Papa J, Adieu!

By Bola Bolawole

President ObamaPicking a topic sometimes could prove difficult for a columnist, especially when there is an avalanche of topics begging for attention. These, no doubt, are interesting times, nationally and internationally as well.

Obamanomics and Obamamania continue to run amuck. As the leaders of the world’s leading economies converge in London for their yearly ritual, U.S. President Barack Obama and wife Mitchelle promise to be the leading attraction.

Nigeria , aiming to become a member of this group by the year 2020 through President Umaru Yar’Adua’s Vision 20 – 2020 was sidelined from the G-20 meeting. Going through the list of G-20 members, I wondered who we shall be displacing in the group in 10 years’ time. But that should be a discussion for another day.

Mitchelle , United States ’ “first African-American First Lady” (as she recently described herself to a group of all-girls school children), was in Buckingham Palace with hubby to greet the Queen. And I wondered what thoughts raced though the Queen’s heart as she shook hands with the Niggers who now not only make her Empire look small but who also lead the world. Shakespeare was right: science and technology, as advanced as both have been, are yet to discover an art to discern the construction of the heart on the face.

That was about the only cheery news on the international scene last week; which the North Korean rocket launch controversy and the weapons/drugs epidemic along the U.S/Mexico border did more than enough to dampen. The swearing in of hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu as Israeli PM and the very first statement coming from the hard-line Israeli government portends nothing but disaster for the peace process in the Middle East .

Obama presses ahead with his resolve to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq but what is gained here is immediately gobbled up by the Al Queda cum Talibans of Afghanistan. It is not too difficult to see that the Obama Administration is about to re-live the mistakes of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and that this country of tribal lords may yet become another Vietnam for the Yankees.

On the local scene we have the dangerous game that election re-run has become in Ekiti; the clever-by-half attempt of one of the combatants in the unending crisis in Ogun State to steal the show; the re-trial ordered in Osun as well as Ogun states; the allegations of an assassination attempt on the life of AC chieftain and former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the horrendous insider-abuse allegations blown open at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the impasse between Gov. Adams Oshiomhole and the state House of Assembly over the 2009 budget, to mention but a few.

In Ekiti, the re-run ordered by the Court of Appeal has become battle royal. Akin Osuntokun, former aide to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, spoke my mind when he was quoted recently as saying he would have preferred the Appeal Court to have awarded (my own coinage, please) the case to either of Segun Oni and Kayode Fayemi. His reason was the tension that has gripped the state and the state of insecurity everywhere so palpable. My added reason is the apprehension that, after going through all this trouble, the outcome of the re-run might be a charade.

As was the case with Obasanjo, President Yar’Adua has not been allowed by the ruling party to assume the status of a father-figure to all Nigerians irrespective of political leanings and play the role of a statesman instead of a partisan politician. The PDP’s insistence that the President and his deputy, indeed the full force of the “federal might” (which includes the Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives) must descend on Ekiti can only alienate a section of the populace.

Pray, what if, after all this showing, the opposition candidate wins the election? How will Mr. President relate to him at their usual Council of State meetings and other fora? If the reverse happens, rather than it providing justification for Oni’s first election, the muscle-flexing by the PDP risks compromising the process and taking the shine off that success, if eventually it happens.

Instability appears to be the name of the game in the South west. Thank God for the respite that the Appeal Court awarded (again, my own coinage) the region in Oyo State , but the same cannot be said of Ogun and Osun states. There are too many big fishes troubling the political waters of Ogun State , one of them being the House of Representatives Speaker, Mr. Dimeji Bankole. If, therefore, the House over which Bankole presides takes over the legislative functions of the Ogun State House of Assembly, it should be obvious that Gov. Gbenga Daniel should start packing his bag out of the Government House. The impeachment of Daniel, which the majority of the members of the Ogun State House of Assembly opposed to the governor has found difficult to deliver, is what Bankole wants to accomplish via Abuja .

