”Yoruba Ronu” – The hypocrisy of a two-faced opposition?

There's no justice in this world anymore. Sometimes, I ask myself, what am I living for? If wrong can triumph over right, if we are licked before a fight, there's no justice in this world anymore. To those timeless and immortal words of the recently deceased country singer, George Jones, the pertinent question is: Can wrong really ever triumph over right?

I ask this as I read this 'APC Fan Club' update with its usual plethora of accompanying ethnically motivated anti-Jonathan comments and expletives (Almost all the negative comments, insults and rage here without exception are from one ethnic group) and continue to mull over political events in Nigeria in the past two years or so.

I refer here to the tyranny of deceit, of hate, of ignorance and, more importantly, of forgetfulness that has suddenly gripped enlightened sections of Nigeria's populace. Unlike a great many of my compatriots today, I have a great deal of respect for history, facts and logic. This is aided by the fact that good memory has always been my special forte. Yes, I easily recall events with uncanny clarity. What appears to be my current sympathy for President Jonathan, but which in reality is nothing but faithfulness to noble principles, is a very recent phenomenon indeed. It is the result SOLELY of the unconscionable childishness and irresponsible excesses of the opposition.

To be sure, I did not participate at all in the 2011 voting exercise which produced President Jonathan. I neither registered nor voted in that election on account of my disenchantment with the way in which former President Obasanjo brazenly rigged and imposed Umar Yar'Adua and Segun Oni in the 2007 elections in which I voted for the ACN's Atiku Abubakar for President and Kayode Fayemi for Ekiti Governor. Secondly, I abstained from the 2011 election because Atiku, having lost the PDP primaries to Goodluck Jonathan, was not on the ballot. But cutting through all that disenchantment and personal boycott, it was easy to see from the election demographics -- when the dust of post election violence in some parts of the North had settled -- that President Jonathan's 'pan Nigerian' mandate, which I would have preferred for Atiku, was made possible by a broad coalition of 4 geopolitical zones, namely, North Central(Middle Belt), South West, South East and South South.

The remaining two zones, North West and most parts of the North East, were understandably anti-Jonathan from the outset of that election on account of Muhammadu Buhari and have remained largely so ever since, though with tragic consequences for Nigeria's unity. The depth and persistence of their opposition to, and hatred for, anything Jonathan, though understandable, must nevertheless be recorded for posterity so that in the near future, we will all be able to effectively engage those who are forgetful, in historically anchored political discourse. Thus, the 'Boko Haram' North's antipathy towards Jonathan can be ignored. But what is astonishing and completely incomprehensible to me and thus CANNOT be ignored is that, of the 4 members of President Jonathan's 2011 noble broad coalition, only the South West today APPEARS to be opting out for reasons which are not very clearly articulated, and this is rather intriguing for historical reasons.

As I have observed here countless times, the current state of Nigeria is not about fruitless political party dichotomies. No, it cannot and should not be about PDP or APC or Labour Party or Accord Party per se. It is about good and evil. It is about truth and falsehood. It is about memory and the convenient loss of it by those who wish to. As someone who received his university education in the 'Fountain of Knowledge' decades ago and still resides there, I have always admired the dogged principles that now and again undergird the politics of the South West, but now it is beginning to appear to me that the South West -- or a vocal and critical section of it represented by Bola Tinubu, the APC and their supporters -- is losing it.

I say this because there appears to me to be a grand conspiracy of amnesia -- that memory disease that often afflicts the guilty and the hypocritical -- currently sweeping through the South West, especially among the supporters of the APC. Let us once again take a brief excursion into history because I am in love with history. My brief history lesson today, for those amnesiacs who have been posturing on social media threads in the past two years about President Jonathan's so called 'cluelessness', is entitled: 'Yoruba Ronu'. In 2002, precisely 3 years after Nigeria's return to civil rule, Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP was Nigeria's President.

In the six South West states of Lagos (Bola Tinubu), Ogun (Segun Osoba), Oyo (Lam Adesina), Osun (Bisi Akande), Ondo (Ade Adefarati) and Ekiti(Niyi Adebayo), there were ALL Alliance for Democracy (AD) Governments. Sometime in 2002 a certain All Peoples Party(APP) [later (ANPP)] Senator called Arthur Nzeribe from Imo State (a very controversial man associated mostly with fraudulent, irresponsible and unprincipled causes) tabled on the floor of the Senate what he referred to as 19 reasons why President Obasanjo should be impeached. Obasanjo's impeachable offences, according to Nzeribe, included lack of implementation of budgets, general incompetence, illegal retirements in the Military, hatred for the North etc etc.

The last allegation created the most controversy for obvious reasons. Predictably, Nzeribe's action generated a great deal of controversy and anxiety particularly because at this time Obasanjo had lost all the goodwill he had garnered in the 1999 election as a result of what some saw as his incompetence. In the North where I was living then, most northern Muslims, who were already disenchanted with Obasanjo, endorsed Nzeribe's action, but in the entire South West, Nzeribe's action elicited ferocious anger and condemnation. No one was ready, rightly so, to even consider the merits or otherwise of Nzeribe's allegations against Obasanjo. Instead, it was condemnation and threats galore for Senator Arthur Nzeribe of the ANPP from all the AD Governors and their supporters over a matter involving President Obasanjo of the PDP.

