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Author: Olu Obafemi
Posted to the web: 7/9/2005 10:32:40 PM

When I was growing up, I stayed quite a bit with elders. I used to enjoy the privilege of being able to keep around after the evening meal—oyibos called it supper or dinner, depending on where you are, London or New York—to clear the palm-wine gourd and the tumblers. My father and his elder brother, who was a farmer, hunter and tapster, usually fetched home this little keg of undiluted palm-wine meant for himself and his brother, over which the little rounds of stories and decisions on family matters were told and discussed. I was the subject of envy by my cousins, who could neither read nor write and who would not be allowed the privilege of staying behind, just in case any letter needed to be read and answered to. I was something like the family akowe (letter-writer). It was my special privilege to stay around, clear the glasses and palm-wine leftover, which was quite generous, always. But more importantly, I was the unintended spectator to the anecdotes and banters between these two brothers who behaved like twins. When in their exchanges, some loafer, idle son of a great man came up for mention; you get a hiss and a statement of regret. It was usually a rhetorical, nostalgic, derogatory judgment that went like ‘okule e jo’Nosu, in my Okun language, which translates as ‘the excrement does not resemble the shedder.’ In plain literal rendering, this is a regrettable commentary passed on offsprings of great men, dead or alive, whose performances are a terrible let- down of their pedigree.Come to think of it, one of the very pitiable elements of poor reward to great men and women, in this country, and indeed the world over, is that their heirs and off-springs never rise up to the challenges, landmarks and exploits, left behind by these illustrious ancestors. Who can recall the successes of the children of great Emperors and rulers who have shaken our world? Lets name them; Charlemagne, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Hitler, Machiavelli, Roosevelt, JFK, Churchill, and so on? In our own African and Nigerian experiences, what are the landmark innovations or leadership exploits of the children of Nkrumah, Tafawa Balewa, Nyerere, Awolowo, Azikiwe, Akintola, Aminu Kano, Senghor, and so on? It would seem, without any scientific proof, that their great heroic parents had drained the lineage of future distinction-potentials. This is why, in spite of the justifiable anger of great admirers of K.O. Mbadiwe, the man of ‘timber and caliber’, the author of the quotable ' boycott all boycott-tables' of our memorable political podium hi-falluting register, against his absurd heir, G (D) reg Mbadiwe, it seems quite unfortunately true that he is acting in history’s character. I can appreciate the tempered satire of Femi Adesina, who ends up conjuring a verdict of political suicide on G (D) reg. By the way, even after I have called Femi up to help pronounce the tongue-twisting colocative ginger-word by the great Osuohia 1 of Arondizuogu, I still cannot attempt to mouth or even ad-lib seconsaimabalism. Nor can I fail to sympathize with the anguish of Steve Nwosu, when he wished K.O. Mbadiwe’s heir apparent a re-posting to Congo for possible wasting away.It is just history recurring like a horrible decimal. Most children of the great ones never, quite, make it to history. The difference between Greg and the other ones is that they do their best not to obliterate the heroic and immortality-possibilities of their illustrious ancestors. Many of them stay quietly, nursing the bruise of their personality- eclipse by the towering odyssey of their worthy scions. Some just reap the benefit of parental mammoth investments, without any shrug or fuss, whatsoever. The pity of course is that, those who are bereft of ample potentials and creative capacities for greatness, in their own right, not even of credible sensitivity of the value of keeping the ineffable aspects of their parents’ strides to eternity, pursue, ignorantly, the path of destruction of names built without their helping hand. That is the tragedy of the great Mbadiwe’s son.What is of course of greater import is that the man on whose behalf this image ruination is being committed should continue, and more forcefully, in his denouncement of the vile campaign of self-succession being mounted on his behalf, by minions who are not capable of apprehending the verdict of history which all great men and women must fear and covet. No matter what madness and obsession with the lust for power may bring, I am not going to be able to succumb to the voluble proposition or innuendo that President Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo marginally stomachs the thought of retaining Presidential powers after 2007. His denials are fairly convincing. But given his penchant for not suffering fools lightly, he should stop the messy distraction of his attention, and the nation’s needlessly roused anxiety that the ABN’s and Kanu’s political jokes are tolerable for him—a man who in spite of his less than fine style—may yet be etching a place for statesmanship in the political annals of Nigeria and Africa. Let OBJ reflect on the adage which says that what you don’t wish to eat you don’t sniff.In any case, the matters on hand—gathering brimstone and storm from the Lower House-- are more urgent than the sit-tight syndrome being dangled by mindless self-seekers and crass opportunists. For, no matter what we may say about the credibility of the legislators who are mobilizing for a fresh round of impeachment- bid against the President, it would appear that more serious heed requires to be paid to the charges being leveled by the Legislators who are gathering signatures of their colleagues and building impeachment charges. And come to think of it. Chief Obasanjo can do with less eruptive, gutter-prowling invectives from the arsenal of the son of the late stylish politician, Chief Fani Kayode (SAN). Lawyer Fani Kayode’s roforofo political verbiage is inappropriate for the political moment. Many of the members of the House of Representatives who are raising dust about presidential breaches of the Law, may themselves be lacking in requisite rectitude and moral authority, but it is not a good reason for filibustering the allegations on the ground by aides who are beginning to get on the nerves of the discernible segment of the electorate. This is even more worrisome when the Minister of Finance, the former World Bank Deputy Chieftain appeared to be substantiating the allegation that the Budget being implemented is not the one signed to law by the National Assembly, and the President himself.The crusade against corruption, which the President seems correctly passionate about cannot, should not, be undermined by any action of the President and his executive arm of government that breach constitutional proviso. It is the nation that needs to be persuaded-- in spite and because of the sad moral and carriage- flaws of critical sectors of the National Assembly-- that the Presidency obeys the laws of the land, which she strives to make the rest of us respect and obey.We are in a historical watershed-with the on-going Confab and the upbeat of anti-corruption campaign. We cannot afford a distraction, which the impeachment drive can engender. It is the Presidency, who is at the centre of these historical motions, which must ensure that there is no derailment of any sort.