One man who has been named in all the political struggles taking place in Yoruba land is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is said not only to be the financier but the “Capone” of those angling to wrest power from the PDP in the zone. I see nothing wrong with that. Tinubu has failed in some areas, Ogun and Oyo, for instance, but has recorded good success in some others, for example Edo and Ondo states. Asiwaju and his group are fighting on in Osun and Ekiti and if news reports are anything to go by, they are giving the ruling party anxious moments.

Should this be justification enough for anyone to go after Tinubu’s life? I do not think so. For one, what he is engaged in is legitimate; for another, the Yoruba as a people have suffered so much decapitation of its leaders that we should be given a break.

The people should be allowed to decide the leaders that they want. And once that decision is made, political leaders should respect it. I hope the PDP leaders in Ondo and Edo states are listening.

Now to my main issue this week: Pa John Peter John a.k.a “Papa J”. I doubt if there was anyone associated with THE PUNCH newspapers in the 1990s who would not know Papa J. He occupied the warehouse by the company’s main gate where he fabricated all sorts for his Amusement Parks.

Papa J spent so much time in Nigeria that he became a Nigerian himself, conversant with the Nigerian way of doing business and of squeezing the State. We found time to loiter around him, especially when his Nigerian wife ran a canteen in the facility that he rented. As editor, I can reveal that I got tip-offs on exclusive stories from him.

Papa J also found time to visit us in our offices. Nowhere was out of bounds to him. He had an Amusement Park at the GRA, Ikeja and also the Apapa Amusement Park. The last time I saw him was when I took a friend and her family to the Apapa Amusement Park more than 10years ago. Papa J. received us warmly; he took as round himself and dotted on us.

By the time I came across Papa J’s obituary in THE PUNCH last Friday, he would have been buried; otherwise, I would have put aside all other things to pay him my last respect. Adieu, Papa J.

FEEDBACK

That was a great piece for the day. (“We are poor because they are rich”, Sunday Tribune, 22 March, 2009); at least, the best of all others that I have read. More ink to your pen. 08038086092
–Chief Oladunjoye, Lagos

Your article on Fashola refers. Candidly, I believe Fashola’s boss merely used him as a shield to escape from the Oval office, Ikeja and he has proved a worthy successor. He has been lavishly praised by the press. A bigger shield is busy sleeping on duty elsewhere while the old man who picked him is in panic that he could still be called to answer for his misdeeds if Sleeping Beauty fails to wake up. Naija o ni bajo o!
–07055256787

You were surprised that Oshodi could be turned around! Don’t forget the Greek philosophy which says that a nation will only prosper when its erudite citizens are allowed to rule. Fashola has proved that he is indeed a learned fellow and until such happens at the national level, even Vision 2020 will be a cacophony of sounds. The colonial masters knew it, which was why Papa Awo was impeded. Just check out the turnaround in the Western region from 1954 to 1959. Generations to come will never forget.
–Toyin Larayetan, Abuja

Whether Fashola is fronting for Tinubu or not is immaterial. He is a performer, QED. By the way, I still expect you to tell us why June 12 was annulled being, as you were, a confidant of General Marwa.
–Alhaji Imam.

As part of my Sunday menu, I read you piece (“Yar’Adua’s lop-sided appointments”). It is illusory to believe we have a country called Nigeria.
–08023012744

I agree with you on fears of Northernization. My only regrets are that the West through Awo failed to secede during the civil war and that the PDP controls the South West. –Seye

Your today’s tonic (“Yar’Adua’s lop-sided appointments”) is special. You have said it all. A time will surely come when we will all fight for our rights. We are just deceiving ourselves for we are not one Nigeria . The FCC chairman is also from the North (Kwara). How do you want him and his like to talk?
–Jaiye

I doff my hat for you. You are truly a nationalist to the core. Let the President throw his hat in the ring and contest the allegations at stake. When will we have a true President that belongs to the whole nation? When are we getting there? When will this parochial and sectional attitude stop?
–Tunde Henry, Osogbo

The inclusion of only Gov. Fashola in the so-called steering committee on the economy is another of the Arewa agenda to distract the man from his good works. –08023096939

For one, I hate reading the Tribune even though this is unfortunate. You Yoruba think you can talk. Stupidly, you forget it was started by Obasanjo. I do not think you have a conscience.
–08030727414