Governor Bola Tinubu of Lagos State, who is now hobnobbing with the arch-enemy of the South West, Muhammadu Buhari, went so far as to declare Nzeribe persona non grata in Lagos State and the entire South West, and warned him not step into the South West of Nigeria. Even social activists like Wole Soyinka and Femi Falana joined in condemning Nzeribe. Again, when former Speaker, Ghali Na'abba, constituted himself into a nuisance by opposing every single action of Obasanjo's, what happened to him? Obasanjo engineered his defeat at the hands of a political neophyte in the ANPP at the 2003 elections. This was after several failed attempts by Obasanjo to remove him through bribing the lawmakers with huge sums of money some of which were displayed on the floor of the House on several occasions.

The defeat of Na'abba, if you recall, was roundly applauded by all, particularly the South West electorate. Why was it so? What happened to the Senate Presidents like Chuba Okadigbo and Ken Nnamani who opposed Obasanjo's policies? They were all constantly harassed and removed by Obasanjo, thus creating instability in the Senate. Okadigbo's quarrel with Obasanjo, for instance, you may recall, started with the latter's unilateral declaration of 29 May as Democracy Day without recourse to the National Assembly. Okadigbo opposed this and this infuriated Obasanjo. Did anyone in the South West applaud these men for opposing Obasanjo the way the ACN/APC are applauding Amaechi's, Tambuwal's and some Northern Governors' opposition to Jonathan now? In spite of all the threats and opposition to Obasanjo from the likes of Nzeribe, Na'Abba, Okadigbo and the Sharia Governors of the North, Obasanjo won his second term in 2003 with ease with the entire South West voting massively for him.

Now, as for the specific lies and insults against President Jonathan which emanate from the South West APC, this Timeline is certainly not enough to contain them, but I advise all amnesiacs to go back to posts and statements by people like Soji Akodu, Soni Akoji, Lai Moh'd, Wole Soyinka, Ekundayo Awe etc, to see the depth of inexplicable hatred for President Jonathan by the same APC cohorts who wanted to die for the Obasanjo of the PDP in 2003, and file them for historical reference.

The question was and still is: Why would the South West, who had totally and completely rejected Obasanjo of the PDP in 1999 for Olu Falae of the AD/APP, now turn around to threaten fire and brimstone against Nzeribe of ANPP over a man they had rejected? Your guess is as good as anyone else's.

If it was bad for Na'abba, Yerima, Shekarau, Okadigbo and Nnamani to oppose Obasanjo between 1999 and 2003, why should it be good for Amaechi and Tambuwal to oppose Jonathan now? These questions are germane today because a great many people in the South West at present are doing WORSE to President Jonathan than they accused and threatened Nzeribe about in 2002, and it is absolutely sickening to all men and women of good conscience. Today, many people in Yorubaland are hurling insults at Jonathan and his wife, criticising them blindly and falsely, magnifying theirs faults if any, even calling for a coup d'etat against Jonathan's government and generally attempting to create a non existent atmosphere of rancour in order to encourage the Military to intervene, all for no clear reasons.

I recall the role played by the defunct 'Sketch Newspaper' and the 'Tribune Newspaper' in encouraging Buhari's coup in 1984. By all means, criticise the President when the need arises but, for God's sake, let your criticism be objective, responsible and anchored on specific policy failings, not hate-induced insults such as he is constantly innundated with by APC supporters. Obasanjo ruled this country for 8 years and achieved nothing, but rather, he destroyed NEPA(PHCN), Nigeria Airways, NITEL, encouraged corruption, enriched himself, neglected the South West, murdered Bola Ige and Harry Marshall and wasted Nigeria's money on Third Term, yet no one called for his overthrow. He served out his 8 years. What are the specific details of President Jonathan's 'cluelessness' which have occasioned such cynical hatred for him among many people in the South West? I am really, really curious. President Jonathan, despite his initial serious mistakes like the petrol subsidy debacle, has achieved in only two years what Obasanjo could not achieve in 8 years.

The Lagos-Ibadan expressway, an important road that was abandoned by Obasanjo for eight years, is now receiving attention from a government headed by a non South Westerner. That fact alone -- apart from roads like Benin-Akure, Akure-Ado Ekiti and Ado Ekiti-Ilorin which have been transformed by Jonathan's government -- deserves the support and encouragement of all, not inelegant posturing, insults and 'etainu' which obviously proceed from nothing but tribal motives. The issue here is: WHY WOULD BOLA TINUBU AND THE ACN/APC DO TO PRESIDENT JONATHAN OF THE PDP TODAY WHAT THEY ALMOST KILLED NZERIBE OF THE ANPP FOR DOING TO OBASANJO OF THE PDP IN 2002?

At the beginning of this dispensation, the PDP and President Jonathan reserved the position of the Speaker of the House of Representatives for the South West, but the ACN leaders in the House connived to elect an irresponsible supporter of Boko Haram from outside the South West in the name of Aminu Tambuwal thus engendering a feeling of marginalisation among the South West electorate. Talk about cutting one's nose to spite one's face. Now, rather than blame ACN/APC leaders for their marginalisation, some people in the South West continue to hurl insults at Jonathan for the mistakes of the APC.

A Yoruba proverb goes: 'Eni ti o su ni yio gbagbe, eni ti o ko koni gbagbe'. Another rendition says: 'Eni to yaigbe ni egbe ona ma gbagbe. Sugbon eni to ko ki ese bo ni ko ni gbagbe'.(Those who offend easily forget but their victims do not.) If, to Tinubu and the AD, it was wrong for Nzeribe or Na'abba or Okadigbo to criticise Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP in 2002, why should it be okay for the same Tinubu and the ACN and their supporters today to continue to insult, lie against and criticise unfairly everything associated with President Jonathan of the PDP? Let the South West remember the golden rule and do unto others accordingly. Yoruba, ronu!

This is just my view.

Garvey Ufot