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The Drowning Man from Iragbiji By Samuel Ishola Agboola
It is very doubtful if there has ever been any period in the history of our great country – and I doubt if there would ever be any in the foreseeable future – when Nigerians for the first time are opportune with the golden chance of seeing through the deceitful decades old tissues of lies been used to perpetually enslave them by their leaders; we can now separate the wheat from the dust from these set of buccaneers parading themselves as democrats as those age long antics/sophistries have been revealed to be nothing but mere bullshits intend only to hoodwink the unwary populace with the sole aim of plundering the commonwealth.
Due to the accidents in tenure that characterized our past democratic experiments coupled with the not too pleasant experiences under the various Military Juntas’ interregnums, Nigerians have not really have that opportunity to assess the set of people masquerading as their leaders; the ravenous opportunists have been using very mundane factors to pull wool over the innocent and gullible citizenries while the massive plundering of the treasury continue. It is one the same cyclic promises or the others in every election year by the greedy Cabals who are the only Progressives where others are not.
Though not without their own personal shortcomings as no human being is perfect, however, the country should count itself very lucky for the kind of leadership provided by the marshals of the First Republic; from North to South, the issues then were services, services and services. That was the time when those in authority see themselves as stewards to the electorates and regarded their positions as mandates in trust for the equally appreciative populace. Then hierarchy was institutionalized in each political party not to forget the systemic checks and balances. It was very extremely difficult if not totally impossible then for any Money Miss Road to hijack party apparatus or impose himself on the citizens; those are the good old days when men of good moral/family upbringings with verifiable source of livings aspire to political leadership in the various regions of the country.
The above few lines are necessary in order to stimulate the minds of the readers –particularly the Yorubas of the West – on the need to embark on an urgent and unbiased critical analysis of where we are coming from, where we are today - vis a vis the plundering leadership of the past 8 years in Lagos state - and where we intend to be in the future as failure again would not only be suicidal but very unfortunate if we should go ahead and repeat the mistakes of 1998 for which the future generations would definitely not forgive us.
One of the misfits that found himself in position of authority in the West as a result of the general hysterics of the electorates - who were justifiably incensed by the death of Late M.K.O Abiola in Abacha /Abdulsalam Gulag in 1998 – to the general elections of that ushered in the current republic is the current Governor of Lagos state, the self appointed ‘Asiwaju’ – what an infantile mind? The history of how this Iragbiji man manipulated his way to clinch the then AD gubernatorial ticket of Lagos state in 1998 is well known to all that I need not bother my readers with that again.
Our self acclaimed Awoist rode into power using the name of Awolowo and Abiola but his stewardships in office in the past roughly 8 years has been nothing to write home about - a big disaster that would require a whole book to documents. As Yoruba adage would say -’ Eje Eni To Ba Fi Ni Joye La Koko Te Wole’ which simply means ‘it is the person that helps enthrone a King that would be the first casualty of the king’s tyranny’. This was exactly what the ingrate from Iragbiji did to all that assisted him immediately he was sworn in as the Governor of Lagos State in 1999. The purpose of this article is not to reopen any old wounds as it is already in public domain that all the so called elders that ganged up to pervert justice during the Gubernatorial primaries of AD of 1998 have one terrible tale or the others to tell for their treacherous plots and betrayal of trust that characterized the said shadow election as most if not all were ruthlessly dealt with by our Iragbiji man.
Apart from his numerous yes men and a compromised section of the media – thanks to the captivating power of brown envelopes and the ingenuity of Dele Alake – no serious and objective Lagosian or Nigerian could point at any tangible achievement of Tinubu’s locust years in Alausa; instead for him to sit down and focus on bettering the lots of Lagosians, he ingeniously devise means of covering his ineptitude by engaging the FG in unnecessary brinkmanship under the pretense of fighting for true Federalism.
As our people would say ‘tomorrow would soon becomes yesterday’, in less than 2 months time, his wasteful 8 years would soon come to its deserved inglorious end hence the desperations to cover his tracks and to consolidate his regime of falsehood, truancy and plundering which he hope to achieve by installing his puppet as the next Governor of the state not to forget the rascal’s misadventure in becoming the Vice Presidential candidate of his comrade in crime/corruption in their Alliance of Confuscionists/Corruptionists party. It is practically impossible to build anything on nothing. Tinubu ought to know by now that the game is up for him as rascality, falsehood, grandstanding and cheap propaganda can not take him anywhere again rather it would only hasten his well foreseen ignominy.
