either you see Adedibu riding on his horse or you see Chris Uba with a detachment of mobile policemen when the Police lack manpower and Polo players are finding it difficult to maintain a horse. The EFCC has been closing in and chasing everything corrupt even dogs that ate from the neighbour’s dirt bin. However it is instructive that the likes of Uba and Adedibu with their thug power are walking free. Cases of men like these simply add salt to an already sour injury by causing chaos and commotion through their actions…I do not mean to incite sentiments but can any one tell me why Major Mustapha and co are still in jail without trial and then Chris Uba and hooligans like him are walking free.

Our culture of political thuggery and hooliganism is promoted by no other than the President, when he hails men such as Adedibu. In several cases the war is fought between the thugs that are home based and the hooligans that are Abuja based or have the backing of the Abuja lords. For how long would a nation continue like this? The destruction and loss recorded in all this crisis and needless chaos simply say a lot about the level of poverty and human depravation, a hungry man is not only angry but willing to do anything to feed, when the larger percentage of the populace are idle, no schools, no employment, leaders who steal have killed family values so therefore for peanuts these thugs and hooligans enlist the services of restless youths who go on rampage at the slightest push. Adedibu is still making noise in Ibadan, Chris Uba is still a factor in Anambra…the list is endless, when will the government clean herself on these moral burdens…Almighty Allah hates thuggery and hooliganism and everything associated with disorderliness.