My stand on the Smart-Melaiye debacle

I have heard that some of you have been saying that I am not acting the title of my forebears in x-raying the saga of a troubled sinnator who claims to be representing me at the chamber of intrigues. Your covert and overt cries, like the prayers of Naija people who, after disrespecting their own parents without repercussions have now turned to shouting on God are audible. Just as God has turned a deaf ear, so have I. Nonsense and ingredients. When it comes to fighting these days, who does not know that every human behind a computer screen is a lion? 

Sassy people don’t go out engaging in roforofo fights. Lightweights don’t squabble in a ring full of heavyweights except they want to get crushed. Even WWE stars have four divisions, classified according to their weight. When a man of straw stands in a ring where even men of timber and calibre; bulldozer and wrecking ball keep away, they are waiting to commit hara-kiri. If a man must commit seppuku, it must be for some worthy cause or why do you think Imam Shekau has refused to go on an onslaught with Buratai’s brute force? 

In the Wokun-je community or the Old Kabba Province as my good friend, Liman wrote in the other day, empty mouths do not make audible sounds. When two juggernauts with more money than Governor Bello needs to pay salaries are fighting, if we cannot take an applauding front seat, we should for our own safety, keep a safe distance wearing light sneakers, in case there is need to test some age-old Ben Johnson skills. Yes, it is true that most pen pushers comfort themselves by saying that the pen is mightier than the sword, but ask any reporter who has not received his salary for a few months, and they would tell you that the Naira is mightier than most things and the dollar is heavier than lead. With Gani Fawehinmi dead and gone, who would counter the alocutus of Mike Ozekhome or haven’t you all heard that even our man Evans has taken the IG to court? 

Money is the real speaker in any political conflict and the Wokun-je have copied the stomach infrastructure of their neighbours in Ekiti. Or why do you think a land with retired generals, captains of industry, media mogus (real ones) and pensioners could not Timbut (that’s Tarok for sit together) and crown a representative worth his parade anywhere in the world? The Kogi West political arena is the veritable ring for the very smart Smart Adeyemi and his alter ego, Dino Melaiye. Any other presumed heavyweight is a counterfeit, ask Adewale Ayuba. 

The only plot of land I could lay claim to in Kogi, I share with seven siblings on equal basis. From what I have seen of the antiques that both men parade; knowing that it would be very difficult to win in my own clan, these are the new men. When I heard of the gang-up to recall Melaiye, I chuckled. If the man who once walked into the green chamber without political antecedents in starched brocade and came out in rags and tatters got enough votes to move to the red chamber, how do they hope to do the magic? 

The originator of Ajekun-Iya politrics knows enough tricks in the books to make nonsense of all their efforts. After all, my mentor, Dapo Olorunyomi who used to say that thuggery is a doomed art has never jumped into the political fray. Were he to win election and remain loyal to Saraki, he would have realized that every thug has his own day. That is a sad denouement of the place that gave me birth and nurtured me – but I’ve been away too long. When you’ve been away too long, never swear on anybody’s loyalty or the strength of their character. Naija politrics is mercurial in nature, it makes villains of heroes and turns heroes into ne’er-do-wells.

Even the elites are balancing on the ropes undecided as to whether they should join the camp of moral recalibration or take a seat in the siddon-look arena. Those whose names have been exhumed from practical or political obscurity and dragged into the mud of controversy are playing Peter on the day of arrest. These are men of class and distinction and retired officers of active regiments. If their heads dodge the political bullets flying across the region, why does anybody think that a poor reporter has more valour than them? I’m ignoring your protests!

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Finally, Danbaba Suntai has gone the way of all mortals. Shame on the cabal that kept a façade while the man was dying, they have no sense of decency. People with no sense of decency cannot understand the concept of shame. Something tells me another cabal would fall at the national level – soon perhaps. We never learn!