The Varnishing tribe of glamorous politicians
By Chidi Obineche
Monday, January 19, 2009

•Late M.K.O Abiola


From the pre-independence days up to the second republic, Nigeria’s political firmament was awash with highly gifted orators, colourful politicians, whose flambuoyance and theatricals often lit up the electoral space, and added to the lexicon.

They were legion. They inspired as, they came, and made politics, and its race mate; elections, a favourite pet subject for many, every bend of the way.

The soapbox was an avenue for great thrills, as people, the old, the young, cutting across sexes, thronged campaign venues not to listen to promises of eldorado thereafter, but to be witnesses to moments of healthy ribaldry, soothing jibes, and exhilarating sweet nothings.’
For effect, some of the political actors of those hey days spoke gibberishly in high sounding words and rocked campaign venues with high decibels of rancorous laughter and mirth.

Their names resounded in far-flung areas of the nation, with attendant media celebration. They made quotable headlines.

They eased their way to become icons; as Nigeria waltzed through its confusions, crises and rivalries. Those were the days. The incursion of the military into politics stopped all the fun. By the turn of the aborted third republic, too many self censored, selfish driven, laconic politicians emerged on the turf.

But for the late Chief M.K.O Abiola, whose legendary proverbs enriched the lexicon, the whole enterprise became dry, stiff, and disquieting.

Electoral malpractices were on the rise, and politicians no longer felt the need to hone their skills and appeal to the people’s sentiments. The obsession was power through the backdoor, with the willing acquiescence of the electoral bodies, and the security agencies.

The field was also taken over by the affluent class, whose only qualification to run for position, apart from their background is connections to the ruling class.

That bade goodbye to the rage of intellects and entertainment. It welcomed the prevailing stage of classical pedestrian politicking; and culture of impunity.

Busari Adelakun
Reputed as the strong man of Ibadan politics, the late Adelakun bestrode the pre-independence politics like a colossus with his rave making declarations that rattled the colonial rulers. Although he did not make it to the nation’s independence in 1960, his philosophy and political cracks outlived him. The gallery of the Western House of Assembly was usually packedfull as people yearned to herald his unique language style and presentation. Today, people still remember him for “penkelemesi,” which is an adaptation of his pronounciation of “peculiar mess” in a speech he delivered to the people on the floor of the House. He was a “lion” of Nigerian politics, loved and adored by his people and dreaded by the British rulers.
He died suddenly in 1958.

Mbonu Ojike
A man of high intellect. An iconoclast and rights activist. Mbonu Ojike took his politics from the angle of persecution and fought his battles with elevated elocution. He was the pride of the East, whose burning desire was freedom, from colonial clutches. He spoke with passion and deep from the heart. He was the boycott king, who relished in passive resistance made popular by the late Mahatma Ghandi.

Like America’s Martin Luther King, whose “I have a dream” treatise still resonates round the world four decades after his brutal killing, Ojike is best known for his “boycott the boycottables” theory. But it was not just a mere theory. He personally practicalised it by adopting native names, clothes, food, wife, etc. He lived his dream to the fullest, enjoining others to emulate him in the psychological battle against while rule. He passed on in 1956.

Nnamdi Azikiwe
He is regarded as Nigeria’s leading Pan-Africanist, whose oratorical skills and grandiloquent political speeches made hey from the pre-independence days up to his death in 1996. His best moments, however lasted up to the second republic, when he contested elections under the banner of the Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP).

Zik’s niche lay in his language construction. He usually avoided clichés, riling more in high vocabulary. He captured attention and held audiences spell bound.

In 1978, he said “he was not enamoured by the tintinnabulations of nitwits, who are toying with the destiny of the nation.” There were loose Street talks of illiterate country folks who bought newspapers to read Zik’s outbursts and were caught with the paper turned upside down, with euphoric exclamations of “Zik Ekwue aru” (Zik has spoken evil, literally).

K.O. Mbadiwe
Famously known for his own coinage as a man of “timber and caliber.” Mbadiwe, perhaps, boasts of the largest corpus of political jargons in the nation’s history. Although he was not totally successful electorally, his rallies and those he attended as guests were filled to the brim with people expectant of new releases from him. And, he did release many.

To his credit and memory are jargons like “political caterpillars and juggernauts.”
“If the come, comes to become.” Etc
He died in 1990.

