AT the launch of Segun Adeniyi’s Power, Politics and Death, Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole displayed his penchant for boastful, irrational and incoherent outburst in its most insipid form.  It was thus natural to ask: “what is wrong with Oshiomhole?”

The problem is that he talks too much.  When he has the opportunity of seizing the podium and the microphone, he finds it difficult to know how much to say and what to hold back.  Could this “weakeness” be attributed to his many years in trade unionism where talking, even of the most benign form, is the staple food of leadership or is it just a character trait?

Three years as governor of a State have not proved strong enough to dilute the rusticity of his years as a textile worker and unionist.  He has not been able to imbibe the dignity, decorum and discreetness of the office of governor of a state and has continued to talk as if he is permanently inebriated or overwhelmed by the excitement  of his unexpected victory, or by the pressure of the complexity of governance for which, from all indications, he was ill-prepared.

A content analysis of his speeches, particularly those delivered ex-tempore, shows a tendency to ramble, abuse and self-glorify.  In the process, he often veers off course from coherence, rationality and even the truth.

Oshiomhole’s address at the book launch is a manifest example of his inability to capture the occasion and behave or talk like a governor should.  His treatise on the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was  dubious, sordid and disgraceful.

If, indeed, Yar’Adua gave Oshiomhole moral and financial support as he claimed, was it proper for him to talk about it so flippantly?  Did he not know that he was painting the late President in bad light?  Was Oshiomhole really trying to show that Yar’Adua was a good man who supported the opponents of his own party in a governorship election?

If, indeed, Oshiomhole’s story is true, the import of his revelation was to tarnish the image of the late President Yar’Adua.  And, the governor cannot claim not to know this.  Given his self-confessed psychotic compulsion to abuse his elders, it would not be surprising if his real intention was  to disparage Yar’Adua even in death.

Thankfully, knowing Oshiomhole, one cannot be sure of the veracity of his story of support from the late President Yar’Adua.  At what point did Oshiomhole get this so-called support?  Was it in 2007 when Yar’Adua was running for the presidency and Oshiomhole for the governorship?

Those familiar with Yar’Adua would know that the late President was a very austere man who did not spend frivolously even on his own campaign.  It would have required a miracle for him to have given support to a candidate to contest for any office, not to talk of one outside his own party.

The fact that Oshiomhole is willing to ‘reveal’ this about someone who is no longer with us, shows what he has become in the last three years.  To lie against a living person is disreputable enough; to do so against the dead is to cross the line.

Even if, as a result of greater access to resources in the Presidency, Yar’Adua was able to give Oshiomhole some money for his legal fees during his court case, this is assuming without conceding that he did so, he (Yar’Adua) must have done so purely as an act of support for a friend, surely not as an encouragement to an opponent to fight and win a legal battle against his own party.

Oshiomhole did great injury to the memory of the late Yar’Adua by creating in the mind of the public,  the impression  that the support he purportedly received from Yar’Adua was intended to enable his ACN to subvert and supplant PDP in Edo State.

Of course, it is not surprising that Oshiomhole would believe, and attempt to make the rest of us believe, that Yar’Adua was capable of the intrigues that he has ascribed to him, because he lives largely in a world of his own! Or else, how can any person in his right mind take pride in receiving applause from the masses for abusing people who are older and more accomplished than him?

According to Oshiomhole’s own confession, “The more I abuse people the more the masses are happy with me, particularly if they are very big people.” (The Sun, December 14, 2011, page 7).

A governor does not abuse! It is simply not part of the etiquette of the office.  By relishing in abuse, Oshiomhole has shown that he is unable to disconnect from his past and become the gentleman that a governor is expected to be.  As far as we know, no other governor in this country descends to the level of Oshiomhole’s crudity, triviality and uncouthness.

As it is, he  has not been able to make that quick transition from a trade unionist to the elavated position of a governor . Oshiomhole needs to make the transition fast and since he appears not to be able to help himself, he may require copies such as this to constant remind him  as long as he is still governor.

One clear lesson which we must all learn from Oshiomhole’s outburst at Segun Adeniyi’s book launch, is that one has to tread with a lot of caution in dealing  with him. His unpredictable nature, self-righteousness and self-glorification would always override his sense of propriety, particularly when a microphone is placed before him.  What a pity!

Mr.  Eguadase, a lawyer, wrote from Abuja.