I have said it before at least a couple of times on these pages but it bears repeating again and again: it’s alright for people to lament about the lack of debate on issues that concern us as we approach next month’s general election, but for me the greater worry by far should be the seeming public indifference about the character of the protagonists.
To put it another way, it is alright for us to worry about the intelligence and competence of those seeking our votes. But it is more important to be certain about their sincerity of purpose. And there is no better way to judge this than by measuring the gap between the good things one preaches and what he actually practices.
Take, for example, the issue of the certification of the secondary school attendance of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, the presidential candidate of the leading opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). Apart from the fact that certification does not necessarily maketh the man, the fact that the general had contested for the presidency three times in the past should have made his academic qualification a none-issue.
However, by shear propagandistic force, the ruling Peoples Democratic Party seems to have succeeded in turning it into an issue, not by disproving the man attended and passed his secondary school leaving examination – something which is not in any dispute – but by latching on to the fact that initially he did not present his original certificate to prove his case and then when his alma mater eventually produced a copy, the PDP said it was a forgery!
This PDP moving of the goal post speaks volumes of the party’s sincerity about its commitment to an issue based debate as we approach the presidential elections in a few weeks time. Of course, if the general had lied about his secondary school attendance, the PDP would’ve been duty bound to expose him because no nation can afford a liar as its leader. That it took the party a dozen years and three contests by the general for it to suddenly claim the man lied about attending secondary school is, at least to me, more a reflection of the party’s desperation to hang on to power than a sincere desire to establish the truth.
Take, for another example, the president’s commitment to a debate free of hate speeches. Not only did he say he was absolutely committed to such a debate, he went on, along with his rivals, to sign a pact to keep the peace before, during and after the elections. This, of course, meant a campaign free of abusive language, threats and counter-threats.
But no sooner had he signed the pact than he proceeded to call a former president old enough to sire him a motor park tout for no worse offence than being critical of his performance!
One of the most memorable quotes of Louis Brandeis (1856 -1941) who famously served as a justice of the American Supreme Court between 1916 and 1939 speaks of the importance of government, and by extension, of our leaders, as exemplars.
“Our government…” he said, “teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”
When our president commits himself to peace but surrounds himself with people whose stock-in-trade is to rain abuses on his opponents, real or imagined, and worse still, when he shows he is not himself averse to using abusive language, should it surprise anyone that the country’s ex-militants would gather, as they did last Friday, not in some secret location, but in Government House, Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, the president’s state of origin, and tell the world that should their man lose, even if fairly and squarely, they will break up the country? Should it also surprise anyone that several of the most influential of the president’s men fully participated in the meeting?
George Orwell, that famous English satirist (Animal Farm, 1984), called it doublethink, that is, when you say something in such a way as to hide the truth about what is in your mind. Out of doublethink has emerged doublespeak or doubletalk. One dictionary defines doublespeak as “language used to deceive usually through concealment or misrepresentation of truth”
It seems in this silly season of electioneering those seeking for our votes, apparently led by those in the ruling party, have resorted to using language to conceal what is truly in their minds.
This should worry you and me more than the fact that they have hardly shown any interest in debating the issues that concern you and me.
Re: “Peter Pan” at 80
For the second time since I said on these pages that I will not publish responses to this column that are over 300 words, I feel obliged to break it. The reason is the reaction below by Asowata which came by email. It was nearly 750-word long but it contained such history of Nigerian journalism and was so readable that I felt I should share it with my readers.
Even then I had to edit it to about 500 words for space without, I hope, doing any damage to it.
MH
Sir,
Your column today (January 21), has landed me on Mars. I am writing from there. Your topic, “Peter Enahoro at 80”, is one that disqualifies me from making any commentary: he was Editor even before I was born! But I must ‘judge’ even my elders so that by their judging me for impudence, or rank rudeness, I might earn some fame; even ‘infamy’ will do!
What is my relationship with this mighty ‘Peter PEN’, or “Peter PAN”? None whatsoever, beyond Edo State, our common, yet uncommon, place of nativity and heritage.
Therefore, the much that I know of , and the closest that I ever got to, the ‘poison’ pen of Peter Pan, was by the opportunity that I had as a member of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, through Chief Olusegun Osoba, (himself a) great Journalist,
It was upon (Osoba’s) retirement from DAILY TIMES in 1989 that he created the “strictly professional” platform that brought me into his service: COMMUNITY MAGNET, a newspaper, the second Editor of which I became, on September 12, 1990, after its pioneer Editor, Mr Bunmi Iyeru, Osoba’s own ‘boss’ at the DAILY TIMES.
Iyeru was then the Judicial Correspondent of DAILY TIMES, and it was to him that Mr Enahoro handed the young Osoba, for teeth-cutting. Iyeru was the founding Editor of SUNDAY TRIBUNE, Ibadan and, later, Editor, DAILY SKETCH.
Even as a Youth Corps member, Chief Osoba made me leader writer for his newspaper. He also made me his speechwriter and writer of his usually very sensitive position papers on national issues, in addition to my reporter’s responsibilities.
So, it was ‘before my very eyes’ that Osoba dived into the Politics Ocean, and victoriously swam to the Government House, Oke-Igbein, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
It was while I was about to draft his inauguration address as governor that he asked me to mention MR PETER ENAHORO for helping him become what life allowed him to become! And though “Mr Pan” permanently dwelled in England, and not poor, Chief Osoba had him fly down to Nigeria, and ride to Asero Stadium, to witness the epochal swearing in of his ‘boy’ as GOVERNOR OF OGUN STATE! That was in 1992, in the diarchy headed by General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida.
Osoba had another idol in Journalism: Alhaji Ismail Babatunde Jose, also mentioned in your tribute. ‘Idol’ does not adequately capture and convey what Osoba felt for Jose.
Jose, I learnt, launched the recruitment of graduates as Journalists, even though he was not one! If that is not a great mind, then there is none anywhere!
I hail, you, Mohammed Haruna, for hailing MR PETER PAN, whose older brother, the late Mr Anthony Enahoro, was not only a great Journalist but an even greater Nationalist! And there is-or was- a third Journalist Enahoro, MIKE ENAHORO; a telegenic television star.
I, therefore, entertain no hesitation in sentencing Mr Peter Enahoro, alias “Peter Pan”, to a term of (another) 80 years of distinction.
I RISE!
Sam U. Asowata.
Sir,
Reference “Peter Pan” at 80 of January 21. I recall his article “Oga The Malams are coming” sometime in 1966. In it he warned Southerners that Northerners too would acquire Western education and come in droves to complete with them. I t was rumoured that the article annoyed the Ironsi. Would he comment now?
Ambassador Kabir Ahmed,
Kano.
+2348033908695.
Sir,
I love your piece on “Peter Pan at 80” but wondered why the omission of his penchant for Cognac. Is the old man still digging it?
Femi Onayemi,
Ex-Daily Times, Ex-Mail
+2348035901278.
Sir,
Peter Enahoro has published four books. You failed to mention his autobiography (Then Spoke the Thunder) and The Complete Nigerian.
Dr Mann Tolofari.
Port Harcourt.
+2348038749534.
Dear Sir:
After reading your article on Enahoro last week, I noticed that you may not know that he did, perhaps his magnum opus, in autobiographical format. This is called: THEN SPOKE THE THUNDER. It is available in our bookstores in Abuja and Ibadan and also at www.konga.com/thebooksellersltd.
Kolade Mosuro
The Booksellers Ltd,
52 Magazine Road,
Jericho,
Ibadan.
Tel: 08033224923
