OSINBAJO AND THE QUAGMIRE
OF POWER STRUGGLE
- By Remi Oyeyemi
July 6, 2017
Osinbajo heads a government in which he cannot
get anything done.
Vice President Yemi
Osinbajo is in a serious quagmire. But unfortunately, he is oblivious to any of
it. Even if he is not, he has no tools to help himself. His fish, it seems, has
no water on its back.
The ongoing war in Abuja
for power is emblematic of the nature and character of the Nigerian state that
hopefully would lead to the Nunc Dimittis of a tragedy called a country. As
events continue to unfold, those still acting like ostriches, shouting ONE
NIGERIA, would have some education and have their eyes opened.
For those theorists who
see this from the prism of class war dialectics alone, they are about to be
educated on the dynamics of a modern feudalism that hold others in bondage and
subjugation. They are about to be tutored on a refined, retooled and modernized
apartheid system. They are about to be schooled on the real meanings of second-
and third-class citizenship in a contraption
euphemized as a country.
The Attorney General of
the Federation Mr. Abubakar Malami, has just warned the Vice President that he
(the Vice President) couldn't speak for the presidency and that the Vice
President is "on his own." This came up after the Vice President
returned "fire for fire" to the National Assembly seeking to remove
him.
The importance of the
warning given by Malami to Vice President Osinbajo is that in the Executive Arm
of the Government in Aso Rock, the Vice President has no support. It means he
is just being tolerated. It means he is an outsider in a government he leads.
It means he is just a decoration. It means he is just a toothless bulldog, if
he could be called a bulldog at all.
If you doubt this, ask,
how many other members of the Cabinet have come out to support the Vice
President publicly? How many of them have come out to call Malami to order?
Certainly, they are not all deaf and blind. But because they all know where
power truly resides, they have kept mum waiting for Osinbajo to be roasted.
Yes, they know that power does not reside with Osinbajo and they don't care if
Osinbajo is hanged.
Not only that, under
Osinbajo's nose, even ordinary Garba Shehu describes VP Osinbajo utterances as
"unofficial" and "personal" view of his. He suggested that
any opinion expressed by Osinbajo is nothing but his own and not representative
of the Government or the Presidency in which he is the so called Acting
President. Even, as a so called "Coordinator", such a disgrace should
not be meted out to the Pastor.
The hapless Vice President
seems to just carry on as if nothing is amiss. He is canvassing for a ONE NIGERIA where he is already a second-class
citizen in power. His case is akin to that of a slave begging and pleading
for the recalibration, reinforcement and reconsolidation of the vestiges and
veneers of his enslavement and subjugation; a case of an unthinking happy
slave. Americans call his likes "house slaves."
Yes, he is in power but
does not have the balls to exercise the power. He dares not. He is so powerless
that an ordinary spokesperson can call his bluff. He has no wherewithal to
exercise any power. He heads a cabinet to which he cannot give instruction. He
heads a cabinet in which he is treated with disdain and open disrespect as well
as disregard. As they twit, taunt and toss him around, he twitches and twirls like
a fish in the throes of dehydration.
Osinbajo heads a
government in which he cannot get anything done. He heads a government in which
his words are mere cacophony; meaningless, worthless and useless. He enjoys no
one's confidence in the leadership. He is a lone, rudderless, tired and
ridiculed wolf surrounded by anxious and rapacious tigers in competition to
enthusiastically devour him.
This obviously is sensed
by the Senate led by Bukola Saraki who has never hidden his contempt for the
Vice President he once referred to as "ordinary commissioner." Saraki never had any respect for Osinbajo.
He loathes him intensely
and with unfathomable severity. He sees Osinbajo as the "ajélè" of
Bola Tinubu, with whom he is in rivalry. He is determined to bring him down at
the right moment. Whether Saraki would succeed in this or not, time would tell.
Let us put my dislike for
Saraki aside and all his vices hanged aside for a moment so that the reality be
examined honestly. Saraki is truly in charge of the Senate. His support is
solid. His men are united, savvy, and combative. They are committed to each
other. His men believe in him and he believes in them. He protects them. They
protect him. Loyalty to Saraki cuts across party lines in the Senate. He is as
solid as the Rock of Gibraltar.
