Chief Olu Falae

he reports that Chief Olu Falae has thrown his political hat in the court of Ibrahim Babangida for the presidential race of 2007 came as another sour grapes in the on going comedy eviscerating on the Nigerian political stage. It is a sour grape because it beats the imaginations of any rational mind that anyone familiar with the contemporary events in Nigeria could be touting IBB, a remorseless human tragedy, as the next president of Nigeria. But conceding the mystery of the mind of man, it is possible that Chief Falae knows something that the rest of us are ignorant of.

While there is nothing wrong for Chief Falae to have some loyalty to IBB who once made him Secretary to the Federal Government, it is nevertheless important to ask if Chief Falae's reported support for IBB's second coming is informed by the public good and the interest of the people he claims to lead, or his own selfish interest? An answer to this question might help some of us to evaluate his "worthiness" or lack of it, as a leader. It is important for Nigerians to know Chief Falae's motivation for that support for IBB, before some of us would begin to jump to conclusions.

The reason for this question is in the reality of the Nigerian situation of today. Political instability, social upheaval, economic commotion, religious fanaticism and institutional decadence that is the lot of Nigeria today was engineered by IBB during his miserable eight years in the saddle. It was IBB who legitimized corruption as a way of life and created the record that all the insane successors of his have been labouring in vain to surpass. For Chief Falae to come out and urge Nigerians, and Yoruba in particular to support a self-described "evil genius" is amazingly incredible! It raises the question - what kind of leader is Falae himself?

As human beings, no one expects anyone to be perfect. Mistakes are part of life. It helps in re-evaluating and assessing one's position as a prelude to moving ahead, which means that one should learn from past mistakes and avoid a repeat of it. But what everyone expects, especially from those who aspire to lead the rest of us, is the ability to avoid repeating stupidity. Any leader, who is incapable of avoiding "avoidable mistakes" is not worthy and should not be in the lead. If Falae's combination with IBB in the 1980s could only bring Nigeria this far and posited the Yoruba race in great danger of social, economic and political annihilation and possible extermination in the 1990s, then why should the rest of us buy his vision of IBB this time around?

May be some of us are incapable of fathoming how the mind of the Akure Chief works. But no matter how his mind works, he needs to explain to the rest of us why we must hand over our present and future to an "evil." This man, IBB, is just not an "evil" (at least he called himself that much), he is a destructive, deceitful, dubious, arrogant and condescending one. Chief Falae, if he still wants to maintain the little relevance and credibility remaining under his canopy, needs to come out and explain the rationale for supporting IBB as well as urging the rest of us to support such an "evil." Nigerians would like to know how the mind of the Akure Chief works. Nigerians would like to know the moral basis for Falae's support of IBB. Though, it is not impossible for the carpetbaggers among us to argue that there is no morality in politics, but no one would contend the fact that no leadership has the moral right to subsist if it is disconnected from the yearnings of its followers. If we must follow Falae's lead, he needs to convince the rest of us that IBB's return to power is in our interest. Nigerians also would like to know the political rationale, economic justification and social imperatives that would support such a position.

Yes, the Nigerian situation may appear hopeless now because of the directionless administration of Olusegun Obasanjo. Yes, the Nigerian situation may be frustrating because of the tragedy that our once promising country now represents. Yes, the Nigerian situation may appear very desperate because of the degeneracy of the political leadership. Yes, the Nigerian situation may be so exasperating because of the pathological apathy of the people. Yes, the Nigerian situation may be confusing and hypnotic because of the treachery of the religious leaders, especially of the Christian and Islamic faiths. Yes, the Nigerian situation may be a perfect study in the genre of human dynamics in political misery. Yet all these added together is not enough to legitimise and empower a coterie of political fortune seekers to congregate in the cranny of dark rooms to dictate the political direction of the people without any sense of responsibility.

It is this writer's belief that Chief Falae was insulting the collective intelligence of Nigerians for advocating the return of IBB in 2007. The reason he has been able to glow in this affliction is because he was the presidential candidate for AD in 1999 by selection rather than election and probably thinks as a result of that we have all forgotten how he and his mentor, IBB, introduced the so-called Structural Adjustment Policy (SAP) that has been sapping the life out of Nigerians since then. If he thinks that simply because the treachery against Chief Bola Ige that culminated in his (Falae) becoming the AD presidential candidate in 1999 confers on him the right to mislead Nigerians in general and Yoruba in particular, then, he must be fatally mistaken.

As for Chief Duro Onabule, IBB's former press secretary, who was described by a friend as "perpetually hungry," we could all understand his recent inanities concerning this issue. But our understanding of his dilemma should not be misconstrued as stupidity and amnesia. Here is a man who never batted an eyelid in selling out the man who made him "somebody." The only reason the issue of his treachery has not been a subject of public discourse was because of the larger perfidy against the Nigerian nation by his chosen master, IBB. May be he has forgotten that, but the rest of us have not. And if he wants us to buy his product a la IBB, then he must convince the rest of us why we must trust him (Onabule) in the first place. But if he is so confident about the "good qualities" of his "evil" master, as a supposed "public relations" guru, Onabule should come out with plausible reasons why Nigerians should give IBB a second chance on the levers of their destiny. Or more appropriately, he should organize a public debate to showcase IBB's eight years and let us all do a critique of such and remind ourselves how Nigeria got to this miserable condition.