Maritama Sule
He easily approximates as the intellectual power house of the North. With a superfluous overflow of the garb, Sule, who has been in politics since the first republic speaks with elevated diction. His speeches are laced with innuendoes and wisecracks. Most of all, he appeals to sentiments, characteristically driving his point home with alliterative sarcasm. Sampler.” The North will continue its conquest from the deserts to the Atlantic.”

As the nation’s permanent representative to the United Nations in the second republic, he brought honour, and respect to Nigeria through his sartorial speeches, and responses to global issues. Though, ageing, Sule still remains his essential self, with an even more profound prowess in oratory. A Nigerian once described him as the North’s gift to Nigeria.

Festus Okotie Eboh
The circumstances of his slaying in the January 1966 coup may have suppressed the immense personal flambuoyance of his politics. Okotie-Eboh had a flair for what his people in the then Midwest called “good talk.” He exuded brilliance and had an uncanny way of hitting target without much prevarications. He loved his people and they loved him. He earned epaullets through his speeches. He could in a cavalier style sell ice to the Eskimos, to borrow a phrase most suited for the times. He easily electrified audiences beyond basic comprehension. Above all, he was a man of the people.

Sam Mbadwe
Among the club of 19 governors in the second republic, Mbakwe, who was governor of the old Imo State (comprising Abia and Imo States) caught the most headlines in his style and approach to politics. Often referred as the “weeping governor,” Mbakwe who only died in January 2004 was full of humour. He could break ribs. Virtually all his political speeches were laced with humour. He often used it to disarm his political opponents. He often mocked his physical appearance as he was not well endowed. But his swift response to such reminders brought out his bag of humour.

He was also a bulwark of resilience. His response to common remarks about his acclaimed ugliness was laced with humour “Mbakwe is ugly. Mbakwe is ugly. Let your handsome fathers come and displace me and govern Imo State.”

Barkin Zuwo
He took the political stage by storm in 1983, winning the governorship seat of old Kano State. The three months he was in the saddle were dramatic. A stark illiterate. He drank from its fountain, and unleashed very famous sayings that are yet to die with him.

He was alleged to have turned his house into a bank, preferring to keep large government funds under the bed. He was also said not to have distinctly separated mineral resources as against soft drinks (minerals). For instance, when he allegedly spoke on the abundant mineral resources in his state, he identified them as coke, and fanta.

Chuba Okadigbo
A political scientist, who combined elegance with intellectual style, Okadigbo, a former university don, happened on the political scene in the second republic when he was appointed political adviser to then president Shahu Shagari.

His keen sense of alertness and understanding of the atmosphere soon made him an issue. He brought in strategies, and an interplay of vision and competitiveness into the arena. His political discourses were masterpieces. He played politics along the line of the late K.O. Mbadiwe, but only on a different vista,
He had the magic wand to unlock hearts. He, too, was a master in oratory and use of words.
His legendary description of the great Zik’s speech as “the rantings of an ant,” brought him on collusion course with the Igbo political elite, who felt he was too small to insult Zik.
He died in 2003, shortly after running for the vice-presidency on the platform of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, (ANPP).

Aminu Kano
He was an apostle of talakawa politics. He lived and practiced politics of “example.” Till his death, he never was associated with wealth. He owned no house and demonstrated simplicity in all spheres.
Aminu Kano had a cult followship.

Waziri Ibrahim
Though rich, he was simple in his approach to politics’ and is best known for his philosophy of “politics without bitterness” which his Party Great Nigeria People’s Party (GNPP) adopted as slogan in the second republic.

M.K.O Abiola
Essentially he was a business man who later prayed into politics of the third republic. He contested for the presidency under the banner of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP).
A stammerer, his proverbs which he used before, during, and after his annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election are still relevant today as they were in those days.
“You cannot clap with one hand,” No one should shave another’s head without his consent.” A bird cannot fly with a wing.” Etc. He died in 1998.

Ladoke Akinola
He was a great Orator and wordsmith. He was also politically ingenious.

Abubakar Rimi
A marverick. Rimi thrives on controversies. A highly courageous politician, as governor of old Kano state he ignited several putschs that rocked the nation.
Alive and still kicking, he remains about the only man standing in glamour in the vast political oasis.

http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/politics/2009/jan/19/politics-19-01-2009-001.htm