In the wings for Senator
Saraki is the Lower House under the leadership of Yakubu Dogara. Solid, united,
determined and consistent in their opposition to any move by Tinubuists. And
they have demonstrated without any scintilla of doubt that they would not
tolerate any kind of infantile radicalism. They are waiting for an auspicious
moment to oust Osinbajo. This is in addition to some silent power elites in the
North, especially among the Hausa Fulani whose political wisdom begin with fear
of Tinubu, who because of his own morbid ambition, made himself a dispensable
tool of enslavement and subjugation of his Yoruba people.
Some of us may not like
this because we loathe Saraki, but this is the reality. The Buharideens and the
Buharists in Yoruba land may not like this but this is the truth. The
Jagabbanians or Tinubuists may hate this but this is a fact. The APC faithfuls
and party hacks in the Southwest may detest this but it is the reality. Saraki
is in control of that Senate. The earlier they realize this, the better for
them so they can figure out their next move.
Vice President Osinbajo
himself seems not to be aware. Or if he is aware, he does not care. And if he
cares, he has no tools to fight for himself. He has limited or no support. His
supporters are in the minority. His supporters, when they overstep their
allotted boundaries, get suspended at will and nothing has happened. Or would
happen.
Meanwhile, the so called
"Cabal", from whence originated the idea of a "Coordinator"
are silently waiting for the right moment to oust the unwary, naive, smart but
non-analytical Vice President. He has been suspected and hated from Day One
when he was locked out of the security meeting about a country of which he was
the Vice President and now the Acting President.
Osinbajo refused to pay
attention. He refused to heed warnings then as he is refusing now. He is acting
like his mentor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and allowing morbid ambition to drive his
thinking, his planning, his responses and his approach. He is not thinking
about the fate that might befall Yoruba Nation when these falling chips land.
He wants to be in power at all costs, even when he is deemed not good enough as
a messenger by the INHERITORS of the Nigerian power. He refuses to see the
handwriting on the wall. He is not able to fathom that he is fussing over the
corpse of a dead country.
Applying the Marxian
dialectics to the Nigerian tragedy as an analytic tool is a great
misapplication to an enormously misunderstood situation. The subsisting
struggle in Nigeria today is not about the rich and the poor or between the
haves and the have-nots. Rather, it is about the contest of applied
philosophical world views.
It is about those who treasure the reverence and
desirability for human dignity for all and those who do not. It is about those
who believe in equality of man as a creature and those who do not. It is about
those who believe in equitable justice for all and those who do not. It is
about those who believe in human family, not cronyism, and those who do not. It
is about those who believe that human lives have more value than those of cows
and those who do not.
There is a culture that
lays not undue emphasis on materialism and the one that does. There is a
culture which ensures your dignity, your self and personal respect even when
you are poor and the one that does not. There is a culture that takes
accountability seriously and the one that does not. This is the crux of the
matter. This is the kernel of the issue. This is the heart of the contest. This
is the why of the struggle. This is the theme of the clarion call.
For the honest, sincere
but naive purveyors of UNITY of Nigeria in the hills and valleys of Yoruba
Nation; for the untutored die hard
believers in ONE NIGERIA swimming in the streams and rivers of Oòduà land; for the misguided and miseducated
latter day Nigerian nationalists acting out Henry Kissinger's concept of
"patriotism" as being "the last refuge of scoundrels" among
the sons and daughters of Oòduà land, it is time to wake up and smell the
coffee.
It is time to think beyond
politics and unite in action and purpose for our people, our future, our
freedom and our independence. This is more serious and important than the
ephemeral politics of APC, PDP, Labour, KOWA, CPC, AC, ADM, PDM or whatever. We
are first and foremost Yoruba before anything else. This is about the survival
of our race. This is about our survival and dignity as a people. This is about
our pride as inheritors of great culture and traditions. This is about us as a
people with proud History.
It is time to stop
planting corn on the rock. It is time to stop chasing shadows. It is time to
stop chasing power that could not be
used or benefit our people. It is time to wise up and free yourselves mentally.
It is time to think of our past and put our future in perspective. It is time
to think of our children and the next generation. It is time to be free. It is
time to go home to Oòduà Nation.
The Yoruba do not belong
in Nigeria. We belong to our own Nation.
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