After a series of grandstanding and empty boastings at every rally, it is becoming clearer to the impostor that the game is up for him. Nothing could better depict clearly the confusion currently going on in the mind of Tinubu than his recent unwarranted and impulsive outbursts at the venues of their rally in the state. For Tinubu to be accusing others of betrayal now shows the level of moral decadence in our society as this is a man who betrayed and destroyed the very platform he used in getting to power due to a sudden fits or was it fantasy/illusion about an Atiku’s presidency for which he was ready to destroy and sell out his party for the position of Vice president, pot calling kettle black.
At the height of his pretentiousness, he started fantasying on spreading his looting dragnets to the other parts of the region as that could probably be the only motive driving the sudden quest for political offices in other Yoruba states by some of the criminals that have been run down Lagos state with Tinubu in the past 8 years. You cannot buy leadership, it comes from the almighty who is not a partial arbiter; He knows the end from the beginning as He is the only one that can discern the motive behind all actions of men. Imagine a complete failure in Lagos state planning to replicate the same to other 5 Yoruba states, God forbid bad thing.
As our people would say ‘it is only a thief that knows how to trace the footpath of a fellow thief on the rock’ which makes one to further ponder on why all these so called dossiers are just coming out - why these campaigns of calumny about KORO now? If we may ask: when did you get these so called dossiers on KORO? The man that served as a commissioner during your first term, got elected as a senator in 2003 under a political party where your words used to be taken as law; if you are just discovering all these now, then you must be naïve and all your mouthed political sagacity are mere hype or else you knew all along but decided to keep quiet in that case you must be ready to face the code of conduct tribunal for aiding and abetting criminality; but if you want my candid opinion, I would say you are a frustrated man, a nuisance and it would be better for you to keep quiet and devote the little time left for you to be packing your load from the Government house.
Your latest pranks have further showed the hollowness of your strategists as you ought to know that year 1999/2000 is not too far away for you to start attempting to rewrite history for us; we can still recollect the University of Chicago versus Chicago state university debacle that ushered you into office; your MSc/ BSc/ACCCA certificates; the discrepancies in your dates of birth; NYSC; your secondary school and others too numerous to mention scandals. We are still waiting to know your biological parents or the worst scenario you can organize a befitting ‘Owambe’ memorial service for them in case they are late before you are shoved aside on May 29, 2007. Or what sort of man would be ashamed to openly identify with his biological parents and siblings? Iyaloja knows her real children and the children know their mother and their biological siblings.
Seeing the untimely collapse of his crooked empire in Lagos, the political career of his Atiku and the premature death at Labor room of their much hyped ‘Mega’ party, the hunter has now becomes the hunted, hence the need for him not to go down alone by putting the blames of his misdeeds of the past years on PDP hence vilifying KORO at every single opportunity is now his pastime, but if we may ask why KORO? Is he the only opponent of your party in the Lagos governorship race? Why dragging others along with you into the dungeon you dig for yourself? Why all the cries and hues in the first instance? Why creating unnecessary tension if you are sure of your performances in the past 8 years for that should be enough to sell your protégé to the electorates. We all understand the game, it is because there is nothing to show for your profligacy in the 8 years hence the desperations and pull him down tactics but whether you like it or not there is nothing you can do to stop the wheel of progress passing through the land. Lagosians are too smart to be deceived by all the trash and empty promises you are now making as if those problems have not been there in the past 8 years.
Your recent outbursts are just the crying of a drowning man who is finding it difficult to accept his disgraceful exist from power he so much coveted; PDP has no reason to rig as its cause is a popular one supported by all Lagosians who need nobody to tell them all they lost through your directionless, purposeless and antagonistic leadership of the past 8 years. The pranks of 2003 would not work for you in 2007 as your former comrades in rigging have all left you to roast alone in hot soup, but I know you still have around the man that did the hatchet job for you in 2003, the old man calling himself young – the headmaster of your boys scout, the LASTMAN. On a lighter note what you should be doing now if you know what is good for you is to start sending emissaries to KORO (by God’s grace our next Governor come May 29, 2007) to please temper justice with mercy for your numerous atrocities which you must account for: Celtel Shares, Eko Akete Loan, Alpha Beta rip off, Local Government funds etc.
On a final note, Lagosians must all come out by April 14, 2007 to democratically flush out the rogues from Alausa as we’ve had enough of Tinubu’s deceits; it is now time for us to have a responsible man, a man of good parental upbringing as our Governor. I know you all won’t find it funny if you later found out that the resources that are suppose to be use in developing Lagos state are been channel towards the completion of the numerous abandoned projects at ABTI University, Yola, settlements of legal fees of those shameless fat rats (calling themselves SANs) holding briefs for Atiku in the numerous legal tangles he stupidly dragged himself in? Well, that is exactly what Fashola is being positioned for as it is already foregone that the senior rogue is loosing his Adamawa state come April 14, 2007.
Samuel Ishola Agboola, Lagos, Nigeria
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